Ugly Betty Episode 2.15 Full Recap

Here is the full recap of Ugly Betty episode 2.15 (Burning Questions).  Before the recap, I’d like to give you a few quick thoughts.

• America Ferrera carried the episode.  Silvio Horta wasn’t kidding when he said he was refocusing the show on Betty.
• Two episodes into the season 2 restart, and we’ve seen the effects of the back-end changes at Ugly Betty.  The comedy was very subdued last night.  This is probably necessary to tie up all the old loose ends, but they need to up the hilarity next week.
• Line of the night: Betty literally putting out a fire and telling Daniel, “You don’t pay me enough”.
• Did anyone catch Marc’s Botox joke as Wilhelmina was leaving the doctor’s office?
• Gio sure gave up easily, didn’t he?
• The day that Marc and Amanda are reunited can’t come soon enough.  I think that’s why there isn’t much comedy.
• Gabrielle Union is a really good actress.
• I just didn’t feel the whole Gina Gambrarro story line.  They went for catty, when they should have gone catfight. 
• Christian Siriano’s appearance was so short,we have to call it sweeps stunt-casting.  It was fun, though.
• I tried in the recap to write a phonetic version of Christina saying “murder”, but I couldn’t.
• Eric Mabius was spectacular last night.  His nervousness made Ferrera even funnier.

Full recap after the jump!

Betty and Daniel are riding home in separate town cars, at 2am after a long day of meetings. Betty is on the phone with him, arranging his schedule. They have been putting in long hours for a week. Renee calls Betty, trying to get through to Daniel. She demands to be put through to Daniel. Betty connects them in a 3-way call, which is unfortunate, because Daniel and Renee start talking about Renee’s underwear, or lack thereof. Betty gets off the line.

At the Suarez house, Justin is cold calling trying to get business for Hilda’s Beautilities, and having no luck. Betty comes downstairs, on the phone with Gio, arranging lunch for the day’s meeting. Betty tells Ignacio how Renee has been calling at all hours (in her fits of paranoia). Hilda offers to fix Betty’s mussed hair.

As she does this, she tries to get the lowdown on Henry/Gio. Betty tells Hilda that she’s friends with Gio again, but she doesn’t want Henry to know. Betty says that Charlie is leaving for Tucson today, and the last 4 weeks with Henry will be stress free.

Justin barges in and says he has made a manicure appointment – with Gina Gambarro! Hilda is not too pleased with this; they are still enemies, sort of. Justin asks, “Don’t we need the business? Even skanky business?”

Betty begins Daniel’s day by giving him coffee and his schedule. She put curtains in his office and scheduled a nap for him. Daniel says (in a friendly way) “I love you”, and Betty says, “I know”, and comments that he smells good. Betty tries to tell Daniel that Renee is driving her crazy, but he considers her badgering to just be thoughtfulness. Betty shows Daniel the color coded, packed schedule she made for him. He makes her agree to try and work things out for Renee. Renee calls.

Cut to Wilhelmina in the office of “Dr. Remus”. He is apparently Renee’s psychiatrist. She is trying to plant the seed in his head that Renee is backsliding, so he’ll have her committed. As he describes the tell-tale signs of a relapse, they cut to Renee behaving irratically.

As she leaves, she tells Marc that they have a lot of work to do, and Marc makes a great inside joke about Vanessa William’s Botox use (saying that she always has a “poker face”). She says the Dr won’t commit her till she’s a danger. She has Marc schedule a lunch at La Brulee. She send him to watch after Christina, and tells him not to pout, because he doesn’t have the lips for it.

Betty is setting up the meeting’s lunches with Gio, and spilling her heat to him about Renee. As they speak, Henry walks up, and Betty pretends that they weren’t talking. When she meets Henry, he has bad news: Charlie had a panic attack, and her doctor says she shouldn’t travel. She will stay until the baby is born. Betty pretends not to be upset, but blows him off.

Gina Gambarro is getting her manicure, and she is absolutely blinged out. Gina is obviously trying to show off the fact that she married a doctor. Hilda tells her, “Don’t feel bad; everyone gains weight on a cruise”. They touch on the subject of Santos. Gina, trying to be sensitive, says, “Maybe you’re just meant to be alone” . Gina says she’ll come back for a pedicure.

Betty finds Renee at her desk, going through her schedule book. She’s trying to schedule something on her own. Betty tells her to get out of her book. They fight over it, and it flies into the air. Betty walks away upset, and Daniel asks Renee what happened. She says,”You’re assistant is totally in love with you!” Daniel looks at a still angry Betty, and wonders if it’s true. Renee then makes the case that Betty has fallen for Daniel. He thinks of when he said “I love you” to Betty, and starts to think he might have “led her on”.

Christina speaks to Betty on the phone, and tells her that Renee has wacked out, and that Wilhelmina found her baby monitor, and that Marc had been strangely nice to her ever since. Marc then knocks on the door, and she yells, “Go away, you wanker!”. She tells Betty that she’s stuck on her “leave of absence” until they are sure the baby is on the way.

Renee meets Wilhelmina at La Brulee, and she’s upset about it (something happened in the past here). It was “Gregory’s” favorite place. Wilhelmina then tells Renee about how Daniel has cheated on his past girlfriends. Then a waiter approaches with a lit birthday cake (and Renee freaks out and leaves). Wilhelmina then tips the waiter.

Betty comes into Daniel’s office and closes the curtains. He is lying down. She then proceeds to seduce him. As she starts to kiss hi, he wakes up from what was obviously a dream. He is actually in the middle of a meeting. Betty sends everyone away, then tries to close the curtains for real. Daniel tells her no. Betty then tries to talk to him. About “relationships” . Daniel misconstrues this, and runs away.

Marc and Wilhelmina are talking of their evil plans. Marc starts to say that Renee had once committed murder, but Wilhelmina stops him because she knows Christina is listening. He says it anyway, low and slow, and Christina hears.

Alexis is freaking out because Christian Siriano is coming, and he is only going to choose ONE magazine to run his new line in. Alexis tells Daniel he’s all “Linty”. Betty shows up with a lint brush, and Daniel has a panicked look on his face while Betty brushes off the lint. She tries to talk to him about Renee. He tries to change the subject – to Siriano, to Henry, anything. Betty says that with all the work, it’s like he (Daniel) is her boyfriend now.

Daniel asks Amanda about a hypothetical workplace crush, on him. At first, she thinks he means her (I reserve the right to think about him in the shower sometimes…). Daniel says, no it’s Betty. Amanda tells Daniel that Betty’s relationship with Henry is in trouble. She also tells him about Gio. When Daniel leaves, we see that Henry heard the part about Gio. Amanda says “He’s totally in love with her!”

Hilda comes to Mode to get clothes to impress Gina.

Christina calls Betty and says she needs help going through Wilhelmina’s files (she broke into her file cabinet). She tells Betty about the word “Murder” (in that wonderful accent!)

Henry walks into Gio’s sandwich shop. He tells Gio to stay away from Betty. Gio asks him if he wants to fight. He comes toward him, and pretends to swng. Henry punches him in the nose, knocking him over. They then have a heart to heart, and Gio asks Henry why he’s not with Betty at that moment, instead of there with him.

Gio calls Betty to tell her about it while she’s at at Wilhelmina’s apartment, going through her files with Christina. They find Renee’s file, and discover that she had been put in a mental institution shortly after her then-boyfriend/professor at Stoney Brook had been killed in a fire. Christina says, “His name was Larson, and he died of arson. How unfortunate…”

Daniel and Alexis are speaking with Nina Garcia; she has been keeping an eye on Christian Siriano. He then makes an entrance with models (and Amanda, posing). Daniel tells him how “fierce” it is that he’s there. Siriano doesn’t like this, and Alexis apologises. He calls her Ferosha and says she is a hot tranny mess, minus the mess. (I win the bet!). As the models show, Renee barges in, and accuses the models of being Daniel’s “whores” and Garcia of being his “slut”. Siriano likes the drama.

Renee confronts Daniel, as Alexis tries to smooth things over with Garcia. Daniel’s phone rings, and Renee grabs it and smashes it. Daniel then calls Wilhelmina about Renee. They decide to get her committed.

Betty and Christina put the pieces together, and decide that Daniel is in danger. She calls Amanda because he isn’t answering his cell phone. Amanda tells Betty about the fight with Renee. Betty decides she has to go to Daniel’s apartment to warn him.

At Gina’s pedicure, Hilda walks in dressed to the nines. She takes off Gina’s Prada shoes, only to discover they are knockoffs. She taunts Gina about it. Hilda calls her pathetic. She accuses her of not even being married. Her husband (a chiropractor) walks in, as they are arguing. Gina leaves in a huff, and the husband tells Hilda that her life must be pretty sad.

Daniel and Wilhelmina speak to Dr Remus. In the course of the conversation it is revealed that Betty might be in danger.

Betty walks into Daniel’s apartment, and lit candles are everywhere. Renee closes the door behind her, and accuses Betty of coming between her and Daniel. She accuses her of being in love with Daniel. Betty tries to reason with her, to no avail. Renee knocks over some candles. Betty tells her about Henry, AND Gio, confusing Renee.

Daniel calls on the cell phone, and Betty screams that Renee is trying to kill her – just before Renee grabs the phone and pushes her down. Daniel, Wilhelmina, and Marc speed to his apartment.

Renee pulls a knife on Betty. The curtains catch fire from the spilled candles. Betty swears she doesn’t love Daniel, and tells Renee that Daniel loves her (Renee). This seems to snap Renee out of her craziness. Betty tries to get both of them out of the burning apartment.

Daniel knocks down the door, only to find Betty operating a fire extinguisher. She looks at him and says, “You don’t pay me enough”.

Betty later gives her statement to the firemen, and Renee apologizes to Daniel. Wilhelmina takes her away to be committed. Daniel sits next to Betty.

The next day, Betty brings Daniel coffee. She tries to console him. He says he’s not going to talk about “this” in front of you. Betty is confused, so Daniel tells her that he knows she has a crush on him. She then says, “Yeah, you’re right. I love you. I’ve always loved you. I can’t stop thinking about you. I wish I were your morning bagel so I could get caught between your beautiful teeth.”

Daniel then figures out that she was being sarcastic. She then sees Henry and walks out to talk to him. Betty and Henry make up, and kiss. Daniel looks through the window, seeing this, and stares into the distance mysteriously.