Ugly Betty Episode 3.10 Full Recap

Here is the full recap of Ugly Betty episode 3.10, Bad Amanda.  Some quick thoughts:

• A good, enjoyable episode.  Not quite as good as 3.09 (Betty Met Yeti), but still, a lot of fun.
• I LOVED seeing more of Christina.  “Dead baby!  Dead Baby!”
• The staredown scene with the restaurant manager had me laughing out loud.  When a bead of sweat rolled down Betty’s nose, and she got cross-eyed, that was comic genius.
• I love Molly, and I love lovesick Daniel.  Of course, this can’t go on forever, but it’s a lot of fun for now.
• Michael Urie made the most of his short screen time (Abort!  Abort!  Get out of there!)
• I’m still loving lovesick Wilhelmina.  You can really see that her scheming comes from a somewhat hurting place.

All in all, a good episode.  Full recap after the jump.

Betty and Hilda are going through a box full of designer knockoff merchandise Hilda has just acquired to sell at her boutique.  The “Prada” sunglasses are actually “Plada”.  Betty complains that Amanda isn’t paying her share of rent/food.  Hilda suggests Betty ask “where’s my rent, bitch?” Betty tells Hilda Amanda’s sob story about trying to claw her way out of debt.

Amanda then walks in carrying an armful of shopping bags, bragging about how much stuff she just bought on sale. Betty asks her how she paid for all of it, and Amanda says that she paid off one credit card with the money she saved moving in with Betty.  Amanda slips out before Betty can ask for her half of the rent money.

She catches Amanda on the street, and asks for the money, but Amanda is broke.  Betty tells her that if she’s going to continue to live with her, Amanda has to chip in.  Amanda says she totally gets it, then asks Betty to pay for her subway ride.

Wilhelmina is hiding in a closet, on the phone with Marc, who is giving her the status of Connor’ whereabouts.  Connor starts to walk away, so Marc tells Wilhelmina this is her chance. She rushes toward her office, but Connor turns around and comes back.  Marc yells into the phone “ABORT!  ABORT”, but it’s too late.  Connor says good morning,and Willy replies, “Top o’ the mornin’ to ya!” , confusing Connor, and herself. 

Later, Wilhelmina complains to Marc about her own schoolgirl-ish behavior around Connor.  Christina then comes in and says she’s going to her 7-month checkup and asks if Wilhelmina would like to come.  She says no, and that she “hired” Christina because of her proud, stoic Scottish heritage.  “You’re our braveheart,” she says, and Marc adds, “Our Brave Uterus”.

Connor comes in and invites Wilhelmina to a marketing presentation.  Wilhelmina tells him she has to go to Christina’s checkup.

Betty reminds Daniel that she starts YETI in a week and asks if he has any overtime for her to work.  Daniel says they’ve cut out overtime in budget cuts.  He then informs her that they are looking for pitches for ModeNY.com,  and it pays standard freelance fee (though not a lot).  Betty is thrilled to have the opportunity.

Molly walks in, and Daniel rushes Betty out of the room.  Molly asks Daniel for a donation for school programs at her school (saying she’s hitting up all the “rich jerks”).  She also asks Daniel to go with her because Connor can’t make it.  He jumps at the chance. As she walks out, she says hi to Claire, who stares at her curiously.  Claire also sees how excited Daniel is.

Christina and Betty discuss Betty’s money problems.  Betty tells her that Amanda claims that a man named Bad Ronald lives in their walls and comes out at night to eat their ramen noodles.  Christina tells Betty to forget her money troubles and have fun.  She tells her about when she first came to New York, broke.  Yet she had the time of her life.  Hearing this gives Betty an idea.

At the ModeNY pitch meeting, Betty suggests an article about How To Have Fun in Manhattan on Zero Dollars.  Most of the ideas involve boring museums; Marc and Amanda mock her.  Amanda then starts to tell tales about how she mooches her way through the high life.  This intrigues Connor, and they decide to go with it:  How I Blew 10 Grand Without actually spending a dime.  Betty and Amanda are given the assignment; Betty is not pleased.

Betty tells her family on the phone; she tells them how Amanda hijacked her idea, but they like Amanda’s idea.  Amanda comes in and says, “Let’s grip it and rip it”.  Betty tells her the ground rules:  they have to stay legal, and they can only do things that normal Mode readers can do.

Claire walks into The Closet as Daniel is trying on ties.  He tells her about his “date” with Molly.  She says that she thinks Molly likes him, and that he likes her.  As Daniel starts to admit it, Claire slaps him.  Then slaps him again, telling him that she knows a thing or two about infedelity, and that he needs to stay away from her.  He tells his mom he will.

Christina and Wilhelmina leave the doctor’s office, and Wilhelmina is disinterested.  Christina even offers to tell her the gender but Willy isn’t interested.  Marc then calls Wilhelmina and tells her that Connor is waiting for her in her office.  She tells Marc to tell him she’s still at the doctor’s office.  Christina worries about this.  Wilhelmina then offers to buy Christina a drink; Christina reminds her that she’s 7 months pregnant.  Willy says she can drink for all three of them.

Betty and Amanda go shopping, and Amanda picks up all the samples.  She also buys some very expensive clothes, telling Betty that they have a 30 day return policy.  At first, Betty says they shouldn’t do this, until Amanda tempts her with a scarf she really wants.  They buy it all.

They then go to an art gallery;  Amanda always picks the ones with the ugliest art, they have the best drinks. She then spies two good looking men across the room.  Betty tries to object, but Amanda yells, “Tuck your tag!” and walks over to the men.  The men ask them to join them for dinner.  Betty says no, Amanda says yes.  They huddle.  Amanda reminds her about the spirit of their article.  She says she can’t do it by herself, because Betty is the writer.  Betty agrees to go with them.

Christina watches Wilhelmina drink, and they have a heart to heart.  Christina chastises Wilhelmina for not baby proofing her apartment, pointing to things and yelling, “DEAD BABY!  DEAD BABY!”  Then, they talk about Connor and WIlly’s crush on him.  Christina then tells her that she’s having a boy.  Later, they discuss ridiculous baby names: Wilhelmina likes Abelard, Christina likes Hamish.

Betty and Amanda have a lovely and extremely expensive dinner with the men, Claudio and Luka.  Betty gets up and calls Hilda to tell her that the evening isn’t going how she’d like.  She feels guilty for all the money they’re getting the men to spend on them.  Hilda tells her she’s crazy, and she should just enjoy it. 

When Betty gets back Claudio and Luka are away from the table,”making business calls”.  Betty compliments Amanda on her fine mooching skills, and thatnks her for making her life interesting.  The waiter then brings the check, and says “the gentlemen said you would take care of this”.  Betty looks at the bill and gasps. Amanda suggests the “final option”:  dine and dash.  Betty says no, then thinks heavily.  She then asks to speak to the manager.

Daniel is working and eating Chinese food.  Molly walks in and says she got his message and asks if he has the check for her.  He gives her a check and says he’s sorry he can’t make it.  She asks if she can have some of his food.  She accidentally gets some on her dress.  Molly starts to leave, but Daniel tells her to come with him first.

At the restaurant, the manager comes to the table, and Betty tells her that they are from Mode Magazine, and that they are doing a profile of their restaurant on ModeNY.com, and that they will be featuring the restaurant prominently this month.  As she does this, she  hands the manager their dinner check.  There is the an wonderful staredown scene; Betty sweats, and even gets cross-eyed.  The manager then says, “Why don’t I take care of this?”

As they leave, celebrating Betty’s sharp wits, Amanda notices that her wallet is gone.  The men stole it.  Amanda then tells Betty the bad news: she had taken the rent money because she was going to go pay the landlord (he creeps Betty out).  Betty then freaks out because they are going to get kicked out of their apartment, then yells at Amanda.  She says there is no Bad Ronald,only Bad Amanda.   She then walks away in anger.

Betty comes home and tells her dad all about her problems.  Ignacio tells her not to be so hard on herself, or Amanda.  He says he did a little too good of a job raising Betty to be responsible.  He says she could learn something from Amanda.

As Christina and Wilhelmina are talking, Daniel calls Christina, asking her about certain clothes in The Closet.  Wilhelmina hears it’s about Molly, and perks up.

In the closet, Daniel tells Molly to take her pick.  Molly picks out a cute red number, has Daniel turn around, and puts it on.  He tells her not to let the paparazzi take a picture of her in that dress, it’s their March cover.  Molly lets her hair down, then lets Daniel look.  She is dazzling in the dress.  Daniel comes to zip her up – they share a longing look.  They start ti kiss, but Molly pulls away and says she needs to go.  She walks out, and Daniel stands there, stunned.

Betty comes home, sits down and writes the article.  The next day, Daniel tells her that he really likes it.  Daniel says he wants Betty and Amanda to write a regular feature on the website.  He says he’ll float an advance (which will pay her rent).  She walks out, and Daniel stares at the chopsticks on his desk.  He then throws them away.

Betty finds Amanda, and discovers she’s taken a second job waitressing to try and pay the rent.  Betty tells her she had fun the night before, and thanks her.  She also tells her that they won’t lose the apartment (but Amanda can’t quit her second job).

Wilhelmina watches the security tape that Marc has procured for her, showing Daniel and Molly in the closet.  Marc is disappointed that nothing hapened, but Wilhelmina says Daniel’s crush (”The way Betty looks at a cheeseburger”) plays right into her hands.

Amanda gets home from her second job, and Betty has made her a nice dinner.  She also got her a gift (a Plada purse) .  The episode ends with them enjoying dinner.