Ugly Betty Episode 3.24 Full Recap
May 23, 2009 by Tom
Here is the full recap for Ugly Betty episode 3.24, The Fall Issue. It was my favorite episode of season 3. OK, maybe it was tied with 3.15, There’s No Place Like Mode.
Of course, I’ve already told you I loved the episode. I loved the silliness of the Antonio Sabato scenes. I loved Penny Meadows (she was kind of like an in-house Heinrich). I even loved Matt in this episode. He was rightfully hurt, and I like how he gave Betty every chance to come clean. I loved drunk Amanda.
I still wish they had found another way to resolve the competition for Penny’s job, but in the end, it was nice to see Betty in her new office, pigeons and all.
It’s odd, on second watching, Daniel’s speech was even more tear-inducing. It was absolutely beautiful, and I’m glad that Molly died off screen, but said goodbye in Daniel’s moment of glory. That was damn good writing.
I will miss Sarah Lafleur, but the story had run its course. This (combined with Curveball), was by far her best episode.
I thought the quick scene of Amanda consoling Marc at the end was sweet.
Of course, the last 5 minutes were the stuff season finales are made of. They gave us Wilhelmina’s story for next season (the search for Connor), two cliffhangers (who did Wilhelmina see? – and – “if Claire really did have a son, who and where is he?”), and a tear-jerker.
I looked – there’s no revealing information in the certificate of adoption (it just says “Boy child” and “Father unknown”. Oddly, the dates are left blank.
It was funny, seeing Matt’s demeanor change at the end to something resembling his father.
The Cindy Lauper song was a perfect choice for the ending montage. Betty and Daniel are wonderful together, if only as “brother and sister”.
Full recap after the jump.
Betty tells Hilda about her dream, where Antonio Sabato Jr takes her hot dog and kisses her, causing Matt to yell at her about betraying him. (Sabato Jr is quite funny in the reenactment). Betty says she thinks the dream means she has to tell Matt she kissed Henry. Hilda tells her not to.
Justin comes in to watch the nominations for the MAMAs (a magazine media awards show). Hilda mentions that Justin is trying to get into a performing arts school. On TV, Rachel Maddow announces the nominees, including one for Mode for The Wedding Issue.
As this is going on, Marc brings Wilhelmina breakfast. Wilhelmina mourns that the has to share the nomination with Daniel. Speaking of, Molly wakes him up and congratulates him. He mentions that she had a fever the night before and needs to go back to sleep, but Molly’s too excited about the nomination.
Wilhelmina arrives to Claire giving a press conference, which she interrupts by asking her about a “Trip to Madison, South Dakota, to discover her ‘inner child’, recently, or maybe in the early 80’s”. This unnerves Claire, who leaves the press conference to Wilhelmina.
Daniel asks Betty if Penny Meadows has turned in her Yves Saint Laurent piece yet. He sends her up to find out, although Betty doesn’t like her because she’s mean and kind of smells.
Penny yells at Betty when she shows up, and tells her the piece is not ready. She has Betty help her open the window so she can shoo away pigeons. She’s quite a crazy presence. Matt texts Betty and tells her he’s outside.
He shows her a painting of a man and woman in gas masks. Betty tells Matt there’s something she needs to tell him, but before she can tell him about Henry, Penny falls to her death right in front of them.
Suzuki reports this, giving it a 3 on his “Sexy death meter”.
Betty arranges to have a memorial service for Penny, although she didn’t have any friends at Mode. While talking to Daniel about it, the two of them decide that Betty would be the perfect match to fill Penny’s job.
The Suarezes celebrate, but decide to go to church and light a candle for Penny (and for the patron saint of actors, to help Justin get into the performing arts school). Hilda once again tells Betty NOT to tell Matt about kissing Henry.
Amanda gives Marc’s replacement, Ryan, all kinds of bad advice to sabotage him. Marc comes along to stop this. As Wilhelmina approaches, Ryan falls flat on his back. Claire stops Wilhelmina and tells her they need to talk.
Claire tells Wilhelmina that she did indeed get pregnant by Cal many years ago, and traveled to South Dakota, where she terminated the pregnancy (Bradford and Cal never knew). The whole event caused her to have a nervous breakdown – it took her a year to recover.
Wilhelmina threatens to reveal all of this to Cal if Claire doesn’t resign, and for extra flair she must resign at the MAMA awards.
Marc walks in, and they celebrate vanquishing Claire. They reminisce about all their past evil deeds, resulting in Wilhelmina actually saying she’ll miss Marc, and giving him a hug. As Marc leaves to go to the memorial service for Penny, Wilhelmina says she wants to talk to Marc about something.
Matt calls Betty to give her a chance to confess to him, but she doesn’t, distracted with the memorial.
Penny’s twin sister Mindy, arrives at the memorial, where few are paying attention. Betty says a few kind words, then Marc gets up to speak. He says he will continue Penny’s work – as the new feature editor of Mode. Betty is flabbergasted, she yells that she asked for the job almost as soon as Penny died. Apparently, Wilhelmina and Daniel both had decided to give the job away.
They have a conference about it, and decide that the only solution is to let the two of them separately finish the Yves Saint Laurent story, and the best one will get the job.
Justin’s letter comes from the school. He discovers that they have turned him down. This devastates Justin. No one can console him. even Archie.
Betty looks over the content of Penny’s hard drive, but there is nothing there but pictures of birds (which Amanda thinks are pictures of her family). Apparently, Penny mostly worked from home.
Matt stops by, and once again tries to coax Betty into confessing, but she passes. He then tells her that he saw them kiss, and he’s very angry that she wouldn’t tell him. They fight, and Matt storms away.
Daniel comes home for lunch, to find that Molly has made a romantic lunch for him, and dressed in the dress she will wear to the MAMAs. They kiss and head to the bedroom.
Marc is already at Penny’s apartment when Betty gets there, gagging at the smell (it’s a mess). As they are looking around, Mindy shows up and yells at them. She does, however, throw the the notes from Penny’s Saint Laurents story out the window.
Their story in ruins, Betty and Marc (and Amanda) drink Margaritas in Betty’s old apartment. Amanda gets very drunk. But she tells them they need to work together.
They then present their resignations to Daniel and Wilhelmina. This, of course, is a bluff. They want to force Daniel and Wilhelmina to decide.
Betty goes to find Matt, and apologizes to him, asking him for forgiveness. She gives him a ticket to the MAMA awards, hoping he’ll come.
As Daniel prepares for the awards, Molly gives him his note cards (he is terrified of not being able to make a speech). As she does so, he notices she is burning with fever. She tells him she’ll be fine, and tells him to go to the awards himself. She tells him she’ll take a nap and get there in time for his category.
Betty arrives at the MAMAs, and sees Antonio Sabato Jr. This reminds Justin that he won’t get into the performing arts school. Marc whisks Justin to the swag room. Justin tells Marc all about his problem, and Marc tries to assure him that he’ll be OK going to public school, even being “different”. He tells him his own story. This makes Justin feel better.
Matt shows up, and talks to his father, who only talks him into hardening his heart toward Betty, because Henry was Betty’s first love, and he’ll always have to compete with that. He then tells him he “could” have a job…
Marc shows Wilhelmina that he has stolen Daniel’s notes, so he’ll be tongue-tied and Wilhelmina can get all the attention. Daniel walks in, and they decide to choose who will get Penny’s job by flipping a coin. Daniel comes to Betty’s table and tells her he needs to talk to her. He gives the features editor job to her. She looks over and sees a sad Marc.
They announce the Fashion Magazine category, and Mode wins. Daniel starts to make his speech, but his notes are gone. As he starts to panic, he looks and sees Molly standing next to Betty. He calms down and makes a beautiful speech, telling Molly he loves her. As everyone applauds, he looks and sees that Molly is no longer there. He goes down to ask Betty where Molly is, but Betty says she hasn’t seen her. Daniel rushes home.
At the bar, Claire tells Wilhelmina she’s not going to step down – she told Cal everything. They also decided to reevaluate Wilhelmina’s role in the company.
Betty stops by her new office before she comes home, and talks to her family, who congratulate her on getting the job. Matt arrives, and tells her that they are over. However, he tells her that he’ll still be around, because Cal made him her new boss.
Wilhelmina hires a private detective to find Connor and get the money he stole back so Mode no longer needs Cal Hartley. After he leaves, Wilhelmina turns the corner, drops her champagne glass, and yells, “What are YOU doing here???”
Daniel comes home, to Molly’s body being carted away.
Claire looks at a certificate of adoption, then burns it.
Amanda consoles Marc.
Betty gets a text message from Daniel: “I need you”
She arrives at his doorstep – and holds him as he cries.
Image: Splashnewsonline.com
It was a good episode. I have to say that I did not like that Betty got the job over Marc. If you go through season 3, Betty hadnt really worked that hard in screen or to appeal the viewers even half the way Marc has. This just reminds me of “When Betty met YETI”. But it was predictable. I wish they would have found a way to make both get the job or something. Betty is not near as good as Marc and Horta needs to stop reminding us that, no matter how much Betty has regressed and how annoying she has become, she has to get everything because she’s the leading character.
I wished she had EARNED that job. She didn’t grow a bit this season.. .so why give it to her? Not good, at least to me.
I already spoke about my view on Matt in a previous post. So i wont’ go over it. I’ll just add: they chose quite a plain character to develop the story for season 4. Daniel Meade was a Rich Jerk with substance and quite entertaining and endearing… Matt Hartley, is just Matt (who can’t manage to produce a powerful emotional scene not even if kicked in the guts). To me, he’s just attractive to the story because of his parents.
I’ll be praying all summer that Patricia Fields get a new job somewhere else (maybe they decide to make another Sex and the City or something) but she needs to STOP distracting us with those clothes.
Willy twist was WOW! Props for that. Marc (which I call “the new Betty”) grew up and has proven that he’s an important character in the show. the music was good enough.
My favorite part was definitely the Daniel Meade speech and the ghost of Molly. WOW! Now that’s growing that was deliciously done. Eric Mabius did wonderfully in this finale. I just wish he could be happier sometime in season 4.
I really enjoyed this episode. There were so many emotional moments in this episode & everyone was on there game..especially Eric Mabius…watching him give his speech & the scene at the end when he rushes home & sees the body bag coming out of the building..It was sooo sad & texting Betty saying that he needs her..ahhh! Daniel has grown so much since season1 and hopefully he’ll have a happier storyline in season 4.
As for Betty getting a promotion…FINALLY!! Altho the way she got it was kind of tacky.. a flip of a coin!! I wonder if Betty will find out how she got the job.. Boy, things will get interesting between her & Matt now that he is her boss. I had a feeling that Matt was the person who was going to be her new boss. It was interesting how his personality changed when he told Betty that he was still going to be a presence in her life & be her new boss…Kinda vengeful looking. I believe he took the job for the wrong reasons seeing that he wasn’t into publishing anymore and took it probably to retaliate back at Betty for breaking his heart. Why would you want to work with & see your ex-girlfriend everyday?? There will be certainly be tension between the two of them & I wonder if Matt would really get any satisfaction by hurting her that way & he’s just doing it out anger. It didn’t help that he got advice from his dad. In my opinion, I think Matt will still love Betty & hopefully he will soften up & forgive her eventually not after until we have some angst from the two of them. Unless this another side of Matt we haven’t seen, I don’t think he would be that spiteful given how much he was into her.( I could be wrong) Hopefully Betty will be able to stick it out since she got her dream to finally move up. I think she has grown a lot & she has more confident regarding her career. I guess these turn of events what maybe Horta was referring to about the relationship between Betty & Matt..having obstacles & misunderstandings before the finale (which they did) Matt being around (more of a presence now that he is her boss) and their relationship will be changing & growing (not sure what that means-will they get back together??) ) and all the events that happened leading up to the finale will set up for juicy storylines next season. I personally hope that Matt & Betty get back together & try again. It seemed like they finally getting to the point that they were happy & moving in together.(would have like to seen how Betty & Matt take on that aspect) We’ll see where they are going to take this along with who is the adopted baby (Matt perhaps),find out who Wili saw, seeing Daniel dealing with the aftermath of the death of Molly, & the power struggle at Mode/Meade. Can’t wait!!
Hi!
Just wanted to say that I check your blog all the time – I love it!
I have to say, I enjoyed the 2 hours season finale; it really was one the best episodes of season 3.
The thing that bothers me is the story between Betty and Marc: Daniel and Wilhelmina should have talked out the problem by promoting Betty, and create another position for Marc. I mean it’s obvious that Marc wanted the position as much as Betty… I don’t think Betty should “win” all the time; Marc should also be in the picture sometimes. I’m so sad Molly’s gone. I personally loved the actress, Sarah LaFleur – she was just perfect for the role.
Thank you for tunning such a great website!
I loved this finally. Definitely my favorite of the three. I’d just like to say that Marc did a LOT of hard work for the job, and I’m sure he will eventually be promoted, but even though Betty hasn’t really grown much this season, she has still done her share of helping Daniel to keep his head in the game. Overall, I think she deserved it, even if it was with a coin toss. But will she keep the job, with Matt as here boss?
I am happy to read kelly’s comment. I really hope Matt and Betty will be together in the next season. It is just some misundertanding between them and I cann’t ignore the negative imfact on Matt after the talk between Matt and his father. He was manipulated by his father.
I agree with you Ling, I think he was totally manipulated by his father to get that job. A guy that has got everything in his life, with no defined personality like Matt and no goal of his own (who had to find shelter in a promiscuous sex life) would totally be easily to manipulate. I really hope Betty realizes that when she’s with Matt it’s as when she was with Henry in season 2. She just loves to sacrifice herself to please others. I think those are unhealthy relationships. That’s why I crashed so hard into Getty love. Because someone was there to give his all to her for once.
Does it sound like I don’t like Matt? I used to like him at first. But compared to Walter, Henry and Gio. He’s really nothing but a rich jerk but without the charm of Daniel Meade.
I thought that guy Willie hired was a hit man. Now she’s a little bit less badass.
Emiko, I thought he was a hitman too. Would have been MUCH more sinister. (Not to mention interesting.) Either way, I want to see the return of Connor! =)
I agree with Kelly on the Matt/Betty situation..I think Matt took the job out of anger knowing that her promotion to being an editor is one of her dreams and will try to make her life miserable. In my opinion, I don’t think it’s the kiss with Henry that hurt him, but it was the idea that she lied to him & he gave her every opportunity to fess up & she didn’t. I think if Betty had listened to her instincts & just fessed up when she was supposed too, I think the impact would have been too bad & they could have worked it out. I felt for him, but when he told her that he would be her new boss & they way he said it then I didn’t feel too bad for him thereafter. As much she would like to be an editor, I ‘m wondering if the situation would be too hard for her to handle & she would step down & maybe go back to being Daniel’s assistant.. I’m not sure where Horta is taking this storyline as he had mentioned that Matt would be sticking around & that their relationship will be changing (him being her boss/breaking up) & growing (not sure what he is implying). Will they eventually get back together after some difficulties?? I think so. I don’t think Matt will not still care for her. I’m sure he still does despite his anger. That’s why I thought it was strange that he took a job at Mode when he wasn’t into publishing anymore & why would you want to work & see your ex everyday…& suddenly become her new boss.. I think he has an agenda like I said before to take out his anger on Betty. On Betty’s part, will she try to work on getting Matt to trust her again, but I’m sure the work situation will make it kind of difficult. I’m sure Betty still loves him & she knows that she made a mistake by not telling Matt about the Henry situation.. I’d say that Matt will eventually let his guard down & will try to make things work with Betty again.. I don’t think we can go through the whole season of them having tension between each other…you would like to have Betty to have some happiness at some point in this dept.
What are your thoughts on Betty & Matt UB fans?
Hey Tom, I would love to see a post on your speculation of who is in Wilhelmina’s apartment. I think it would be interesting to hear your theories about it, and maybe your remember a character I don’t that could possibly be in there. I’m thinking: Her daughter (Forgot name), Renee, Connor (Too Obvious?), Fey Sommers (Secretly alive), Alexis, maybe it is just someone like Marc and it just startled her (Would be sucky), or perhaps a character we don’t yet know.
i agree with the hitman, i dont think they addressed him as a PI plus the guy creeped me out so i think its a hit man( come on he was like “you want him alive?” HITMAN, the person in willies room(my guess fey), also the marc/betty thing i felt really bad and something that still confuses me IS WILHELMINA FIRED??AGAIN??? cuz if so where does that leave Marc he didnt get the editor job and now he has no job poor marc! if willie is fired(which i hate) why did cal keep her around(hate him) and is matt taking the co-editor position?? i guess i have to wait until september 25, 2009 at 9 o’clock
Loved this finale episode!! I agree with most of you here about Matt being manipulated by his father to take a job at Mode & being her boss seeing that he was considering to forgive her and thought he was being too hard on her. Esp. after he told Betty that he was “into” publishing anymore & wanted to stay far away from his father’s business dealings. His father probably offered a job to him so he “channel” his anger towards Betty in retaliation & maybe for Betty to see him everyday & being her boss to remind her what she did to him & to have the upper hand over her. I don’t think it would be in Matt’s personality to be that spiteful and it’s just his broken heart talking & hopefully will realize that & will go with his heart & eventually forgive her. Hopefully, he’s not that shallow. I’m sure Matt will still have feelings for and still loves her. After some bumps in the road, I think they will get back together & hopefully their relationship will grow. It would be interesting to see Matt & Betty pursue their relationship on a personal level & deal with each other on a professional level as well as pursue their original plan to move in together.(maybe that’s what Horta was hinting at as their relationship will be changing & growing) I don’t think the writers would have Betty go through that mcuh angst all season…she should have some happiness relationship wise. Enough with the obstacles already..
What would be more interesting is that if Matt turns out to be Claire’s & Cal’s son(which a lot of people ae guessing) That would make Matt & Daniel half-brothers & if Betty is back together with Matt then her loyalties would be tested seeing how close she is with Daniel & Claire. And I think Matt would need someone to confide in seeing that he doesn’t have any friends at Mode that he could confide in. Can’t wait till September
I have my suspicions of who Cal’s son is and who was in Wilhemina’s apartment being somehow related plot threads. The sheer fact that she would go against Claire like word wouldn’t get back to Cal is insanity. What was she thinking?! I love, love, loved the storyline lead-in and montage at the end set to Time After Time. B)-~~~ If they do a musical episode next season can I just make one small suggestion: Have Daniel Meade dance like Kevin Bacon in Footloose.
j/k That’s all I’m saying! Now, what I *really* wanna know is, if this is set in New York how come we never see any Cabbies, no guys with Travolta attitudes from Saturday Night Fever, no Guardian Angel/Equalizer vigilantes… what is this? Haha! No Casey Jones and Rafael from Ninja Turtles fighting over Cricket and a Jose Canseco bat in Central Park at night? At the very least there should be the grumpy old guys from Muppet Show balcony featured. That was a staple in Trading Places with Don Ameche or Paul Newman in The Hudsucker Proxy. Doesn’t Meade Publishing Empire also have an executive board of directors that oversee what CFO does for the corporation? Who gives the most powerful company in Fashion the authority to hire and fire outside of the shareholder with 51 percent of the holdings? That is a completely different angle to tackle Ugly Betty from which could cause even more distinct revelations about corporate ethnic diversity and quotas. As an editor, I’m sure these are the kinds of things Betty will run into in helping to keep Daniel or Cal from being overtaken by corporate raiders. B)-~~~ Let The River Run, my friends.
Ok, this is totally not on topic @ all, but I had to share:
I’m watching Glee, and Charlie (Jayma Mays?) plays a teacher! It’s hard not to hate her lol.
The season finale was quite good and everything started happening within the last 5-10 minutes of the show..OMG!! Molly’s death/Wili going back to her evil self again (YAY!) / the “adopted son” issue / and Betty getting her promotion (finally!!), but seeing her happinesw short-lived as Matt broke up with her & the revelation that Matt took a job at Mode and will be her new boss.
My take is that Daniel will be mourning the loss of Molly for awhile, but will eventually put his energies back into Mode and will not rush back into dating for awhile. Whoever Wili saw unexpectedly will probably go into cahoots with Wili to get her back into Mode & possibly take control of the company. If the adopted son turns out to be Daniel or Matt, it will be quite interesting as Betty will be caught in the middle & her loyalties will be tested.
As for Matt & Betty, my theory is that they will eventually get back together after some obstacles & rough spots. I agree with alot of you that it seems Matt took the job to retaliate back at Betty & to make her work life a little more difficult. But I’m also wondering too if he’s also trying to see if Betty can earn his trust back. Why would he want to take a job where he would see his ex everyday when he could have gone elsewhere. I don’t totally believe that they are over & think that they still have unresolved issues. Although Matt’ s heart was broken but Betty’s poor judgement, I think if Matt still truly loves her (which I think he does) & he considers her his “first love” then he would find it in his heart to forgive Betty & will work things out & try again. I’m also wondering if Matt & Betty are going to end up being the endgame as opposed to Daniel & Betty like everyone is hoping. Horta seems pretty adamant that Daniel & Betty should not be together. So far the American version of “Ugly Betty” is going a different route and from the the spoilers and other information that has been mentioned, it seems that they are going the Matt & Betty route more so now that they have revealed that he will be Betty’s new boss. Also Horta mentioned that Matt will be sticking around and that their relationship will be changing & growing & the fact that the writers had BIG plans for Betty & Matt (which I don’t think it has materialized yet) I think they are still going through some growing pains in regards to their relationship. Also the series regular option clause in Daniel Eric Gold’s contract makes you think they already had long-term plans for him. Although he will be more involved in Betty’s life professionally and not romantically at the moment, I think circumstances will bring them back together..
Ok!!! people you have said everything.. i just want add my favorite little part…
… It was when Daniel sent a little text message to betty saying…
“”"”I NEED YOU”"” (when time after time in the background)
WAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
(anyone knows who sing this version of time after time_???? please)
That song is amazing.”The song was re-released in a new acoustic version on Lauper’s 2005 release The Body Acoustic, which features acoustic versions of some of her songs. “Time After Time” is performed as a duet with Sarah McLachlan.”—–from wikipedia. I love this song very much!
i can’t waitfor Season 4!
yap…..me too.. I can’t wait to watch Season 4….I wanna Matt and Betty get back together…..
and those songs in Ugly Betty are so great…