Ugly Betty Episode 4.03 Full Recap
October 25, 2009 by Tom
Here is the full recap for Ugly Betty episode 4.03, Blue on Blue. Quick thoughts:
- All in all, I thought this was a great episode. Instead of alternating between comedy and drama, this one had both within the same scenes.
- I like both of the new characters. Sammy is altogether likeable (he has a touch of Gio in him). Natalie is also quite a compelling character. Even dressed so strangely, I couldn’t take my eyes off her.
- The writers aren’t going to be able to resist hooking up Daniel and Natalie. I’m convinced of it. Maybe they could wait just a few episodes?? Please???
- The scene where Mark is “negotiating” between Amanda and Matt was hilarious. You could just see the wheels spinning in his head.
- It looks like the writers listened to many of us and didn’t follow the usual plot pattern of Betty saving the day at the end. This one was different, yet they found a way to still give the episode a profound ending.
- The restaurant scenes were very well done. Hilda’s interfering, Matt and Betty trying to make each other jealous – it was all good.
- Amanda was the dupe and used throughout the episode, yet, when she told Betty it was time to move on from Matt, didn’t it seem like she had her own reasons for saying that? Is Amanda going to start scheming now? I guess that’s where the hinted-at love triangle is going to come from.
As good as I felt about this episode, the ratings were awful – just awful. There’s no way to spin it. A 1.2 in the “demo” and 4.55 million viewers overall is very bad. Not Dollhouse bad, but Betty’s got to find a way to get back to a 2.0 demo and it absolutely HAS to beat Dateline, I think.
Betty fans, tell all your friends to watch – and tell them the show has been creatively improving since the middle of season 3.
Full recap after the jump.
Betty helps Hilda out at her salon in the morning before work, shampooing family friend Sammy’s (Adam Ferrara) hair. He tells the family that he has a big scoop about hot designer Evan Grant moving from “The Dolce” to “The Gucci” (he is remodeling Grant’s condo). Betty, who is desperate for a story, asks Sammy to look into a meeting.
Because of a cancelation of a shoot at The Cotton Club, Matt is desperately scrambling to find a replacement story. He calls an emergency meeting to get idea pitches, also using the time to torture Betty a little more by making her sit on a beanbag chair. When Betty finds out there is an article opening, she texts Sammy.
As the editors walk away, (Betty and Matt arguing) Marc and Amanda both obsess about Betty, Marc (it’s his birthday, but he doesn’t want anyone to know) for career jealousy, Amanda because Betty is in love. Wilhelmina sneaks up and tells Marc to take “his dream” back.
Betty insists that Daniel go to a bereavement support group. He reluctantly agrees.
Marc listens in on a phone conversation between Betty and Hilda, in which Hilda tells her that Sammy came through – the meeting will be at 4.
Ignacio needs someone to cover a busboy shift at the restaurant – Hilda asks if she can do it (for the extra money).
Wilhelmina rejects all of Matt’s ideas for the replacement article, and lets him know she thinks he’s incompetent. Right afterward, the bounty hunter calls, and tells Willi that he found Connor in Bermuda. Willi decides to leave right away to face him down.
Betty, much to Marc’s chagrin, gets Marc a birthday cake. As he’s blowing out the candles, he imagines Betty’s hair on fire.
Betty calls Daniel, who is at the school where the support group meeting will be held. To prove it to him, he asks a woman to describe where they are (she does, and says his phone smells like cheese). Then, Daniel tries to sneak away, but the woman (Natalie) stops him and tells him not to make a liar out of her. They both go back in.
Betty is surprised that’ she’s meeting Grant at his condo. Sammy had lied to him and told him he needed to come and pick out shower tile. As Grant enters, Betty tries to hide, but eventually has to tell him what she’s there for. Betty gets him to agree to meet her for dinner, mostly because she suggested he pick all of the tiles (blue on blue), which was his style anyway.
Daniel sneaks out of the meeting, and discovers Natalie has also. They strike up a conversation and decide to go for donuts,
Marc tries to break into Betty’s computer to find out about her meeting, but she walks up and surprises him. He uses the occasion to fake an apology, and find out from her that she’s meeting the designer at her dad’s restaurant (Frankie’s) that evening.
Wilhelmina calls Marc, letting him know about finding Connor’s hotel. Marc complains about Betty, Willi reminds him that Betty’s Achilles heel is obvious (we then see her trying to avoid Matt). Marc gets a revelation.
He then has an ingenious set of scenes where he convinces (separately), Amanda and Matt to go out to dinner together (for Amanda to fill Matt in on all things fashion, since he’s been so lost and she wants to prove her worth). Marc, of course, makes the reservation at Frankie’s.
Betty and Grant are at dinner (Hilda and Ignacio doting over them). Betty starts he pitch, then sees Matt and Amanda walk in arm-in-arm. Matt also sees Betty there with another man.
There then follows a scene where Betty comes very close to convincing Grant to let her do a feature on him. However, Hilda interferes and lies to Matt, telling him that Betty is there on a date (who in turn, lies to Hilda, telling her that he is on a date with Amanda). The whole thing spirals out of control, with each trying more and more conspicuous things to make the other jealous. Grant finally catches on, and leaves the meeting.
Betty angrily tells off Matt and Amanda (who is in turn angry because Matt used her to make Betty jealous). Amanda then storms out, and Betty and Matt take their argument to the kitchen.
There, Matt confesses to Betty that he’s been behaving the way he has because he’s a spoiled rich kid who can’t handle not getting his way. He also blurts out that he had hopes of fixing their relationship. He then leaves.
Wilhelmina calls Marc and tells her that the bounty hunter failed – Connor had checked out that morning. As she hangs up, Connor is standing right there.
He tells her he’s onto her, but that he still has feelings for her. She angrily reminds him he stole from her. He said he did it all for her. He once again asks her to run off with him. Before he leaves, he kisses her deeply one more time.
Meanwhile, Daniel and Natalie talk about grief and how they are having trouble coping. Natalie says one piece of advice stuck with her – to do one thing daily that make you feel alive. Daniel then remembers he and his brother in the Hamptons, sneaking into other people’s swimming pools. Natalie tells him she hasn’t done “her thing” today.
They sneak up to a rooftop pool. As they strip down to their underwear, Daniel tells Natalie that he’s not ready for sex. Natalie reminds him that her own boyfriend had OD’d two months ago, and besides, she didn’t have time to shower today, so he’d be safe 
. They then jump in the pool.
Later, Matt knocks on Amanda’s door and apologizes (bringing her a big cookie). He says she has a lot to offer and that he was wrong to not listen to her.
At the pool, Natalie gets Daniel to speak directly to Molly under the stars. At first he doesn’t want to, but her finally does, and finally decides to let go of his anger in the process.
Betty then comes to Amanda’s apartment and apologizes. As they talk, Amanda blurts out that Marc had been the one who set it all up. At that moment, they both discover that the whole night had been part of Marc’s scheme. They continue to talk, and Amanda tells Betty that she needs to move on from Matt.
The next day, Marc comes to work, and Betty lets him know that her night was a disaster, Elle got the story, and that she knew what Marc had done. Marc then turns the corner, and Amanda slaps him. Amanda tells him that he shouldn’t use her for his little schemes, they use people together. She then walks away.
Betty visits Daniel, who is actually smiling. As she is walking back to her office, she sees that Matt is replacing the beanbag he made her sit on with a real chair.
They share a smile.
Image: Bauer Griffin
When I first watched the episode, I wasnt too crazy about it. But I rewatched it and I think it was pretty good. It was a new writer too so it wasnt bad.
Also…Tom, I think should post this. SAVE BETTY: http://abc.go.com/site/contact-us
tell ABC how much you love the show! It cant hurt!!!
I don’t quite get why amanda looked at the cookie and then tell betty she should move on? That’s the answer I’d give her, but what’s the significance of looking at that dessert? She did have a flirty look after Matt apologized. Overall, this is not a strong episode, but not too bad either.
The episode was quite good. I can see that they are beginning to set up the future storylines with Daniel & Natalie & the “love triangle” between Amanda, Matt, & Betty. I did think Amanda has an ulterior motive regarding Matt & that’s why she told Betty she should on. I wonder if this is the unrequitted crush that Becki had mentioned about that Amanda was going to have. I’m also wondering about the significance of the cookie.
Matt is slowly letting his guard down as he admitted to Betty why he has been so mean to her & also revealed that he had hope to fixtheir relationship. So now we know that Matt still has feelings for her & I think Betty still cares too.
Did you catch the expression that Claire had on her face as Daniel asked Betty about how her meeting went & the expression she had when Betty explained everything??
@geek: I think the look at the cookie was supposed to mean that Amanda is interested in Matt and wants Betty to try to “move on” so that the path can be clear for her.
Pretty good episode! Over-all, I enjoyed it and I like the new Natalie character… I just really reallllly hope they don’t have Daniel jump into a new romance so quickly. I hope they find something interesting to do with Daniel’s character besides giving him a new girlfriend or having a loved one die/leave him (think Sofia, his dad, Renee, DJ, Alexis, Molly…).
I feel like it’s getting old!
Love the episode.. just wanted Matt and Betty to passionately kiss and make up after their argument in the kitchen.
ooowww- really hope ratings get better. plz enough to let ABC not cancelling Ugly Betty for these fans. And also hope the relationship between Matt and Betty improves. Absolutely they have feelings for each other, so it will be the problem of when they will be together. And I hope it becomes sooner.
I think this episode is meanigful for Betty and Matt. Matt is trying to admit himself and not to be a jerk. And Betty realizes that living for ‘Editor’ is not that easy. So they are both improving I think.
@Amanda, yes that was my initial reaction, too. But thinking back about Amanda being upset that she was used against betty, i thought it was her conscience, not the fact that she was used by marc. I thought she showed emotion/loyalty toward betty. so now let her turn around and scheme betty to “move on” so she gets a chance with matt, just seems a bit out of character.
I also agree about daniel. hopefully, natalie doesn’t turn into a g/f, just a buddy that hangs out with. she seems to be a free spirit, she can lead him into some crazy adventures, but not romance!
On Connor & Willie.. I do hope at the end, willie sails off with connor into the sunset.
That’s also how betty/daniel can be together and save the mead empire at last.
I thought that this was a fantastic episode and it allowed me to keep the wonderful feelings that I had gotten from watching the season premiere! Some of my thoughts:
- Daniel and Natalie: I thought that the actress who played Natalie was very good- much better than I thought she would be. I don’t think she’ll actually be a romantic interest for Daniel. Rather, I think that she’ll be bad news for him since I just read the episode synopsis for episode 4.08 (Backseat Betty), and it says that Daniel will be lured deeper into the clutches of the cult through the influence of Natalie and the cult’s leader. I’m still not sure about the secret that she has that pities her against Betty, but if anything is bad news for Betty, then it usually is bad news for Daniel too. I did love their scenes together in this episode and the scene where Daniel talks to Molly was very touching. I think that she’s just a character that can initially help Daniel through the grieving process (rather than Betty since she’s so busy with her work) and who will assist in Daniel’s plotline for the first half of the season until Claire’s plotline comes into light which will probably involve Daniel heavily.
Betty: I thought that this was the first episode where I could look at her and take her seriously. I honestly loved, loved the dress that she was wearing at the end of the episode. I thought that Betty acted a bit immature during the dinner that she had with the big designer, but she came across strong when she had that conversation with Matt at the end and also when she admitted in a strong way (not in a pathetic, whinny way that she did in Season 3) that she had failed when she was talking to Daniel and Claire.
Marc: He was hilarious in this episode and his yellow outfit reminded me of Jim Carey’s character in the movie THE MASK. I think that his anger is justified since if I had worked so hard to become a editor and then was shoved aside for the position in favor of someone who wasn’t as capable as I was, I would be angry too. Even though I personally wouldn’t take revenge on anyone, it suited Marc very well.
Amanda: She was great in this episode as well and I loved how she stood up to Marc in the end. I think that she’s trying to scheme to get Matt, but when she told Betty to move on from Matt so that she could possibly latch onto Matt, she didn’t even show the slightest bit of remorse. She knew how much Betty cared for Matt and after the friendship that they built during the last season, I would think that she would feel a bit more remorseful for trying to get Matt for herself. That’s why I’m a bit confused and uncertain as to whether she really is the 3rd party in the Bahamas love triangle.
Hilda: Hilda was just being Hilda in this episode and I loved it! Some people said that she pretty much ruined everything for Betty, but that’s what her character does best!
Wilhelmina and Connor: After the episode, I was left more confused than ever about where their relationship is heading and what role he will play later on (I think he shows up in a later episode also), but I love how he has the ability to leave Wilhelmina all confused and unsettled. Very few people in the show are able to do that to the character. The kiss was amazing!
Quick question: In discussions, I have been hearing that most people record Ugly Betty on Friday night and watch it on the weekend or they watch it online during the weekend. Do either of those forms of watching the show get factored into the total ratings for the show? For Friday nights, especially, I would think that those two forms of watching the show would be taken into account. Personally, I watch the show on Friday nights and then I watch it online at ABC.com on Saturday. I know that on Hulu, the episode was among the most popular show being watched and I don’t know if Hulu is even taken into account in the ratings as well since it might just be looked at as another site that offers the episodes for free. Just to be safe, I usually just watch it on the official ABC website and I encourage everyone to do so.
Do you know how long Jamie Lynn Sigler is hanging around for, Tom?I’m thinking its 5 episodes.I hope the friendship between Natalie and Daniel remains platonic.Which number is the Bahamas episode because Daniel is definetely not dating Natalie at that point if at all.
I didn’t like the episode that much because there weren’t enough Detty scenes .Liked the scene with Claire , Daniel and Betty at the end.Daniel was definetely giving Betty one of those looks that had nothing brotherly about it.lol
I’m glad Matt nice to Betty for get real chair in the office,but Matt and Betty fight in the kitchen and Betty feel bad when he said who I am to her. I don’t want if Amanda and Matt might dating when Betty saw and caught them make her jealous,but I know Amanda told her that she need move on from Matt
I’m so glad Conner and Wilhelmina are getting back together.
Has anyone read the lastest Letter from the Editor on ABC.com?? It’s hilarious!
and the Mister Sister entries! =D
UglyBettyFan, you read my mind! I agree with all of that, especially what you said about Amanda. I was really proud of Amanda this episode, much more so than usual. She showed that she wouldn’t intentionally sabotage Betty, stood up for herself, and is seriously trying to get ahead (instead of saying she wants to and not doing anything about it). I was so proud of her…until that last scene in which she looked at the cookie and told Betty to move on. I really thought Amanda wouldn’t go after a guy Betty had feelings for again with, like you said, the friendship they developed. (I loved how both Amanda and Betty so far this season have referred to each other as their “friend”, whereas Betty and Marc aren’t even back at “whatever we used to be”.) Becki Newton did say in the most recent podcast that the love triangle started in this episode, so I assume it’s going to be Matt/Betty/Amanda. I guess it’s going to be the opposite of Season 2. Instead of 2 guys liking Betty, this time it’ll probably be none as Matt and Amanda get closer. Either that or it’ll be both girls fighting over Matt.
To answer your question about ratings, I know online views don’t count toward ratings, but I’m sure ABC knows how many views Ugly Betty gets off its site- they probably don’t get Hulu’s numbers. As for DVRs, I think only same-day viewing gets counted. Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but I think that if you record the show and watch it on Friday, it gets counted, but not if you watch it on Saturday or later? Which doesn’t solve the problem, since most people miss Ugly Betty on Friday because they go out Friday night and can only watch it at the earliest on Saturday.
I wasn’t necessarily on Matt’s “side”, but I did empathize with him more than I did Betty in the first couple of episodes, just because of how much Betty hurt him and how he gave her many chances to come clean to him. (Though yes, he was definitely acting immature and like a hypocrite.) This episode softened me towards him more. I’m not sure they’re going to pair Matt with Betty again, but it’d be interesting to see them tackle issues like trust. Honestly, I just want Betty to have a happy, normal, stable relationship for a while (and NOT fall for someone else while in it) and have her problems occur in other parts of her life.
I’m trying to recruit people who I know watched the show, but stopped watching it during/after Season 2, by explaining to them just how great Season 4 is so far. A couple of them watched the premiere and are now going to watch the rest of the season, yay! I think word just needs to spread that this season is great and people are missing out by not watching. It’s a shame…the show deserves much more support than it’s getting right now from viewers and ABC.
This season is starting out a lot better than season three did. I love it!
I agree with those who feel that the fourth season is off to a strong start, at least creatively.
I noticed that the press release for this episode, along with ABC’s website, all gave the name of Hamish Linklater’s character as Evan York, but in the episode they changed it to Evan Grant. I am assuming it is because they found out about a real Evan York who has a clothing line in Los Angeles: http://www.yorkclothing.com/
I love the way this season is turning out! 1st, I’m sure the relationship between Daniel & Natalie will remain platonic. And when Matt explained himself to Betty, it made me feel so bad for him and understand where he’s coming from, especially when he said, “Since I’m a spoiled rich kid who couldn’t get what he wanted.” I really thought though that he’d maybe kiss her after. I would want to kiss him after, after THAT speech thats for sure!
I really hope it doesn’t get cancelled, it needs to go on!!