This is (primarily) the scene from episode 3.22, In The Stars, in which Adele makes an appearance, and ends up singing the song “Right as Rain”.

It also features some of the best moments and characters from the latter half of season of season 3.  Before everything fell apart.  Although I greatly enjoyed the heart-wrenching season finale, it’s nice to see all the characters happy.

Above all, I love this song.  I’m an old R&B guy, and the production of Right as Rain, along with Adele’s wonderfully soulful voice just lift the spirit and bring a smile to one’s face.

I think Adele might have been my favorite celebrity guest star in season 3, although her speaking part was minimal.  I know it’s hard to fit musical sequences into too many episodes, but I hope we can see more moments like this in season 4.

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• Excellent, excellent episode!  When you can pack that much action into one episode, make it coherent, and make it fly by, it’s well done all around.
• This was one of Michael Urie’s best.  He spent most of the time panicking over the YETI project, the rest looking puzzled at Jodi’s advances.
• Speaking of Jodi, the whole storyline between her and Marc would not have worked, had it not involved Urie and the wonderful Bernadette Peters.  She is larger than life.
• I don’t know how Becki Newton feels about it, but I loved how Amanda was used in this episode.  She wasn’t part of any story line; her job was to interject wackiness at appropriate times.  The scene where Marc and Betty were ignoring her on the phone was classic.
• The gay marriage reference was done with the usual Ugly Betty sense of humor and flair.  I prefer the subtlety of Betty over the preachiness you might get from other shows.
• Much more controversial, believe it or not, was the scene in the conference room with the over-the top product placement for Cherry 7-UP.  I’ve seen a lot of complaint about this, but I think the complaints miss the point.  Product placement is a fact of life in TV and movies.  I like the fact that the writers decided that, since they were going to do it anyway, instead of insulting the audience, they’d let them in on the joke.  I’ll do a longer full post about this subject soon – I thought it was one of the funniest scenes in the episode.
• Once complaint – they’ve made Matt into such a head case, it’s hard to like him.
• I like having the old Wilhelmina back.  She’s funniest when she’s annoyed and frustrated.
• The musical scene with Adele was the best the show has ever had (excluding Amanda’s My Milkshake scene).  I wish they could have made it longer.

Full recap after the jump.

The episode begins with Suzuki St Pierre recapping all the dealings at Mode from the previous few episodes, focusing on the Cal Hartley bailout of Meade.  At home, Betty tells her family that today is performance review day, and that she’s going to ask to be promoted to editor.  As everyone goes to start their day, Hilda knocks over Elena’s purse, revealing a letter from a Nursing school in California.

Betty and Marc simultaneously go in for their annual performance reviews.  Both are glowing (Wilhelmina calls Marc “adequate”, which is about the highest praise she’ll give), yet they are also both informed that there is a hiring freeze (part of the bailout), and neither will become editor this year.  Daniel does tell Betty that if YETI brings her an opportunity, he’ll give her a great reference.

Hilda confronts Elena about the letter from California.  Elena insists she hasn’t decided if she’s going to take the position.  She really wants the job, though, so she is torn.  Hilda insists she tell Papi.

Cal butts into a staff meeting where Wilhelmina is going over the final layout for Mode’s wedding issue.  It highlights the “Little Black Wedding Dress”.  Cal hates the idea.  He starts to make suggestions, and with each new one, Wilhelmina looks more and more perturbed.

During this scene, there is HEAVY, over the top product placement for Cherry 7-up antioxidant.  It’s in Cal’s hand, on the table, in the layout, and mentioned on-air twice.  It’s so in your face, it’s obvious the writers decided to have a little fun with the task they were given, and the results are hilarious.

Claire walks in to get the conference room for a Hot Flash meeting, and Cal asks her opinion of the layout.  Claire suggests instead of highlighting black, they highlight colorful wedding dresses, like in Europe.  Cal asks her to work with Wilhelmina revamping the issue.  Willi is about ready to explode.

Molly sees a giant ring and proposal on a desk, she thinks it’s for her from Daniel and says yes.  Unfortunately, it was part of the layout instead.  But now Daniel knows what her answer will be, so he knows her can propose in earnest without worry.

At YETI, Jodi is making the final assignment of the year, based on seating at the table.  She announces that because of the economic downturn, only the members of the winning team will get interviews with publishing companies.  Marc, Betty and a non-present Matt are teamed up, and they are assigned (randomly) to create a magazine layout involving music and physical sciences.  During this scene, Jodi flirts with Marc (her boyfriend dumped her the night before).

Marc and Betty dive into their assignment; Betty will write the article, Marc will book a great musician to photograph.  Matt, assigned to securing the venue (the planetarium) is distracted watching silly YouTube videos with Amanda.  Marc tells Betty they can’t count of Matt, but Betty defends him and says he’ll be fine.  Marc says that if Matt doesn’t come around, they’ll have to kick him out of the group.

Daniel tells Claire he can’t decide on a ring; Claire, somewhat reluctantly, pulls her engagement ring off her finger and tells Daniel to go propose.  He does, with Betty and Claire watching, getting on one knee quite romantically.  Claire is wonderful in this scene.

At the Suarez house, Hilda and family use the news of Daniel’s engagement to convince Ignacio to propose to Elena, so she’ll stay in New York with him.

Marc announces to Betty and Matt that he’s gotten Grammy winner Adele to do their photo shoot.  (He tells a wonderful 6-degrees to her story, of course involving Kevin Bacon).  Matt then tells them the Planetarium fell through.  This makes Marc so mad, he says loudly that Matt should be kicked off the team.  Betty begs Matt to get with the program, but he agrees with Marc, and leaves, sadly.  Betty chases after him, and in the hall Matt tells her he’s lost his passion for publishing; he’s now into art.  Betty is freaked out, but tells him she supports him.

Marc’s choice of venue falls through, and Betty, exasperated, says, “We can’t just paint stars in your apartment and call it the planetarium – this is Adele, not Amy Winehouse”.  Betty then gets a call and finds out they did indeed get the planetarium after all.  Betty goes to sign the contract.

Wilhelmina argues with Claire over a colorful (but rather hideous) dress, the model between them.  Claire brings up Connor, and Wilhelmina says the model looks like a baboon’s ass.  As the argument escalates, Marc “evacuates” the staff for their own safety, and they all get out except the poor model, who has her dress torn by Wilhelmina.

Daniel and Molly get a wedding planner; Molly wants the beach, a band, and tacos.  The planner freaks out when Daniel says they need to do it within the month (Molly doesn’t have a lot of time), but Daniel insists that they find a way to get it done.

At the planetarium, Victoria surprisingly shows up, and asks Betty to do what she can to keep Matt on track.  Apparently, he’s spent a lifetime starting things and not finishing them; she even has a slideshow for effect.  Betty doesn’t want to to this, but agrees because Victoria got the planetarium for them (plus, she would also like to see Matt finish YETI).

Meanwhile, Ignacio very nervously proposes to Elena, and she says yes.  He doesn’t have a ring but promises to get one as soon as he can.

At lunch, Betty talks Matt into finishing YETI.  Matt says she’s sounds like his mother, but he does agree to come back.

At the planetarium, Matt really embraces the project, and Betty is impressed.  Betty meets Adele’s manager, who really doesn’t want to be there.  Victoria comes in to see if Matt is really there, and on her way out whispers thank you to Betty.  This infuriates Matt, and they argue very loudly in front of everyone, causing Adele’s manager to call them amateurs and leave with the star before the shoot.  Things are falling apart, so Marc leaves to play his last card, Jodi’s attraction to him.

As one of the planners goes through a wedding gift guide (the planner fretting that he can’t get married), Molly realizes just how little time she has left, and tries to call off the wedding. 

At the Suarez house, Papi answers a call from the nursing school.   He is visibly upset.

Wilhelmina barges into Cal’s office and says she can’t work with Claire anymore.  Claire, for the good of the magazine agrees to step down.  After Wilhelmina leaves, Cal asks to speak with Claire alone.

As Betty is fretting about everything falling apart, Daniel tells her that Molly cancelled the wedding.  Betty, trying to make the best of two bad situations, convinces Daniel to go grab Molly and have the wedding right there at the planetarium.

Daniel and Molly have a wedding that is at once beautiful and strange, married by and actress/model dressed as an alien, who was an ordained minister before switching professions .  The bride and groom are beautiful and dashing. 

Later, Claire walks up to Wilhelmina and informs her that Cal made her (Claire) Senior Vice President of Meade.  She will report only to Cal, and Wilhelmina now reports to her.  This makes Wilhelmina so angry, she stalks off behind the set and destroys some planets.

Matt returns, and apologizes to Betty.  He also brings back Adele, who Betty gushes over before she performs for the wedding (and photo shoot).

Ignacio walks up to Elena and tells her he’s got something for her.  Instead of a ring, he hands her plane tickets, though.  He says it’s not the right time for marriage, and she needs to go follow her dream.

At YETI, Jodi loves the submission by Team Betty, and declares them the winner (adding that it has nothing to do with whatever Marc happened to do with her the night before).  She declares them the YETI winners (meaning they will get industry interviews). 

As Daniel and Molly are preparing for their honeymoon in Bora Bora, Molly collapses in the bathroom, and the episode ends with Daniel discovering her lifeless body.

Image: Bauer Griffin

Post from: Ugly Betty News

Betty teams with Matt and Marc for their all-important final YETI project, a photo shoot with Grammy winner Adele, but Matt’s slacking off could jeopardize everything they’ve worked for. Meanwhile, love is everywhere as two wedding proposals are made, but only one couple will walk down the aisle; Claire and Wilhelmina square off over their roles at Mode; and Matt’s mom (guest star Christine Baranski) asks Betty for a favor.

There is a LOT going on here.

The promo focuses on the wedding, of course.  Assuming it’s Daniel’s (and it looks like it is in the wedding snippet), it will be the shortest engagement ever, outside of Vegas.  I’m still wondering about the “other” marriage proposal.

Judging from Wilhelmina’s anger in a couple of these clips, I have to assume that Claire gets the upper hand, at least temporarily.

I LOVE the “space” decorations for the wedding (which I bet will also be the Adele photo shoot.

I’m assuming the silhouette we see at the end is Victoria Hartley (based on the synopsis).  I’m really curious what “favor” Victoria needs from Betty.  Either it part of a war between Cal and her with Betty caught between, or it has something to do with Claire’s secret with the family (based on who you listen to, it’s highly likely that Claire had an affair with one of them years ago).

I don’t want to jinx things, but this one looks like it could possibly rival 3.15, There’s No Place Like Mode, in soapy-comedy goodness.

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Ugly Betty

According to the Guide, she’s going to play herself in an episode entitled, “In The Stars”.  (No word on the episode number, but it has to be 22, 22, or 23).  In this episode, Betty, Marc and Matt oversee a photo shoot for a YETI assignment that turns into an impromptu wedding.

As a spoiler aside, it would be both sappy and quite touching if the impromptu wedding was between Daniel and Molly.  Even if she’s going to die, the gesture would represent a huge step in Daniel’s maturity.

But, I’m just speculating.  For all we know, the impromptu wedding could be Adele’s.  Or anyone else’s for that matter.

I can tell you this: I tried to watch the Grammys this year, but the show was awful.  The only part I liked was Adele.  (OK, Alison Krauss and Robert Plant were pretty cool, too).

But, I’m going to love this guest appearance.  I wonder if there will be any more this sweeps season?

Image: SpashNewsOnline.com

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