Ugly Betty Episode 3.18 Full Recap

Here is the full recap (finally!) of Ugly Betty episode 3.14 – A Mother Of A Problem.

On second viewing, I liked this episode more than the first time.  One of the commentors was right, the episode was pretty much well written and acted.  I thought Ignacio’s enthusiasm for Archie was a little over the top (he’s lived in the US for over 25 years, certainly he knows the level of “celebrity” a local councilman has!)

The biggest writing glitch to me was the absolute omission of any reference to baby William.  What’s up with that?

If we could have more scenes of Vanessa Williams in her underwear, I won’t complain. 

I now agree with most of the rest of you.  They need to bring the Daniel / Molly story line to a close.  I still like how this whole thing has helped Daniel mature, and Sarah Lafleur still makes my heart flutter (I know, I know – there’s no accounting for taste, huh?), but the writers have taken the story about as far as it can go, without Molly actually dying.  It’s time.  It’s going to be so sad, but sad is better than boring.

I now feel that the final scene with Christine Baranski was played just about right.  I was expecting fireworks, but subtlety might be a better way to go if Victoria is going to be around for a while.

Full recap after the jump!

Betty and Matt are preparing for breakfast at the Suarez house (was he already there? ).  As the family brags on Ignacio’s cooking, Justin asks Matt if he’s eaten at the Four Seasons (embarrassing Betty).  Elena enters and kisses Ignacio.   Betty burns her mouth on her Guadalajara Scramble Especiale.  She explains she’s hurrying because she has to meet Daniel at the office (on a Saturday) – they are putting in crazy hours trying to keep the magazine afloat.  She also says that she and Matt are going to a Rangers game (Matt has to go for work and Betty’s paying him back for being so patient).

Matt tells Betty that she needs to meet him at his Mom’s place – he’s staying there while his apartment is being remodeled.   He says his mother is out of town, but she’s dying to meet Betty. 

Archie Rodriguez arrives for his weekly haircut appointment.  Ignacio kisses up to Archie while the family tries to talk Hilda into going out with him.  Hilda says he’s nice, but missing something.

At Molly’s apartment, Daniel and Molly discuss Darek Jeter’s relative attractiveness.  Daniel gets ready to go to Mode.  While he’s gone, Molly wants to go hang out in Prospect Park, but Daniel wants her to stay home and take care of herself.  She reluctantly agrees to do this.

At Mode, Betty arranges Daniel’s day, and  tells him the doctor he wanted for Molly is in town.  Daniel thanks Betty for doing all this without pay.  He tells her to go meet her boyfriend, Betty correct him and says Matt isn’t her boyfriend.  Daniel tells her to enjoy it, but Betty doesn’t want to use “labels”.

Daniel and Wilhelmina discuss how they’re going to hire premiere photographer Miles Foster if they can’t afford him.  Wilhelmina says they’ll try to give him complete creative control.  She tells Daniel that he must play it cool during their meeting with Foster.  

Foster shows them his work, of course they are impressed.  Wilhelmina mentions a Brady Bunch spread he did with Brad and Angelina in which he got Jennifer Aniston to play Alice (heh!).  They offer him complete creative control, and he’s excited to do a photo shoot for them.  Daniel tells him they appreciate him taking a cut in his fee; Foster immediately calls off the shoot and gets up to leave.  Foster gives mode till Friday to come up with the full fee, or he won’t do the shoot.

After he leaves, Daniel and Wilhelmina agree to pay for the shoot out of their own pockets.  Daniel offers to pay the whole thing, but Wilhelmina insists on paying her half.

Betty arrives at Matt’s Mom’s (Victoria Hartley) home.  Victoria unexpectedly arrives and mistakes Betty for a servant.  Betty informs her that she’s dating Matt.  Victoria looks surprised, and says “Really?”  Matt arrives, surprised to see his mother.  He properly introduces the two, who look at each other awkwardly.

On the street, Betty yells at Matt for misleading her about his mother’s eagerness to meet her.  Matt apologizes, and explains that his mom is judgmental and controlling – he didn’t want to put Betty through the “Victoria Hartley Taste Test”.   Betty says that it matters if his mom likes her.  She asks to meet her again, so Matt invites her to a party at his mother’s apartment Friday night.

Agents for an auction house go through Wilhelmina’s luxurious possessions, which she intends to sell.  Marc asks her why she doesn’t ask one of her rich friends for money; she says she doesn’t want them to ‘own her’.  Marc calls Wilhelmina the world’s sexiest economics teacher.  The buyer agrees to buy her furs and jewels and will be back Friday with the down payment.  This sends marc into a conniption, so Wilhelmina agrees to let him try on the sable one last time.

In her lone scene, Amanda asks Betty about Matt.  She tells Betty that she’s playing “this Matt thing perfectly”.  Amanda says if she keeps it up, Betty will be in the gold digger hall of fame. Betty is indignant.

At the office, Wilhelmina calls Marc into her office for her daily 4 o’clock champagne and caviar break.   He sheepishly rolls a cart in and tries to walk away without saying anything.  Wilhelmina calls him back in when she sees that he brought almonds and seltzer.  He tells her they can’t afford the old luxuries under the new office budget.  Wilhelmina reluctantly goes along.

Daniel and Molly talk to the doctor Daniel brought in.  Daniel explains that Molly was diagnosed 8 years ago, they didn’t catch it early so the treatment was aggressive, but it had worked.  The doctor tells them there is a small chance his treatment will work, but he’s about to start a new clinical study he’d like Molly to participate in.  Molly wants to think about it, but Daniel insists they sign up right away.

Betty comes to Claire for advice about Victoria’s party.  Claire admits she knows Mrs Hartley, but obviously doesn’t like her.  Claire first grills Betty on basic etiquette, which she knows well, then asks her “the topic”.  She says all these “East Side Cows’ have a topic of conversation they like to introduce during the meal.  Claire tells Betty to call Mrs Hartley’s house – they’ll get one of the maids to tell them the Topic.   They do this (Claire asks for Consuela – there’s ALWAYS a Consuela), then hands the phone to Betty who asks about the topic in her best Spanish.  The maid tells her the topic is “torture”.  Betty is pleased, because she just read an article in New Republic about torture.

Marc runs into Wilhelmina’s office frantically trying to turn off the TVs and computers.  He also tells her not to read any newspapers tomorrow.  He tells her that he got a call from his source at Fashion Buzz about a rumor that had to do with her.  Wilhelmina rushes to the television, and Suzuki St Pierre is reporting on Wilhelmina’s financial troubles.  Suzuki is at his snarkiest, and Wilhelmina is humiliated.  She tells him to cancel her calls and meetings, she’s done for the day.

Justin adjusts Betty’s dress, which he picked out, while Betty practices talking about torture.  She looks pretty good!  Elena and Hilda set the table for dinner; Hilda notices there’s an extra setting. The doorbell rings, and Elena starts to tell Hilda that they invited Archie over for dinner, but Hilda opens the door to see Archie first.  Hilda is not pleased.

Marc enters Wilhelmina’s apartment with the auction house people and calls for her with no answer.  He searches for her, getting more anxious by the moment.  Marc finally finds her, curled up on her bed, covered in all her furs and jewels, looking pitiful.

The Suarez family gushes over Archie and how he’s a “celebrity”.  Hilda says he’s a Queens councilman, not Justin Timberlake.  She grabs Elena out of the room with her to chastise her over the whole situation, but Justin approaches with a glass of wine, which he calls her “medication”.

At the Hartley party, Betty, with Matt, meets Victoria again.  Victoria tells Matt that he needs to “circulate”.  Stuffed mushrooms on skewers are presented, Betty and Matt both take one.  Matt steps to the side for a second, then calls Betty to introduce her to someone.  She whips around, and her mushroom cap flies off the skewer. 

Victoria announces that dinner is served, but first, she wants to present the newest piece in her art collection (soon to be on display at the Louvre).  She hits the fancy light thingie, revealing the painting, and that Betty’s mushroom cap had flown onto the painting, to Victoria’s shock.  Betty starts to speak, but Matt interrupts her and “admits” that HE had done it.  Victoria still blames Betty for bringing out Matt’s “playful side’.  The party then goes to the dining room for dinner.

Wilhelmina tells Marc that selling all of her possessions is hitting her harder than she thought it would.  Marc says he hates seeing her like this, but as he says this, takes out his cell phone and takes a photo.  .  After throwing a fit of self-pity, the doorbell rings, and Wilhelmina throws all of her stuff at Marc and tells him to take it all.  She even takes off the fur she is wearing, and stands on the bed looking marvelous in her bustier underwear.  She says, as of right now, “Mama is downsizing!” Marc yells, “Not where it counts, baby!”, and Wilhelmina looks down at her breasts. 

At Molly’s apartment, Molly tells Daniel that the side effects of the experimental treatment look very rough.  Daniel wants her to think about their future; Molly says there is no future.  Now is all they have.  Daniel refuses to accept that Molly is dying.  He vows once again to stay by her side.  Molly says she will not do the treatment.

We then see two ‘dinners’ interposed, the Suarez dinner and the Hartley dinner.  Here they are separately:

The Suarez Dinner:

Archie tells a story about falling asleep at a council meeting.  Everyone is enthralled but Hilda.  Archie notices that Hilda is uncomfortable.  Elena asks Ignacio to help her with dessert.  They also get Justin to come along.  Archie asks Hilda how awkward this is for her, since her family was being so obvious.  Archie then recites the lyrics to a Justin Timberlake song, melting Hilda’s heart just a little with humor. 

Later, as Archie is leaving, Elena calls Ignacio away (to leave Hilda and Archie alone).  Archie says jokingly that this is supposed to be the time (according to the family’s plan) for him to ask her out.  But then he just says good night and starts to walk away.  Hilda stops him and tells him not to disappoint her father like that.  Archie  says he’s love nothing better than to take her out on a real date, and Hilda says yes.  Archie then yells to Ignacio and Elena that he had asked Hilda out.  Ignacio and Elena emerge, pretending to be shocked.

The Hartley Dinner

As the party enters the dining room for dinner, Victoria tells Matt that she’s splitting all the couples up; she wants him to sit with her (leaving Betty across the huge table).  As Victoria is standing to announce the topic, Matt texts Betty, saying “Here we go, torture!”  But Victoria announces that the topic is the future of opera.  Betty audibly says “opera!”  in shock, and Victoria asks her thoughts on the subject, putting her on the spot.  All eyes turn to Betty.  Betty stammers and rambles at first.   Her cell phone buzzes; she looks down at the text that Matt sent her reminding her that Gareth Pugh was in the Mode Opera photo spread last November.  This triggers Betty’s memory.  She then goes into a speech about how opera is fashion, and must evolve to give the audience a more hopeful version of themselves.

someone compliments her opinion, and Betty reveals that she works at Mode, which sets off whole new avenues of conversation.  Betty wows the party, much to Victoria’s displeasure.  Matt raises his glass to Betty in salute.

Later, Betty looks at Hartley family pictures, as Victoria approaches.  Victoria asks Betty where she went to college (Queens college), and if she was the first person in her family to go.  Victoria tells her that Matt went to Yale, he speaks 3 languages, had spent a year in Rome on a Fulbrite scholarship, and played piano.    She then asks Betty what the two of them have in common.   Betty has a hard time, then Victoria tells Betty that she doesn’t fit into her high hopes for Matt, and that she doesn’t think they’ll be seeing Betty again.

Later, Betty goes through the coat rack trying to find her coat.  Matt comes in, and Betty tells him what his mother had said to her.  She tries to leave; Matt tries to stop her.  He tells her he wants the relationship to work.  At this moment, Victoria walks up.  She tells Matt to come to dessert after he says goodbye to Betty.  Matt defiantly says that he’s not saying goodbye to Betty, he’s saying goodbye to her.  He bids his mother goodnight, and says he’s leaving with his girlfriend.  Then, the two of them leave.

At Mode, Wilhelmina and Daniel get foster to sign the contract.   After foster leaves, Daniel thanks Wilhelmina for putting up her share of the money, and tells her that “life is too short”, and that he doesn’t want to push her out of the company.  He says he’s learned a lot from Molly, who is determined to live life on her own terms.  This thought impresses Wilhelmina.

The next day, marc rolls in the cart of almonds and seltzer, but Wilhelmina reveals that she has caviar and champagne – that, like Molly, she’s going to live till the day she dies.  Marc asks her how she’ll pay for it.  She says she’ll do whatever she has to do, and ‘As God as my witness, I’ll never go without champagne and caviar again!’ 

Daniel tells Betty about how Molly won’t go through with the treatment.  Betty tells him that sometimes you don’t get more (time).  Sometimes you have to take what you get.

Claire asks Betty how the party went.  Betty tells her.  She says she doesn’t know what to do to get Mrs Hartley to like her.  Claire says it will never happen, and that Betty needs to grow up – not everybody is going to like her.  (Yay!)  She tells Betty to “throw it right back at her”. 

Daniel walks into Molly’s apartment with determination, opens the window, makes a snowball, and throws it at Molly.    He tells her he’s going to take her on adventures every day for as long as he can.  He tells her he loves her.  They kiss.

On the street, Betty runs into Victoria.  Mr Hartley says she won’t apologize for who she is or what she thinks.  Betty says she won’t either.  Betty says she’s sorry for her, and that she might be around for a while.  She then stares her down.  Victoria walks away, an Matt approaches.   They walk together down the street.

Image: Bauer-Griffin