Saturday, September 20, 2008

Snippet 22 - Ugly Betty Celebrates Halloween

Marc, dressed like Betty, stood in front of Amanda’s desk saying “Hola! Happy Halloween” and every one reeled in laughter. They were cut short by Wilhelmina’s presence and she said “That's the absolute cruel thing I have ever seen” (Marc, was embarrassed while the others just pretended not to be there), then, she jokingly said it had earned him a raise.


At the Suarez house, Betty confronted her father about the social security issue (Ignacio had decorated the house with scary objects) but he cleverly evaded answering her. Justin dressed up as a sailor and performed a song for them. While Betty and Hilda were discussing about their father’s social security number, he was busy cutting through a pumpkin and pretended he had cut his hand, blood (fake) gushed out and he fell to the floor. His daughters just looked at him with this “you are up to one of your tricks” look. He cleverly changed the subject and Hilda said she was out, Betty left too but, not without telling her father to get to the HMO office to check things out.

Wilhelmina was just telling Marc about how she enjoyed her date with a younger man and that they were going to the Halloween ball that night. Just then it appeared on the Fashion TV, she was called a robber of the cradle. Wilhelmina watched with anger building up inside her. Marc tried to switch it off the flat screen to no avail; the poor thing had to remove the plug from the wall (to prevent Wilhelmina from breaking it into pieces like she usually does in moment of anger). She immediately told Marc to call her date (Jason) to tell him their date for that night was off (oops) and she irritatedly told Marc to take off the ridiculous costume as she could barely stand the original.

For the Halloween, Betty dressed to work as a butterfly. Walter waited for her on the streets and cut her with a net - he was dressed like an explorer. He presented with a pumpkin-like bucket of sweet or chocolates, maybe.

When Betty got to Mode she realized that she was the only one dressed in a costume. Daniel was surprised to see her in a costume. He had a difficult assignment for her: to find his wrist-watch which he forgot at a girlfriend’s apartment. Problem is, he could not remember which of his girlfriends! He gave her a list to work with and told her to ask Amanda to help her.

Bradford met with his private eye in a dark alley as usual. He told him that an anonymously caller had been calling and giving Daniel details about his investigations.

Amanda came by Betty’s desk and she asked for her help in tracking Daniel’s watch but she declined and started digging into Betty’s sweets and eating greedily as usual. Betty handed over the list to Amanda to call them each lady to ask for the missing watch. Henry from the account department came by and paid Betty compliments on her choice of costume. The exchanged pleasantries (as if Amanda wasn’t there) and he invited her to come down to his department later.

Amanda found a small gift box inside the bucket of sweet and when Betty opened it was a note with a key inside. The message was “Betty, will you move in with me? With love, Walter”.

Snippet 21 - The Storm is Over!

Marc on the other hand started making that stifling sound again out of fright and Amanda? She could not eat the candy she had been nibbling on, she just stood there like a mannequin blinking her eyelids fearfully (oh my, this is funny!). There was silence as Wilhelmina walked round the three of them making them very afraid. She then stopped behind them, watched them for a while and said they could go. There was a “what?” in unison as they were surprised at being left off and Amanda asked if Wilhelmina was not going to fire Ugly Betty. She replied that if she were to fire Ugly Betty, they would all have to go too.

Somehow, Wilhelmina had done her investigation. She told them she knew exactly what happened – they each leaked a portion of the spread but ‘fat’ Carol slept with Carlos and spilled the whole bean intentionally. They were surprised and disgusted at the same time but relieved that their jobs were still intact. So, ‘fat’ Carol gets the axe.

Betty took Justin to the photo shoot and he was pleasantly amazed. Daniel asked Betty if Wilhelmina told her what happened and she nodded and apologized for what happened. He was glad for not losing her.

Bradford came in and was surprised that, that was not the concept he approved. He added that he had the final say on the every holiday spread for the past 20 years. Daniel told him issues arose at the last minute that couldn’t be avoided and Wilhelmina added that their job was to fix problems and not to burden him with them. Bradford was not pleased with the idea and he said “you two are so full of crap”.

Wilhelmina signified that they were ready to roll. Daniel quickly brought out his mother’s music box and placed it on the sleigh in honour of his mum. He opened it and the music started playing. That draw Bradford’s attention, he moved closer and he asked where he got it from. Daniel replied that he got it from the attic, that he remembered his mother had it.

He then said “it looked like the one Fey had, don’t you think?” (The inscription “To my Claire with my undying love’ on the inside of its lid) Bradford answered “yes, it’s almost identical”. And, with that he said “Good job son” and left, leaving Daniel more confused and Wilhelmina watching from the corner of her eyes.

Justin rushed to Wilhelmina that there was no snow for the photo shoot and she told him to say ‘snow’, and snow came down. (It was a beautiful sight) Then she said “snow is a magical blanket, it hides what is ugly and makes everything beautiful.” Betty who was behind Justin and Wilhelmina looked sideways at her and looked on thoughtfully. Daniel on the other hand, was a picture of torment and pain.

Betty went to the HMO and she discovered that her father had been using someone else Social Security number, a person that was supposed to 117 years old and dead. Betty was shocked.

Wilhelmina and the mystery woman on a phone conversation were delighting in the fact that Daniel and his father had grown further apart.

The next scene was surprising: Carlos came into Wilhelmina’s office obviously responding to her summons. She lashed at him; “You are an underhanded bastard. A despicable, slimy weasel, you have no moral corpus, without scruples and would use anyone in your part to get what you want!” She then asked “How can I entice you to work at Mode? Or rather spy for Mode".

Just sat on a couch with a puppy-dog look while his mother listed his punishment for ditching school; she wants him home at 4 o’clock every day, no TV for a week, (Betty came in just then) and no Fashion TV for a month”. When he wasn’t moved his mother asked if he wasn’t upset, he smiled and said “it was worth it”. Hilda repeated “it was worth it?” and said “thank you” to Betty (as if she caused it). Betty just looked at her with this “I have more important things in my mind” look and went to the dinning table where her dad met her and asked how her day went. He offered her one of her favourite snacks but she declined and said she was going to bed but as she left the dinning area she heard someone singing outside there front door. She got outside and it was Walter singing ‘Beauty & the Beast’, Betty’s favourite movie. She sat down and began to sing with him.