"Ugly Betty" (4.3) Recap: Blue on Blue

With the fourth season of ABC's Ugly Betty settling in on Friday night (and garnering so-so ratings), it's only fitting that our plucky heroine would have trouble adjusting to her new position as feature editor of Mode.

Fortunately her new trails and tribulations have lit a creative spark, because this season is already rife with potentially juicy storylines. Let's take a look at the good, the bad, and the "meh" of last week's episode, Blue on Blue. (ALL PICS - ABC/PATRICK HARBRON)

Maybe if we stand perfectly still she'll sniff us and leave

The Good: Evil Marc Returns

Of all Ugly Betty characters, Marc has probably grown the most. He started out as a one-note, one-dimensional stereotype (the bitchy gay lackey), who had it in for Betty and lived to torment her on a weekly basis.

Over the years, though, the character has been allowed to reveal his insecurities and to mature, and his relationship with Betty has grown into a well, I'll just come out and say it ... a friendship. Of course they would never admit to it ... in this episode it's referred to "whatever it is we were".

It must have been difficult, then, to bring back the Season One Marc manipulations and Betty-Hate without appearing to backslide with the character. Somehow they've pulled it off.

Are you sure this is how gay Eskimos and their BFF's do it?

When Marc (who's rocking his brand-new Josh Brolin as Dan White haircut) hears that Betty is wooing a designer for a huge Mode story, he (with assistance from Wilhelmina) twirls his mustache and rubs his hands together. He convinces Amanda to take the still Betty-smitten Matt to the same restaurant, which naturally ruins Betty's dinner meeting, thus bringing Marc one step closer to getting Betty's job.

His machinations may harken back to "Classic Marc", but this time there are consequences to his actions. Amanda tearfully slaps him across the face and says "you don't use me for one of your little schemes ... we use people together", and Betty lets him know that she's aware of what he did, and tells him to "grow up and act your age".

Willi tells him that "scheming is a lonely business", but it's clear that Marc is torn between his career ambitions and keeping his, well, I'll say it again ... friendship with Betty. It'll be interesting to watch this season how far Marc is willing to go, and if it'll have an effect on his burgeoning mentoring relationship with Justin.

Next Page - The Bad