Ugly Betty Episode 209 Recap: “Giving Up the Ghost”

Daniel does the only sensible thing and goes to get Cameron a bottle of vodka. That seems like a reasonable starter drink, but I’m guessing he’ll need a lot more than that to appease her, given she’s the type who drinks until she pees on chairs.

Daniel’s action horrifies Betty, but he reminds her it’s exactly what his father would do in this situation, and she was the one who told him to follow in his footsteps.

Meanwhile, at Mode reception, Amanda is busy at work, tossing Skittles in the air and trying to catch them in her mouth. Ileana Douglas asks where the “What’s Hot” pages are, and Amanda assures her she’ll get to them; her mother used to say that creativity was “inspiration, not perspiration,” so she’s waiting for inspiration to strike.

Just then, a delivery guy shows up bearing 10 pizzas. Given the number of people who stayed behind to help Daniel, that works out to an entire pizza per person. Meanwhile, Wili’s staff is only getting two measly pieces of cheese each. I know which magazine I’d want to work for, dental plan be damned.

Amanda eyes the delivery guy and, in a rush of inspiration, says he’s just what she’s been looking for. The delivery guy gets all excited, convinced that the world’s most common porno scenario is about to come true for him. But she assures him the favor she wants is not sexual. Then she tells him to drop his pants.

Back at the printers, Alexis has filled Harvey in on the gory details of her surgery, and now the two of them are bonding over how neither one turned out the way their fathers had hoped. Harvey remembers how he wasted time trying to win his father over, until he finally stood up to him and said, “This is who I am.”

Alexis pulls the “but my father’s dead” card, and that’s the trump move that finally wins Harvey over. He agrees to give Mode a one-hour extension on their deadline.

Cut to the Mode Conference Room. Ileana Douglas has pretty much given up hope on Amanda coming through, so she’s planning on replacing “What’s Hot” with “Quick and Easy Tips.” Why not just put in football stats, since there’s apparently nothing this alleged fashion magazine doesn’t cover.

“Not so fast,” Amanda says, strutting in beaming. She proceeds to introduce this model who she’s dressed up in a slightly altered version of the Pizza Delivery Guy’s uniform. I, for one, am thrilled by this. Because if this slobby look is the new hot, then I’ve suddenly become hot for the first time in my life. I hope my partner realizes this.

As the model walks through the conference room, Amanda makes “boom chicka boom” noises, culminating in touching the model’s outfit with a “sizzle” and proclaiming it “smokin’ hot.” In other words, Beetlejuice is now the arbiter of “What’s Hot.”

But Ileana Douglas is horrified by this get-up, and sets Amanda straight …

Ileana Douglas: I knew Fey Sommers. I worked with Fey Sommers. I once made out with Fey Sommers. And Amanda, you are no Fey Sommers. I think it’s time you went back to the phones.

At the photo re-shoot, Henry approaches Betty looking for Daniel. Just as she starts explaining what Daniel’s up to with the vodka, Cameron comes out raving about how “this shoot sucks.” Then she starts trashing the set like a rock star in a hotel room. Gee, that went well.

Betty can’t help herself and starts lecturing Daniel, asking, “In what world did it seem like a good idea to give an alcoholic a bottle of vodka.” Daniel replies, “In my father’s world … but not mine.” He explains that he couldn’t go ahead with it, and Betty tells him that’s a good thing. Now he can stop trying to fill his father’s big shoes and start doing things his own way. In other words he’s now a “BLANK SLATE.”