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

Daniel excitedly says Betty just gave him an idea for how to fix the cover. Wow, I wonder what she said that could have done that?

Cut to the Mode Conference Room. Daniel unveils his new cover, which is totally black. Oh, I get it. It’s the New York skyline at night. Or maybe it’s some sort of a BLANK SLATE.

Actually, it’s a memorial page for Bradford, which everybody applauds. Ileana Douglas thinks this big idea will appease the advertisers, although I’m skeptical. But for the sake of a happy ending, let’s all just pretend she’s right about this.

Afterwards, Daniel thanks Betty for giving him the idea and once again tries to get her to come back to work. She brings up how ashamed her mother would be seeing how she’s been acting. Daniel responds, “I really think you can stay here and still be the person you want to be. Someone your mother would be so proud of.”

Cut to Wili’s apartment. She’s serving her Senator Daddy coffee and pitching him on investing in her new magazine. Senator Daddy isn’t so happy about this.

Senator Daddy: Where is she?
Wili: Who? Marc? She’s right there. Making omelets.
Marc: Scallions, senator?

But Senator Daddy is talking about Wanda, the ugly duckling with a heart of gold he once knew and loved. Saddened that Wili could be thinking about business mere hours after burying her fiancé, Senator Daddy walks out, saying, “I could never invest in a world that turned you into this.”

Cut to the Love Dungeon. Looking for comfort, a distraught Amanda has gone to suckle at the teat of designer footwear. Christina finds her there and tells her that, unlike what she might have believed about her mother’s talents, Fey actually “worked her arse off and sweated like a fish monger.”

Christina remembers that her own mother was all thumbs; she got her seamstress skills from her father, who had a gift for making his own gowns. Which he also wore. But Amanda has no clue what talents she might have inherited from her father, given she has no clue who he is. Unveiling the great wall of Daddy Candidate Photos, she renews her determination to find him.

The camera pans across the photos, many of whom are recognizable celebs. I’m personally hoping her father winds up being Dustin Hoffman, mostly because I’m dying to see a 60-something Academy Award-winning actor showing off a Tweetie tattoo on his ass.

Conference Room a la Mode. Subconscious-manifestation Bradford is back to bug Betty some more. He says he likes Daniel’s cover, since it’s different and something he would never have done himself.