"Ugly Betty" (3.08) recaplet: Tornado Girl

This week's Ugly Betty contains a tornado, a heartbreaking confession, and hideous hats. Will it be as terrific as last week's episode, or prove to be a disaster?

Find out after the break!

Before we begin this week's episode, I think it's high time we salute the people behind the scenes, specifically, the director. After all it is the director whose vision we see on the screen, so this week we'll start by paying tribute to the man behind the camera.

This week's Ugly Betty director is John Terlesky, who by sheer coincidence is also my favorite slice of 80's beefcake! John starred in such classic (to me) films as Deathstalker II, Valet Girls, and the iconic Chopping Mall.

He does more directing than acting these days, and in an interesting bit of trivia, is married to Jayne Brook, who plays Scotty's disapproving mother on Brothers & Sisters.

We begin with Betty getting great news ... the new issue of Mode won't arrive at the loading dock to be shipped until noon. Why is this great news? Well, it may just give Betty the chance to show everyone that she can be left in charge. After all, what are the odds that something "wacky" could happen to mess it up?

The senior staff of the magazine is leaving for a work thing in the woods (and when Daniel tells Betty "I was hoping to ride up to the retreat with Connor", I can't be the only one who thought "Oh, please let it be Plato's Retreat!").

Betty tries to convince Daniel to leave her in charge of the final approval (right before the magazine goes out) and he reluctantly agrees (he could stay to do it himself, but that would mean missing out on being in the "fun car" with Connor ... please tell me I'm not the only one who thought "strip punch bug!").

With all of the senior staff gone (including Wilhelmina, who was goaded into going by her crush Connor) Betty is in charge, and heads to the shipping dock to give her final approval for shipping. Back at Mode, Betty is walking on air and enduring the ribbing of the remaining staff when a news bulletin flashes across the TV screens. A tornado in Kansas has devastated the area and left the state in ruins. What does this have to do with anything? Well the cover of the latest Mode is called "In the eye of the fashion storm" and features ... a tornado on the cover.

Hoping to avoid the most awkward and inappropriate magazine cover since Bovine magazine ran "Why We're Mad About Cows!" Betty rushes back to the shipping dock to stop the magazine from being shipped. Unfortunately, the dock manager Phil doesn't want to hear it and tells her "the troot is you have no real au-tore-ity here".

Betty explains her situation, and Phil gives her four hours to get either Daniel of Willi to call and tell him not to ship.

Betty heads back to Mode to try and contact Daniel, but doesn't realize that everyone at the retreat has had their communication devices taken away. She decides the only thing to do is go up to the retreat herself, something which immediately piques the interest of Marc.

Marc is wearing a brand new hairdo, and let me say right off the bat that I do not like it. It looks like an Eva Gabor wig, and with that outfit he has on he bears a striking resemblance to Eve Arden.

Marc accuses Betty of trying to grab the spotlight by racing up to the retreat, so he insists on going up there with her. Not to be outdone, Amanda overhears and decides to tag along. Cliff is away for the day so they decide to take his car, and the three of them set forth on the most terrifying road trip since The Hitcher.

The car ride goes as smoothly as you'd imagine, with Amanda repeatedly pestering Marc about his upcoming nuptials to Cliff. She's noticed that he always changes the subject when she asks about it, and is perplexed (as much as she can be) by his decision to get married when he was freaking out about just moving in. Marc tries to change the subject once again, but can't escape it when Amanda finds two wedding rings from Tiffanys in Cliff's glove compartment.

As Amanda and Betty squeal over the discovery, Marc tries to grab the rings, and swerves off the road into a tree. Thankfully everyone is okay, but with time running out Betty needs to find another way to get a message to Daniel.

She runs down the road and finds an old country store, but the owner can't give her a lift. A kid in the store flies an airplane at her head, which gives Betty a brilliant solution to letting Daniel know he needs to call her.

Meanwhile, there's lots of intrigue at the "retreat", with Willi trying to sublimate the hots she has for Connor by going hunting. As she stalks the woods looking like Elmira Fudd, she runs into the object of her affection, who's looking pretty snazzy in ... well, let's face it, he looks pretty snazzy in anything.

They decide to stalk the forest together, and when Willi hears a noise, raises her rifle and sees Daniel ... who's helping a "cripply wood nymph". Daniel was walking through the woods when she fell from the trees and landed on him. Connor looks at them and declares "that's no cripply wood nymph ... that's my fiance!"

Willi is bemused that the woman is rather average looking, and suddenly she feels better about her chances at nabbing Connor. Daniel is helping the girl, Molly, walk back to the house when Connor rushes up, picks her up and carries her off ... leaving Daniel with his own cripply wood.

Later, Daniel is having lunch when Claire stops by (looking like the unholy spawn of Prince and the Mad Hatter) and after some small talk motions for him to look up, where a skywriter has written "Daniel, call Betty".

Wait a minute ... that was Betty's brilliant idea? Aside from the logistical impossibilities, it was just a silly outcome.

Anyway, Daniel is able to call Betty and the issue is saved. He assures her that he'll take care of it from here, but Willi has a different idea about how to handle the whole situation. Betty is satisfied that she was able to put out this fire, but she's about to be burned...

My favorite part of this week's episode was about the family, and I wish more was done with them. Hilda is upset that her application for a permit was turned down, and behind her father's back, decides to run the salon illegally.

When Ignacio finds out she decides that the only course of action left is to take it out on the man responsible, the councilman who busted her, played by Ralph Macchio. She goes to his office and is given the brush off, but obviously she had an impact on him because he shows up at the house later with a "loophole" she can use. If she sells a product in addition to cutting hair, she can get the permit. He and Hilda have a mild flirtation going, and it isn't lost on Justin, who can see that something might be starting with them.

Betty is commiserating with Hilda when Justin rushes in with a copy of Mode he just bought from a newstand ... and it has the tornado cover! She runs off to the office to find out what happened, and is ambushed by gossip columnist Suzuki, who blames her for the issue being released. Daniel tries to defend her, but Suzuki has already named Betty "Tornado Girl".

After enduring harassing phone calls and dirty looks everywhere she goes, Betty is cornered in the office by Marc, who tells her that if she wants to find out how the whole debacle happened, she needs to talk to Phil again.

After some cajoling, Phil admits that the order to let the issue ship was given by Willi and Daniel. Confronting Daniel, he admits to Betty that they let the issue stand for financial reasons ... because they knew that the publicity about it would generate sales. He had no idea that Betty would be blamed, though, and tells her that it will all blow over. Betty says "not for me ... all I had was my reputation, and now I'm just 'tornado girl'."

At the press conference the next day Daniel decides to come forward and accept responsibility for everything, thus clearing Betty. Humiliated, he slinks back to his office, where he's consoled by a surprising visitor - Molly. She's there to meet up with Connor, but it's obvious that there's a spark between the two of them.

That fact isn't lost on the eavesdropping Willi, who sees an opportunity to hit both Connor and Daniel with one blonde. She tells Connor that she'll need to work with him that night, and even though it's his anniversary, he agrees. Looks like there's going to be a lonely fiance looking for a dinner date. Hmm...

Now comes the part I hate having to write about. Betty goes to see Marc, and thanks him for giving her the heads up about Phil, and he says that sometimes they need to stick together. She tells him that Cliff is a lucky guy to have him, and Marc confesses that he cheated on Cliff, and the only reason he asked him to get married is because he felt so guilty. Betty tells him that Cliff doesn't deserve to be lied to, and he needs to know the truth.

Over a montage at the end of the show, we see Marc telling Cliff about sleeping with another guy, and Cliff walks away in tears.

Damn!

Well, for me this episode was a let down after last week. The whole storyline about Betty trying to reach Daniel was just plain silly (I mean, c'mon ... skywriting?), and frankly I would have preferred to see more of the Marc/Cliff storyline (we didn't even see Marc admit his affair to him).

But there was good stuff, too:

Amanda telling Marc, "are you punishing me because I said I disapprove of gay marriage? I only meant that for unattractive gays!"

Daniel's Rain Man-esque inner monologue while he was walking alone through the woods.

Hilda asking Betty where she put the hats she bought during her ugly hat phase, and when Betty says "what ugly hat phase", Hilda responds "oh right, just your ... hat phase"

When Betty sees Justin wearing a "tornado girl" t-shirt, he defends himself with "it's not personal, Aunt Betty, it's just that there hasn't been a t-shirt worthy scandal since Winona had her troubles."

Still, I don't think this episode was on par with last week, and I'm hoping that Marc and Cliff aren't done for good. What did you think?