"Ugly Betty" (3.09) recaplet: "When Betty met YETI"

I have to admit to being a tad disappointed with last week's frenetic episode of Ugly Betty, but this week's stellar outing is definitely in the running for "best of the season". It has laughs, tears, a gaggle of Zac Efron clones, and the return of Max Greenfield as Nick Pepper!

See it all after the break!

We start with Amanda still working Betty's last nerve as the roommate from hell. She's stealing money (it wasn't her fault, though ... Betty had the $60 out in the open in her bottom drawer for anyone to take), and now she has a bell she rings to summon Betty (it was for her dog, but it seems to work on roommates, too).

Over at Mode she runs into Nick Pepper, played by the multi-talented Max Greenfield. We haven't seen him since the second season, when he was Alexis's conniving assistant.

To the horror of Betty and Marc he announces that he's now the "deputy culture editor" of the New York Review. Since he wasn't at Mode that long, and he was kind of sucky as an assistant, Betty is perplexed how he could have gotten an editor job so easily (okay, now would be the moment when I usually make a cheap "editors" joke at the expense of my bosses at AfterElton.com ... but because next week is Thanksgiving, I'll refrain).

Nick informs her that it's all due to his graduating from Y.E.T.I. (Young Editors Training Initiative). Almost everyone who graduates goes on to become a successful editor, but the hardest part is getting accepted into the class. Hmm ... this sounds suspiciously like the training I had to go through to get this job. It was called S.A.S.Q.U.A.T.C.H. (Smart And Sassy Queers Undergoing A Terrifying Chimpanzee Hazing) and let's just say, I'll never look at a banana the same way again.

Nick tells her that it won't be easy getting in: she's going to have to find a sponsor, show an entire magazine concept to a bunch of judges, but once she does get in the sky's the limit.

Needless to say, she becomes convinced that this is her big break, and after asking Daniel to write a recommendation she heads off to the YETI office to apply. Unfortunately, she's told that if she wants to apply this year, her presentation will have to be ready in ... two days.

At home with the family, she decides she only has time to come up with a presentation for a fashion magazine, which garners the same dumbfounded looks from both Justin and Hilda, and at Mode, Daniel and Christina. Ever the best friend, Christina tries her best to help out, but it's a lost cause, especially when Betty finds out that Marc is also applying to YETI ... and they never take two people from one magazine.

Distraught, Betty pays another visit to the family, who convince her that if she really wants to make her mark with the presentation she has to be herself, and a fashion magazine is not it. Inspired, she stays up all night and finishes the new presentation, and when Daniel walks into Mode the next morning she looks like Roseanne Roseanna-Danna on a caffeine bender.

She asks Daniel if he had time to write that recommendation, and he mumbles his way through a "no", and when she asks him to help her out with the presentation dry run, he agrees. Now what do you think the chances are that it'll actually happen?

If you said zero, you were right. When it's time for her to leave for YETI, Daniel is nowhere to be found, and she stares daggers of ice at his empty desk.

She arrives at the YETI office, and is ushered into a room for her presentation, and OMG, I swear it is the exact same room they used in the climactic scene of Flashdance. There's a long cavernous distance between her and the table of judges, a hardwood floor, and I'm positive I saw a turntable in the corner. I was expecting to see an America Ferrara stunt double in the presentation scenes, but if there was one, it was edited perfectly.

She gives the presentation, for something called B Magazine, which has pictures of women like Hillary Clinton and Princess Diana on the cover. It's a lifestyle magazine for young women who care more about what's on the inside than superficial qualities. It's a very noble concept, but it's something no one would ever, ever buy.

The judges are impressed, though, and Betty leaves the room elated. Hilda and Ignacio are there to celebrate with her, but it's short lived when they see Marc coming down the hallway to give his presentation. He has a posse of Mode staff with him, and his magazine is called A List, which is about celebrity culture and why we're so addicted to it. Unfortunately for Betty, his presentation is an entire finished magazine, and worse yet, his sponsors are iconic design guys Mark Badgley and James Mischka (who plays themselves, badly! They're like two fashionable blocks of wood dropped in the scene).

Betty is crushed, and takes it out on Daniel the next morning by giving him the silent treatment (except for texting). He asks what he can do to make it up, but she's still too furious with him to answer.

She's convinced that she lost YETI to Marc, but the phone rings and she finds out that she got in! She can't believe it, and neither can Marc, who she tries to comfort but should have left alone. He tells her (in a wonderfully played scene by America and Michael Urie) that the only reason they picked her was because they needed to fill their quota of token ethnic girls. Betty is stunned, and so was I, frankly. This was the first time I really wanted to smack the character of Marc.

Hilda and Ignacio visit Mode to celebrate, but when Betty tells them what Marc said, they're livid. Unfortunately, Marc may have been telling the truth. Betty called the YETI people, and they didn't deny the "quota" angle of her acceptance. Her sister and father try to convince her that it doesn't matter why she got in, but it does matter to Betty.

She tells Marc that he deserves it more, and that she's dropping out so he can go. He accepts, reluctantly (but not too reluctantly), and apologizes for what he said before. He wants her to know that he's not racist, in fact, some of the hottest guys he's dated have been Latino.

Betty is dejected, but resigned to her situation when Daniel calls her into his office. To make up for what happened, he contacted the YETI people and told them that Betty worked at Player Magazine earlier in the year (which means that accepting her wouldn't clash with their "no two people at the same magazine" rule). That fact plus the six page recommendation letter he wrote means that she's been accepted into YETI!

As she sits at her desk, jubilant, Marc calls from across the room to congratulate her, and they have a seriously giddy conversation about what to expect. This is probably the closest they've ever been, and I was glad to see the warmth in Marc come out (and it made me forget that just minutes earlier I wanted to smack him).

Meanwhile, Wilhelmina and Daniel are having troubles of their own with the engaged couple of Connor and Molly.

Willi is convinced she can woo Connor away from the "do-gooding gremlin", and hatches a plan to separate them. She tells Connor that she needs his help at an advertisers meeting in Florida, and he's forced to leave his fiance behind ... with Daniel.

Molly asks him if he can fill in for Connor in her kindergarten class. He was supposed to show up and talk about working for a magazine, but Daniel agrees to pinch hit. What follows is one of the most terrifying scenes ever filmed, as Daniel stands on one side of the classroom while the kids recite a disturbing chant about a demon named Red Rover, and then swarm all over his body like nose picking locusts.

Somehow Daniel in unfazed, and actually seems to enjoy the experience. It's obvious he's carrying a torch for Molly, and there's just no way this is going to end happily.

Willi (who is at her poisonous best in this episode) is down in Florida with Connor, and turns on all of her spidery charms to try and seduce him. Unfortunately, not even wine and promise of "Willi and the hand jive" can convince him, and he tells her, in no uncertain terms, that he loves Molly and that Willi is wasting her time.

Back at the office she takes out her frustrations by being testy towards Marc, and when she tells him she knows that he applied to YETI, he looks terrified. However, after chewing him out, she says "I can't think of anyone more deserving. Congratulations." and we actually see the hint of a smile. It's a great scene, and I'm glad they show us these occasional glimpses of humanity from both Willi and Marc.

And now we get to the best, and most heartbreaking part of this week's episode. Justin and his ballet buddy Randy have become best friends, and have made plans to see the school production of Little Shop of Horrors together.

Unfortunately, Randy runs into his school friends at the production, who look disgusted when they find out that he's watching the show with Justin. Randy is obviously embarrassed, but doesn't say anything.

Later, Hilda presents Justin with two tickets for him and Randy to see In The Heights on Broadway, and he can't wait to tell his best friend the news. Sadly, when he approaches Randy at school, he's given the brush off, and when Randy sees that his friends are watching, he shouts at Justin, "Dude, stop following me around, it's pathetic! get a life!" Justin is stunned and crushed, and it's a scene that will be recognizable to many, many gay kids who lost friends due to peer pressure and homophobia.

When Justin finally breaks down and tells Hilda that Randy hates him because "I don't fit in with his friends," she says, "That's their problem, because you are perfect. But you're going to meet a lot of stupid people in your life, and they're just not going to get you. Screw 'em. All that matters is that you never, for a second, change who you are."

Did I mention that Hilda is my favorite character? She and Justin decide to go see the show together, and it's clear that with a mom like her, Justin will be okay (but I was secretly hoping that she'd go Brune Hilda and hunt down Randy and his Effin Efrons).

That's it for this episode, but I was sorry to see it end. Along with the "Crush'd" episode a few weeks ago, I think this is the highlight of the season. It had tons of great moments:

Amanda Telling Betty "I don't just think of you as an assistant, but also a roommate ... and sometimes a maid."

Willi describing all the ways that she and Connor are similar, and Marc declaring "he's the man-himina!"

When Betty tells Marc that her magazine idea is about fashion, he asks, "what is it called, Clashing Patterns Digest?" She responds with "no need to be so snarky." Hey! Snark is a good thing! Sometimes snark is all you have!

There won't be an episode next week, but we'll be back in two weeks for the next recap. I'm hoping they can find some way to have Randy come to his senses, and that we'll see him again, and I like that Betty is making real strides in her career without having to sacrifice who she is. And that was the real theme of this episode: "Be Yourself".

What did you think? Do you agree that this was one of the best of the season, or did it disappoint you?