"Ugly Betty" (3.16) recaplet: Things fall apart

Let me say this right off the bat: I loved this episode of Ugly Betty!

It had suspense, office intrigue, a hot villain, a blast from the past, the Adorkable Matt, a terminal illness, and best of all, stellar acting from the whole cast, especially America Ferrara and Vanessa Williams. By the end, one character will be gone, another one will be dying, and hearts will be broken.

Who could ask for anything more?

We start with Betty creating a Facebook page (and let me state for the record that Facebook is bogus. I set up an account this morning for Mynameis Snicks, and no one has offered to be my friend.)

Daniel calls, insisting he's close to death from the flu. As this isn't the first time he's played the sick card, Betty knows the drill ... Daniel is is set up under the name Mr. Sickington at a fancy hotel, because apparently decor that includes bamboo and giant spider sacs is conducive to healing?

Meanwhile, Wilhelmina wakes up in her cavernous Manhattan apartment and immediately notices that something is wrong. She runs through the halls, past her room with thirty-one interchangeable heads (my undying love to whoever gets that reference) and finds the baby (does this thing have a name yet?) in the arms of Connor (which shocked the hell out of me, as I fully expected Billie Whitelaw to be holding the newborn).

Over at YETI, neither Betty or Marc are very enthused by Jodi's latest assignment. They have to look through Mode's budget and present a report on the magazine's financial outlook. Oh, and my apologies to the fabulous Bernadette Peters, but this is the best screencap I could get.

Matt offers to help out, since he has an MBA, and also has a law degree ... and almost became a large animal vet. Wow, he's a regular Dorkar's Profile. Marc senses that Matt is warm for Betty's form, and tries to convince her to give him a chance. He also brings up Betty's last adorkable suitor Henry (who you may remember fled the state when Betty rejected him).

Unfortunately she won't be able to avoid the H-bomb, as she has to visit his former haunt, the Mode accounting office. While there picking up the financial books for the presentation, the female Henry on duty informs her that her former paramour has his own Facebook page, and has recently uploaded vacation pictures ... of him and his new girlfriend.

Pretending not to be fazed by this news, Betty throws herself into her assignment and pores over the Mode books. She finds something disturbing: the figures don't seem to add up. According to what she could uncover, the magazine is missing several million dollars. She takes her suspicions to Connor, who dismisses her questioning by explaining that magazines sometime "move money around," and that there's no reason for her to be worried.

She seems to buy it, but after she leaves Connor finally shows his true, evil colors. How do we know he's evil? While he talks on the phone about "moving up the transfer," his eyes narrow and he pronounces "schedule" as "shed-you-ill". Only evil people pronounce it "shed-you-ill".

The next morning Marc and Amanda have a field day teasing Betty about Henry and the fact that he's moved on. Amanda insists that she try to forget him by hooking up with someone else; after all, "there must be a whole world out there of goofy, awkward, mumbling guys just waiting to love you." Marc suggests she try out "that skinny thing from class who's trying to have your puppies," which intrigues her. Oh, and we also meet Amanda's latest conquest, who looks like a pale version of Edgar Winter.

Betty meets Matt for drinks, and he's his usual charmingly goofy self, and shows an enormous amount of patience when she gets one of those Facebook messages that says Henry wants to be her friend. She's stunned, and decides to spill her guts about her Henry history as Matt looks on, nodding politely.

Finally realizing how annoying she's been, she decides it's time to end the date, but when she thinks Matt is about to make his move, she cuts him off and gives him the "we work together, let's just be friends" speech ... which is awkward since Matt was really going to ask if she could cover the drinks, since he forgot his wallet.

On a side note: What the hell is wrong with this girl? In the past three years she's had two adorkable guys and one just plain hot guy pursuing her, and what does she do? She blows them off (and not in the good way!).

Anyway, She goes out to the ATM to withdraw some money for the drinks, and is shocked when her balance is suddenly over a hundred thousand dollars!

The next morning Matt is waiting for her at Mode, and apologizes for coming on so strong. Betty doesn't think hooking up is a good idea considering they share YETI, but Matt says "just think about it, boo."

The Henry-esque accounting girl informs her that the money in her account was authorized by ... Betty Suarez. Realizing that something is very wrong, she worriedly asks Connor if he knows what happened, and we immediately sense his evil-ness again. How do we know he's evil? They film him from below, and show close-ups of his lips. Only evil people are filmed from below with close-ups of their lips.

Connor admits that he set Betty up, and confesses that he's stealing from the company. He planted the money in her account to shut her up, and tells her that she and Daniel will take the blame if it's found out. He also offers a veiled threat to her family unless she keeps her mouth shut. This entire scene with the two of them in the elevator was actually very tense and well-played, and it's just the beginning.

The rest of the episode is probably the greatest showcase yet for the phenomenal Vanessa Williams, who pulls out all the stops.

Connor enters Willi's office and surprisingly admits to everything. He's been stealing from the company as revenge against Daniel for stealing Molly, and for being a spoiled brat. Willi is incensed, and reminds him that when he's stealing from the company, he's also stealing from her.

He tells her that he loves her, and wants her and the baby to run away with him. He's leaving tonight on a private jet after he cleans out all of Meade publishing, and wants to make a new life for the three of them ... on a deserted island, I guess. He tells her to think about it, and gives her the info about where to meet him.

Willi talks to Marc, and tells him what Connor is planning. She confesses that she's in love, and will probably never feel this way about anyone again, and asks him point blank, "if you have a chance to have all the money you ever needed, and be with the person you love for the rest of your life, would you do it?" Marc tells her "as your friend, I don't know what to tell you."

Meanwhile, Betty has told Daniel everything, and he instructs her to tell Claire to meet them at Mode. His mother has a bombshell for them ... every Meade account has been wiped clean.

As Claire and Daniel are talking to the lawyers, Marc gives Betty the information about where Willi and Connor are supposed to leave from, and tells her that if she hurries, she can catch them before they're gone.

Claire, Daniel, and Betty arrive at the airport just in time to see Willi approach the chartered jet, and after they accuse her of leaving her baby behind, and of being a monster for ruining Meade, they hear police sirens. It was Willi who called them. She turned Connor in, and wanted to be there when he was busted. She turns to the three of them and says, "you don't know me at all." On a side note, doesn't Vanessa look smashing in this?

As the police board the jet Willi gets a phone call from Connor. He was afraid she would change her mind, so he took an earlier flight. When he hears the police sirens in the background, he dejectedly asks, "so you chose your career? I just want you to know that I still love you," and then hangs up. Um ... ouch.

Later, Betty offers Willi a cup of coffee and says "I can't imagine what you're going through," and Willi disdainfully replies, "I don't need your sympathy!" which leads to my favorite scene in the episode.

Willi says, "he asked me to choose, him or my career. I spent my entire life building my career. In life you have to make choices ... you can't have it all." When Betty says she's not sure if she believes that, Willi smiles and whips out this jab to the the gut: "You are young, Betty, but you are a career girl just like me. You'll see." Whoa!

Still reeling from Willi's pronouncement, Betty returns home to find that Elena has returned from California. Betty asks her, "did you ever feel like you had to make a choice, work or a personal life?" Elena says "hell no" and that if she thought like that, she wouldn't have met Papi.

But that's not all! Remember last week when they showed Molly in a doctor's office? I thought she was getting an abortion, but it turns out she's dying. I missed exactly what's wrong, but I think it was "Terminal Rosacea" disease, and the first symptom is ... uh-oh ... it's too late.

In the final scene, Willi is alone in her apartment with Junior, as we cut to Betty at home. She decides to accept Henry's friend request, and the last shot is of her meeting up with Matt again, perhaps trying to show that she can have both a work life and personal life.

End of episode.

Like i said, I loved this episode. There were a few plotholes; for instance, it's hard to believe that a financial genius like Connor could have his nefarious scheming uncovered by someone flipping through a ledger, but that's just a quibble.

I'm giving this a stellar ten out of ten Marcs.

What did you think? Did you like it, hate it, think I'm crazy for giving it a ten?