Ugly Berry

"Ugly Berry" is the sixth episode in the third season, the 47th episode overall, of the American dramedy series Ugly Betty, which aired on October 30, 2008. The episode was written by Bill Wrubel and directed by Ron Underwood.^[1] The episode is the last appearance of Lindsay Lohan on the series.

Plot

Adriana Lima guest stars as Herself.

As Betty walked into work while she talked to Hilda on the cellphone, she is shocked to find Kimmie at her desk. Betty is stunned that she has now to compete with Kimmie, who finally shows her true colors now that she is the associate editor. Kimmie lords her associate editorship over Betty, demanding lunch and other demeaning things, including taking up Daniel's time and telling Betty that all she will ever be in life is just an assistant. Later at her apartment, Betty tells Jesse about her work, so he gives her something to boost her confidence by dedicating a song to Betty. The following day Betty decides that she is not about to let Kimmie get all the glory for pitching an idea for Mode's upcoming "Sizzling Hot" issue, so Betty stumbles upon her own brilliant idea by running it by Daniel as they leave the building. When Daniel ask what she was going to submit, she sees a fruit stand and is inspired.

Challenged to think of a "hot" fruit to feature, and after showing off exotic fruits to the Suarez family, Betty learns that Adriana Lima is a huge fan of the super-rare fruit, the "tico berry" (a fictional fruit, portrayed in the episode by rambutans). Betty scores a major coup, with Adriana agreeing to do the cover and a feature about the fruit for Mode, and thus earns the job of project manager as Daniel and Wilhelmina kill the "Sizzling Hot" issue. Kimmie, who is fumed by this move, is bent on sabotaging Betty's coup. As Betty is getting ready for her close-up, Kimmie offers to do Betty's makeup, but then ruins Betty's on-air interview with Fashion TV by having the lights on too high so that the heat causes Betty to sweat profusely and ruin her make-up, including fake eyelashes. Betty excuses herself and Kimmie swoops in to steal the spotlight. Wilhelmina and Daniel bring Kimmie in to help with the shoot.

It look like Kimmie's power trip has gone too far. She's made enemies with former fast friends Marc and Amanda, first by socially snubbing them and then replacing Cliff with another photographer. So Marc and Amanda approach Betty to join forces to get Kimmie fired. At first Betty resists the idea of sabotaging Kimmie's back, but later on at the meeting room the two would witness Betty getting upset after learning Kimmie had intercepted Adriana at the airport in order to take credit for the work, so Betty gives in. Marc and Amanda are persistent by setting Kimmie up, with Betty to deliver the coup de grace, but Betty then has a change of heart and confesses to Kimmie, who thinks Betty is using reverse psychology, not knowing that Betty's "confession" would actually be her downfall, and it would be Wilhelmina who would deliver the final straw when she arrives at the shoot as Kimmie's attitude finally comes out by becoming bossy and telling her that she is in charge. Wilhelmina is quickly offended and immediately fires Kimmie and has her escorted away by security, even as she tried to blame Betty, Amanda and Marc for sabotaging her but Wilhelmina is not amused. As Kimmie is dragged out, she takes the tico berries and throws the basket into the pond, just as Lima arrives for the shoot. Wilhelmina and Daniel then turn to Betty in an effort to save the shoot. Betty remembers that she had some additional tico berries sent to Lima's hotel room; Lima retrieves them, and the shoot is salvaged.

In others' scenarios, new citizen Ignacio prepares to vote for the first time, while Hilda, who seems to be less interested in the democratic process and more interested in raking in cash, takes advantage of the increased election traffic to promote "Hilda's Beautilities," and in the process attracts a customer named Archie Rodriguez, who takes advantage of the deal by walking in for a minor haircut. While Archie complimented Hilda on the shop, he asked her about whether she obtained a licence to operate the business. When Hilda told him that she never bothered to apply for one, Archie told Hilda that she should have: Archie is a New York City councilman, and after she partially finished cutting his hair he advised her not to continue until she gets a business license, despite the fact that she is booked up for six weeks. While she has no choice but to give in, she does take his card anyway.

Meanwhile, Claire lectures Daniel and Wilhelmina by telling the two to get their act together financially or else Mode will fold, so Wili sees an opportunity in a charming and prestigious Australian businessman named Connor Owens, after he runs into her and claims to admire her. But when she pitched Daniel the idea of hiring Connor, Daniel rejected the idea. After some struggles with his ego, he finally hires Connor as the CFO. But when the two men meet to sign the contract, it's revealed that Daniel and Connor are friends and used reverse psychology to get Wilhelmina on board with Connor.

Production

The scenes featuring Adriana Lima's photo shoot can be found on Ugly Betty's sister website, www.modeny.com. Also, most of the wardrobe used in the episode were provided by Oscar de la Renta.

Trivia

Although Betty mentions in this episode that she doesn't have business cards, she was seen in a previous episodes, "Fey's Sleigh Ride", with business cards.

The person that says "previously on Ugly Betty" is Ignacio.

Casting

This episode introduces Grant Bowler in the recurring role of Connor Owens and Ralph Macchio in the recurring role of Archie Rodriguez. Additionally, Ashley Jensen, although credited, was absent from this episode.

Reception

"Killing Kimmie Keegan" was one way Television Without Pity described this A+ episode: "I knew once we lost the French kid the show would remember to be awesome again! What a fun episode. Bonus dorkiness? Hilda/Ignacio's storyline is all about the power of the people as expressed through the democratic process, plus introduces hopefully a new (unmarried!) civil servant cutie-pie for her post-Tony loving. Like, imagine the Henry of Hilda and you have Archie Rodriguez. I'm speaking unspoiled though, so we may never see him again. Hope we do. Also in this story: Justin wearing a humiliating Uncle Sam outfit, which is worth a thousand guffaws."^[2]

Ratings

The episode was watched by 8.6 million viewers in the United States, averaging a 5.6/9 rating overall and a 2.5/7 among 18-49s.^[3][4][5]

Also starring

• Lindsay Lohan as Kimmie Keegan
• David Blue as Cliff St. Paul
• Val Emmich as Jesse
• Alec Mapa as Suzuki St. Pierre

Guest starring

• Adriana Lima as herself
• Grant Bowler as Connor Owens

References

See also

• Ugly Betty
• Ugly Betty (season 3)