Betty's Wait Problem

"Betty's Wait Problem" is the third episode of the second season of the dramedy series, Ugly Betty. It originally aired on October 11, 2007 and it is the 26th episode overall, which was written by Tracy Poust and Jon Kinnally and directed by Tricia Brock.

Plot

At the Suarez home that night, Betty tried to calm Henry down after his drunken blitz in the wake of finding out Charlie had cheated on him. The following day, Hilda babysat Henry by giving him her hangover cure (consisting of tomato, raw egg and a little bacon grease), only to throw up at the sight of Hilda's plate of huevos (eggs).

At Daniel's place, Amanda told Daniel she had the DNA results that would reveal if they were related. After Amanda opened the letter and read the results stating Bradford was not her father, the two kissed. However, Amanda told Daniel that she still hasn't forgiven him. Later that day, Amanda got an idea from Marc: Make her official debut at The Meade Black & White Ball as a "Sommers." As they walked by Henry's office, the two pestered the accountant for their paychecks, only to have Mr. Grubstick put the duo in their place after being offended by the pair for calling him "Grubstank"; they left, having seen a different (and attractive) side they never seen from the accountant. At the event, Marc tried to steer the spotlight away from reporter Suzuki St. Pierre and toward Amanda and Halston, only to have it backfire on Amanda. She finally got the flashbulbs popping after Marc deliberately (and somewhat apologetically) stepped on the hem of her dress, which caused her dress to come off! Despite that fiasco, Amanda told Marc that even though she got noticed in the press in an unexpected way, she still wanted to find her birth father.

At work, Daniel asked Betty to pick up a new wheelchair that he wanted to use at the event. Afterward, she met a new canteen guy named Giovanni, whom she found both intriguing and annoying. After she complained about not having enough sun-dried tomatoes on her sandwiches to Daniel, Betty discovered that Gio was fired and Gio blamed "MODE Girl" Betty for it, causing him to reveal what he really put in his sandwiches to everyone in the 28th floor. Feeling a sense of guilt, Betty caught up with Gio and apologized for what happened. As she saw Gio's van, she asked him if he could take her to New Jersey to pick up the new wheelchair Daniel needed. Along the way to and from the place they were going, Betty and Gio began bantering over their strengths and weaknesses, leading each other to deny that they were wrong about who's right and vice versa.

During the afternoon, Justin showed up in Daniel's office to ask Daniel if he could play basketball, even in a wheelchair, even though Daniel--who told Justin that he was nicknamed "Dr. Swish" when he was at Harvard--didn't know a thing about the game. On the court, Daniel kindly offered to teach Justin, but as he watched Justin dribble with both hands and scream when the ball bounded toward him, a frustrated Daniel leaped up from his wheelchair to show him how it's done, surprising Justin. Daniel came clean to Justin that he only did it to impress a therapist, but Justin told Daniel that he admired him anyway. Later on at the Suarez home, Justin accidentally shows Hilda the pictures that featured Daniel standing, prompting Hilda to call Betty. Betty, who had brought the wheelchair back in time for the ball, confronted Daniel over lying to her about faking his injury, even as the wheelchair started to malfunction. As Daniel walked away uninjured, Betty told him that he shouldn't try to pretend to be what he is not, and that she'd always be there for him. She would continue to assist him on the condition that she be allowed to take a writing class during lunch. Later on at the event, a standing Daniel introduced the guest honoree, Kenneth Cole.

Meanwhile, Wilhelmina was still upset over Bradford's decision to postpone the wedding because of Bradford's plans to bond with Alexis, thus giving Wil an idea. Wil visited the hospital and gave her "BFF" [Alexis] a makeover, and fed Alexis a series of fabricated lies (even using doctored photos to make it look like their previous friendship was still intact). Wil told Alexis that Claire left Bradford and that he was engaged to Wilhelmina. The ploy worked and at the event, Bradford told Wil that Alexis had given her blessing to the nuptials.

Over in Long Island, after watching the story about the wedding being postponed on "Fashion TV," Claire told Yoga that she would be at the ball--in disguise--in an effort to talk Bradford out of marrying Wilhelmina. As the two showed up at the event, Claire finally spoke to Bradford, tried to tell him that he was making a mistake, and offered him a chance to leave with her. Unfortunately Wilhelmina saw this from a distance, so she told Marc not to call the cops since she had a better idea. As Daniel was introducing a group of children to the audience, Wil interrupted and said that the wedding was back on. Bradford then turned to Claire and told her that it was over between the two of them. As he walked away to be with Wilhelmina, Claire left the event devastated, and slipped out the back way.

Back in Mexico, Ignacio was held hostage by Hector Vasquez (the son of Ramiro Vasquez) who told Ignacio that someone wanted to see him. A mysterious person with a cane then walked in...Ramiro Vasquez! It turns out that he was never dead and as the two faced each other, Ramiro told Ignacio that he wanted one thing from him--flan. After eating the flan, Ramiro told Hector to kill Ignacio. As Hector aimed his gun at Ignacio, Ignacio reminded Hector what had happened thirty years before when Hector was five, and how he had witnessed first-hand Ramiro abusing Rosa. Ignacio further reminded Hector that Rosa hid him when Ramiro was drunk, and that Ignacio used to give him a special treat so his father wouldn't hear him crying and come hit him. As Hector--Rosa's stepson who was left with his mother when Ignacio and Rosa fled--began to recall these memories, he fretted over following his father's orders to shoot Ignacio. As the scene moved to the outside of the house where Ignacio was staying, a gunshot rang out, leaving no answers as to whom was shot.

As the end of another day came, Betty got a surprise gift from Gio--a freshly made sandwich with a bow wrapped around it and a note stating her way of making her sandwich (with more sun-dried tomatoes) wasn't so bad. She walked to the elevator, but Henry stopped Betty to tell her that he would be having a paternity test done to determine if he was the father of Charlie's unborn child, which couldn't happen until she was 14 weeks along. When he asked about having lunch together, Betty turned him down. Henry saw the sandwich with the bow, but Betty evaded an explanation by saying it's from a fancy restaurant.

Later that evening at the Suarez home, Betty, Hilda, and Justin are greeted by the returning Ignacio as the family is finally reunited.

Production

This episode marks Freddy Rodriguez's debut as Gio. Although some reports thought that he was going to become a full-time regular,^[1] Rodriguez was only ever a recurring cast member. The rumors began when several websites thought that he would become the new love interest for Betty, while Christopher Gorham's Henry would only appear in only eight episodes, but Gorham was signed to the series as a full-time regular and appeared in all of the episodes.^[2]

The website www.socuteitssick.com, which was featured in this episode, does not exist, although the domain name is currently owned by Disney. This marks the second time the series has used a bogus or non-existent website. The Socuteitssick webpage would be seen again in "Giving Up the Ghost".

There are several references to High School Musical in this episode. When Amanda arrives to the Black and White Ball and nobody pays attention to her, a voice can be heard saying "Is that Zac Efron and Brenda Song?" and during the scene where Daniel and Justin are playing basketball, the song "Get'cha Head in the Game" is played.

In the episode, Marc tells Amanda "You've got to out-Lohan Lohan, out-Britney Britney." Lindsay Lohan would play a recurring role as Kimmie Keegan at the end of the second and beginning of the third seasons.

Ratings

More than 10.4 million viewers in the United States tuned in to this episode, even though it came in second to Survivor: China.^[3] 5.6 million viewers watched this episode on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom, with a 17% audience share, coming third in its timeslot.

References

Also starring

• Lorraine Toussaint - Yoga
• Freddy Rodriguez - Gio
• Alec Mapa - Suzuki St. Pierre

Guest stars

• Kenneth Cole - Himself