Chica and the Man

"Chica and the Man" is an episode from the ABC comedy-drama series Ugly Betty, which aired on February 3, 2010. It is the 13th episode from Season 4 and the 78th episode overall.^[1]

Plot

The story begins with Marc moving in next door as Betty's new partner in the office space next to Daniel's. When she sees her blog is nominated for a "BLOBBY" by the BLOB (The Black & Latino Organization of Bloggers), she goes hysterical and gets overexcited about it. She then asks Daniel to present the award to her. Later during the meeting Daniel announces that he has landed two popular Spanish movie stars, director Diego Martinez and actress Victoria, and assigns Marc to the photo shoot, then decides to co-write the interview portion with Betty, this after Wilhelmina suggests that Daniel might need someone with more expertise, namely Betty. Later on, Betty is greeted by her fan, who is a BH ("Betty Head"). She makes a suggestion that Betty pick someone other than a celebrity, but Betty insists on having Daniel as the presenter. When Daniel arrives to greet the BH, he ends up embarrassing Betty about her four years at Mode in front of the fan, and Betty is not happy about it.

Out in the street, Wilhelmina is greeted by a person who tells her that he enjoys her show. When Wilhelmina confronts Marc, who tells her that she's been impersonated in a drag queen show starring "Wilheldiva Hater".^[2] This prompts Wilhelmina to order a cease and desist to stop the show. Later that evening, Wilhelmina heads down to the club and she sees Marc and Claire there, as it turns out that they are frequent patrons. Wilhelmina decides to see the show and watches Wilheldiva Hater perform, only to later confront the impersonater and threatens to sue him. The following day Wilheldiva stops by to convince Wilhelmina to let him continue perform his act, but Wilhelmina refuses to let him, saying that she will shut it down if he continues with the routine. As Wilhediva leaves, Daniel shows up to thank "Wilhelmina", thus giving the real Wilhelmina an idea, by having the fake Wilhelmina do all her annoying charitable meetings, which involves breast cancer and girl scouts.

On set of the shoot, Diego and Victoria find themselves dealing with Marc's clueless concepts, followed by Daniel and Betty showing up to see the two. When Victoria sees Betty with the research book, Daniel tries to take over, only to have Betty upstage him, this in retaliation of what he told the BH. Later that evening, Betty vents her frustration of Daniel in front of Hilda and Ignacio. Ignacio then reminds Betty that she still works with Daniel and advises her not use that in her blog, but hours later she does (without using Daniel's name) and sends it anyway. The next day, Betty is stunned that she got 500 hits... and a lot flack from Daniel when it is discovered that the entire blogsphere had now figured out that she was talking about Daniel after Ignacio alerted her and she sees Daniel opening his Google hits with help from Amanda. Daniel is not happy with what Betty did and Daniel decides that he will not go the event. When the BH returns to ask Betty if Daniel will be at the BLOBBYs, where he will get pelted with red glasses and burritos by the audience, Betty tells her that he's not coming, so the BH asks Wilhelmina to present Betty, so Wilhelmina uses Wilheldiva to take her place, despite the fact that Wilhediva had already planned a final show that same evening, which Claire will also attend as Wili stops by her office and puts her silletto on Claire's flyer after it fell on the carpet.

At the BLOBBYs, the fake Wilhelmina shows up to present Betty, but Daniel, who after getting a pep talk from Amanda of all people, changes his mind and goes to the awards. As expected, he presents Betty with the award and gets pelted with burritos and glasses. When Betty gets up to accept the plaque, she asks Daniel to stay and says something nice about him, but before she can finish her speech, Betty ends up getting pelted with burritos and glasses along with Daniel and ends up fleeing together. The following day, both Daniel and Betty are talking to each other again and agree to bury the hatchet, with Daniel telling Betty that he has stepped up his game by doing the researching and interviewing the stories on his own with less help.

Several blocks away at the club, Wilhelmina shows up to find out why the show is still going on, only to get a call from Wilhediva saying that he won't be able to make it. Unfortunately, the patrons at the club start seeing the spotlight at Wilhelmina and as she tries to flee the club, she is spurred on by Claire and the patrons to perform. Wilhelmina does give in and takes to the stage, and gets a standing ovation. The next day, Wilheldiva, this time showing up out of drag, stopped by to thank Wilhelmina for letting him continue with doing the show now that he is now in demand. Wilhelmina then returned the favor by letting him dress in better designs to make Wilhediva more like Wilhelmina.

Amanda, upset that she was never promoted since being a receptionist, asks Daniel to let her take the personnel assistant job, and he does despite their previous history even though she insists on still being buddies. Amanda then welcomes Helen, the temp who replaced her previously, to take her job. However, Wilhelmina is not impressed with Helen and orders Amanda to fire her. Amanda is afraid to go through with it and even Marc is siding with Wilhelmina on this, saying that if she does not fire Helen, Amanda will get pink slipped as well. So Amanda tricks Helen into finding another job (read hiding out of Wilhelmina's view), which turns out to be "The Closet". After more pressuring from Marc, Amanda comes clean with Helen and brings her back down to reality. However, she does bring Helen home to her apartment to become the newest roommate along with Marc.

Notes

• This would be the first episode to air after the announcement of the show's cancellation due to low ratings.
• The episode posted its worst numbers since the move to Wednesday, placing third with a 2.9/5 overall, a 1.5/4 among 18-49s and 4.1 million viewers tuning in.^[3][4]
• The episode was pushed back a week from January 27, 2010 to February 3, 2010, possibly due to the President's State of the Union Address.^[5]
• Adam Rodríguez is credited as a recurring star but does not appear. Daniel Eric Gold (Matt Hartley) is not credited and does not appear. This episode introduces Chris Williams (Wilheldiva Hater) as a guest star. Chris is the real-life brother of series regular Vanessa L. Williams (Wilhelmina Slater). The episode also sees the return of former guest star Kristen Johnston (Helen) who was last seen in "The Butterfly Effect Part 2". Also, for the first time in season 4, Daniel is seen shaved after having facial hair since "The Butterfly Effect Part 1".

See also

• Ugly Betty
• Ugly Betty (season 4)

References