London Calling (Ugly Betty)

"London Calling" is the 18th episode of the fourth season of the American comedy-drama series Ugly Betty, and the 83rd episode overall. It originally aired on ABC in the United States on March 31, 2010. In this episode, Betty goes to London with Amanda and Hilda, where she meets up with Christina and Gio. Meanwhile, Wilhelmina joins the Alcoholics Anonymous in the hope of getting closer to Tyler.

Plot

Hilda (Ana Ortiz) is planning her wedding, which is getting closer and asks Betty (America Ferrera) about the plans for her bachelorette party. Betty tells her that she's planned a champagne tour of The Met museum, but Hilda and Bobby believe it's a joke and Betty has to think of something else. Bobby is put out when Justin (Mark Indelicato) turns down a lift to school in favour of walking with Austin.

At MODE, Tyler asks Claire (Judith Light) about his father, instead of telling him that Cal Hartley rejected him, Claire lies and tells him that she met his father in rehab and the records have been lost. Tyler runs into Betty and she tells him that Daniel (Eric Mabius) will come around eventually. Daniel sees them and asks Betty if she is on 'Team Tyler', but she tells him to grow up. Marc (Michael Urie) brings Wilhelmina (Vanessa Williams) some clothes from the mall and she tells him that she must dress down in order to win Tyler over and make him a pawn in her plan to bring the Meade empire down. Betty talks Daniel out of going to London Fashion Week and decides to take Hilda there for her bachelorette party.

Hilda, Betty and Amanda (Becki Newton) arrive in London and meet up with Christina (Ashley Jensen). Christina tells the group that she recently held a fashion show and is now a famous designer. She introduces Betty to a publisher, who asks her if she'll fill in for a fashion columnist. Betty has to attend fashion shows, so the others go off sight seeing. When Betty meets up with the girls she finds that they are getting drunk and Betty decides to join in. During a drinking game, Hilda dares Betty to flash a stranger in the bar and she agrees, but the stranger turns out to be Gio (Freddy Rodriguez). He invites Betty to hang out with him for the rest of the night and they leave. During their walk, Gio tells Betty he is engaged and that he thinks MODE has become Betty's path and that she has turned a steppingstone into a career. Betty gets offended and returns to Hilda. Betty wakes up with a hangover, but goes to her interview and is offered a job as a permanent columnist. However, she turns the job down when she realizes that fashion is not what she wants to write about.

Daniel takes Tyler out for the night and apologizes to him. When he mentions that Cal is Tyler's father, Tyler calls Wilhelmina and tells her that he wants a drink. Wilhelmina encourages him to have a drink and Tyler gets drunk and fights with Daniel. When Amanda returns to MODE she tells Marc that she's leaving to pursue her dream of being a stylist because she was inspired by Christina. Claire gets Daniel from jail and she tells him that Tyler is an alcoholic and that he didn't know who his father was. Wilhelmina has bailed Tyler out and he tells her that he is going to take his share of Meade. Bobby goes to talk to Justin about why he has been acting strange around him and why he doesn't want to go to a Beyoncé concert with him and sees Justin and Austin kissing. Justin sees Bobby and asks him not to tell anyone, even his mom. A message from a drunk Betty is playing on an answer machine and Henry (Christopher Gorham) appears and is happy to hear that Betty wants him to come to Hilda's wedding as her guest.

Production

"London Calling" was written by David Grubstick and Sheila Lawrence and was directed by Mark Worthington.^[1] This episode sees the return of three past characters; Gio, Christina and Henry.^[2] A montage during the trip to London is set to Little Boots' "New in Town".^[2]

This episode also shares its name with an episode of the Mode After Hours series on the official website.^[3] Despite the storyline being set in London, the scenes were actually filmed on set in New York.^[4]

Reception

"London Calling" posted a decrease in numbers from the previous week, with 4.1 million viewers tuning in.^[5]

Tanner Stransky of Entertainment Weekly gave the episode a positive review and said "It seems that the writers are more concerned (and rightfully so!) with doing justice to all the storylines."^[6] Caryn Ganz of New York magazine said the episode was "charming" and added "Last night was an action-packed hour of evil schemes and nudges to follow your dreams."^[2]

References

External links

• "London Calling" at the Internet Movie Database
• "London Calling" at ABC