Ugly Betty

Episode Report Card
Jessica: A | 501 USERS: C+
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Fake Plastic Snow
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Happy holidays to you all! This is the last new episode for a while, and I must admit, I think it was one of the best episodes of the season so far. So let's get to it.

Betty works at her desk, lit only by Christmas lights, and accompanied by Christmas music. Before you know it, the delightfully dorky Henry rolls up, and the two of them flirt SHAMELESLY, yet also adorably awkwardly and nerdishly. For example, when Betty gives Henry Daniel's expense report, Henry notes that the total is exactly the same as the number of stars visible from earth on a good night. As you can imagine, this is "just something [he] knows." Betty is visibly charmed. Henry leans over her to fondle some vegetation she has on her desk. "Is this mistletoe?" he asks. Betty twitters that it's just holly, but Henry leans in and kisses her anyway. When they come up for air, he smiles and says, "Wow. You know what, Betty? You're just the girl I've been looking for."

It is at this point, of course, that Betty wakes up with a start, wearing her headgear and with her bangs in plastic rollers. She heaves a deep sigh and flops back on her pillow. She gazes over at a photo on her nightstand. In it, she and Walter are eating hot dog. Due to his sunglasses and his brown mock turtleneck sweater, Walter looks like a 1950s era hipster, but not in the cool way. In the way that implies he's about forty years too old for Betty.

Over at Daniel's, Salma is sleeping in one of Daniel's Harvard t-shirts. This explains why Daniel was under the mistaken impression that the Harvard/Yale game is the most important game of the year, since everyone thinks their own rivalry game is the most important. And this year, mine actually was: go Bruins! Anyway, Daniel is watching Salma sleep. There's some sleepy cuddling, and then Salma wakes with a start and starts chattering that she's going to miss her plane. She's struggling to put her panties back on underneath the sheets while Daniel moons that it's been an amazing three weeks. Salma agrees that it's been "intense." In fact, she wonders if maybe it would be good for them to "take a breather" while she's gone: "Time to cool off, apart. Just to make sure all of this is real." Daniel dreamily assures her that he knows it's real: "I love you." She puts on her Louboutain boots and wonders what Daniel knows from love: "Your heart racing, your palms sweating. You can barely breathe when you see me." Daniel protests that all of that happens to him when they're together. Salma shrugs this off as "hormones, infatuation, and good sex, not love." Daniel protests that he wants a life with her. Salma brushes her teeth and tells him to prove it by seeing other women while she's gone: "And if you don't get sweaty palms and all that when you're with them, then maybe this is real." Daniel protests that it's crazy for her to ask him to cheat on her to prove he loves her, but Salma shrugs that it's not cheating. It's just proving his theory. She needs Daniel to do it to convince her that she's not the only woman he feels this way about.

Ugly Betty