Ugly Betty: Bad Amanda (Episode 224)

As the title of the episode suggests this week is all about bad Amanda. Things finally start to boil over between Amanda and Betty, and it gets real ugly.

Hilda is taking the advice from a couple weeks ago and turning her hair salon into a boutique. She's selling knock-off's of everything, specifically Prada Plada. Is selling knock-off's legal? I think not. We'll see how long it takes for her to get shut down for this.

It's time to pay the bills and as to be expected Amanda is nowhere to be found. Oh wait just a second, there she is, back and broke after an impulsive shopping spree. It's not like Betty is rolling in it, obviously Mode doesn't pay that well, even if you are the Editor-in-Chief's assistant. When Hilda suggests Betty confront Amanda about paying rent, Amanda bolts out. Betty catches up with her a block or so later only for Amanda to whine to her that she's short this month, like she will undoubtedly be every month, and she has the audacity to ask Betty to cover her for the month. Betty refuses and tells Amanda she'll have to chip in.

At Mode, Wilhemina is hiding out trying to avoid the plague, I mean, Connor. She's horribly embarrassed about her trying to get all up on Connor at the business meeting in Florida. Marc tries his best to help Wilhemina get to her office without running into Connor but no such luck. Wilhemina eventually runs right into the plague itself and all that sputters out of her mouth is, "top of the mornin' to ya." She runs off in embarrassment like a little school girl and pouts to Marc. Christina comes to Wilhemina wondering if she would like to tag along to the seven month check-up this afternoon. Believe it or not Wilhemina has no interest in going to the appointment, but when the plague Connor comes in to see if she'll come along with him to a Ralph Lauren meeting this afternoon suddenly Wilhemina says she can't because she's going with Christina to the baby doctor. Well, how convenient.

With Amanda not paying the rent and Betty in a bit of a financial pinch, like the rest of us, she goes to Daniel stressing the point that she could really use as much overtime as possible. He informs her that, like many companies nowadays, Meade is cutting overtime for everyone. However, he does have a different and better opportunity for her to earn some extra money. Mode is expanding their website, ModeNY.com, and need more content. This not only will earn Betty some bucks but will give her the opp to start writing on a regular basis, which has been her goal since she started at Mode. Two birds with one stone!

After Betty leaves Daniel's office Molly, Connor's fiancee, comes in to hit him "the rich jerk" up for some moolah. She has some charity event going on and she wants him to step in for Connor, again, because yet again he's too busy with work. It seems a little ironic that Molly keeps having to hit up the Editor-in-Chief to step in for her husband, the CFO. You'd think Daniel would be busier than Connor. Anyway, Daniel is more than happy, giddy even, to step in for Connor.

Betty and Christina have lunch together. Betty complains to Christina about being broke. As they're chatting they come up with an amazing story idea for Betty. Fun stuff to do in NYC for free, as if that angle hasn't been covered a billion times before. Betty takes the idea to a ModeNY.com meeting with Daniel, Wilhemina and other Mode staff. She starts telling them about the idea, which they say is great, but then she bores them with what exactly the free fun things to do might include, such as the Native-American Museum. If that doesn't shout exciting I'm not sure what does. Amanda likes the overall concept but then throws in her two cents. She raves about all the free stuff she gets, like not having paid for a dinner or drinks in two years. Betty's innocent story ends up turning into "How to blow $10,000 without spending a dime" and she'll have to share the byline with Amanda. Yuck!

Claire sees Daniel getting a chubby turned on over Molly and slaps him, hoping to knock some sense into him. She reminds him that Molly is engaged, and to Connor no less, and he should just stay clear. She says he definitely shouldn't be going to the charity event with Molly tonight. We all know Daniel isn't a pro at restraint when it comes to getting his dirty on.

Wilhemina goes with Christina to the doc, but doesn't want to find out the sex of the baby. Since Wilhemina is wanting to avoid Connor at work she suggests that her and Christina go grab a drink. Christina has to remind her that she's preggers, no drinks for her. They head back to Wilhemina's sweet pad where Christina points out the obvious that Wilhemina's place is not baby-proofed, and then talk turns to Connor and Wilhemina whines about not having a baby daddy. Maybe Kevin Federline can make an appearance on Ugly Betty and play baby daddy? Or Larry Birkhead? Just a thought. Christina tells Wilhemina she'll soon be getting a man in her life, in the form of a baby boy. Oops, there goes the secret!

Amanda and Betty set out on their NYC adventure to get their hands on anything and everything free, as long as it's legal Betty says. They first hit up a make-up counter and snag a handful of free samples, then they go buy expensive clothes and plan to return them (though I'd say this sort of misses the point of "free things" since you're having to spend money), after this they head to an art showing and score some free drinks. As they're sipping the fabulous drinks they spot a couple guys and Amanda strikes up a convo. The talk leads to dinner at a fancy-schmancy restaurant. Amanda and Betty and the two guys are having a good 'ole time but Betty sneaks off to the bathroom to call Hilda to complain about how guilty she feels taking advantage of the guys just for a free dinner and really, really expensive champagne. Hilda tells her to live a little, she reminds Betty that the reason she supposedly move to her wonderful Manhattan apartment was to live the wonderful lifestyle but nothing has changed, Betty is still a workaholic, she just has a spectacular apartment that she rarely enjoys. Betty finally seems to get a clue and says she's going to enjoy herself. But, this high doesn't last long because when she returns to the table the two guys are gone and Amanda has ordered another bottle of the outrageous champagne thinking the guys will pick up the tab. The guys don't come back though and it's Amanda and Betty left with the ginormous tab. Betty starts to freak have a meltdown but then thinks up a strategy. She talks to the manager and after some smooth talking convinces the manager that she's from Mode and that she and Amanda are there to review the restaurant for a Mode feature, and hopes that the manager will cover the bill. The strategy pays off after a few forehead sweating moments with the manager covering the bill.

Amanda and Betty leave the restaurant ecstatic that they pulled off an amazing night without spending a dime -- if you don't count the clothes they bought. Their happiness is cut short again though when Amanda realizes that the guys from the art showing didn't only screw them over with the restaurant bill but they also stole her wallet. And, to make matters worse, she was going to do Betty a favor and take the rent to the landlord, and therefore it was in her wallet. Betty can't believe it and checks Amanda's purse herself only to find Amanda is right, the wallet is gone. Betty can't hold back any longer, she goes off on Amanda telling her that she never takes responsibility for anything. She tells Amanda that this is her fault, "bad Amanda." She says they're going to lose the apartment now, she is flat broke. Amanda says they can just hit up the ATM so she can get more money. Wow, is she really that dumb? Betty says that's all her money... zippo, nada, nothing.

Meanwhile, Daniel has his own drama going on over at the Mode offices. Molly stops by his office after he cancels but before the charity event. She decides to eat some dinner in his office and just happens to get a big stain on her dress. Daniel says it's not a prob and takes her to "the closet" where she can pick from a range of designer dresses. Molly takes her pick and selects a fire engine red dress. This for sure turns little Daniel on and the two almost kiss but then Molly pulls away at the last moment and says she better go. Probably a good idea!

Back to Betty, she heads home to drown her sorrows with food and have a good talk with Ignacio. He tells her that maybe they raised Betty to follow the rules a little too much, so much so that she never enjoys herself and just lets loose. He says maybe she can learn a thing or two from Amanda. So, Betty goes back to her apartment, Amanda is nowhere to be found. Betty sits down and stays up late writing the article.

The next morning, Betty turns the article into Daniel and... drumroll... he loves it! He says that's just what ModeNY.com needs and in fact he'd like to see Amanda and Betty start doing a regular column on the site since they seem to work so well together. Oh, right! Betty isn't so sure about working with Amanda but she'll get passed that because all that matters is she's going to have a regular column on Mode's website. Plus, Daniel says Betty can get an advance on the column to pay for her rent. Woohoo!

Betty finds Amanda, who is running away trying to avoid Betty. She's not avoiding her because she's mad at her though, it's actually because Amanda is wearing a clown get-up for her secret second job. Amanda finally admits she was like 70% responsible for what happened. They makeup for their fight and later Betty makes Amanda dinner and gives her a Prada, I mean, Plada purse... which Betty says she can start saving her rent money in.

One final bit of drama with Daniel and Wilhemina. Wilhemina catches wind that Daniel was in the fashion closet with Molly the night before and Marc gets security camera footage of the whole Daniel almost kissing Molly scene. So, I guess we all know where this is gonna go... Wilhemina will probably end up blackmailing Molly and then she'll think she's going to get Connor but he'll find out she blackmailed Molly and hate Wilhemina and quit Mode, and he and Molly will run off and live happily ever after. Or something like that.

Next week, Betty gets another amazing opportunity that she thinks is going to send her career into overdrive, but then just when you think things are going to get good for her something really, really bad happens. Hilda calls her and says someone is in the hospital, and it doesn't sound good.