After Black Thursday, i.e. last Thursday’s lack of UB, we are back at our favourite magazine with our favourite Latina outcast. I missed the first few minutes of the episode; I have yet to adapt to Sahar on Crutches Time (as opposed to Sahar Standard Time) and I keep underestimating how long it will take me to accomplish various tasks. Colour me optimistic.

In any case, I switched the TV on just in time to hear Daniel say yes to Molly for something that I really didn’t want to happen, whatever it was. The Molly storyline is interesting in that Daniel’s taste and actions are so different from the one we met three years ago. Molly is definitely a step up for Daniel compared to his typical conquest, but it still leaves me a little bothered – as it does Claire. Kudos to Mama Meade for trying to slap some sense into her son; however, since it only worked to a certain extent, she might want to scale it up to some kicking (hopefully we will see some of that next episode). That’s because Claire Meade knows, as every person watching the show does, that Daniel and Molly are playing with fire, and have already risked getting burned with an almost-kiss in the Closet (and now if only Michael Jackson’s In the Closet can stop playing in my head…).

While Molly seems intent on keeping herself in line, can the same be said for Daniel? While he has changed for the better since we first met him, Daniel will probably be strong enough to resist only as long as Molly puts the brakes on. The added element of a plotting Wilhelmina wishing to get Connor for herself is bound to create a massive romantic parallelogram between her, Connor, Molly and Daniel.

While I’m intrigued as to where that is going to go, I very much prefer the Amanda-Betty storyline. Having them team up to go out on the town together while not spending a dime was an amazing idea. Amanda and Betty are total opposites from one another, and somehow that works without it being cliché nor stereotypical. Having Amanda move in with Betty was one of the best moves of this season; in close second was having both Betty and Mark get into YETI. I like how the Amanda-Betty relationship is being systematically explored in subtle ways, i.e. the walk to work, Amanda overhauling Betty’s wardrobe and now, them working together on a project.

An intriguing yet natural question that results from this experience is the importance of beauty versus attitude in Amanda’s success during their outing. How much was Amanda able to get away with because of her beauty, and how much of it is related to her confidence? While the two are invariably related, it can be argued that confident & beautiful people get it a lot easier than confident & less-beautiful people. This leads to yet another interesting question about the society we have built for ourselves: why do we place so much important on beauty & confidence? How many voices have we failed to listen to because we thought the lack of confidence reflected a lack of validity? And how many voices have we wrongly listened to, swayed by the strength of that voice or the beauty of the person uttering those words?

This might be the reason why some of us get dragged into things we would otherwise never do; we tell ourselves that if because someone we see as better or better looking or more confident than us is doing it, we might be seen the same way if we follow. As Betty put it (and quite eloquently, might I add): “I don’t know how I let myself get sucked into Amanda’s black hole of irresponsibility.”

On a lighter note, I have to ask this question: why on earth is Betty’s tub in the middle of the place? All I can think of is that to be able to make little apartments on a small budget, the landlord fit the essentials wherever he could and we should be happy the tub isn’t in the kitchen. Not only that, we can be thankful of the fact that he had a more private corner to put the toilet in, thus not bringing to life many peoples’ nightmares about being on the potty in public.

I always liked this show, sometimes more than others. I was even getting used to this tamer version of it, without the intense drama of the first two seasons but still with interesting, intriguing and discussion worthy plots.

But then I see this:

Ah, a hospital. That means drama, drama and more drama. I wonder who is in that bed – Ignacio or Justin? Will that mean Betty has to move back home? Will this jeopardise her part YETI?

Until next week, we will have to do with reminiscing about our favourite parts from this week’s episode. Mine include:

– Christina’s ‘Princes Leia’ look (suits her, but still nerdy)

– Wilhelmina’s comment: “What? I really didn’t notice that living in Manhattan was expensive!”

– Claire slapping Daniel when he admits to her that there is ‘something about Molly’.

– Wilhelmina inviting a seven-month pregnant Christina for drinks at her place: “I’ll drink for the three of us”.

– Christina confronting Wilhelmina about the potential dangers in her apartment for a baby: “This place isn’t even baby-proofed!” Points at various objects in the kitchen: “Dead baby! Dead baby! Dead baby!”

– Amanda admitting her part in the disastrous ending to their evening: “I’d say it was like seventy forty (percent) me.”

– Wilhelmina’s black dress and brown belt ensemble at the end of the episode.

– Amanda eating straight from the serving bowl and grabbing the bottle from Betty as she is pouring the wine in her cup at the very end of the episode.