I’d like to give a huge thank you to the writers for introducing a new character—Wilhelmina’s drag queen impersonator. Not only was it interesting to see the man version of Willie (played by Vanessa Williams’ real brother, Chris Williams), but I finally got to see the great Vanessa Williams sing. I mean, for real. The lady has several Grammy nominations from her music career, and it took until season four to showcase some of that talent.
The Betty-Daniel power struggle in this episode was intriguing but completely unrealistic. A real features editor who bitches out her editor-in-chief via blog would definitely get fired. Luckily, Betty has a sort of immunity when it comes to Daniel. He’s almost always in the wrong when it comes to their fights, especially in this situation, when he feels threatened by her success.
Betty’s blog award ceremony would have been fantastic had the audience members thrown their burritos at Daniel all at once—as was planned—but was still pretty fun because they threw the burritos at Betty anyway when she managed, accidentally, to call them all freaks.
Things finallly seem to be looking up for Amanda, who gets hired as Daniel’s new assistant. She rehires Helen (guest star Kristen Johnson) as her receptionist replacement, has trouble firing her at Wilhelmina’s command, and eventually allows her to crash on the couch (much to Marc’s disgust).
The only reference to the supposed sexual tension between Daniel and Wilhelmina was one comment—Daniel unknowingly complimenting Willie’s drag queen impersonator on her white outfit—so I’m more than curious to find out if the writers will go further with this.
Overall, I liked the episode’s references to the old Betty. Although season four is undoubtedly the era of Betty 6.0, she gives her past self credit for getting to where she is today (as manifested in the framed Guadalajara poncho). The new Betty would never have made it without the dogged determination of the old Betty. And both Bettys, past and present, share an eternal sense of optimism that the crazy world of Mode and fashion can’t seem to destroy. Having said all that, I can’t help but to notice that Betty seems to have gotten over Matt far too quickly. How can she possibly have forgotten him already? He is, after all, the one who inspired her to start a blog in the first place. Only one thing seems clear: when Matt gets back from Africa, Betty’s going to have some tough decisions to make, because I can guarantee that they won’t be the same people at that point.