Ugly Betty Recap: “Swag”

Ugly Betty – “Swag”
Original Air Date: 1/4/2007
We start 2007 by going back to 2006 in an odd sort of framed episode that doesn’t shed any light on Betty’s new situation at NYW. It’s kind of a “filler episode,” so I’ll just be doing a quick recap. If you didn’t watch it, you didn’t miss much.

Betty’s cleaning out her belongings at Mode late at night, hoping to avoid the crowds in case some tears start flowing. Her only companions are a bizarre janitor and Christina, who happens to spot her “Gucci” purse. Why is it a knockoff, rather than the real one Christina gave her? Weeeeelll….

Let us travel back to four months ago, when Betty and Daniel were still new and in the trial phase, Amanda and Marc were spiteful instead of hilarious, Walter and Betty were broken up, and HMO’s were Ignacio’s biggest problem. Good times!

Back then, Daniel was trying to impress yet another prima donna fashion heavyweight, Japanese minimalist Oshi and former friend of Fey Sommers. Oshi’s coming for a shoot and Daniel needs to impress him with a lavish dinner for him and his entourage.

Meanwhile, Betty’s responsible for submitting Daniel’s expense report, a task she learned of with only one night to assemble a pile of disorganized unspecified receipts. She asks for help from Marc, who provides her with a phony report he “submitted” for Wilhelmina, detailing miscellaneous expenses of more than $25,000 for a shoot in Brazil.

As expected, when Betty follows Wilhelmina’s bad example, $20,000 of Daniel’s miscellaneous expenses are rejected. BURN. Adding injury to insult, his company credit card is suspended. Worst of all, Betty is humiliated in front of cute accountant Henry. (We finally see how they meet when she swipes his bagel.) Daniel’s broke so his father agrees to eat the $20,000, but to teach him a lesson on how to manage money, Bradford insists that he use his own money for the next month at Mode. However, the $327 in Daniel’s personal account won’t quite cover an extravagant meal for picky, champagne-downing Oshi and his crew. What to do?

Betty has two ideas: one, see what Wilhelmina was up to that her $25,000 expense can be accepted without a problem; and two, come up with a list of cheap treats that Daniel can use to woo Oshi without breaking the bank. For the first, she convinces Henry to help her find out where all the “prop and extra” expenses Wilhelmina filed for her prop-and-extra-free photo shoot were really generated. Just a phone call away, she learns that $25,000 was spent on “extra propping” of an entirely different sort.

After Oshi’s “round, white, and minimal” fashion show at Mode, the pressure is on. After being turned down for a 1:1 dinner with Oshi (who irritates the crap out of me, by the way), Daniel thinks he has no choice but to admit defeat and invite Wilhelmina to dinner, having her pay. She’s delighted, but at the last moment Bradford sweeps in to take her away for a discussion of her spending $25,000 on a Brazilian butt lift. (In the background, Henry is flirting with Betty. Big smile, upraised eyebrows of triumph. It’s adorable.)

His options exhausted, nothing to lose, Daniel decides to make a last-ditch effort for one of Betty’s cheap suggestions. The white limo carries them away to…

“The White Tassel” in New Jersey. As Betty explains, it’s white and minimal, with round food inside. After a moment’s pause, Oshi declares that he likes it. One successful dinner later, Daniel has Oshi’s favor, his credit card reinstated, and a new sense of admiration for his assistant. (Personally, I’d have gone with powdered sugar doughnuts. Those are way more “round, white, and minimal”… plus they’re TASTY.)

So where does the purse come in, you might wonder? Turns out Christina has declared open season on last-season’s couture from the Mode closet. Though Marc and Amanda both have their eye on the highly-coveted $4,500 Gucci bag, Christina squirrels it away for Betty because it reminds her of her mother’s purse that she used to love. Once she’s got it, though, Betty decides to give it up in exchange for 15 refills of her dad’s heart pills, which his HMO no longer pays for. Still, she’s pretty bummed. The bag made her feel a bit more beautiful.

Well, if she lost the bag, how’d she end up with the knockoff? Courtesy of Walter the thoughtful stalker! He’s been following her around trying to win her back, and saw her exchange her purse for her dad’s pills. Betty says, “It’s wonderful.” My boyfriend says, “So he bought her.” Hee. But the story doesn’t end there. Betty gives the knockoff to Marc in exchange for another knockoff and a big favor to be named later. Clever girl…let’s hope NYW appreciates her.

Next week: strippers, scandal, and screaming. Personally, I’m hoping for a better episode. This one was a bit of a low point for me, as it didn’t further any of the storylines I’m currently interested in, showed Walter winning Betty back, and had a lot of that despicable Oshi character, who I kept hoping would fall down an elevator shaft. His whole “Oshi is… (gestures at group of douche bags) Oshi” was truly bitch-slap-worthy. On the upside, it did have lots of Henry, and Amanda’s crude attempts to trade Betty for her Gucci bag. Menudo boxset and coupon for 100 taquitos? Hee!

What did you think?

Julie is a firm believer in “all things in moderation” — except when it comes to TV, writing, Logan Echolls, and carbonated beverages. When she’s not debating TV Boyfriends with GMMR, she’s writing for her site, TV & Sympathy, or kicking ass and taking names.