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Ugly Betty Season 1 Episode 2
7-Oct-2006
Written by: Vanessa Yara
The Box and the Bunny
This episode opens with Betty returning to the Mode magazine office. She unpacks her belongings and sets up all her pictures and trinkets, including a bunny her sister gave her as a college graduation present. Needless to say, the entire office is disgusted by Betty's un-Mode decorations.
Daniel informs Betty they'll be having a meeting with Natalie Whittman from the "Jenna Fletcher" movies. Betty is a big fan and points out that the dedicated actress gains 30 pounds every time she reprises that role. Daniel coldly notes that she has also failed to lose them.
At the meeting, the retouching artist severely slenderizes photos of Natalie Whittman until she doesn't even resemble herself. Betty returns her desk to learn her bunny has been stolen. Meanwhile, Daniel meets with his father, who asks Daniel his thoughts on the book. The book is a mock up of the entire magazine. Each department makes its contribution throughout the day and the editor takes it home every night to chart the current edition's progress. Daniel is completely unaware of this but promises to get on top of it. Daniel addresses Wilhelmina about the book. Willie uses her usual brush off attempts, but Daniel shuts her down by reminding her who the editor-in-chief is, and that he wants the book every night. Later that afternoon, Willie and Mark hatch a plot to include the un-retouched photos in the book and have Daniel sign off it, which will lead to him getting fired.
Bradford has his covert meeting on the park bench with an unidentified person. The person explains the estate of Fey Sommers will be having an auction and they might want to go through her belongings first, just in case. Bradford insists he will go to her apartment since he has a key. Hmm. Later that night, Bradford enters Fey's apartment and destroys pictures of himself with the "deceased" editor.
Later that night, Amanda slinks into Daniel's office to let him know Willie gave her tickets to the opera and it would be really hot to make-out in the balcony. Daniel takes off out of the office so quickly, he forgets the book on his desk. Betty discovers the book while closing up for the night and decides to take the book with her for safe keeping. She leaves Daniel a voice mail explaining as much.
Betty gets home to Queens and Justin accidentally gets a glimpse of the book. He takes it out of her bag and goes on a blathering rant about how excited he is to see the actual book. Betty asks him how he knows about the book and Justin simply states, "I saw 'Prada' like seven times!" Justin is disgusted to see how big the cover girl still is, but Betty is impressed that Daniel decided to go the un-retouched route. The excitement is killed when Gina barges into the house demanding $4,000 from Betty for the television she damaged. Hilda isn't having this and forcibly escorts Gina out of the house, but not before Gina notices how protective Betty is of the book she's clutching. That night, Gina breaks in and steals the book. The next morning, Betty tears her house apart looking for the book when she finally finds Gina's ransom note.
Meanwhile, Daniel listens to Betty's voice mail and immediately calls her. Hilda encourages Betty to lie. Betty assures Daniel that all is well and she is proud of his choice to not use the retouched pictures. This freaks Daniel out even more because the magazine cannot afford to have those pictures hit the public. Daniel is nervous about the morning's meeting and tells Betty he's sending a car to pick her and the book up in Queens. Betty begs Gina for the book to no avail. Hilda even breaks in and threatens to tear out Gina's weave, which she eventually does, a little. The car arrives and Betty decides to go to Manhattan and face the music. In the car, Betty discusses the situation on the phone. The car driver sends a text to Wilhelmina confirming that Betty lost the book to her neighbor.
Back at the office, Daniel continues to avoid the meeting. Betty enters and tells him the whole story. Daniel tells Betty to get the check book because they're both going to Queens.
At her desk, Betty finds a photo of her beloved bunny badly beaten and floating in a toilet. Betty stands on her chair with the photo in her hands and loudly addresses the office staff. "That's it! Who put the bunny in the toilet? This is not funny! Who thinks this is funny?" Nearly everyone raises a hand. "Well whoever is doing this, if you think you can break me that easily, you are wrong. You can take my bunny, but you can't take my spirit!" You tell them , girl!
FashionTV is airing reports on the leaked information that Mode's book, containing un-retouched photos of the cover girl, has been lost. This is a disaster.
Back in Queens, Daniel and Betty go to Gina's house and find Walter installing a new television. Gina says someone already bought the book from her. Walter swears he's just doing his job and is not back together with Gina. He continues his poor wooing of Betty, who is far too busy to care.
Outside, Daniel contemplates leaving the country, but Betty insists they must face the music. Back at the office, Amanda tells Betty she should do the honorable thing by fessing up and quitting. Amanda then throws a box of Betty's belongings at her, including the disfigured bunny.
Mark enters Willie's office in a track suit disguise. He has the book.
Betty gets on the elevator and meets up with Natalie Whittman . Betty tells her she looks great in the un-retouched photos and they should be seen. Natalie Whittman approaches Daniel with a great idea and tells him not to fire his wonderful assistant.
Willie calls Bradford to tell him she found the book, but he tells her everything is okay. Willie is confused, but does as Bradford suggests and turns on FashionTV. Natalie Whittman is being interviewed discussing the photos, and the breaking news is Mode will run her original photos. Wilhelmina has been thwarted again. She returns to the dark chamber to tell the patient what has happened. The patient decides that Daniel would leave the magazine and take down his father if he knew what kind of man Bradford really was.
The episode ends with Daniel receiving an anonymous phone call telling him he should look into some of the things his father has done. It's getting good, kids.
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