Ugly Betty: Makeover, Makeover, Makeover

Cha cha cha! Yes, Betty gets a flashy, Queens-tastic makeover, but this week's lesson is about appearances, and how they're not everything. Look, I like this show and all, but do we really have to get all Full House with the weekly morality lessons? They don't really mesh with the catfights and the death-faking.

Daniel finally, finally, gets some depth this week, as he has to deal with living in the shadow of his sainted brother Alex, the Greatest Magazine Editor of All Time. Everyone compares him unfavorably to dead awesome Alex, and his dad always liked Alex better. Since it's so nice to see Daniel dealing with personal issues and because it actually brings something to the character, I'm going to ignore the clunkiness of the "dead sainted brother" plot point and just enjoy the insecurity we finally get from him.

Wilhelmina, however, has taken the week off from trying to wrest control of the magazine (I know! I was shocked too!). She's getting ready for The Senator. I know what you're thinking. Rick Santorum? Ted Stevens? No, turns out it's her dad, and she has daddy issues just like Daniel. Because the fact that she has not yet wrested control of the magazine (well, maybe you shouldn't have taken the week off, Wilhelmina) is deeply disappointing to her dad. Why can't you love her for who she is, Senator Dad? Why can't you just be proud of your evil daughter?

Two things I love more and more each week: Marc and the telenovela scenes. Marc just keeps worming his evil little way into my heart, whether it's with a look (his goggle-eyed reaction to being threatened by Betty) or a line (trilling "I just found my new screensaver!" as he takes a picture of Betty in her Queens hoochie finery). That award he accepted when he thought he was alone? That was the award for My Favorite New Character. As for the telenovela bits, the thing I love most is that they seem to be written with a Random Scene Generator. This week's scene involved a soccer player, a rich woman, a maid, and a bikini-clad woman, and the dialogue runs like this: "Ma'am, I have nothing to repent." "That's not what people say!" What? Exactly.