Ugly Betty: Marc's Wonderful Girlfriend, Who Lives in Canada!

Perversely, Ugly Betty aired its Thanksgiving episode this week, even though they're airing a new episode on the real Thanksgiving. Silly ABC. No one's in the Thanksgiving spirit yet. From the time Halloween is over, everyone's in the Christmas spirit, and the only day anyone is in the Thanksgiving spirit is on Thanksgiving itself. According to IMDb, this episode was originally supposed to air on Thanksgiving, so I can only assume that next week's episode is so exciting that they had to air it in the thick of November sweeps.

In the best tradition of all Thanksgiving episodes on any show, pretty much everyone has a crappy Thanksgiving. This includes Daniel, who gets into a pissing match with Salma's perfect boyfriend, who is so perfect that you know something has to be wrong with him. And there is – he's really Darren Wells from Studio 60! Salma, haven't you noticed him writing his number on everything in sight? Anyway, this subplot is worthwhile only for Betty's salsa dancing lessons over the phone to Daniel, a scene which is very cute ("Are you biting your lip?" "No." "Yes, you are. Stop it.") and put together quite nicely. Of course, Daniel salsas in much the same way that Elaine would, which is to say, dorkily, with much elbow flailing.

At the Suarez table, Hilda learns that the true meaning of Thanksgiving is not giving all your money to a shady lawyer who just ends up stealing it all and running out on you. As for the Slaters, what they should learn is not to eat a turkey that Wilhelmina cooked, because it'll probably kill them. Wilhelmina also needs to learn not to trust Martha Stewart as far as she can throw her – not about turkeys, not about anything. If you need help with a turkey, call the Butterball hotline. It worked for President Bartlett.

I give real thanks, though, for Marc and Amanda, who have the funnest Thanksgiving ever, alone in the Mode offices, wearing couture gowns and swigging champagne. But not before Marc makes an Avenue Q reference. He says at the beginning of the episode, before this plan is hatched, that he's going to go home and tell his family all about his girlfriend who lives in Canada. It's sort of a shame that he didn't go home, because I would have loved to see Marc belting out at the kitchen table, "She couldn't be sweeter, I wish you could meet her, my girlfriend who lives in Canada!" Liz, are you watching this show? Because they really, really want you to.