Filing for the Enemy
Encyclopedia
"Filing for the Enemy" is the second episode in the third season, the 43rd episode overall, of the American dramedy series Ugly Betty
, which aired on October 2, 2008. The episode was written by Joel Fields and directed by Michael Spiller.
Seeing Betty's potential, Wilhelmina invites her to lunch at a chic restaurant. Betty, however, has serious doubts (no surprise, considering Wilhelmina has interfered in Betty's career so often), but Wilhelmina says she wants to bury the hatchet and tells Betty if she wants to move up in the world of magazine publishing, to rejoin the "Mode" staff and work for her. Unfortunately, as Betty tells her family about the offer, Wilhelmina jumps the gun by rubbing it in Daniel's face at work, leading to Daniel forcing Betty to decide... which she does by accepting Wilhelmina's offer.
As Betty resumes her work at Mode under Marc, it appears that Betty is winning Wilhelmina over, with "winning over" being the operative phrase. At a meeting with a cosmetics mogul to negotiate an advertising deal, Betty offers suggestions that impress the mogul and are accepted (grudgingly) by Wilhelmina. Betty is then sent by Wilhelmina on a seemingly impossible errand... to fetch a historic tiara under guard in a museum, for Wilhelmina to wear at the "Mode" re-launch gala. When Betty returns with two museum guards and the tiara, Wilhelmina admits she was only testing Betty the same way Fey Sommers once tested Wilhelmina, and says she wants to make Betty her protege and personal assistant, which shocks Marc. Wilhelmina then hands the re-launch party planning (which was Marc's assignment) to Betty, causing a major rift between Betty and the deeply offended Marc.
The abrupt changes left Betty with more questions than answers, which is made worse when she falls asleep and dreams that she became a "Betty-mina", where Betty looked exactly like Wilhemina but with braces and glasses, shouting and firing all the staff, getting botox from Marc, chucking Daniel out of her office and then proceeding to kick Halston, Amanda's dog, but then woke up before she saw it, which gave her a horrible shock. Marc and Amanda gives Betty bags full of "old mail" to shred. Luckily, before she began her task, Betty discovered the bags were full of supportive letters to Daniel from "Mode" readers that Wilhelmina had kept hidden. As she showed Daniel the letters, Betty encouraged him to fight for his old job.
That evening at the party, Betty decided to give Wilhelmina two weeks' notice, which Wilhelmina accepted. As Betty left, Claire stopped by to smugly announce a "surprise." As Daniel and Alexis joined Claire, Alexis told Wilhelmina she was demoting her back to creative director and restoring Daniel as Editor-in-Chief. This came about after Wilhelmina's reworking of "Mode" had resulted in a plunge in sales and subscribers. Wilhelmina is stunned; Claire reminds Wilhelmina that despite the impending birth of Wilhelmina and Bradford's child (being carried by Christina), Wilhelmina is not part of the Meade empire. Claire dramatically makes her point by shoving an ice sculpture of Wilhelmina off its pedestal to shatter on the floor. A furious Wilhelmina walks away, setting the stage for a new battle between her and the Meades. Daniel rehires Betty, who realizes Marc masterminded the "letter-shredding" scheme so Betty could give Daniel the letters, allowing Betty to return to Daniel while Marc reclaimed his position as Wilhelmina's assistant.
Meanwhile, a custody battle for Daniel Jr. heats up when Daniel learns that DJ's French grandparents are holding up his immigration papers. This has Daniel concerned that DJ might be returned to France; when Daniel tentatively broaches the topic with his son, DJ says he wants to stay with his father, and Daniel decides to fight for custody.
Hilda continues to romance Tony, who surprises her by asking her on a "real" dinner date because his wife is supposed to be out of town. Hilda accepts with delight. When Tony stops by Mode to see Betty and pick up a specially autographed copy of "Player," Marc and Amanda swoon over the coach (to no avail). After Tony leaves, Amanda reveals she swiped the coach's cell phone. Betty takes the phone away, only to see pictures of Tony kissing "another woman" and (as Betty thinks) cheating on Hilda. At her apartment that evening, Betty finally admits this to Hilda, who says the woman is Tony's wife. Betty is shocked, but Hilda says she's in love with Tony and wants to keep seeing him. Unfortunately, Tony stands Hilda up for their date... his wife didn't leave town after all, as Hilda discovers when she calls Tony from the restaurant to see what's keeping him. Instead, she hears him fake a conversation with a "male friend" so his wife won't overhear and realize who he's really talking to. Hilda hangs up, looking forlorn.
In another scenario, Christina confesses to Betty that she thinks Stuart is abusing drugs again. She sends some of Stuart's hair to a lab for testing. When the results come back positive, Christina is devastated--the only reason she agreed to be Wilhelmina's baby-mama surrogate was to get money for Stuart's "experimental treatment." When Stuart returns, Christina accuses him of using drugs and the couple have a brief, but nearly violent fight. When Christina threatens to call immigration, Stuart roughly shoves over a mannequin and stalks off, leaving his shocked wife behind.
That evening, as Christina is leaving Mode for the day, she misses the elevator and is forced to take the stairs. She is then pushed down the stairs and knocked unconscious by a mysteriously unshown person.
in the recurring role of State Department agent Holly Wright.
Entertainment Weekly
' s Tanner Stransky cites the Betty-mina daydream as one of the best moments in this episode: "How delicious was last night's episode of Ugly Betty? Hands down, the best moment was the hammy flash-forward scene where we saw a future version of Betty reimagined in the divalicious image of Wilhelmina. Honestly, who requests a snack of carrot shavings? And that bit with the puppy at the end? Genius!"
Vice Presidential debate that followed this episode, came in with only a 5.7/9 overall, a 2.6 among 18-49s and 8.6 million viewers watching, to place second behind CBS
' Survivor: Gabon
.
Ugly Betty
Ugly Betty is an American comedy-drama television series developed by Silvio Horta, which premiered on ABC on September 28, 2006, and ended on April 14, 2010. The series revolves around the character Betty Suarez and is based on Fernando Gaitán's Colombian telenovela soap opera Yo soy Betty, la fea...
, which aired on October 2, 2008. The episode was written by Joel Fields and directed by Michael Spiller.
Plot
At a shoot for Player involving "sexy lawyers and judges," Betty discovers Daniel (who took Betty's "idea" for the aforementioned shoot) working on a "Mode" mock-up sent to him by mistake. When Betty takes the mock-up to Alexis, Alexis is impressed with how it turned out... in fact, so impressed she tells Wilhelmina that Daniel's ideas were better than hers. Wilhelmina, as "Mode" Editor-in-Chief, finds a way to ensure her future at Meade Publications--by manipulating Betty, who Wilhelmina feels can help her succeed, into joining her team.Seeing Betty's potential, Wilhelmina invites her to lunch at a chic restaurant. Betty, however, has serious doubts (no surprise, considering Wilhelmina has interfered in Betty's career so often), but Wilhelmina says she wants to bury the hatchet and tells Betty if she wants to move up in the world of magazine publishing, to rejoin the "Mode" staff and work for her. Unfortunately, as Betty tells her family about the offer, Wilhelmina jumps the gun by rubbing it in Daniel's face at work, leading to Daniel forcing Betty to decide... which she does by accepting Wilhelmina's offer.
As Betty resumes her work at Mode under Marc, it appears that Betty is winning Wilhelmina over, with "winning over" being the operative phrase. At a meeting with a cosmetics mogul to negotiate an advertising deal, Betty offers suggestions that impress the mogul and are accepted (grudgingly) by Wilhelmina. Betty is then sent by Wilhelmina on a seemingly impossible errand... to fetch a historic tiara under guard in a museum, for Wilhelmina to wear at the "Mode" re-launch gala. When Betty returns with two museum guards and the tiara, Wilhelmina admits she was only testing Betty the same way Fey Sommers once tested Wilhelmina, and says she wants to make Betty her protege and personal assistant, which shocks Marc. Wilhelmina then hands the re-launch party planning (which was Marc's assignment) to Betty, causing a major rift between Betty and the deeply offended Marc.
The abrupt changes left Betty with more questions than answers, which is made worse when she falls asleep and dreams that she became a "Betty-mina", where Betty looked exactly like Wilhemina but with braces and glasses, shouting and firing all the staff, getting botox from Marc, chucking Daniel out of her office and then proceeding to kick Halston, Amanda's dog, but then woke up before she saw it, which gave her a horrible shock. Marc and Amanda gives Betty bags full of "old mail" to shred. Luckily, before she began her task, Betty discovered the bags were full of supportive letters to Daniel from "Mode" readers that Wilhelmina had kept hidden. As she showed Daniel the letters, Betty encouraged him to fight for his old job.
That evening at the party, Betty decided to give Wilhelmina two weeks' notice, which Wilhelmina accepted. As Betty left, Claire stopped by to smugly announce a "surprise." As Daniel and Alexis joined Claire, Alexis told Wilhelmina she was demoting her back to creative director and restoring Daniel as Editor-in-Chief. This came about after Wilhelmina's reworking of "Mode" had resulted in a plunge in sales and subscribers. Wilhelmina is stunned; Claire reminds Wilhelmina that despite the impending birth of Wilhelmina and Bradford's child (being carried by Christina), Wilhelmina is not part of the Meade empire. Claire dramatically makes her point by shoving an ice sculpture of Wilhelmina off its pedestal to shatter on the floor. A furious Wilhelmina walks away, setting the stage for a new battle between her and the Meades. Daniel rehires Betty, who realizes Marc masterminded the "letter-shredding" scheme so Betty could give Daniel the letters, allowing Betty to return to Daniel while Marc reclaimed his position as Wilhelmina's assistant.
Meanwhile, a custody battle for Daniel Jr. heats up when Daniel learns that DJ's French grandparents are holding up his immigration papers. This has Daniel concerned that DJ might be returned to France; when Daniel tentatively broaches the topic with his son, DJ says he wants to stay with his father, and Daniel decides to fight for custody.
Hilda continues to romance Tony, who surprises her by asking her on a "real" dinner date because his wife is supposed to be out of town. Hilda accepts with delight. When Tony stops by Mode to see Betty and pick up a specially autographed copy of "Player," Marc and Amanda swoon over the coach (to no avail). After Tony leaves, Amanda reveals she swiped the coach's cell phone. Betty takes the phone away, only to see pictures of Tony kissing "another woman" and (as Betty thinks) cheating on Hilda. At her apartment that evening, Betty finally admits this to Hilda, who says the woman is Tony's wife. Betty is shocked, but Hilda says she's in love with Tony and wants to keep seeing him. Unfortunately, Tony stands Hilda up for their date... his wife didn't leave town after all, as Hilda discovers when she calls Tony from the restaurant to see what's keeping him. Instead, she hears him fake a conversation with a "male friend" so his wife won't overhear and realize who he's really talking to. Hilda hangs up, looking forlorn.
In another scenario, Christina confesses to Betty that she thinks Stuart is abusing drugs again. She sends some of Stuart's hair to a lab for testing. When the results come back positive, Christina is devastated--the only reason she agreed to be Wilhelmina's baby-mama surrogate was to get money for Stuart's "experimental treatment." When Stuart returns, Christina accuses him of using drugs and the couple have a brief, but nearly violent fight. When Christina threatens to call immigration, Stuart roughly shoves over a mannequin and stalks off, leaving his shocked wife behind.
That evening, as Christina is leaving Mode for the day, she misses the elevator and is forced to take the stairs. She is then pushed down the stairs and knocked unconscious by a mysteriously unshown person.
Casting
This episode will feature the first appearance by Heather TomHeather Tom
Heather Marie Tom is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Victoria Newman on The Young and the Restless, Kelly Cramer on One Life to Live and currently Katie Logan Spencer on The Bold and the Beautiful....
in the recurring role of State Department agent Holly Wright.
Music
- "Body" by Ja RuleJa RuleJeffrey Atkins , better known by his stage name Ja Rule, is an American rapper, singer, and actor.Born in Hollis, Queens, he began his career in the group Cash Money Click and debuted in 1999 with Venni Vetti Vecci and its single "Holla Holla"...
- "High and Mighty" by Cyndi LauperCyndi LauperCynthia Ann Stephanie "Cyndi" Lauper is an American singer, songwriter, actress and LGBT rights activist. She achieved success in the mid-1980s with the release of the album She's So Unusual and became the first female singer to have four top-five singles released from one album...
- "Up" by The SaturdaysThe SaturdaysThe Saturdays are a British and Irish pop girl group based in London, United Kingdom. The group consists of five members Una Healy, Mollie King, Frankie Sandford, Vanessa White and Rochelle Wiseman. In 2007 the band were formed through Fascination Records which gave them an instant record deal with...
was featured in the promos.
Reception
Notes Zap2it's Hanh Nguyen on the well-received episode: "Things move fast in Ugly Betty land, so even though equilibrium was achieved in this episode, a whole lot of wrong was put into motion as well."Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
Ratings
The episode, which aired on the same night as the Joseph Biden/Sarah PalinSarah Palin
Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...
Vice Presidential debate that followed this episode, came in with only a 5.7/9 overall, a 2.6 among 18-49s and 8.6 million viewers watching, to place second behind CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
' Survivor: Gabon
Survivor: Gabon
Survivor: Gabon — Earth's Last Eden is the seventeenth season of the American CBS competitive reality television series Survivor. The premiere aired September 25, 2008, with the first two episodes screened back-to-back....
.
Also starring
- Rebecca RomijnRebecca RomijnRebecca Alie Romijn is an American actress and former fashion model. She is best known for her role as Mystique in the X-Men films, and for her recurring role as Alexis Meade on the television series Ugly Betty.-Early life:...
as Alexis MeadeAlexis MeadeAlexis Meade is a fictional character from the ABC dramedy series Ugly Betty. She was initially played by Elizabeth Penn Payne for the first 12 episodes of her appearance and was played by Rebecca Romijn for the rest of the series.-Biography:Alex Meade was a background presence in the... - Eddie CibrianEddie CibrianEdward Carl "Eddie" Cibrian is an American actor. He is known for his television roles as Cole Deschanel on Sunset Beach, Jesse Cardoza in CSI: Miami, Jimmy Doherty on Third Watch and Russell Varon in Invasion.-Early life and career:...
as Coach Diaz - Julian de la CelleJulian De La CelleJulian De La Celle is an American actor of French descent. He played Daniel Meade, Jr. -- Alexis Meade's son in ABC's Ugly Betty. De La Celle first appeared in Ugly Betty in the Season 2 finale, "Jump"...
as Daniel Jr. - Heather TomHeather TomHeather Marie Tom is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Victoria Newman on The Young and the Restless, Kelly Cramer on One Life to Live and currently Katie Logan Spencer on The Bold and the Beautiful....
as Holly Wright - Derek RiddellDerek RiddellDerek Riddell is a Scottish television actor.He was born in Glasgow, the son of actress Hope Ross and former St Mirren footballer Ian Riddell...
as Stuart McKinney
Guest starring
- Florencia LozanoFlorencia LozanoFlorencia Lozano is an American actress. She has starred as character Téa Delgado on the daytime series One Life to Live, often receiving praise for the portrayal, as the character emerged as one of the genre's most prominent....
as Penelope Del Rios - Michael Mandell as laughing security guard no. 1
- Chuck Bunting as laughing security guard no. 2
- Lisa Masters as the crying museum curator