Bad Amanda

"Bad Amanda"^[1] is the tenth episode in the third season, the 51st episode overall, of the American dramedy series Ugly Betty, which aired on December 4, 2008. The episode was written by Chris Black and directed by John Putch.

Plot

As the day begins, Betty tells Hilda about Amanda and is very concerned about her expenses and living arrangements, including not paying part of her rent, and when they see her arrive with shopping bags, Betty attempts to tell Amanda that she has to come up with a way to pay her part of the rent, stop eating Betty's food and wearing Betty's clothes. Amanda however ignores Betty as usual, blaming it on an imaginary person named "Bad Ronald." As Betty tells Christina about her situation, Christina warns Betty about living in an apartment in Manhattan that is out of Betty's bracket, even with cash-strapped Amanda around, and that she can't survive on ramen alone let alone pay the rent.

That same day, Daniel and Wilhelmina has announced that Mode just launched ModeNY.com and has opened it up to the staff. Betty pitches, and with Amanda's social savvy, lands a story idea: How to have fun in NY on zero dollars. So Amanda come up with the perfect title for the article, appropriately called "How I Blew Ten Grand Without Spending a Dime". And despite Betty's reluctance, even after telling her family about her first article for the website, their partnership is pretty good, to a point.

Amanda seems to have all the ideas and know-how, as she shows Betty how to take advantage of makeup samples from pricey stores, tucking in the tag of a $2000 garment to return later, drinking free booze at gallery exhibits, and allowing generous men to buy them dinner. All goes well when the two guys that they met at the gallery, Claudio and Luca, ply the girls with expensive champagne during a dinner date ... until the bill comes and the men were nowhere to be found. Stunned by the high priced bill, Betty uses a ploy by telling the manager that she plan to feature the restaurant on the Modeny.com website. After seeing sweat pouring down Betty's face, the manager buys Betty's story. Unfortunately, after they leave the restaurant, Amanda discovers that her wallet is gone (it was stolen by the aforementioned guys), along with the rent money. Betty becomes furious over what Amanda did and tells her flat out that they will be evicted because of Amanda's irresponsibility (by calling her "Bad Amanda"), then walks away and heads towards her family home in Queens to have a heart to heart talk with Ignacio.

The following day, Daniel tells Betty that he liked the article and thinks that she and Amanda make a great team. But as she sees Amanda running from her, Betty is stunned to see Amanda wearing a waitress' outfit, as Amanda has taken on a second job. While Betty tells her that there's now extra cash, she tells Amanda that she may want to keep that second job. Later back at the apartment, Betty surprises Amanda with a dinner for her day at work and gives her roommate a new wallet.

Wilhelmina's feelings for Connor continues to consume her. It appears that she has Marc spying on Connor's every move. Even Christina (who reminds Willi she's not due for at least two months) notices and calls her on it. Christina also reveals that the unborn Meade will be a boy and also calls Willi out on whether she really wants this child, which Willi responds by finally admitting that even though her main reason was to get part of the Meade empire through the baby, she tells Christina that she wants to be a part of the child's life.

Meanwhile, Daniel and Molly's friendship has become more noticeably closer than ever, a move that has observer Claire literally slapping Daniel's face, warning him that she is still engaged to Connor. Later that evening Daniel shows Molly "The Closet" where she gets to pick an outfit. After she settles on a red dress Daniel and Molly starts to share an almost-kiss until Molly runs off and leaves Daniel standing there, which is caught on surveillance that's conveniently viewed by Wilhelmina (courtesy of Marc), who just found a way to win Connor as her man, future husband and acting father to her yet unborn son.

Production

This episode's production number was originally listed as 311 (Season 3, episode 11), but was renumbered due to an error.^[2]

This also marks the first time in the series' run that an episode was named for one of its principal characters on the show other than Betty. And as with "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", this episode centered around Becki Newton's Amanda persona. Also Amanda's last name was mentioned as "Tanen-Sommers" in this episode.

Reception

In a review from zap2it, "Sticking with Ugly Betty's snotty characters usually pays off because they eventually expose a bit of sympathetic humanity. Tonight was Amanda's turn. Amanda isn't the worst roommate ever (that award would go to my friends' roommate who practiced bulimia in the shared shower), but she's no prize. Besides treating Betty like a servant, wearing her clothes, and blaming the missing food on the mythical Bad Ronald, she doesn't even bother paying rent. This is New York: Rent is supreme."^[3]

In Entertainment Weekly's review, Tanner Stransky was excited to see Ashley Jensen get some screen time in this outing: "I'm happy to report that for the first time in quite a while, Christina (played by Jensen) enjoyed a quip-filled episode on Ugly Betty. Move over, sound bite bullies Willy and Marc! Christina's Scottish accent was in hilarious effect this week. See: The Mode fashion closet mistress and carrier of Willy's test-tube devil spawn calling the clinking of ice cubes "a Scottish lullaby." Good stuff!"^[4]

Ratings

The episode scored a 5.8/9 rating overall, with a 2.6/7 in 18-49s and 8.47 million viewers (roughly up by 200,000 more viewers from the previous showing) tuning in.^[5][6][7][8]

References

Also starring

• Grant Bowler as Connor Owens
• Sarah Lafleur as Molly

Guest starring

• Toks Olagundoye as the salesgirl
• Aaron Lazar as Claudio
• Mercer Boffey as Luka
• Matt Wilkas as the manager
• Nicole Roderick as the temp.

See also

• Ugly Betty
• Ugly Betty (season 3)