Friday, January 23, 2009

Ugly Betty/The Office - Sisters on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown and Prince Family Paper

Well, Ignacio survived his heart attack and the resulting quadruple bypass, but the ordeal put an even bigger strain on the Suarez sisters' relationship. Hilda accuses Betty of being a "Bossypants," Betty's not convinced that Hilda can take care of Ignacio, so she takes charge.

She takes Ignacio to Claire Meade's cardiologist Dr. Farber. When he hears that the Suarez family doctor, "Dr. Steve," diagnosed Ignacio's cough over the phone, he says "On the phone. Terrific. That's how I order Chinese food."

Daniel and Holly try to keep their vacation in St. Bart a secret, but Betty accidentally sends their vacation photos to Suzuki St. Pierre. While Dr. Farber is running tests on Ignacio, she tries to retrieve them but the flamboyant fashion reporter won't give up his journalistic scoop.

Amanda and Marc suggest that Betty blackmail the reporter by digging up dirt from his ex--who just happens to be James (Alexander Chaplin) from Spin City. Amanda threatens to "tell everyone you have ambiguous genitalia" and James--I mean "Fabian"--writes an address on her hand.

The address leads to a suburban tract housing neighborhood in Jersey where Byron Wu, mini-van driving soccer dad resides. Wu, aka Suzuki St. Pierre, is probably the only straight guy to have a gay "beard." Despite Wu's agreement not to reveal the photos of Molly and Daniel, Molly shows up in the background of a photo of Speidi on Page Six. Daniel is cropped out of the picture, but the picture of the bikini-clad Molly in St. Bart is enough to catch Connor's eye.

I'm not sure why he would care about what's going on with his ex given how hot and heavy things are going with Wilhelmina. Sporting matching goggle tan-lines from a skiing vacation in Switzerland, Connor and Wilhelmina have problems keeping their relationship under wraps back at the office. Since they can't seem to keep their hands off each other, Marc has to cover for the distracted Willie.

He's doing a great job with a presentation to some advertisers, when Willie breezes in and completely disses and dismisses him. She presents him with an expensive watch after the fact, but when he is less than enthusiastic she tells him, "I expect gratitude, not attitude." Later, she shows her gratitude when she lets him take a meeting in her place.

While Marc is moving up at Mode, Betty is moving out of her apartment with Amanda. After all that happened with Ignacio, Betty wants to be with her family. I'm going to miss Betty and Amanda sharing an apartment. Talk about an odd pairing. Amanda was under the impression that it was BETTY who had the heart attack. She warns Betty to take care of herself, "These things get passed down. They're generic."

That and she named the roaches in their apartment so they're not so scary. I don't name my roaches. I squish them dead.

On The Office, David Wallace sends Michael on a fact-finding mission to get the scoop on a family-owned paper company whose territory he wants Dunder-Mifflin to expand into. While Dwight and Michael go undercover to scope out the Prince Family Paper Company, the office gets into a prolonged debate over whether or not Hilary Swank is hot.

Although she declares that "Hot is a temperature, people," Angela sides with the "hot" side just so Kevin won't win. Michael and Dwight argue over Denny's vs. IHOP with Michael overruling Dwight's objections of IHOP's socialism telling him, "You will have pancakes and you'll like it!"

At the Prince Family Paper Company, Michael poses as a genius lawyer. He asks the kindly owner how long he's been in business. Mr. Prince tells him he began the business when he returned from Vietnam. "Vietnam. I hear it's lovely," exclaims Michael.

Meanwhile, the office continues to debate Hilary's hotness.

Dwight enters the Prince Family Paper Company to pretend to apply for a job. When he's told they're not hiring, he points at one of the employees and tells Mr. Prince to fire him. When he's told that the employee in question is the his son, Dwight says "I'm your son now. You can visit him on holidays."

Mr. Prince gives Michael a list of their clients who can recommend the company and Michael and Dwight try to make their getaway having hit the jackpot. But when Michael damages his car exiting the parking lot, the Prince family helps repair the bumper with duct tape.

I think my family might be related to the Princes. That's how we repair EVERYTHING.

Back at the office--where they are no closer to deciding Hilary's hotness--Michael has second thoughts about handing the list over to David Wallace. Dwight attempts to convince Michael by telling him, "...but if Frodo hadn't destroyed the ring..." When that doesn't work, Dwight is forced to chase Michael around the office and into the parking lot where he is able to retrieve the list from Michael.

"I'm not a shark!" Michael says plaintively.

The list ends up being sent to David Wallace, but it's a bittersweet moment for Michael. Like bittersweet chocolate, which Michael hates 'cuz what's the point? Why not just "sweet"?

Steve Carell cracks me up.

3 comments:

  1. Steve Carell is a hoot and a half.

    And I've been meaning to ask, ever since I read your blog's title: are you from Minnesota? Or Norwegian-American? The duct tape would seem to clinch it.

    I've been a fan of Garrison Keillor's "Prairie Home companion" since grad school. My mom's hometown (GALEsburg, Illinois - hee!) is SO Lake Wobegon. And my dad grew up on a farm just down the road. We're Swedish-American, close enough. The fake commercials for duct tape are some of my favorite moments on the show. And the movie was great, too.

    Just saw "Irish Jam." There's a hilarious scene where Anna Friel teaches Eddie Griffin step dancing by immobilizing his arms with - you guessed it! - to the tune of "Jimmie Mack." The soundtrack is great, and Friel and Griffin have mad hot culture-clash chemistry.

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  2. Duct tape is how /dad/ fixed everything. James and I are much more capable than that.

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  3. Colleen,

    I'm not Norwegian and I hail from the east coast transplanted to the west.

    Have you seen Me Without You? Anna Friel was excellent in that. And so un-Pushing Daisies-like.

    David,

    Your repair skills may have evolved beyond duct tape, but I assure you that duct tape is the pinnacle of repair methodologies for James and myself as well!

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