Anyone who has seen US comedy soap Ugly Betty on TV2 will know what I’m talking about. You look at actress America Ferrera, who plays Betty, and you think: that girl’s not acting! She is that person. As soon as the camera zooms in on those earnest little eyes, you know that this woman has a kind heart. She couldn’t possibly be one of those horrible tantrum-throwing Hollywood bitches, could she?

Let’s hope not, because her good manners and professionalism are about to be sorely tested. America Ferrera - ascending TV star, Latina role model, Golden Globe winner - is about to find herself at the centre of a swirling vortex of stench.

Let me explain. I’m in Hollywood, California, backstage on the eye- popping orange and white set where Ugly Betty is made. And I am not alone. Also interviewing Ferrera today are three guys from Auckland radio network More FM. Now, how can I put this? These guys stink. I mean, really pong, to the extent that it almost defoliates your nostril hair.

It transpires they spent last night in a Beverly Hills restaurant named The Stinking Rose, eating garlic bread, garlic mash, garlic shrimps, garlic steak and, alarmingly, garlic ice cream. They amble onto the Ugly Betty set cloaked in a cloud of garlic stench so thick, you can almost see it.

Fortunately, Californians are known for their almost pathological levels of politeness. Between shots, various actors and production staff wander backstage and are introduced to the More FM contingent. You see a faint twitch of their facial muscles as the vicious aroma registers, but there’s no "Jesus! What’s that terrible smell?" They just chat away through slightly clenched teeth, then move on.

Eventually a publicist brings a wee poppet over to meet me. She looks about 12 years old, with long dark hair, perfect skin and bright little eyes. The tiny girl extends a tiny hand. She smiles and says "Hi, I’m America". After stifling a childish urge to reply "Hi, I’m New Zealand", I take a closer look at her. Is someone playing a prank? Of course, she wears thick lumpy clothes, platform shoes, a wig, bushy eyebrows, fake dental braces and so on in Ugly Betty, but underneath it all, you imagine Ferrera is far bigger than this. And she was certainly much chubbier in her 2002 movie Real Women Have Curves.

It’s as if someone has failed to read the Delicate: Cold Wash Only label on America Ferrera and jammed her into a hot wash instead, shrinking her to a fraction of her former size.

But this is her, all right, and she’s every bit as sweet and earnest as I’d imagined. And she’s straight in there, promoting the show, analysing its success, magnifying its social value, speaking in sentences that are longer than she is.

"From the time (executive producer) Salma Hayek came and pitched this character to me, I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach that this was going to be a story that really resounded with people and might even help change what faces and bodies on television looked like," she says quietly.

"It felt like American audiences were ready for something new, rather than just a whole lot more pretty stick figures telling the same old stories."

Ferrera resembles one of those solemn, intense kids current affairs TV shows sometimes drag out of the fourth form to get a "youth perspective" on drunk driving or global warming. She speaks with a slight frown on her face, and seldom smiles.

"My character of Betty Suarez will be familiar to anybody who’s ever felt out of place. The show’s not about being ugly; it’s about being different, and standing up for who you really are in a world that encourages you to lose your core values and just fit in. It’s hard to be yourself when there’s intense pressure to conform. I think we all struggle with that on a day-to-day basis. I know I did when I was growing up."

The daughter of Honduran immigrants, Ferrera grew up in the Woodland Hills area of Los Angeles, the same neighbourhood that spawned actors Kim Basinger, Alec Baldwin, and Lisa Kudrow from Friends. It’s a predominantly white middle-class enclave, which Ferrera reckons has helped her with the role of Betty because she "already knew how it felt to be an outsider".

The youngest of six siblings, Ferrera’s childhood was not especially happy. Friction between her parents encouraged her to retreat into her imagination; she once told a reporter she’d "spend hours in my room, blocking out my parents’ screams by acting out plays in my head". Her parents divorced when she was seven and her mother then raised the kids alone while working as a manager of housekeeping staff at a hotel.

Ferrera’s mother did not consider acting a valid career choice for her daughter, and refused to drive her to auditions, but Ferrera was determined. She took the bus. In 2002 she landed her first major role as an ambitious writer in Real Women Have Curves, and has since played a range of film and TV roles, most notably a skateboarding groupie in Lords of Dogtown and a shy but volatile young woman in The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (both 2005).

But the project that has made her rich, famous and dog-tired is Ugly Betty, the American remake of a typical "poor girl in a rich world" Colombian telenovela about a frumpy Latino who lands a job at a high-end fashion mag. It’s a huge hit stateside - each episode pulls in more than 16 million viewers - but I have to admit, I didn’t warm to Ugly Betty at first: the characters all seemed like camp caricatures, the plot lines were ridiculous and much of the comedy fell flat as a tortilla.

"You’ve got to give the show time, I think," she says. "Initially some of the other characters aren’t very likeable, but as the show goes on you see reasons for why they are the way they are. And if you work in this industry, some of our plot lines aren’t as far- fetched as they seem. A lot of people in the film and television industry treat their assistants even worse than in this show! People can be horrible in Hollywood, really."

Hollywood has been kind to Ferrera, however. She won this year’s Golden Globe for best actress in a comedy or musical (Ugly Betty also won best comedy) and earlier was named as one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world, citing her as a positive role model for young women.

"I was thrilled by that, actually. I get a lot of letters from young girls who really appreciate having a TV role model who makes them feel that they have something to offer. So many of the female images we’re fed don’t match what anybody looks like in real life, and Hollywood has a lot to answer for there.

"It’s ironic, because if you hang around with many actors you discover that most of them don’t look that great either. It takes hours of make-up to make these people look the way they do. So it makes me feel good when young girls write in that Betty makes them feel beautiful, or their mothers write to say that Betty has really helped their daughters feel good."

Her brow crinkles into an even deeper frown. "It’s tough being a young girl. I remember that myself. I felt very out of place growing up. I knew that succeeding in this industry would be very difficult, because there’s a huge pressure in Hollywood to conform to that stereotypical notion of what beauty is. It’s hard to get people to see your talent if you don’t fit the tall, lean, traditionally beautiful mould."

In her teens Ferrera feared she wasn’t attractive enough to ever become a star. She’d sit in front of her mirror and cry because she thought she was too short and too fat. She is short for an actress, around 155cm, but over the past year it seems her weight has been steadily declining in inverse proportion to her fame.

Many of America’s trashier gossip mags have slammed her for this, implying that all her previous talk about promoting realistic body images for women was disingenuous because as soon as she could afford a personal trainer she started dumping the kilos just like every other young starlet.

"People love to obsess about their weight, or other people’s," she sighs. "But there are more important things in life. I hope that Ugly Betty reinforces for girls that they have a lot to offer the world other than how they look. They can be talented and smart, and a good person, no matter what the world thinks about how they look. It’s what’s on the inside that matters most."

Yes, I know, that last line is the kind of glib platitude you might find in a Hallmark card, but Ferrera strikes me as entirely sincere.

"I am. Absolutely. I can’t do anything if I don’t believe in it, and I really believe in this show. You know what I do outside work these days? Nothing. This show has swallowed my life. I work all the time, either on set or doing interviews like this, or dodging photographers outside my house."

She shares this house with Texan boyfriend Ryan Piers Williams, an aspiring director who currently works for Steven Soderbergh. The happy couple dote on a frisky fur-ball named Buddy.

"He’s a golden retriever, and he’s like our baby. I take him for walks when I can. I listen to music, too, but I wouldn’t know who the up-and-coming underground people are; I just listen to whatever’s on the radio. And I dream about making more movies. My ultimate fun movie would be directed by Steven Spielberg, starring me and Tom Hanks. God, I sound so nerdy, don’t I?"

Not really, no. She sounds young, sweet, ambitious, hard-working. At 23, Ferrera comes across as a seasoned professional, so it’s no surprise when she politely reminds me that I need to wrap things up so she can talk to the "New Zealand radio guys" who are just outside, filling the Mode Magazine reception area with toxic vapours.

How will Ferrera cope with the eye- stinging clouds of garlic pong? I have no idea. As soon as our interview is over I’m escorted to the exit and emerge, blinking like a bat, into the brutal Californian sunshine. A few minutes later I’m hurtling through Burbank in a cab, chuckling to myself as I imagine Ferrera back at the studio doing what needs to be done: answering thoughtfully and smiling sweetly, even as she holds her breath.

Ferrera’s on-screen boss Eric Mabius - who plays Daniel Meade, the womanising editor-in-chief of fashion magazine Mode - admits the cast are so close, the show’s leading lady couldn’t bear the thought of their season break.

He says, "She is emotional but not in a neurotic way. She was genuinely moved to tears any time she thought of the first season ending, which was wonderful."

Of course. Why should a young actress basking in the glow of freshman TV hit "Ugly Betty” settle for the shadows? This is her moment, and Ferrera, who turned 23 last month, is making the most of it.

"What’s happened with the show is everything that we hoped for,” she said. "It’s insane. I can’t explain it. I don’t know what kind of special stars or elements have to align for something to get everything it deserves.”

The same could be said for the talented Ferrera. Since her eye-catching film debut in "Real Women Have Curves” in 2002, she’s moved swiftly to award-winning TV star, novice movie producer and, as fans tells her, a role model for girls and Hispanics.

Add in her spot on Time magazine’s list of the world’s 100 most influential people (she was one of fewer than two-dozen artists and entertainers to make the cut), and her rise is more impressive.

It’s also reassuring in this era of instant and empty fame, as is Ferrera’s reaction to it.

In a recent interview, she thoughtfully discussed where she is, how she got there and where she wants to go from here. Her destination: far — and reached by following her own path. Not so different, it turns out, than fictional Betty Suarez.

"I am incredibly, incredibly fortunate about the opportunities I’ve had. But at the same time, I’ve had plenty of opportunities to screw it up, too,” she said. "Sometimes the most powerful thing you can say is ‘No’ … and not feel the need to do everything. It’s about doing what rings true to me.”

"Real Women Have Curves,” in which she played a Mexican-American teenager balancing family tradition with her dreams of education, helped set the standard.

"Early in my career, I was really spoiled with a beautiful project. I got such a good start that I thought, ‘Why would I ever take a step back?’ Why would I take on something that wasn’t meaningful — to me, if nobody else — and powerful and groundbreaking?”

She found such a project in ABC’s "Ugly Betty.” Based on a Colombian telenovela that has been successfully adapted worldwide, the comedy-drama centers on a dowdy young Latina with a blazing spirit who intends to make her mark on the world.

Whatever her personal future holds, her professional one seems boundless after winning Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards for "Ugly Betty.”

Ferrera is keeping her hand in movies as well as TV, returning in the sequel to "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants,” due out next year, and starring in "Hacia la Oscuridad” ("Towards Darkness”), a film about Colombian kidnappings that showed at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Ferrera also was an executive producer for the drama, directed and written by Antonio Negret. It’s based on a short film Negret made with Ferrera while at the University of Southern California, where Ferrera studied international relations (she’s one semester shy of the bachelor’s degree she intends to get.)

The manic delights of "Ugly Betty" ended in a high-speed cliffhanger Thursday night with Daniel and Alexis careening in a car with no brakes, Claire Meade busting out of jail, Amanda discovering that she might be Fey Sommers’ daughter, and Betty chasing down Henry just as Charlie spirited him away to Tucson by telling him she was pregnant. As usual, the twists and turns in the road were less important than the sum total of the ride, a bouncy, rollicking trip in a colorful, cartoon double-decker bus.

In its first season on the air, ABC’s "Ugly Betty," the American version of a telenovela that’s popular in seemingly every single country on the planet, never disappointed. Whether or not you particularly cared whether Daniel (Eric Mabius) and Sophia (played by executive producer Salma Hayek) would end up together or what would happen to Ignacio (Tony Plana) in his quest for citizenship or who Fey Sommers really was, each episode was packed with sly jokes, rapid-fire references, absurd digressions, vibrant, larger-than-life sets and a parade of funny, ridiculous characters. In a fall lineup full of self-serious suspense serials, "Ugly Betty" was like an extravagantly dressed, wisecracking eccentric aunt in a roomful of drab killjoys in sensible shoes.

And unlike the other dreary shows that expected you to invest half a season just to uncover a few big revelations, you could start off any episode of "Ugly Betty" completely uninvested, only to get caught up in the farcical fun by the end of the hour. Whether it was the indefatigable sweetness of Betty (America Ferrera), the catty joys of Marc (Michael Urie) and Amanda (Becki Newton) or the campy schemes of tireless villainess Wilhelmina (Vanessa Williams), there was always something to suck you into the show’s sugary charms.

On Thursday night, the most entertaining diversion in a season finale packed with entertaining diversions may have been Wilhelmina and Marc, who discovered that Flavia, one of the magazine’s top advertisers (a parody of Donatella Versace played with disturbed genius by Gina Gershon), has booked St. Patrick’s Cathedral for her wedding, on the very same day Wilhelmina had planned to marry Bradford Meade (Alan Dale) there.

Wilhelmina: Flavia? That little Euro wench is getting married?!!

Marc: And she got Elton John to sing for the wedding. He’s rewritten "Candle in the Wind" for her.

Wilhelmina: What? He was rewriting "Candle in the Wind" for me!

Marc: Give that queen 20 bucks and she’ll rewrite it for anybody.

Soon Wilhelmina has sold Marc into assistant slavery to Flavia in exchange for her reservation of St. Patrick’s. Marc becomes a part of Flavia’s posse, clad in black from head to toe, and he’s forced to smoke, eat pasta and clean up after her little dog. Flavia has big ideas for her upcoming spread in the magazine: "And for this layout, Flavia have vision. All of the models should look like they’re suffering from sickness of radiation, like Chernobyl. But this time, it is my makeup that makes them glow!" Ah, the absurdity of the fashion industry, laid bare in a few lines.

In another excellent twist, Christina (Ashley Jensen) stumbles on the secret room at the Mode magazine offices, where Amanda is getting drunk by herself.

Christina: Oooh my God! It’s Faye’s love dungeon! It’s real!

Amanda: (Angry) And now my special place is ruined!

Christina: Oh please, your special place was ruined years ago.

Christina and Amanda get trapped in the secret room, but open a safe that reveals Amanda just might be Fey’s best-kept secret. Meanwhile, Betty finally confesses her true feelings to Henry (Christopher Gorham), only to discover that his recently dumped girlfriend, Charlie, is pregnant. But then Betty discovers that Charlie may be having a secret affair with Betty’s orthodontist! She has to stop Henry from leaving with Charlie! But is it too late?

Even with the fantastical, weightless frivolity of it all, even with references galore (the finale alone included nods to prison drama "Oz," ’70s TV comedy "That Girl," children’s book "Dora the Explorer" and Broadway hit musical "Sweeney Todd"), the show still features scenes that pack an emotional punch. When Daniel unravels in a pill-addled haze and confesses to his long-lost brother, reimagineered as a woman named Alexis (Rebecca Romijn), that he has missed him all these years, the scene is genuinely sweet and sad.

But nothing quite tops the last hair-raising sequence, in which Henry and Charlie board a plane to Tucson, Alexis and Daniel crash, and Hilda’s (Ana Ortiz) fiancé (and Justin’s [Mark Indelicato] dad) is shot by a thief holding up his corner store. As Justin sings the last heartbreaking song in his school musical, "West Side Story," Hilda discovers that Santos has been shot.

It’s sad — almost too sad — until you remind yourself that you’re still on that crazy double-decker bus, and it’ll get to some brand-new, gloriously silly location in due time. But that’s the sneaky little trick of "Ugly Betty." Like the title itself, you’re not really supposed to take it completely seriously, or get emotionally wrapped up in its characters — but you just might anyway.

Director Richard Shepard accepted the award for the TV show, which stars America Ferrera as an awkward, overweight woman working at a fashion magazine. The show is based on the popular Colombian telenovela "Yo Soy Betty La Fea.'’

Other TV winners included Rob Marshall, director of "Chicago,'’ for musical variety directing for "Tony Bennett: An American Classic.'’

Arunas Matelis won for feature-film documentary for "Before Flying Back to the Earth,'’ a portrait of children hospitalized with leukemia. The film won over two Academy Awards nominees, "Deliver Us From Evil'’ and "Iraq in Fragments.'’

Martin Scorsese’s "The Departed'’ - his return to the vivid, bloody crime genre whose modern conventions he helped pioneer with films such as "Taxi Driver'’ and "Goodfellas'’ - was a leading contender for the evening’s top honor for feature-film directing.

The other nominees were Bill Condon for the musical "Dreamgirls,'’ Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris for the road-trip tale "Little Miss Sunshine,'’ Stephen Frears for the British palace saga "The Queen'’ and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for the multinational ensemble drama "Babel.'’

This was Scorsese’s seventh nomination for the Directors Guild honor, a prize he has never won, though the group did give him a lifetime achievement award in 2003. "The Departed'’ also marked his sixth nomination for best director at the Academy Awards, an honor that also has eluded him.

A sixth loss at the Oscars would put Scorsese in the record books as the filmmaker with the most nominations without winning.

But many awards watchers feel this is Scorsese’s year, labeling him the front-runner for the Feb. 25 Oscars. A Directors Guild win would help give him the inside track.

The guild prize is a solid forecast for who might win the directing honor at the Academy Awards. Only six times in the 58-year history of the guild awards has the winner failed to go on to receive the directing Oscar.

Scorsese, Mexico native Inarritu and Frears, a Briton, were the only three of the five guild nominees who also earned best-director slots for the Oscars. The other Oscar nominations went to Clint Eastwood for the World War II epic "Letters From Iwo Jima'’ and Paul Greengrass for the Sept. 11 docudrama "United 93.'’

"Dreamgirls'’ had been viewed as a potential best-picture favorite at the Oscars, but it missed out on a nomination, as did director Condon. With Condon out of the race, Scorsese’s path to Oscar victory could prove a bit easier.-AP

Ugly Betty Episode 13 – In or Out

With Daniel suffering from a broken heart inflicted by Sofia, Betty is determined to get him back to work and over his sadness by setting him up on a date with a supermodel - solidifying their kinship in the process. In Daniel’s absence, Wilhelmina decides who will continue to work at Mode once her ambitions to be named editor-in-chief are realized. Among those who stand to lose their jobs are Christina and Amanda. Meanwhile, Hilda finds herself unemployed after Herbalux is recalled. In her quest to find work, she goes into business selling cupcakes, but quickly finds herself in over her head when she’s unable to meet the demand for the baked goods… not to mention she’s spending more than she’s making from her new venture. And in a stunning conclusion, the woman behind the mask is revealed.

Just how will Betty save Daniel this time as he continues to mope around after a so called vacation in Brazil? Daniel tries at all costs to avoid Sofia, going as far as taking 28 flights of stairs to get to his office.

Wilhelmina has another secret meeting with the mysterious woman who vows to come out of hiding in the very near future. They also meet with an ex associate of Mr. Meade, who claims he has enough information to put him in jail for a very long time. This would shift power in to the hands of Wilhelmina and the mystery woman.

Betty fixes Daniel up with super model Giselle, who eventually never shows up as Amanda, fearful of losing her job at Mode, secretly cancelled dinner organized for the high profile couple at a super chic Manhattan restaurant.

Hilda is starting to drive everyone at the Suarez residence crazy with her new business making cupcakes.

Several references about Daniels lost brother are brought up during the episode. A subject which has been seldom painful to the Meade family.

Betty then saves the day again when she replaces Giselle on Daniels date, making it look like a simple business dinner instead of Daniel getting stood up. The pair enjoy several anecdotes together.

At the very end of the episode, the mystery woman, played by Rebecca Romijn unmasks herself, which turns out none other than Daniels previously deceased brother who has gone through total reconstructive surgery. To be continued..

Just as Daniel gets the strength to pop the question to Sofia (guest star Salma Hayek), Betty discovers evidence that casts doubt on Sofia’s intentions. Meanwhile, Mode staffers are shocked to see a kinder, gentler Wilhelmina, who is being romanced big time by her wealthy Texan (Brett Cullen reprising his role as Ted), and Ignacio finds it very difficult to bond with his immigration caseworker.

Can Betty do what she has done so many times since her arrival at Mode and save the day? In the beginning of the episode we see Betty panicking, trying to get a message to Daniel just as he’s about to go on national television. Then we go to flashback mode, twenty four hours earlier.

Betty is given a writing assignment to describe her experience at Mode. A fish out of water sort of piece, swimming with the sharks. Sofia then puts on an act knowing Betty will certainly relay any information to Daniel.

In the mean time, Wilhelmina is enjoying time with Ted and has for a moment let down her barrier of evil, much to the surprise of everyone at Mode, but to the disgust of Marc, her personal assistant.

Betty, while on lunch break sees Sofia and Hunter in front of a strip club. She gives him a big wad of money, which triggers Betty’s curiosity. After digging, she finds out that Sofia and Hunter’s relationship was just a big front to a plot bigger than anyone had thought of.

We cut to the Meade mansion where Daniel and Sofia plan to have an evening with Daniel’s parents. It is there he proposes to Sofia.

Betty gets her hands on some copy Sofia had written about how to get a man to propose in 60 days. Her personal experience and one done with Daniel Meade, New York’s most notorious bachelor. This is where the episode begins, just as the couple are about to announce their proposal.

Ugly Betty Episode 11 - Swag

When Christine announces she’s getting ready to clean out "the closet," Mode’s repository of high fashion clothes and accessories, the assistants whip themselves into a frenzy over who will get the cast-off swag. But Betty is too busy to even think about this perk: A $20,000 expense report she filed for Daniel has been rejected and his credit card cut off, making it impossible for him to wine and dine an important Japanese designer, Oshi (guest star Kurando Mitsutake). Meanwhile, her dad’s HMO has suspended his insurance.

The episode goes back in time around nine months and once again problem solving for Daniel. Trouble starts when Marc gives Betty a fake expense report which was supposed to help Betty file all of Daniels wreck less spending. Wilhelmina, always searching a way to rise in power at Mode has a personal talk with Bradford Meade about Daniels excessive spending, which gives her even more evil ideas. Henry in accounting finds some holes in Betty’s report and immediately Daniels company credit card gets suspended.

Minimalist Japanese designer Oshi who had a good relationship with ex publisher Fey Sommers shows up to meet Daniel and expects a lavish night on the town. Trouble is, Daniel has no credit card and has spent all his savings, except for just under 400 dollars. Wilhelmina offers to pay for expenses and tag along, but this would only prove he cannot handle his finances, but time is running out, unless Betty can find a solution.

Meanwhile, Ignacio’s medicine is running out and as his insurance will no longer cover his expenses, Betty must also deal with this and Walter stalking her (remember, we are in flashback mode and this was the period that they broke up because he cheated on her with Gina).

Christine purposely hides the most prized possession in Mode’s closet; a Gucci bag and puts in on the side for Betty. All of a sudden everyone is her best friend, attempting to convince her to trade for something. At one point it feels like Betty will sell the bag to help pay for Daniels financial woes. Instead, she uses it to make a deal at the pharmacy, enabling Ignacio to have his medicine.

Minimalism is Oshi’s theme and with just under four hundred dollars to entertain an entire entourage, they end up at a hot dog joint in New Jersey where all ends well.

While everyone at Mode is celebrating Christmas, Betty is questioning her relationship with Walter and the feelings she has for Henry. Meanwhile, Daniel is sure of his love for Sofia, and Amanda, in order to get Betty’s position, is planning a perfect Mode holiday party that fills the office with Styrofoam snow and holiday wishes.

Romance tests for both Betty and Daniel can best describe this episode. Betty wakes up from a weird dream where she kisses her sushi eating friend Henry from accounting. Sofia then tells Daniel she wants true proof of his love and gives him the green light to go out with other women while she goes out of town.

Hilda and her rival neighbor Gina go at it all episode long, with different cat fights.

As Betty contemplates taking Sophia’s job offer, she is given the task of finding a suitable assistant who will protect Daniel through thick and thin. Amanda wants the position more than anyone else and agrees to help Betty organize the Christmas party to convince her.

Betty is tested when she runs in to Henry and shows signs of attraction towards him. She’s going back and forth between her life in Queens and in Manhattan. Henry and Walter being contrasting men with different qualities.

Marc begins by being overly bold to Wilhelmina as he knows a thing or two about her but quickly starts to fear for his job and his life when he eavesdrops into one of her conversations.

Daniel is tested on a couple occasions by top models showing a new line of women’s lingerie. Just when it looks like he will succumb, Amanda intervenes much to Daniels delight as he doesn’t feel the same symptoms he does when he’s with Sophia. Amanda’s actions is proof enough she’s worthy of replacing Betty.

At the Suarez residence, Walter and Betty share some moments together and the look on Betty’s face doesn’t sparkle as much as how she feels for Henry.

Ugly Betty – Episode 9 – Lose the boss?

Betty is left alone during an important photo shoot during which the photographer, Bruno, has come up with questionable concepts. Meanwhile, Daniel wants people to believe he is a family man,

The episode begins with Daniel waking up in Betty’s bed after a long bender to drown his sorrows. Feeling too sick to work, Daniel spends the day at the Suarez residence while Betty covers for him at Mode. Things get interesting when two celebrities gives Mode the exclusive rights to photograph their baby, throwing the whole company in a panic. Betty continues to cover for Daniel until she sees she has to start running things. First in order is to fire an overly obnoxious photographer, which impresses Sofia who watches in the wings.

In the mean time, Wilhelmina and Marc find trouble as they are kicked out of a taxi on their way to the airport to meet the celebrities. Many secrets are exposed and Marc sees an opportunity to cash in.

Daniel continues his day at the Suarez residence, observing many simple things which flew right by him as he was growing up.

Sofia is also a wreck, thinking about Daniel and has to decide if she joins her boyfriend Hunter for a weekend.

The photo shoot finally takes place at the Suarez house where Daniel and Sofia seem to work things out between themselves.

Betty is on Cloud Nine as Sofia offered her a job position. The Suarez residence is glowing with happiness when there is a ring at the door. Ignacio is greeted by two Immigration Officers.