Ugly Betty’s latest episode, “When Betty Meets Yeti” (Season 3, Episode 9) kicks off with Betty getting annoyed at Amanda, who treats Betty like an at-home assistant. Feeling upset about still being assistant, it becomes worse for her when Nick (Alexis’ old assistant) visits Mode magazine, bragging about his new job as deputy culture editor of New York Review. Betty asks how he got the job and he tells her about YETI (Young Editors Training Initiative), an editor-in-training program .

Betty asks Daniel to write a letter of recommendation for the Yeti program.  She also meets with Pilar Mejia and finds out she has 48 hours to create a magazine concept that expresses who she is, complete with Table Of Contents, Front Cover & Letter to the Editor. To cut corners, she goes with a fashion mag concept, even though it is out of her league.She then discovers Marc is also applying with a fashion-related concept. Since YETI only accepts one employee per magazine, the pressure is on for her to outshine Marc. Not an easy job for Betty, considering fashion is well out of her comfort zone. She gives up and then gets back in the game with Poppy’s encouragement and a reminder of ‘The Betty Review”, a magazine made long ago.  I wonder though, how Ugly Betty would continue if Betty were to leave the fashion scene. Part of the concept is contrasting how her beauty is from within and is much deeper than the obvious, shallow beauty surrounding her.

Betty pitches to YETI (all the rhyming with this episode, really!) a magazine about the celebration of what women are vs. an image of what society expects them to be (very Betty), about getting involved in their community and government and about using their minds, being thoughtful and confident. She titles it ‘B Magazine’. The judges appear impressed and Betty’s design is fantastic. Marc, however, blows out his audition (in a good way) with a team of interns hanging around like fashion groupies and super fashion ‘icons’ that apparently have an in with one of the YETI judges.

Betty is sure that Marc’s concept will beat hers and daydreams about being Daniel’s assistant until she’s an old toothless woman. Daniel, as usual, let Betty down earlier by not writing a letter and skipping out of her mock presentation out to talk to Molly’s classroom.  Betty refuses to speak to Daniel until she gets a phone call, finds out she is accepted and all is forgotten.

When she talks to Marc and tries to console him, he tells Betty he thinks her acceptance is just a way for YETI to meet its minority quota. Betty calls and it appears to be the truth. She drops out and makes room for Marc. I think this is a sappy, stupid plot line, but it makes sense because Betty really needs to be at Mode for much of the premise to work. And it highlights Betty’s desire to be nice and earn her way. I just wonder how long Betty will be strung along like this and if she will forever work at Mode. Will the grand finale be Betty’s first day as editor of her own magazine? 

Wilhemina still wants to get Connor as a beau. She arranges a trip to get him alone and show him how awesome she is. When they are alone, over wine she tries to seduce him. Even drunk, he stays true to his fiance and leaves her alone to ruminate.

Because Daniel goes to Molly’s classroom to speak, this puts the two of them together again. The chemistry is obviously there. I see more to this story line. I’m sure it will all blow up in everyone’s face, but this love quad (Daniel, Molly, Wilhemina and Connor) will be here for at least a few more episodes.

Justin & Randy are becoming friends but Randy seems a little sensitive to peer pressure. The jocks tease him when they see him watching a musical with Justin. When Justin gets tickets to ‘In the Heights’, he is thrilled and invites Randy. Randy, to avoid getting teased, tells him to stop following him around. I wonder if Randy is struggling with issues of coming out of the closet and is holding on to the dumb jock crowd to protect his popularity. Will this be a way to approach a sensitive subject? Will Ugly Betty address teenage sexuality and the difficulties teen face when coming out of the closet? I hope so. Ugly Betty would be a great platform for a sensitive issue and rather than candy-coating their way out of the story line, I hope they do the right thing.

At the end of the episode, Daniel comes through for Betty (again – he always comes through at the last moment) with a 6 page recommendation and a call to YETI explaining how Betty actually worked for Player magazine that year, getting her back in with the YETI program.

So, what will YETI bring Betty? Will an alliance form between her and Marc? Will she drop out halfway through the program? What do you think?