Ugly Betty and The Office - The Old Girl and The New Girl

Last night's Ugly Betty was all about the return of Wilhelmina (Vanessa Williams has never looked better!). Big sigh of relief because with Willie's return comes the reunion of our favorite power couple--Marc and Amanda. As my blogging buddy Elisabeth so astutely pointed out last week, the show loses a lot of funny without the snarky duo of Amanda and Marc. Wilhelmina to Marc: "Am I smiling?" Marc: "I can't tell. I think you are..."

The show opened with the strains of Eric Carmen singing All By Myself as a heartbroken Betty (looking exceptionally ugly from days of crying...) drags herself to the office to get her mind off of Henry who has returned to Tucson with Charlie and the baby. According to next week's promos, he returns just in time to through another complication into the plot. But with Henry out of the picture, Gio makes his move on Betty--a sizzling hot kiss! It's caught on video by Amanda and Marc who e-mail it to the entire office.

Amanda tells Marc about her latest venture: a reality show with her newfound Dad, Gene Simmons. "It's what every pretty girl with no particular talents dreams of!" exclaims Marc. But he's miffed when Amanda isn't interested in letting him be part of the show. She tells him that Gene Simmons hates the gays but it turns out the real reason is Daddy Dearest is only sweet to his daughter when the cameras are rolling. And actually, Simmons faked the identifying tattoo (Daffy Duck?) and isn't Amanda's father at all... "I'm sorry you still don't know who your family is," Marc tells the despondent Amanda. "Yes I do," Amanda says meaning him. This episode had three great "Aw!" moments. That was the first.

Meanwhile Willie's plan to divide and conquer the Meades ("You are a horror movie I wish would never end!," says Marc) is working as she regains her old position as Creative Director. Next stop, Daniel's job as Editor-in-Chief. "You're back and Wilhelmeaner than ever!" says Marc. Hilda has a plan as well--to get Coach Diaz to like her. But when she catches Ignacio's cold and can't chaperone Justin's Junior High School dance, she thinks there's no hope for a new romance. Until Coach Diaz, tipped off by Justin that Hilda likes him, shows up at the Suarez house with some soup for Hilda and asks her out. "Aw!" moment number two...

Betty takes Hilda's place as chaperone at the dance and who should be there as well? None other than Gio, who cajoles Betty to "Stop worrying about how you're SUPPOSED to be and just--BE." He tries to get her to dance (to Spandau Ballet's True) and convinces her to steal back her old Citizenship trophy. He and his little sister walk Betty and Justin back home and Betty tells him she had fun and boldly asks him out. But she is surprised when he turns her down. He tells her, "I don't want to be the rebound guy. I want to be the GUY." "Aw!" moment number three and even the Henry-shippers had to be touched by it.

On The Office, it was Toby's last day (he really IS moving to Costa Rica!) and the first day for his replacement, Holly. Michael is sooo stoked that his nemesis is leaving, he uses his Grandma's birthday money hidden in his shoe to pay for the party. Angela's party plans aren't nearly extravagant enough for the momentous occasion ("If the devil were to explode and evil was gone forever!"), so Michael hands over the planning duties to Phyllis much to Angela's chagrin.

Michael fully expects Toby's replacement to be a female Toby ("He tortured me with his awfulness!"), but is pleasantly surprised when Holly turns out to be cool ("Holly is the best thing to happen to this company since World War II!")--and dare we say it--and a possible soulmate? Who else gets Michael's jokes and would laugh at Yoda vs. yoga? But his plan to kindle a romance with her is thwarted when he finds out Jan is pregnant (Great reveal on that when Kevin pushed his shopping cart out of the way after telling Michael, "You two need to catch up...") Jan tells Michael it's not his baby to which Michael replies, "You cheated on me when I specifically asked you not to!" Jan says she didn't cheat, she went to a very special sperm bank. Michael's a bit miffed that HIS sperm wasn't good enough, but agrees to accompany her to LaMaze class.

Phyllis gets a Ferris Wheel for an amusement park themed farewell party for Toby. Jim springs for fireworks for the event because he plans to ask Pam (recently accepted to the Pratt School of Design) to marry him. But HIS plan is thwarted when Andy uses the occasion to pop the question to Angela whose response is a dull "Okay." Andy says, "I've been carrying that ring around in my wallet for SIX years!" and Pam, who was sure Jim was going to propose, looks upset.

And arrogant Ryan finally gets his comeuppance. Not for the drug use, but for booking sales twice. According to Oscar, however, "The real crime, I think, was the beard."

Indeed!