Ugly Betty/The Office - Halloween Tricks

In honor of Halloween, there were plenty of tricks on last night's episodes. An elaborate set-up resulted in Kimmie Keegan's termination from Mode. Ah, yes--this is what happens when you diss the King and Queen of the Mode prom.

No, not Daniel and Wilhelmina--Marc and Amanda!

Betty is spurred on by cute neighbor Jesse to take some initiative and make her dreams come true. We all know my undying adoration of Gio (aka Freddy Rodriguez), but Val Emmich might be growing on me. Responding to Betty's question about what he is doing, he answers "Serenading you with advice."

Cute.

Betty contribution to Mode's Hot Issue is "Sizzling Hot Fruit." Thanks to Ignacio, she settles on the tico berry--which turns out to be the patron fruit of supermodel Adriana Lima. (Someone needs to explain Ms. Lima's appeal to me...Frankly, I find her more than a little scary looking. Especially when she smiles!) Booking the supermodel for the cover shoot of the Hot Issue is a major coup for Betty and she is rewarded with the assignment of project manager from Daniel--as well as the wrath of Kimmie.

Speaking of Ignacio, the newly naturalized American is so excited about voting in his first election. Loved the shout-out to fellow ABC show Dancing with the Stars. It seems Ignacio can be as obsessed about voting for his favorites as I am.

It's not long before Kimmie has wrested control of Betty's photo shoot from her. Following a distrastrous interview with Suzuki St. Pierre (Amazingly the writers found a way to beef up Alec Mapa's usually brief exposure on the show...), Kimmie is assigned to help Betty. Unfortunately for her, she's burned bridges with Amanda and Marc--especially after she gets Marc's boyfriend Cliff (Yay--the return of David Blue!) shafted from the Adriana Lima photo-shoot.

Meanwhile, Claire warns Daniel and Wilhelmina that there are pressing financial issues threatening to destroy Meade Publications and that they need to hire a C.F.O. Coincidentally, Wilhelmina runs into a superior candidate while waving down a cab in the person of Connor Owens (looks like Grant Bowler aka Captain Gault from LOST landed in a good place...). Wilhelmina floats the idea of Owens coming to work for Mode, but Connor tells her Daniel would never allow it.

Wilhelmina runs the idea by Daniel, but Daniel is vehemently opposed. Later, she manages to get Daniel to at least be open to meeting with Connor--but the two men are at odds during the entire process. Wilhelmina is resigned to the fact that Daniel will never agree to hire Connor Owens, but he surprises her by offering his nemesis the job. But the real surprise is that Connor and Daniel planned the whole thing all along.

And speaking of plans, the one concocted by Marc, Amanda and Betty to get Kimmie fired is going swimmingly--until Betty gets cold feet about compromising her principles. She tries to tell Kimmie it was a set-up, but the bitch doesn't believe her and stands up to Wilhelmina--only to be knocked down, fired and carted off by security.

Hopefully that's the last we've seen of the lame stunt casting of Ms. Lohan. Although how funny was the cameo by Ralph Macchio as Councilman Archie Rodriguez getting a haircut from Hilda? IMDB shows Macchio in at least one more upcoming episode, so we haven't seen the last of him yet!

The Office celebrated Halloween by everyone dressing up. Kelly as Carrie Bradshaw of Sex and the City, Ryan as Gordon Gekko ("Oh, from the insurance commercials!" says Kelly), Andy as a "kitten," and Creed, Kevin and Dwight as the Joker. In New York, Pam dresses up like Charlie Chaplin, but no-one else at corporate comes to work in costume. Pam moans, "I can't even take off my hat because then I'm Hitler."

As expected, Holly was transferred to Nashua, NH because of her relationship with Michael. Michael and Darryl drive her up to her new place, but during the trip Holly starts crying realizing that the distance is too great for her and Michael to continue their relationship. "Don't make it harder than it has to be," she tells Michael. "That's what she said," Michael mumbles.

Pam meets Jim's brothers who decide to prank Jim (or are they pranking Pam?) by ragging on her for studying art.

But the best story line was the Dwight-Andy match-up. Dwight arrives to the office wearing a Cornell sweatshirt. Andy, a Cornell graduate, is aghast. Dwight tells him that he's plannng to enroll--he doesn't figure it will be difficult to get in, seeing as Andy was accepted.

Andy retaliates by getting himself appointed as Dwight's interviewer. He asks Dwight for his role models: Dane Cooke, Jack Bauaer and Eli Whitney. (Dane Cooke? Seriously?) "Comprehension skills: sub-par," Andy jots down in his notes. "Interviewing skills: sub-par," Dwight counters in his notes. "Applicant has a head shaped like a trapezoid," says Andy raising the stakes.

To cap off the episode, Andy comes to work the following day dressed as a beet farmer. Ed Helms is so great. I'm really glad he made the transition from the Stanford branch.

Now that Holly's in Nashua, does this mean Toby will return to the office from Costa Rica?