Ugly Betty and The Office - Kissed Off and The Lecture Circuit

Oh thank god--Betty finally really that Jesse is an insipid, self-absorbed bore. Who writes really awful lyrics. Of course I had this figured out immediately. Val Emmich is no Gio. Or Henry Grubstick for that matter.

Last night's episode was written by David Grubstick by the way. No, he's not related to Henry (Henry is FICTIONAL, people!)--but his surname was the inspiration for Henry's.

I thought it was cool to see Lauren Vélez aka Lt. Laguerta of Dexter playing the role of Ignacio's nurse Elena. Heck, if she run Miami homicide, you know she can keep Ignacio in line. Of course, they butted heads in the beginning but by the end of episode Ignacio took her comments about his heart to heart.

Matters of the heart figured prominently in the show with things heating up for the love quadrangle. Although Connor's relationship with Wilhelmina is going strong, he is obsessed with finding out who the mystery man holding Molly's hand but cropped out of the Page Six photo is.

He even drags Daniel along on a stakeout of Molly's building. While he's staking out Molly, Wilhelmina and Marc are following him. Daniel convinces Connor to give up his obsession so as not to jeopardize his relationship with Wilhelmina. But Willie has already put two and two together when she spies Molly walking back to her apartment. She gives Connor an ultimatum.

Connor also puts two and two together when he sees the t-shirt Molly gave Daniel that reads "Rich Jerk" (He hates pennies!) and later sees the note with the flowers sent to Molly that's signed "RJ." He slugs Daniel in the boxing ring and stomps off.

With that out of his system, his relatonship with Daniel is back on an even keel and he makes up with Willie. So everything is well

Betty's heart is conflicted with giving up her romantic NYC fantasy in which she cast Jesse in a leading man role. Amanda encourages her to get some closure with Jesse and when he finds out she's moving back home, he invites her for a farewell drink. An evening of drinking and talking ends up with a kiss that leaves Betty confused.

Amanda tries to help Betty decipher Jesse's intentions. She decides that the issue calls for a male point of view. "Okay, I couldn't find a male point of view, but I did find Marc," she announces. Marc asks if maybe Jesse was licking guacamole off of Betty's face. Betty tells him she wasn't eating. "Not eating? This story is getting more and more preposterous!" Marc exclaims. After a weird re-enaction by Amanda and Marc, the conclusion is that Jesse is into Betty. Or that he was drunk off his ass.

Daniel agrees with the latter assumption. "Guys are dogs," he tells Betty. "Maybe he's not like you. Maybe he's a nice guy!" Betty counters. She decides the only way to find out is to confront Jesse. Before knocking on his apartment door, she cautions herself, "Stay cool. No drool..." but her knock on Jesse's door goes unanswered.

When she tries calling him on his cellphone he doesn't answer. Daniel gives her his usual brotherly advice and Betty sets off to tell the "gutless pathetic weasel" off. Jesse admits he's a tool and asks Betty out on a date--threatening to sing lame lyrics unless she accepts. Thankfully (for us) she accepts.

Amanda helps Betty get ready for her date advising her, "Don’t order anything over $15 or you’ll be forced to do anything Jesse says. It used to be more but we are in a recession." Betty's dream date with Jesse quickly turns into a nightmare when Jesse drones on and on and on about himself.

The good news is that Betty gets the closure she needs to move back home. Marc takes over her lease and so the besties become roommate. I'll miss Betty and Amanda, but the combo of Marc and Amanda has way more possibilities for humor. "I'm changing everything!" Marc announces as he makes his entrance. "It's Extreme Makeover: Homo Edition!"

ABC's doing a mini-makeover of its own slotting Samantha Who? and new sitcom In the Motherhood in Ugly Betty's timeslot.

I think I'll be catching up with My Name is Earl until Betty returns.

Part one of The Lecture Circuit kicked off last night with Michael and Pam on the road giving seminars on successful sales techniques. "And we're off like a herd of turtles!" says Michael.

First stop is Utica which makes Pam nervous since it's the branch that Jim's ex Karen manages. When they arrive, they find a very pregnant Karen. Michael immediately asks if the baby is Jim's. But it turns out Karen is happily married and is happy to hear that Jim and Pam are engaged.

Michael's presentation consists of insulting mnemonic techniques and a chainsaw. Karen offers to distill his presentation and send it to her employees via e-mail. "E-mail's not scary," Michael scoffs.

Back at the office, Dwight and Jim deal with their first snafu as the new co-heads of the party planning committee: they forgot Kelly's birthday. They attempt to rectify the situation, but Jim objects to Dwight's decorations of barely inflated brown and gray balloons (I didn't even know balloons came in those colors!). "They match the carpet," Dwight says defensively. He tells Jim that his feelings are hurt. "Fortunately my feelings regenerate at twice the speed of a normal man's." Dwight insists.

Andy decides the best way to deal with his broken heart is to pursue Stanley's latest client. Stanley offers Julia to Andy in return for two of his clients. Andy panicks and asks for advice from Oscar and Creed. Creed tells him, "This is how I got Squeaky Fromme..." advising Andy to kiss her.

Julia is put off by Andy's advances. "We lost the account," the Nard-dog says.

Michael inspired by Pam's closure with Karen, wishes for closure of his own with Holly. And so Pam and Michael head off for Nashua.

Does this mean we get to see Amy Ryan next week? Fingers crossed!