This week on Ugly Betty was a little taste of time travel.  Suddenly it seemed we were transported back to season one.  Fortunately, it’s all in good fun rather than feeling old and clichéd.  Once again there was a mystery villain, a Meade facing jail time, Wilhelmina pretending to have a soul, Claire getting drunk, Hilda making bad boyfriend choices and Betty there to clean it all up. 

Last week’s episode ended with Christina getting pushed down the stairs, so naturally we begin in an interrogation room.  The suspects are as follows:

Alexis and Daniel Meade: Wilhelmina’s baby represents a threat to both of them as her bid for power continues.

Claire Meade: she told Wilhelmina that she would go to great lengths to protect her children, and who can forget Fay Summers’ break lines?

Christina’s husband Stuart: after Christina threatened to report him to INS his fury was palpable.

Unfortunately, it turns out that of them all only Daniel is lacking an alibi.  So it’s Daniel that gets collared thanks to Betty’s nervous confession that Daniel asked her to be his fake alibi.  This combined with shoe prints at the scene that match his custom-made size 11 sneaks, seems to seal the deal for Daniel.  It’s up to Betty to find the real perpetrator, as only she believes him to be innocent.

During a comedic detective routine with Amanda and Marc (including an attempted reenactment of the crime that culminated in all three falling down the stairs) Betty interviews everyone about their actions the night in question, only to find them all frustratingly secure in the alibi department – except Daniel.  Even more suspicious, the security tapes are missing and it seems Daniel removed them!  The final straw comes when Betty realizes that Daniel’s raincoat is covered with the same dust found where Christina landed.  Heartbroken, she uncovers the missing tapes in Daniel’s office and wavers on whether she can bear to watch them.

In the meantime, Wilhelmina is outrageously selfish in her eagerness to get media coverage out of her fetus’ near death experience.  Visiting Christina in the hospital, she poses for pictures and plans on this event obliterating the memory of her failed magazine launch.  Even Marc (who loves her because she’s selfish) questions her actions.

Betty’s sister Hilda has been carrying on an elicit affair with Justin’s married gym teacher, telling herself that it’s all in the name of love.  Betty has toned down the obnoxious judging a bit, but Poppy Ignacio finds out and the Spanish soap opera begins.  Anyone else remember the telenovela Ignacio used to watch?  In case you were missing it, here it was again.  We can only hope that Hilda will get a clue and leave him, but until then things are bound to be tense in the Suarez house.

Finally Betty watches the video, which reveals Daniel and his son’s immigration/custody worker enjoying some steamy copy room time to Betty’s relief and disgust.  Daniel had tried to keep it hidden, fearing losing his son more than going to jail.  Wilhelmina gets a reminder that Christina isn’t a photo op or power bid, but a real woman with real problems after Christina learns that her husband’s illness is terminal.  They end the episode in a quiet tender moment: Willie reading a how-to book on mothering and Christina resting quietly. 

As for the bad guy, Betty has an epiphany and confronts Alexis.  In the most moving performance we’ve seen from Rebecca Romijn this season, Alexis lets it all spill out. Raging over Wilhelmina’s taunting, she saw Christina as a way to hurt Willie rather than a person, and pushed her.  As she is turning herself in to the police, Alexis makes one more confession to her mother: it seems that Daniel is not the father of Daniel Junior, Alexis is!  Cue the dramatic music!

The resolution of the Christina mystery was satisfactory, but not exactly thrilling.  Looking over the list of suspects, there isn’t one who wouldn’t have been either too obvious or too unbelievable.  Alexis is in the obvious category since Rebecca Romijn is pregnant and it was only a matter of time before they ditched her.  However, they did tie it all up very neatly with her moving confession and the beautiful end montage showing her saying goodbye to everyone.  Finally Alexis seems human again, even if it’s as she’s exiting the show.

It was fun to revisit old season one themes.  The similarities were subtle enough not to detract from the current storyline, and they were blended in well.  The show moves so fast from one drama to another, that most of the original storylines are all but forgotten.  However, it’s still fun to have new things sprung at us, and it will be interesting to see what the show will present us next week.

Susan Kearl is a university student with too much time on her hands who loves to watch TV.  She’s happy to contribute her opinions to the world of television viewers like you.