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(Spoiler Warning) I have to admit I was worried at the start of tonight’s Ugly Betty. With Betty’s linebacker-shoulder-pad-inspired dress and her getting overlooked at work again, I was bracing for the worst of Charlie Brown-itis. But Ugly Betty wins again with the surprisingly endearing pairing of Betty and Amanda (America Ferrera and Becki Newton). When both girls land a team assignment to spend a day in New York spending no money, Betty gets dragged into Amanda’s world of using charm, seduction, and just plain attitude to get bags of free samples at the make-up counter, $2000 dresses to be returned later, and free champagne and dinner from handsome modern art buying Europeans.

Of course the art buyers turned out to be scam artists who stuck the girls with the dinner bill. This, however, rather than being a typical pie-in-the-face moment for Betty turned into the best and funniest moment on the show. Terrified equally of paying such an exorbitant bill or following Amanda’s Dine and Dash suggestion, Betty calls the manager over. Handing her Mode card to the woman, she sweet-talks her about writing up the restaurant in Mode and then boldly hands the restaurant bill to the woman. What follows is 2 minutes of utter suspense, as the camera careens between Amanda’s forced, near-crazy grin, the manager’s stoic, mildly suspicious expression, and then a trickle of sweat on Betty’s brow. It was perfectly timed, crazy, and brilliant. And Betty actually won, as the manager agreed to pay the bill.

The show worked both sides equally, as Amanda was finally forced to realize that she had to take responsibility sometimes and couldn’t spend her life sponging off of other people. On the flip side, Betty learned that she doesn’t have to be wracked with guilt 24 hours a day. That sometimes it’s just okay to take a free sample and run, or let some cute guys buy you dinner (when they actually do, of course).

Ugly Betty also wowed us with more Wilhelmina (Vanessa Williams) goodness, shocking by giving us a nervous, babbling Willie in front of her crush, Connor Owens (Grant Bowler). Hearing Wilhelmina say “Top o’ the morning” and “Mate!” awkwardly to Connor was hilariously out of character, and Williams played it up just right. She also won big with an earlier exclamation in a meeting, saying she hadn’t realized New York was so expensive. When Daniel chastised her for being sarcastic, she said with all sincerity that she really hadn’t noticed.  This is where the show hits these characters just right…Wilhelmina and Amanda really do live in different worlds from the rest of us, and truly have no clue what Betty’s life experience is like.

So, all in all, a good show tonight. An added bonus was I actually enjoyed Betty’s yellow swing coat. So fun, fashion, and a moral. That’s what Betty’s all about.

Watch Ugly Betty on Thursday nights at 8pm Eastern/7pm Central, on ABC.

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