- Wilhemina marginalizes Betty during Fashion Week but Daniel intercedes, and she's assigned to cover a low-priority show. There, she discovers a new designer, Marisa, whom she promotes as one of the 10 Designers to Watch, but Marc steals all her thunder. Meanwhile, Amanda is impressed by Helen's sewing skills and teams up with her to start a new line, but cannot convince Marc or Betty to lobby Wilhemina on her behalf. Claire's son Tyler comes to New York to find her, and Daniel gets seduced into modeling. The fashion and the feelings are smoking hot, but the real flames are at the Suarez home, which mysteriously catches fire.—ABC Publicity
- It's Fashion Week at Mode and Marc is feeling the stress of having to prove himself as an editor as well as having to deal with his new flatmate, Helen, who is in 'love' with him. At the editors' meeting Wilhemina conveys her disappointment in all the editors, especially Marc, for not working as hard as Betty, who she 'rewards' with a report on an 800-page book about the history of sewing machines.
At first happy with her assignment, Betty is then told by Daniel that all editors get to cover a show, sometimes up to 3 shows at once. Realising that Wilhemina was trying to get Betty out of the editors' meeting on purpose, Daniel later argues with Wilhemina on Betty's behalf. Wilhemina points out that Daniel has banned male models and one out of the ten designers to watch has quit, and that she is now scrambling to get Fashion Week on its feet so she does not have time to put up with Betty. Daniel continues to deem it unfair and tries to set something up for Betty.
Meanwhile at their apartment, Helen continues to drool over Marc despite Amanda telling her Marc's gay (which Helen takes as a joke). Finding the green mini dress she was going to wear to a party completely stretched out by Helen, Amanda worries that she will have nothing to wear. Helen tells her it's not a problem and that she'll make a her new dress, where she then rips a curtain off the apartment and begins working on her sewing machine. Amanda tries out the red and black dress made by Helen and proclaims it to be amazing and realises that Helen has a real talent for dressmaking. Amanda proposes that she and Helen become a fashion design team, which Helen promptly accepts.
Betty and Hilda are putting up a discarded chandelier that Ignacio brought back from his restaurant when Justin tells Betty that she has a voice message from Daniel. With her hands full, Betty asks Justin to play the message out loud. In the message, Daniel says that there was a misunderstanding with Wilhemina and that Betty is indeed covering a show for Fashion week. However Daniel fails to turn off his new hands-free phone properly and a further conversation with Wilhemina is recorded, where Wilhemina insults Betty's lack of fashion sense (the reason why she didn't want Betty covering a show in the first place). Upon hearing this, Betty becomes extremely dismayed.
The next day, Daniel goes to Betty's office and apologises for what was said in the message he left, bringing her a pot plant as a peace offering. Betty confides in him that she feels awful because no one trusts her taste, but Daniel tells her to prove everyone wrong. He gives her that chance by assigning her to a low-priority show (the only one that was available).
As Daniel walks by, Wilhemina pretends to be on the phone with a fashion designer who wants to use male models. Acting as if she doesn't know Daniel is standing right behind her, Wilhemina rejects the request of the 'designer' to use Daniel as one of her models. Flattered by this request, Daniel interrupts and falls for Wilhemina's ploy by reconsidering his ban on male models for Fashion Week.
While admiring the new dress made by Helen, Amanda notices that Helen has disappeared. Turning around, she sees Helen flirting with a guy and goes over there to snap Helen out of it so they can focus on getting their fashion line established. The guy turns out to be Tyler, who has traveled from South Dakota in search of Claire Mead, but Amanda does not make the connection and drags Helen away.
Betty, Hilda and Justin sit through a 'fashion show' in a restaurant-turned-catwalk, where each outfit displayed is worse than the last. Then a grey dress catches everyones eyes and they all agree it's pretty awesome. Betty goes 'backstage' and finds the designer, Marisa, telling her that she will do her best to get Marisa into Mode's top 10 designers to watch. Back at the Mode, Betty tries to persuade Marc to partner up with her and lobby for Marisa in Wilhemina's office, sharing the credit if Wilhemina approves. Marc declines, hinting that he doesn't trust Betty's judgement on fashion, but when he sees Marisa's portfolio, he agrees that the designs are pretty good and agrees to persuade Wilhemina.
Having gotten in his head that he would make a great model, Daniel decides to strut his stuff in one of the hallways. However he is seen by a passer-by who mistakenly asks him if he's hurt. Embarrased, Daniel admits that he was practising his walk for the Mode show. The girl, Heather, tells him not to worry, and that she used to have a terrible walk too. She invites Daniel to her fitting, which he accepts, and checks her out while she leads the way.
Marc is giving Betty a lesson on how to pitch something to Wilhemina, using a carboard cut out of Wilhemina as a guide. Amanda bursts into the room and asks Marc that since he's pitching an unknown designer, if he could pitch her designs while he's at it. Marc pushes the decision onto Betty, and makes vomiting gestures behind Amanda's back to emphasise his dislike for her designs. Betty tries to say no but Amanda forces her designs onto Betty anyway and leaves the room skipping with excitement.
The model coordinator is telling Wilhemina about the shortage of male models since all the good ones have all been booked when they spot Tyler. Thinking he is a model, Wilhemina tells him that all the models are supposed to be in their fitting. Tyler says he's not a model and that he's looking for Claire Mead, but Wilhemina notices his potential and gets him to spin for her and declares that he's a model now.
Ignacio keeps fiddling with the new chandelier, adding a mood lighting effect onto it. However it goes on the fritz and shocks his finger when he goes to turn it off. Hilda walks by disapprovingly but Bobby tells her not to bug Ignacio about it. Hilda says that if Ignacio wants to fix something, he should start in her salon, which is falling apart and costing her so much to fix that she's barely breaking even. Bobby asks her if money is a problem, and Hilda jokingly says that she wishes lightning would strike the salon and she could just collect the insurance money. Bobby gives her a funny look, but shakes it off and kisses Hilda on the cheek before he leaves.
Tyler is shown to his fitting, where he finds Daniel and Heather already dressed in their outfits. Daniel introduces himself to Tyler and Tyler makes the connection that Daniel is Claire's son. At that moment, the model coordinator comes in to tell Daniel that the final suit may be a bit tight on him and that they should put it on someone thinner, like Tyler. Daniel objects and says that the designer specifically requested him. The model coordinator meekly smiles and agrees with him.
Marc and Betty present Marisa's designs to Wilhemina, who looks bored and disinterested. But she agrees nonetheless to enter Marisa into the show as she hasn't seen any better designs so far. She praises Marc for finding the new designer, and when Betty tries to point out that credit belongs to her, Wilhemina brushes her off and says "thank you for turning the pages Betty". Betty looks at Marc for help but he says nothing and follows Wilhemina out the door.
Betty catches up with Marc and accuses him of stealing her credit, but Amanda interrupts and asks them what Wilhemina thought of her designs. Marc dumps the task on Betty again and runs off. Betty struggles to tell Amanda the truth, and eventually admits that she didn't even show the designs to Wilhemina because she felt Amanda's designs weren't quite ready to be showcased. Hearing this, Amanda becomes angry and says she didn't know why she asked Betty for help in the first place since Betty knows nothing about fashion, then storms off, leaving Betty to feel dismayed yet again.
Suzuki interviews Marisa on Fashion TV and before Marisa can thank Betty for finding her, Marc jumps into the shot and takes credit. Betty watches this on the TV in Daniel's office and tells Daniel that she didn't even know there was going to be an interview. Daniel is jogging on the spot to try and lose a few pounds before the show that night (being pushed by his jealousy towards Tyler), then later switches to crunches, and tells Betty that if he was her, he'd give Marc a piece of his mind. At that moment, Betty sees Marc walking by and goes out to confront him. Marc defends the interview by saying he was helping Betty since she looks awful on TV. Betty brushes that aside and tells him that the whole point of this was to prove to Wilhemina that she had taste, but even worse was the fact that he hung her out to dry with Amanda. Betty reminds him that they both knew Amanda's designs were not ready, but instead made her look like the bad guy. She tells him that if he wants the credit, he'll have to do the work, and walks off.
Wilhemina gives Daniel lessons on how to walk properly on the catwalk, but he doesn't appear to be improving. Frustrated, she tells him to walk naturally, and points at Tyler (who happens to be walking past really smoothly in slow motion at the time) as an example. This makes Daniel even more jealous.
Betty unloads all her problems to her family at home. Ignacio turns on the chandelier to make Betty feel better (obviously doesn't work), telling everyone how he hired an electrician to make it shine brighter. Hilda is styling Justin's hair so he can look good in his professional acting class and fit in. Hilda says that she's happy for him to fit in as long as he doesn't knows his limits and doesn't do stupid things like piercing his nose or smoking. Ignacio comforts Betty, who says that she just wanted a chance to prove herself to everyone, but guess she won't have that chance. Just then Betty's phone rings, and a stressed out Marisa asks Betty if she could come over since Betty was the one who found her in the first place. Betty, surprised, says yes.
Amanda is glumly telling Helen how disappointing it is that their designs won't be shown at fashion week. Helen tells her not to give up. Marc walks in and asks if Amanda needs any help in packing up their sewing equipment. Amanda smiles and says that Marc is a real friend, unlike Betty. Feeling guilty, Marc tells her not to blame it all on Betty. He admits that the designs weren't ready, and that he didn't want to tell her because he didn't want to upset her.
Back in Queens, Betty is telling Marisa that the final garments are ready in the salon. They find Amanda sitting in the living room (Ignacio let her in), who apologises for yelling at Betty earlier. Amanda admits that she feels it unfair that Betty and Marc and moving up in the world while she's still stuck at the bottom, and that she just wanted to do something with her life. At that moment, Marisa asks if they smells smoke and Bobby runs up behind them yelling for them to get out because the house is on fire.
Outside, Betty is relieved that everyone's safe, and says that if it wasn't for Bobby, they wouldn't have gotten out in time. Ignacio says that it was only the salon that burnt down, the rest of the house just had smoke damage. This upsets Hilda. Marc calls and asks Betty where Marisa's dresses are, and Betty realises the dresses were sitting in the salon and must be completely ruined by now. Indeed they are, with all the dresses burnt at one part or another. Betty apologises profusely, but Marisa says it's ok, knowing that fashion week may have been too good to be true. Amanda points out that the dresses still look pretty good, and hacks off the hem on one of them and tries it on to prove her point. Betty sees this and phones Marc to say that the dresses will be at the show soon.
At the show, Betty and Amanda are putting the final touches on the dresses, with Amanda holding a blowtorch (deliberately scorching the dresses to match). Wilhemina takes a look and asks what the hell is going on. Marc denies his involvement and says it was Betty's idea and that she was the one who found Marisa in the first place so she should be the only one to be punished. Wilhemina stares at the dresses for a while and admits that they actually look better with the fire damage, then walks off. Marisa's dresses are up next and everyone watches as the models go down the runway.
After the final model has strutted her stuff, Betty tells Amanda that it was amazing how she pieced all the accessories together in such a short time, saying that she might have a future as a stylist. Hearing this, Amanda becomes encouraged and walks off to proclaim her newfound career.
Tyler approaches Claire backstage thanks her for the generous tip she left him back in South Dakota. But that money got him thinking, and when he mentioned her name to his adoptive parents, they became very quiet. So he figured Claire might be his mother. He asks her if she is and Claire says yes and they both smile. However, Claire asks Tyler if he could just keep it a secret till she tells all the people in her life about him. Tyler agrees and goes off when Daniel comes over. Daniel asks Claire what Tyler wanted, and Claire says Tyler was just lost and asking for directions. Daniel says good, because he doesn't want to see Tyler ever again (still jealous).
When the show ends, Wilhemina finally praises Betty, saying that she shouldn't have hidden behind Marc. When Betty points out that Wilhemina is a hard woman to please, Wilhemina tells her that Faye Summers was even harder to please, but Wilhemina stuck by what she believed, and that's how she got to where she is today. Betty understands and says that fashion is what people perceive it to be, but Wilhemina says no, fashion is what Wilhemina says it to be.
At the Suarez house, Bobby consoles Hilda and tells her that she got what she wanted: she can now collect the insurance money. This makes Hilda suspicious about Bobby's involvement in the disaster. But at that moment, Justin takes out the trash and throws in a pack of cigarettes and a lighter before closing the bag.
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