Friday, May 09, 2008

Rainbow Chicken or the Eggs? - Ugly Betty, 30 Rock

Ugly Betty - Betty's Baby Bump - Ep. 216
30 Rock - Cooter - Ep. 215 - Season Finale

Both Ugly Betty and 30 Rock weren't as funny as they normally are, but amusing enough, and with some plots thrusting our favorite New York gals into uncharted baby territory. Baby mama indeed!

Christina figures out Wilhelmina's plan, Betty gives Charlie a baby shower where the baby boy comes out (of the womb, I have to clarify when we are talking about Ugly Betty) but most importantly, Hilda finally has a crush on Justin's "mean" gym teacher, Coach Tony Diaz aka Eddie Cibrian! Ola!

Daniel is still reeling from his broken relationship with Renee by having lots of random hook ups and looking perfectly disheveled perfectly. Seriously, he's looking tired but his hair still looks pretty good for someone that's falling apart. I'm also digging Justin's new trim. And Hilda's!

Daniel is falling apart and Betty sets him up with a psychiatrist (Canadian Kari Matchett) who despite her initial stern treatment, ends up sleeping with the flirtatious Daniel anyways. Daniel has his revelation (cue dramatic music) that he must love himself first with the help of a walk with Ignacio (I know, very random, after Daniel shows up at Betty's place while she's preparing the baby shower for Charlie) and Daniel returns to Mode and is reinvigorated with his work, much to Claire and Alexis' delight.

And just in time for Wilhelmina's big revelation of her baby. Bradford's baby. Heir to 1/3 of Meade publications. Dun dun dun!!!

It's the first time we see Wilhelmina in Mode's office in a long while and just her presence on the gay star trek set gives me some chills. That she faces off with the Meade's is bonus. Bring it! (No really, bring more of THAT again).

We can also bring more of Christina, who discovers Wilhelmina's plan, freaks out, but then is guided by Stuart to milk it for all its worth. They still don't seem to know what to do with Christina, but Ashley Jensen can turn a simple line reading into a hilarious one that she's still being underused on this show. I don't think they've ever overused her.

Recently underused? Mark and Amanda. Still separated, still hilarious on their own, but if brought together, the laughs grow exponentially. Betty invites Amanda to the baby shower, sort of, and Amanda accepts, sort of. She actually shows up, sort of, and while she said she has only a few moments, she stays, and she eats, and she interrupts as Charlie's "water breaks". Love Amanda's delusions and her tip to Charlie to stick with her "story".

Betty gives herself over to please Henry via Charlie until Henry finally decides to extend the relationship into long distance territory which is sweet and all but I was hoping something would open up room for a Gio to reappear. Instead, there's a new baby in the Suarez household and it's not even Betty's yet somehow she's dealing with it all. Betty deserves better.

Finally, Hilda gets a story! And possibly a man! A hunky hunky man! As i said before, Justin is failing gym class and Hilda goes to give the teacher a good talking to, until she sees him. She's smitten but she defends Justin.

When Hilda tries to make peace and gives Coach Diaz a haircut, she almost chops his ears off in a careless accident.

The cuteness continues though when they meet again for another meeting, and where both resolve their issues over Justin and the flirting goes on! Yay! I'm excited for Hilda! Finally SOMETHING GOOD happening for her! (More pictures of that goodness called Eddie Cibrian after the jump).

If we move from the Mode offices to 30 Rock, Kenneth is applying to be a page at the Beijing Olympics but his rival page (Donny Lawson) is sabotaging Kenneth's application. Kenneth gets tricked when he gets manipulated to do duty over self (how communist China of him) but he barely makes the deadline until Jenna helps him with a video reference, and Pete uses his almost-Olympic archery skills to help save the day. Kenneth's gymnastics, hurdling and pole vault pointing gets him to the sports division faster too. How Olympics of him. Hmm... on NBC, the rainbow chicken network. I wonder what this all means?

Liz discovers she's pregnant, taking what seems like a billion... okay I exaggerate, a million home pregnancy tests and realizes that Dennis Duffy has to be the father. Dennis! Duffy! Dean Winters! Olay! Oh god!?!

Dennis finds out (since he stops by her place everyday while she works!) and though the prospect couldn't be more horrific, Liz's clock has hit the alarm and she slowly (over a half dozen phone calls to Jack) gets over it.

Jack is in Washington heading as the Homeland Security Director of Crisis and Weather Management with Ferris Bueller Leo Bloom Simba Mr. SJP Matthew Broderick in the saddest government office (and that's saying a LOT) devoid of any pens. Jack fights on for pens, giving Matthew Broderick inspiration, but when Don Geiss apparently wakes up to speak Jack's name, Jack tries to get fired from his new government job and enlists the help of CC (Edie Falco) to further a buried project, the gay bomb. Rainbow chicken it is.

Okay, so when Jack presents the gay bomb in an airtight room to Dick Cheney and Matthew Broderick spills it, um, what the hell happened just there?

Jack receives... um, where was I? Oh right, we moved on from the gay bomb... receives all of Liz's messages and seems truly proud of Liz's acceptance of motherhood, until she realizes the Mexican cheese snack she was eating, with the extra bull's hormones pumped into it, had triggered false positives in the pregnancy tests. Jack shows up at Liz's door to comfort her, but Liz is ready to adopt and Jack is ready to help out (with his connections).

I guess if you skipped Baby Mama, you'll get to see it next season on 30 Rock anyways. And Ugly Betty.

Oh, and we skip forward 3 months where Frank emerges from playing Tracy's new porn video game since we last left them and Kenneth is in China being seduced by a beautiful Chinese woman when an armed man barges upon them. Talk about Shanghai surprised. See you all 30Rockers after the Olympics!

Here are some more pictures of Ana Ortiz and Eddie Cibrian as Hilda and Coach Tony Diaz from Ugly Betty:

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