TVSquad

(S01E07) The construction of this week's Ugly Betty episode was just plain masterful. We had four parallel stories - each dealing with romantic relationships at profoundly different points in their evolution. The writers have, in particular, been juxtaposing Wilhelmina and Betty's travails to great effect. We got dual make-overs in "Queens for a Day."

This week, we got two classic fish out of water stories. Wilhelmina at a barely disguised Hogs & Heifers, and Betty at an upscale Soho hotel eatery. What's nice about this show is that both worlds - the corporate version of lowbrow and the needlessly pretentious highbrow - were presented as equally artificial and brainless. Somewhere in the middle is where we might find a really good burger and Babbo. While the Mode staff's struggles don't stack up to having an illegal immigrant dad who can't get his heart medication, the writers and actors have done a superb job of giving the Manhattanites' emotional lives some weight. And, best of all, no tiresome Fey storyline this week.

Now since the writer's took the time to construct the A, B, C and D stories so intricately, we might as well tackle them that way.