I see we’re playing the pronoun game; he, him, his. Directed by James Hayman, we’ve got our first long-term director and long-term producer outside of the show’s showrunner and one-offs. Hayman is probably best known for directing quite a few episodes of NCIS: New Orleans, as well as being a series-long producer there, Joan of Arcadia, Hart of Dixie, an episode of Desperate Housewives, and three early episodes of ER. While Marco Pennette, who was a long-term producer and writer of Desperate Housewives, as well as adapting the ITV show Footballers Wive$ to a US flop, writes “Queens for a Day.”

Off the back of Daniel’s first print, a hot and sexy club is filled with very 2006 music, drinks, and people as he attempts to act like this is all normal. Too bad Betty can’t get in. Accosted by his dad for not being perfect like his dead brother Alex, Daniel gets the smart idea (planted by Wilhelmina) to basically copy Alex’s moves when he was EIC of sister publication Hudson. Basically changing everything, Daniel wants to shift the creative direction. That includes getting this super sexy hotshot photographer from Queens, Vincent Bianchi. Of course, played by Rhys Coiro, Billy Walsh from Entourage.

Meanwhile, the scheming, conniving, wicked witch of the Upper East Side is trying to impress Daddy. No, that’s not a hint at a Pedro Pascal cameo before he was The Daddy, I’m talking more specifically about Wilhelmina’s dad, “The Senator.” Between Ron Canada, Thea Vidale, and Whose Line is it Anyway? regular, Greg Proops, something tells me that “Queens for a Day” is cameo/guest star heavy. All the while, Betty is comparing herself to the pin-thin, stilts-wearing, waxed 12-year-olds, thinking a rich man will fix their problems. From the clothes, the hair, and the music after the makeover, I can practically taste 2006 again.

After Betty called out Daniel’s inability to imagine her struggles last time, as she fought with an HMO for Ignacio’s heart medication, as well as juggling work, we’re delving deeper into the Meade family problems. It isn’t said outright early on, but we’re told plainly that Daniel’s older brother had died a while ago, and the family is still trying to cope with that fact. Daniel copes by trying to be better, Bradford by trying to give his other child a chance to live up to his unbelievably high expectations, and we’ll find out about someone else soon enough.

With praise heaped on him for the first issue of Mode, which was mostly controlled by Wilhelmina, he’s spiraling and getting Betty to dig out back issues of Hudson, looking at what Alex did to impress Bradford. The truth is, Alex was always the favorite. Bradford took him to big college football games, gave him a publication first, and expected more from Alex than he’d ever expect from Daniel. Let alone expect Daniel to repair a wound with Vincent Bianchi after Alex’s comments led to Bianchi swearing off working with Meade Publications ever again.

Despite Betty proving herself once again, maybe not as a pin-thin, perfectly manicured priestess of the holy order of eating disorders, Betty’s insecurities get the best of her. Trying to figure out if Ignacio’s favorite daughter is her or Hilda, if she’ll ever be taken seriously while being and looking like herself, and generally, just existing without that pressure. Through a familial sense of the area they both grew up in, Betty and Vincent make a connection, and she’s able to set up a meeting for Daniel. Oh, and Vincent wants Betty at this swanky uptown meeting, which is a super sexy restaurant that Daniel picked out.

The trouble there, of course, is Daniel’s insistence that the two “dress up a little,” because she wasn’t insecure enough about her sense of style, her looks, and how she’s perceived. Going down like a lead balloon filled with corrosive acid, Hilda takes Betty to get a makeover, and she gets what I’ve only been able to call “The Queens Special.” That’s a loud hair, loud jacket, loud top, loud skirt, and big heels, which works for Queens, but for high-fashion 2006, it looks like a car crash with every disaster and horrible circumstance piled on top of each other.

That’s what I love about Ugly Betty on a subtextual level: It stuck to the style of the era but did so in a way that made everyone look unique. Betty’s outfit here is the opposite of the 2006 fashion of the time: Simple colors, sometimes layers, but very rarely was it ever loud. Jessica Alba’s 2006 Teen Choice Awards outfit was a cream top, jeans, and boots. Series producer Salma Hayek wore that teal/turquoise dress to the Academy Awards, and then there’s that simple dress Taylor Swift wore to the 2006 ACM Awards; they were all simple. Even the loudest outfits were toned down.

We see that with Amanda, who is constantly layered and primed because she’s manicured herself into this ideal of herself. Marc is a bit louder for this episode, wearing a collared shirt with a similar pattern to Betty’s very first outfit of the show, but tones it down with something on top. Christina wears layers-on-layers but keeps it from becoming too much – there is not just a unique sense of style but a sense of who each character is through their fashion choices. It isn’t just fashion being thought of in a show about fashion; it is a nuance, a detail that’s easy to overlook.

Almost as much as I’ve practically overlooked the Fey Sommers death mystery and Bradford’s reveal that the car she was Diana’d in was tampered with. A bit like the real thing. Or how about the fact that the mystery woman in the basement knows something about the car and why Bradford has been snooping around the scrapyards of New York looking for the wreckage. Even going so far as to sow division between Daniel and Bradford by telling Daniel about it. It’s all getting a little spicy in that camp.

“Queens for a Day” settles into a far more long-term idea of what the show is and will become, though it still shows growing pains here or there. However, at the heart of the show is a heart that isn’t really shown now on TV because everyone needs to be cold and brooding. When Christina is telling Betty that she’s fine, she doesn’t need to change, she points out that “real women snort when they laugh, they’ve got fat arses, have wobbly upper arms, and they’ve got PMS.” Preach! Sorry, I shouldn’t be yelling about Sir Mix-A-Lot’s favorite thing, but she’s right.

For every “chimichurr-o” and snarky comments from Amanda, Marc, and Wilhelmina, we get those heartfelt moments that are basically reaching out to young women and young men (to a degree), saying that it is ok who you are. That’s what I love most about Ugly Betty. Much like Rachel Bloom and Aline Brosh McKenna’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, there is an irony and self-awareness of the show that is so easy to miss from the outside.

Ultimately, “Queens for a Day” can be argued to be the best the show has to offer thus far, but we’re far from the show’s biggest highs and lowest lows. There are a lot of shining lights of this one, from Wilhelmina’s innocence or Betty’s confidence and struggles realizing she’s Ignacio’s favorite, but I think Daniel stood out. I’ll admit that outside of Hallmark flix and the odd thing here or there, Eric Mabius isn’t a standout a lot of the time. However, his monologues and moments throughout “Queens for a Day” are great reminders of who Daniel is and where he’s going.

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Ugly Betty “Queens for a Day”

8.5

Score

8.5/10

Pros

• Such a sense of heart.
• The use of fashion to showcase character is done so well.
• Becki Newton is so good for this role as Amanda.

Cons

• Walter - this will be repeated for weeks.