“Frankly, lady, I don’t know what you look like,” but I do! Oh, I do love her so much. Directed by Michael Spiller, he is probably best known for being a director and producer for The Mindy Project, as well as a director of Modern Family, Sex and the City, and Scrubs, including “My Last Day.” While the writing of “In or Out” fell to Myra Martino, credited as Myra Jo Martino. I could quite literally stop there, as this was the only episode written by Martino, and I don’t just mean for Ugly Betty, but all of TV and film.

Rumored to be seconded (from the French en second) in Rio, away from the press, Daniel is hiding out. At the same time, Betty quit MYW to become whatever you want to call wearing a sombrero full of stale chips while walking around Mexico’s answer to Pizza Hut. Meanwhile, Wilhelmina is scheming with the new mystery woman under the bandages, with Marc taking everyone’s picture so those two can pick who’s IT and who’s shI— taken out. Who’s not been to Rio, though, is Daniel – living like a teenager among the rats and bugs that live in the many food containers he’s left out.

Oh, and because we of course need more of Hilda being dramatic in our lives, Herbolux has been causing cancer in people’s toe-nails or making their eyeballs fall out. I don’t care! I know what is coming up either this season or maybe next, but this isn’t the end of Hilda’s many mad little schemes to make money. However, speaking of dodgy cosmetics, as Daniel fakes his Rio tan (which I forgot about) I shouted, “Jesus Christ, he’s tangoed himself like Trump.” Which I’ll admit wasn’t as problematic back then, it’s just funny that this is also the episode with Kathy Griffin as the Fashion TV reporter.

I don’t want to say that “In or Out” is another one of those between episodes, the ones that have been between episodes with big revelations, because there is plenty pushing us forward. Yet something about it feels like an episode that is by design, playing it down, doing just enough, giving us drips of details of what is to come, and very little else. The big bruhaha this week centers on the mystery woman removing the bandages and the fact that Meade Publications is about to undergo a massive shift that pushes Daniel and Bradford out.

That’s not a spoiler; that’s exactly what the episode is setting up. Daniel has been locking himself in his apartment for weeks, not even calling his mother, who’s already lost a son and was driven into rehab because of it. Forced out of his hobbit hole, though, Daniel heads back to work with an old assistant to join his current one, the one that’s also on Wilhelmina’s out list. Scheming with Marc after he shows her, Marc and Amanda go about undermining Betty and Daniel the best way they can to keep her in.

Meanwhile, in a storyline that I don’t think properly figures itself out, Steve is out. You know Steve? It’s Steve! Everyone knows Steve. You know, Bradford’s little PI that he put in Fey’s tomb, and then we never heard from him again until now, because I guess explaining how this guy broke out of a dead woman’s empty tomb is something we don’t need to explain. Literally could have been anyone else and the plot wouldn’t change one iota. Just a little bit of, “this is how he got out” would have been nice, at least in place of that whole Oshi business.

Either way, he’s now providing dirt on Bradford for Wilhelmina and the mystery woman. The two of them are really building to this big reveal coming up, but there isn’t really much about what it could be other than something to change ownership of Meade Publications. I won’t spoil who the reveal at the end of the episode is, but it is one that is heavily expanded on next time out with “I’m Coming Out.” And oh, honey, I do love it.

With the man who tangoed himself in a deep pit of depression, Betty sets up Daniel on a date with “Gisele” – which one? The best I can assume is the one that DiCaprio “dated” from when she was 20 to 25, which doesn’t help the allegations there now, son. Of course, little did the show know at the time of filming that Gisele Bündchen would be dating someone else (who she’d eventually marry), who’s messed up, conventionally attractive for a guy, but is still someone I can’t stand with a burning passion. #GoHawks

As a way to get in Wilhelmina’s good books, Amanda canceled the date between Daniel and Gisele, expecting to see a sad, lonely Daniel on page 6. Nope, Betty comes to the rescue, saving him, and the two go on an all-nighter through New York, including pizza joints, crashing a wedding, and walking across the Brooklyn Bridge in a scene that I’m sure angers actual New Yorkers. Then again, what doesn’t?

However, what is probably the biggest highlight of the episode (without spoilers) is Hilda’s story. I’m not just saying that because The Dollyrots get an outing with their “Because I’m Awesome” in the soundtrack, but also the end scene with the burnt cupcakes, where she’s talking about being 30, not going to college, being a mother, loving Justin, but seeing everyone else around her advancing, growing in their careers. I bemoan the aloud and brash character that Hilda is, but genuinely, Ana Ortiz is fantastic.

That particular scene of her breaking down because she isn’t fitting into what we’re told is a productive, useful person in society, that’s a strong moment. Especially now, as this is before the economic collapse and global recession, but you can’t find an entry-level job now in 2026 without a college degree in something that isn’t even relevant, and 45 years of work experience. You might as well stand on the corner, bend over, and take pictures of your chocolate starfish for how relevant job applications and even interviews are now.

Hilda’s moment here is every 28-31-year-old right now. A sense of hopelessness and dire straits, as there is nothing established to be that safety net that grandparents and great-grandparents had. As I’ve said, Hilda is loud and annoying sometimes, but when she’s the honest part of being a single mother in New York with a gay son in 2007, she’s the heart. I love that burnt cupcake scene, and even more now that I’m much closer to that age.

Ultimately, “In or Out” is a good episode that is only building to the world of Meade Publications set to come crashing down. It’s not fantastic, and the Daniel and Betty night out thing is just fine, but the true stars of the episode are easily the mystery woman’s reveal, which I didn’t mention much of when it comes to Christina, but we’ll get to it, and by far Hilda’s breakdown at 5 AM. Oh, and little Mark Indelicato shedding that tear as he listens to her breakdown, you might as well have just shot me in the heart.

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Ugly Betty “In or Out”

8

Score

8.0/10

Pros

• Mark Indelicato and Ana Ortiz for that cupcake scene.
• Oh, how I love and adore this mystery woman.

Cons

• I could do with something a bit less connecting/resetting the story of an episode.
• And we all asked, who is Steve?