Indeed, there’s been a murder! Directed by Matt Shakman, I’m still writing the review for his previous episode of Ugly Betty, “A Thousand Words Before Friday.” Thankfully, this isn’t his third and final episode, though. It is the third and final episode, albeit for the season, of Henry Alonso Myers’ work, and I think maybe his best? We’ll find out about that in time; it is an odd one given we’re continuing this post-writer’s strike shift in production. It is brighter, shinier, and maybe a little on fire.

After Marc stole Renee’s pills, she might be losing it ever so slightly. Calling Betty as Daniel and Betty are heading home (respectively), Renee needs to have phone sex with him when he’s not in her sight. She’s also touching Betty’s schedule for Daniel because clearly Betty is doing all of this to keep him all to herself… No, I’m not even entertaining this. Betty isn’t horny for Daniel, I’m putting my foot down on this. Nonetheless, Wilhelmina is trying to get her psycho sister committed again after the last time, because Stony Brook wasn’t just a college upstate.

With Renee seeing the van with square wheels and Daniel being paranoid that Betty is going to jump on him and ride him dry, I don’t think we’re done with relationships. Betty hasn’t told Henry about the Gio incident last time out, so that’s totally healthy and not at all a problem within the relationship. Meanwhile, Codename: Skank Next Door is back to flaunting her expensive outfits, nails, fake tan, gaudy jewelry, hair, and the fact she’s got a husband (who is rather bland, by the way) that’s totally rich. Rich with a wife who just wants to flaunt it, is that really rich or is that performative?

Let’s jump straight into it. Wilhelmina has been trying to unsettle and generally annoy Renee so that she’ll show her “true” colors and get herself committed. Not “here is a ring, I commit my undying love for you” sort of committed, more so the “d’at bitch be crazy!” Talking to Professor James Moriarty, or Niles for Fran Drescher fans, Wilhelmina not too subtly suggests that Renee has been off her meds or that the meds aren’t doing their job properly. You know, like a good, caring sister does when trying to get her little sister sent off to the funny farm.

Daniel Davis’ Dr Morgan Remus notes that Renee has a history of paranoia, irrational jealous behavior, mood swings (bipolar?), and a heightened emotional state. You don’t say, Doc? Whatever (her own sister) could have induced all of that (her very own sister) to the point where she has previously spent time in a mental health facility and is now on psychotropic drugs? If only there was another criminally insane one in the family who desperately needs her own therapy. Though maybe that isn’t the lone factor?

Turns out that Stony Brook is one of those places where you fall in love with your professor, get a little bit obsessive, he pulls away while you do criminal damage and maybe, ever so slightly, set the place on fire and kill him? No, that type of thing would be in the papers, right? It’s not like her dad is the Director of the CIA and she’s got a history of alcohol abuse but will become President for a party claiming to be of law & order. Oh wait, that’s right, that’s W Bush – Renee’s daddy is just a Senator.

I’m sure with the help of Christina locking herself away, calling Betty to warn her that in fact “d’em bitches be crazy,” will really help. As you might have guessed, this Renee storyline is the main focus this week. Though unlike other weeks where I am moaning about the Gio and Henry fighting over Betty nonsense, we get something far worse than that on the cards. With Renee being as paranoid as a domestic cat when something falls, she’s telling Daniel that Betty is trying to keep him at work so she can have an affair with him.

Yes, I too would think that if I only had two brain cells fighting for the last podium position in a two-horse race. Really? Nine episodes ago, Betty was doing all she could to hide her secret love affair with Henry from everyone, because she apparently loves him so much that she’s willing to hide that so no one else knows about it and tells her it is a bad idea. You know, that thing that hasn’t happened since the wedding. Betty cares for Daniel the same way my cat cares for my well-being; there is a relationship, not in that way.

Betty doesn’t help that matter, though, as she’s happily and a little too eagerly lint-rolling Daniel’s inner thigh. I get it, there needs to be drama for the drama show to continue as scheduled, but some of it does feel a little odd at times when put into the wider and often realistic context of the characters. Yes, you can have camp stuff, but this wasn’t played up as camp as much as it probably should be for that sort of thing to work. It is an odd mix to argue this bit works well.

So with the psycho sister talked about, let’s talk about the jealous one, or the other jealous one, I should maybe say. Let’s just talk about Hilda and Skankzilla. Actually, just as a quick aside, when looking up the cast list, I got a note that Ava Gaudet plays Renee… Indeed, all this AI business is going to save us by giving us factually inaccurate details, as it is Gabrielle Union that plays Renee; Ava Gaudet plays Gina Gambarro. Remember kids, if you use AI for your questions, Smokey The Bear wants to kill you in your sleep!

Anyway, yeah, Ava is back to play up Gina’s fancy new clothes and all to flaunt in front of Hilda. Something that Gina does twice, ahead of the second time, though Hilda has raided Mode’s closet to make herself look even more important before Mad Men’s Jeff Clarke comes in to berate Hilda for being mean to his wife. Here is the thing: What does Gina Gambarro get out of this? Why does she feel the need to do this to Hilda?

I’m not asking that as some sort of check of her mental state; I’m curious where this makes Gina look good in her head and how the rich husband gets off saying it is Hilda’s problem for demeaning his wife. Stand up for your partner, sure, but mate, your partner is flaunting your collective wealth in the face of a woman who lost her partner to gun violence 10-16 months ago. Making it out that Hilda’s the bad person, even a little, seems like a stretch. Is she being the better person? No, but neither is your wife.

This is the thing: The morality of the show is generally odd at this point. You have Gene Simmons lying to Amanda to get a reality TV show, and you have Betty quitting because she’s committed the fewest crimes but still feels horrible for it. You also have Daniel sleeping with anything with two legs and Henry wanting to pay off the “16-year-old,” and more. Am I saying Gina’s thing is up there with Claire trying to Diana (to use her as a verb) Fey? No, but there is still this weird morality surrounding the whole show.

Again, the show is drama, but there is a bit too much being treated as a bit of frivolous fun then immediately played up as something serious or otherwise. If it were to be camp, then be camp and let something else be serious and vice versa, but this wavering thing makes you feel nauseous when trying to review it effectively. Especially when it comes to stories like Hilda’s relationships and the lack of resolution to have Gina know what happened to Santos. It feels like a plot point to be a plot point rather than to do anything with character.

Though returning to character work, we get the resolution to Renee’s story this time out as Marc stealing and replacing the psychotropic drugs has led her to go fully insane. Before it is even said, yes, I am being “overly critical” of someone who is having mental health issues, but that’s kind of the point of the story; Renee is played up as cartoonishly mentally ill. In the big meeting that Daniel has this week for the magazine, with special guest stars from Project Runway, Christian Siriano and Nina Garcia. Siriano looking like Gok Wan if he were gayer.

Storming in and calling the models wearing “Siriano’s designs” whores, calling Garcia Daniel’s slut, and saying this was just to get his attention “because you’ve been avoiding me.” All of this before grabbing his phone from his hands, smashing it, and storming out while shouting “There better not be [other women], or I swear to God, I’ll kill you.” A totally normal thing to shout in your partner’s workplace after calling people he works with whores and sluts. All this while Betty and Christina look through Willy’s filing cabinet of Renee’s records, including the fire at Stony Brook.

You know how this goes from here: Daniel calls Wilhelmina to confirm what she’s been telling (feeding) him, he meets with the psychiatrist, Betty tries to save Daniel, and as it turns out, Betty is trapped in Daniel’s apartment with psycho Renee after she’s lit more candles than Roberto Gavaldón’s Macario. Indeed, I slightly made it high-brow for a moment there. The point is that Renee was originally planning on killing Daniel with all these candles, but now she can get “Betty out of the way.”

Destroying the apartment with a major fire, Betty and Renee come out safe, but this is the last of Renee that we’ll see. Unless we watch Bad Boys II, because that’s probably where Gabrielle Union is best known from. Is it a great story? No, but it does once again affirm Wilhelmina’s brutal and cruel nature that she’s willing to put her own sister in such danger to get her way. So the question now is, she knows that Christina has been spying, so what is she going to do about that?

I do think the Renee storyline was probably cut a little shorter than it was supposed to be by the WGA strike and the subsequent few episodes being cut from production. Does it harm the story? Not really; it was a plot point that was always going to be this level of over-the-top and camp at times, so being shorter and not outstaying its welcome is probably for the better. It is what is next for Daniel that is interesting.

As an episode, “Burning Questions” is a fine episode that hasn’t bogged itself down too much with the Henry-Gio fighting over Betty thing; in fact, I didn’t even mention it really. There are three scenes about it: Henry sees Gio in the office with Betty trying to hide it, Henry punching Gio, and Henry finally saying it is ok to be friends with Gio. The focus was on Renee and Daniel, and rightfully so. I don’t hate the episode, but it is most definitely not a skip like others have been this season.

Ultimately, “Burning Questions” wraps up a short story for Daniel and keeps focus without feeling like it overstays its unwanted welcome. An alright episode that is pushing us forward plot-wise but maybe isn’t going to last in the memory beyond Renee burning down half of Daniel’s apartment. It sets us up for a final three episodes to wrap up everything else (aside from Christina’s pregnancy) and move on to Season 3 with a somewhat new ginger(ish) slate. Indeed, as the blonde from Doctor Who says, spoilers!

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Ugly Betty “Burning Questions”

7.5

Score

7.5/10

Pros

• A focus on and wrapping up the Renee story.
• Gabrielle Union is fantastic in this role.
• Not focusing on Henry-Gio.

Cons

• No, Betty and Daniel are not a thing. We're not doing that!
• What was the point of Gina?