Tornado Girl
Production Number: 3-08 (episode 49)
First Aired: Thursday, November 13, 2008
Recurring Characters: David Blue (Cliff St. Paul), Grant Bowler (Connor Owens), Alec Mapa (Suzuki St. Pierre), Sarah Lafleur (Molly), Ralph Macchio (Archie Rodriguez)
Guest Cast: Lenny Venito (Phil), Darlene Violette (Councilman's Secretary), Steve Beauchamp (Store Clerk), Toni Romano (Roots Woman), Alexandra Rhodie (Julie)
After allowing Amanda to dress her for the day, Betty walks with her new roomie to work. Along the way, Betty bemoans the fact that assistants aren't allowed to join their bosses on the upcoming editorial retreat. When she gets to work, Betty talks a stressed Daniel into allowing her to give final approval for the upcoming "Eye of the Fashion Storm" issue of Mode. Amanda wants to discuss Marc's wedding to Cliff, but Marc keeps changing the subject. Wilhelmina gets in touch with her inner Dick Cheney by wielding a rifle in her office in preparation for the retreat. At the retreat, the various magazine editors are concerned when Connor announces that some of the publications are in danger of being sold off or eliminated altogether. After Betty triumphantly announces that she had just approved the new issue, a news story breaks regarding a terrible tornado that is cutting a path of destruction through central Kansas. Amanda looks at the images on the TV screen and says that it looks like the new cover of Mode, which sends Betty into panic mode. To avoid a P.R. nightmare, she rushes to the printing company's warehouse and tries to stop the issue from being shipped, but the loading dock foreman, Phil, refuses to cancel the shipment unless he hears from Daniel or Wilhelmina, who are both without their cell phones and PDAs at the retreat. He gives Betty four hours to get one of the two Editors-in-Chief to order the shipment to be delayed. Hilda is furious when she learns that the permit for Hilda's Beautilities has been denied. She decides, with Justin's help, to reopen her business as an underground "speakeasy" salon. While strolling around the grounds of Talmadge Hall, where the retreat is taking place, Daniel is knocked down by a woman who falls out of a tree. Out in the woods, Wilhelmina and Connor each end up staring down the barrel of the other's shotgun. Marc and Amanda drive Betty out to the retreat to get Daniel or Wilhelmina's approval for putting the issue on hold. When Wilhelmina and Connor see Daniel with the blonde woman, Connor announces that she is his fiancée, Molly. Daniel is obviously disappointed to learn that she's already involved with someone, particularly with the dynamic Connor. While speeding towards Talmadge Hall, Amanda tries to get Marc to talk about his wedding again, but the distractions cause him to drive off the road, destroying Cliff's car. Betty decides to head back down the street to see if someone at a store that they'd passed can give her a ride. Hilda is taking care of business when Ignacio returns home early from Flushing Burgers and catches her breaking the law. Betty gets to the store, but the man behind the counter can't help her because he's not allowed to drive. Betty looks down at a little boy's toy airplane and gets an idea. When Claire catches up with Daniel, she can tell that he is distracted. She guesses that he has a crush on someone and asks if the woman's name might be Betty. She points up at the sky, where a sky-writing airplane has just written, "DANIEL CALL BETTY." He rushes off to call her and after she explains the situation he thanks her for her quick thinking and for going above and beyond the call of duty. Daniel tells Wilhelmina that they'll just have to choose another cover for the current issue and eat the cost of tossing the entire stock that has already been printed, but she has another idea. With the crisis averted, Betty stops by to see her family in Queens and she's shocked when Justin walks in holding a copy of the "Fashion Storm" issue. The Mode offices are stormed by reporters who clearly blame Betty for allowing the issue to go out. Daniel speaks to Wilhelmina and tells her that he wants to straighten things out with Suzuki St. Pierre and the other members of the media by telling them that he and Wilhelmina were the ones who decided to go ahead with the issue, without exactly admitting that they had done so specifically for the firestorm of publicity that Willi knew would be the result. Betty and Hilda commiserate with each other about trying to do the right things and still ending up in the dirt. Betty accompanies Hilda to Councilman Rodriguez's office to tell him that her permit was rejected and he tells her that there's nothing he can do to help her. Marc sneaks up on Betty to give her cryptic messages about what really happened with the release of the "Fashion Storm" issue, and he tells her to go talk to Phil, who reluctantly reveals to her that Daniel called him to tell him to go ahead and ship the issue after all. She goes back to work and confronts her boss, who is very apologetic, but he obviously doesn't realize the damage that he's done to her reputation. She tells him that he'll always be Daniel Meade, but she doesn't always want to be an assistant, but with this smear on her name, she'll never be able to get ahead in the publishing world. Later that evening, Archie shows up with a peace offering for Hilda... a legal loophole. He tells her that if 30% of her profits come from selling products, she can get a boutique permit. Marc still denies having offered Betty any help, but he does tell her that he's sorry for what she's gone through. She tells him that Cliff has been a good influence on him, but that Cliff is also a very lucky man to have him. Marc then admits that he only asked Cliff to marry him because he cheated on him the night of Betty's rooftop party. She tells him that if he loves Cliff, he has to tell him the truth. At the "Fashion Storm" press conference, Suzuki wants to know what fate has befallen "Tornado Girl," but Wilhelmina says that the matter is being handled privately. Daniel realizes that he can't allow Betty to continue to take the blame, so he admits that he was the one who approved the issue. He says that approving the issue was bad enough, but allowing Betty to be blamed was worse. Wilhelmina still acts ignorant, but Daniel says that they will be donating all profits from the issue to aid the victims of the tornado. Marc calls Cliff to the office to tell him that he crashed his car, and also that he'd cheated on him. Molly shows up and tells Daniel that she's impressed that he admitted what he'd done, just to save his assistant. Wilhelmina observes their interaction and is intrigued.
Trivia:
• Ashley Jensen (Christina) does not appear in this episode.
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