How do you whittle down a two hour premiere of Ugly Betty to keep it short and sweet?  Let’s start with a recap of last season- Betty got dumped by Matt after kissing Henry, Molly died and left Daniel distraught, and Wilhelmina’s job may be on the line.  You got that?  Let’s dig in now.

Betty (America Ferrera) is no longer Daniel’s assistant.  She’s got a new job as features editor in MODE magazine.  Super excited, she finds herself sharing a new office with a writer she admires.  It all turns somewhat downhill when Matt is discovered to be her new boss.  He overlooks her ideas, treats her badly, and hurts her feelings often.  It doesn’t help that her friends treat her badly too, for her new found position.  Wilhelmina gives her the advice to look out for only herself and Betty feels that’s against her nature.  After telling Willie she gets to keep her job, Claire tells Betty to go after Matt, that he still loves her, and she should just bring those feelings to the surface.  Betty follows him and kisses him, which makes him run away.

Things feel like they’re looking up for Betty when she finally hears from Daniel at the airport.  She picks him up and laments to him, only to have him try and fix it at work and make everyone despise her more.  At the pitch meeting with Wilhelmina, Betty pitches a story about netting that they’re selling to help stop the spread of malaria in third world countries.  They could get a designer to make clothing from the netting and help a good cause while still being fashionable.  Willie agrees and Betty gets her first shoot.  Unfortunately, to have the UN’s cooperation, the shoot needs to happen the next day.

She gets the entire department to help her, despite the nasty glares, and things start to go well, until Daniel goes ballistic on a poster outside of the building.  Betty takes care of Daniel instead of focusing on her shoot and lets the team down.  The shoot is a disaster, complete with screaming models, an unhappy designer, and a smiling mosquito.  Matt gets punched in the face by Daniel after he’s rude to Betty and Willie throws them both out.  Betty decides to change her look, get new glasses, and feels more confident.  She stands up for herself and is much better for it by the end of the episode.

This was actually my first Ugly Betty episode.  I’d wanted to see it for so long, but I never had the opportunity.  After seeing this episode, I see what I was missing.  America Ferrara shines as Betty, looking beautiful even with the vibrant clothes and braces.  Vanessa Williams is as beautiful as she ever was and I had no idea she was such a fantastic actress.  Tune in next week when Marc tries to sabatage Betty!