Okay, so first things first. I have to say that I'm really diggin' all the outdoor scenes featured in this new season of "Ugly Betty." Now that the show's filming has relocated from LA to New York, the producers can cash in on a more authentic NYC vibe. Last night's ep got in some great shots of Lower Manhattan and let the city play a more important role in the story.

But, on to the episode itself. After last week's so-so season premiere, I wasn't sure what to make of the new season so far. Some characters were falling into old predictable patterns. Others were drifting far from their original personas. But last night's ep got the story back on track and moving forward.

First, we find out that Daniel is seriously missing Mode. Betty finds that he has mistakenly received a mock-up copy of the fashion mag's new issue (Wilhelmina's first as editor-in-chief), and Betty sees that Daniel has made some pretty astute editorial notes in it. Ever ready to prove her boss has what it takes, she takes Daniel's notes to Alexis. Alexis is impressed with his comments but still not convinced that her brother belongs at Mode. She does at least take Daniel's suggestions to Wilhelmina for serious consideration - and it's no surprise that Willy is less than thrilled to get this feedback.

This puts Betty back on Wilhelmina's radar. Fearing similar future Betty interjections, Willy decides that she needs Betty on her team (and away from Daniel). So the editor-in-diva takes Betty out to lunch at a posh restaurant and makes Betty a job offer: come work at Mode again - as her (Wilhelmina's) assistant. In her loyalty to Daniel, Betty is torn. I know that Wilhelmina Slater is supposed to the "root of all evil" in the context of this show. But it was hard to totally blame Betty for caving and accepting this offer. It was really unclear what kind of future Betty would have at Player magazine.

So now Betty's working for Wilhelmina, and she immediately gets into her boss' icy good-graces by inadvertantly retaining a major advertiser. That's when Wilhelmina gives Betty "the test." Willy tells Betty to go fetch the crown of Catherine the Great from the Russian Antiquities Museum. She wants to wear the crown to her first issue launch party (or, so she says).

With doe-eyed cluelessness as to how she might accomplish this task, Betty heads to the museum and makes her case to the guards and the museum curator. Luckily, the curator's boyfriend has recently dumped her, and Betty gives the woman a sympathetic shoulder to lean on. (Yeah. This female bonding is apparently sufficient payment for renting a priceless artifact for 48 hours.) Betty's accomplishment is so impressive that Wilhelmina vows to groom Betty as her protégé.

Ultimately this means that Betty gets to inject Wilhelmina's botox (ick!) - an honor usually reserved for Mark. Mark, seeing his status in jeopardy, plots to oust Betty as Wilhelmina's new top assistant.

All this while, Hilda's got problems with her new man, Tony. She's already feeling bad, knowing that he is married. But he's convinced her that his marriage is on the rocks anyway. Hilda sees this as her first chance at romantic happiness in a long while, so she ignores her gut instincts. When Tony comes to Mode to snag an autographed copy of Player (presumably for the school auction), Amanda snags his cell phone. That's when Betty sees the pictures on it - pictures of him kissing another woman who is definitely not Hilda. Betty presents Hilda with the pictures, to which Hilda responds that the woman in the photos is Tony's wife. Betty is apalled that her sister would date a married man, and Hilda leaves in a self-conscious huff. We later find that the older Suarez sis has been stood up for a date when Tony's wife does not leave town.

I was really glad that Daniel got some more interesting plot developments this week. Not only does his devoted assistant, Betty, ditch him (which he takes pretty well, by the way), but he receives word that DJ's maternal grandparents in France want custody of the cute little French whippersnapper. Daniel believes it should be DJ's decision but really wants his son to stay in New York with him. Maybe it was a cheesey "Brady Bunch" moment when, in the end, DJ tells Daniel that he wants to stay in New York with his father. But I gotta say-I thought it was sweet, and DJ has definitely brought some complexity to Daniel's character that we didn't used to see.

It's no surprise that by the ep's end, Betty has resigned from her position as Wilhelmina's assistant. Leading up to the launch party, Mark gives Betty a big bag of papers to shred as confetti. As Betty discovers, those papers were all the fan mail Daniel had received on his issues (fan mail which Willy had stealthfully hidden). Betty presents Daniel with the evidence. Daniel presents Alexis with the evidence. And at Wilhelmina's launch party, Alexis reinstates Daniel as editor-in-chief and demotes Wilhelmina to her former creative director position.

Ahhh. So all is right in the world again. Daniel and Betty are officially back at Mode!

Although this might sound like the climactic moment of the episode, the biggest twist actually revolves around Christina. Early in the ep, she steals some of her husband's hair. She suspects Stuart is using drugs again, and the test results indicate that she's dead on. When Christina confronts him with the results, they argue, and Stuart storms off. We don't know what's going to happen between the two of them or what Stuart's excuse might have been.

Then, in the last scene, we see Christina walking down a staircase. A mysterious figure approaches from behind. And - BAM! Christina gets pushed down the stairs. So who pushed her? Is she okay?

We'll have to wait until next week.

Story by Chelsea Fogleman

Starpulse contributing writer