‘Ugly Betty’: Henry vs. Gio ... Let’s get it on!

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‘Ugly Betty,’ why do you have to play us this way? After a year investing in her geeky love match Henry, and now that he and Betty are this close to getting together, you waltz in pint-size motivational butt-kicker Gio to steal away our attention?

Well played.

Sure, Walter was sweet in a sort of delicate way, but he never stood a chance against Henry. But Gio ... Gio we loved instantly. Played by the wondrous Freddy Rodriguez of ‘Six Feet Under’ and ‘Grindhouse’ fame, Gio is not only from Betty’s ‘hood, he’s Henry’s polar opposite: brash, no-nonsense and cute in a different, spunky way. Gio and Betty may not share the same knowledge of the Earth’s circumference or love of the website SoCuteItsSick.com like she and Henry do. But during last night’s episode, Gio gave Betty something better: a much-needed wake-up call.

Mode’s new sandwich cart man may be feeding lettuce sandwiches to the 95-pound swizzle sticks at the fashion magazine’s offices, but he’s got a five-year plan to open up his own delicatessen, complete with the world’s longest condiment bar. (Mustard? Please. Sauerkraut? Don’t insult the man.)

He and Betty are biding their time with menial jobs, but both have grander plans. So who better than blue-collar Gio to remind Betty that if a writing career is the aim, she’d better spend more time with the prose and less time running bogus errands for Daniel. She may be an assistant -- a thankless job any way you look at it -- but ever since Betty turned down a job at MYW, the magazine run by Daniel Meade heart-breaker Sofia Reyes (Salma Hayek), she’s lost sight of her journalism dreams. Thanks to Gio’s tough-love encouragement, Betty was enrolled in a writing class by episode’s end.

And who else but a fellow Queens man could tell Betty at first glance ‘You look like an eater’ and mean it as a compliment? Or croon Toni Braxton’s banal ‘Unbreak My Heart’ and make it so irresistible?

Gio’s already giving us hunger pains for more. Sorry Henry, you’ve got some competition.

--Denise Martin