Since some of the previous threads are about particular episodes (in the title at least) but there aren’t really enough UB watchers to warrant one each week, this will be the general Ugly Betty thread that can be bumped as needed.
Last week’s (the YETI episode):
I liked that they showed a more serious side of Marc- that he’s not an airhead (which is a direction they had him going in for a few episodes last season) but ambitious and talented. Of course he’s basically Betty to Wilhelmina, just a lot more fashion conscious (though I have to admit that being a fashion novice I find his wardrobe no less horrendous than I do her’s in some episodes- do people really wear purple velvet and call it fashionable?). I think this was also the first time they showed him actually being friendly to Betty for no ulterior motive (when he calls her at the end).
Justin: I liked that they continued the Randy storyline, though we all saw his “stay away from me” coming. It’s interesting that they’ve never actually said “teh G” word but talk around it like the well coiffed elephant in the room. Has anybody seen or heard the soundtrack from the musical mentioned (In the Heights)? Must admit I wasn’t familiar with it until its plug on this episode.
I still think they need a major story arc pronto. Daniel’s attraction to his friend’s fiancee is okay as a side story but it’s nowhere near enough for the “focus arc”. The show’s got plenty of acting talent but the writers need adrenaline; it seems never to have recovered from the disruption of last year’s strike.
Every week I am getting increasingly turned off by Betty’s looks. Which is really fucking sad because I’m as ugly as they come and shouldn’t judge but damn, girl. I would not even be caught dead in any of the stuff she wears. At LEAST they need to get rid of those BRACES!!! UGH!!
I like the Marc stuff from this episode, too.
I am interested to see where they take this Randy thing. I hope they don’t just drop it. That’d be so lame.
I think that at this point in the show, Betty should at least be wearing office-appropriate attire. They can still make it quirky and ill-advised, but at this point to have her walk into an office like that just makes her look ill-suited to any kind of business environment, let alone a fashion magazine.
It was nice to see that side of Mark, and I liked that they pointed out that while he may act the airhead, nobody gets into the kind of position he holds unless he is really smart and has worked his ass off.
I do hope we get to see more of Cliff later, though.
I wish they didn’t have to tiptoe around Justin being gay so much. It would be really nice to see him go through some things that gay teens actually deal with, but that’s going to be difficult when they have to be so coy.
Re: Mark’s wardrobe. You have to be the right kind of guy to pull that kind of thing off.
Daniel is more like what most young professional guys actually dress like (or want to). Mark they kind of dress like a younger Simon Doonan or Jonathan Adler. Not unheard of, but uncommon.
But at his age, it is appropriate. I would guess Justin isn’t all that clear about his sexuality, even though it is painfully obvious to the rest of his family. It is not uncommon for a kid to finally come to grips with the fact and come out, only to hear everyone else say, “About time…we knew it years ago.”
Obviously Randy is Justin’s first real “puppy love crush”, even though it is also obvious that it was still platonic at this point. Gay or straight, love sucks at that age and he is going through what most kids go through at his age. I think the writers have done an excellent job in portraying his character.
By the way, the actor who plays Justin is doing such a great job, I wonder if he really is Gay? Not that it really matters, but he certainly embodies the role perfectly!
I’ve seen him on talk shows and— um---- I think he butches it up to play Justin.
I’m guessing he’s a pre-gay like his character (and he does a PSA about acceptance and tolerance, though again the word gay isn’t used) but I would doubt he really knows what that means yet. (He’s about 13 or 14 like Justin.)
He did say in one interview that while he gets tons of fan mail he has it filtered so he only sees the positive letters (mostly from kids who feel like outsiders) as apparently he, regrettably, gets a lot of hate mail as well.
A line I loved the other night was Hilda talking about how happy she was he was hanging out with Randy:
HILDA You know, ever since Santos died there’s just been no other male influence in his life…
IGNACIO You know, I’m standing right here.
I wonder how much of Hilda’s accent is the actress and how much is the character. (And if I haven’t mentioned it this thread, don’t you wish Ignacio was your dad/grandpa/uncle?)
DMark - I saw one interview with the kid that plays Justin, and he seems just as flamboyant in real life. Loves to shop, especially with mom. The didn’t talk about is orientation, (at this point he was a couple years younger, so that might be inappropriate) but he and his family seem happy with him just the way he is.
Sad for Justin & Randy, but with this show, there’s liable to an up, then a down, than an up again before the relationship finally ends. No one gets out of this show happy. Randy needs to stand up to his friends and say he’ll be friends with whoever he wants. Then his parents move to Nevada.
Betty’s hair and wardrobe have been bugging me too. Her clothes I can kind of understand. They’ve sort of established she knows damn well what she’s wearing and most of it obviously isn’t just off the rack stuff from Goodwill or anything. She really wants to dress that way, and every once in awhile her outfit isn’t awful. It’s always… uh… eye catching. They remarked a couple times about her hat collection, so everybody knows she’s stubborn about her fashion sense. She probably has to shop harder than Amanda to look like that.
Her hair though. I just can’t reconcile that. Bangs like that should be illegal or grounds for firing. But what’s the show going to do? They can’t call it No Longer Ugly Betty.
Yep, this time they went too far. I’m all for individuality, but that outfit was just plain clownish. It bugged me for the whole episode. IRL, someone would have sat her down long ago and had a heart-to-heart, even if the business wasn’t fashion. She’d be an embarrassment to Mode: tv and newspapers would start an ongoing feature, with photos, called, “What outlandish outfit is Daniel Meade’s assistant wearing today?” If they made small, gradual changes, they wouldn’t need to change the name of the show. On another note, I really liked that Daniel’s friend rejected Wilhemina – it surprised me; I was sure he’d be another notch on her bedpost. Imagine, a man stays true to his woman in the face of an ideal cheating situation.
I have always assumed that when they finally decide to end the show (which I hope isn’t soon, as I like it), they will finally show Betty with her braces off and looking glamorous - the official end of “ugly” Betty.
BTW, didn’t this show basically end the original plot from the Spanish language series after season one? I thought I read that from then on, it has been a totally American story line.
Losing the braces I can see, but if she ends up glamorous it will have to be Betty-style glamorous. If there is a moral to the show, it’s that Betty will make it as who she is, not by becoming who they are.
I’m not sure about how far the Spanish storyline goes, but I do know that in several versions of the series the Betty character has moved into a romance with the Daniel character. I’m glad that they haven’t gone in that direction as I don’t think Eric Mabius and America Ferrera have romantic chemistry.
How long do adults wear braces? I’m assuming they weren’t brand new/first day when she started.
I really like America’s body type for the role. The movie Devil Wears Prada irked me because Anne Hathaway is way too beautiful to be a plain jane; even in dowdy clothes you can still tell she’s a beautiful thin woman and the ‘transformation’ isn’t exactly a magic spell (especially to me since I wouldn’t know a Gucci knockoff from a Gucci from something bought in the higher end section of Goody’s). America is an attractive woman, but she’s never going to be long legged or particularly petite or fair skinned like Amanda or mocha goddess like Wilhelmina. That said, yeah, I think they could go something closer to this or this without compromising the character- let her keep Coke bottle glasses and still dress for comfort (not like the MODE closet would have a lot of clothes over SIZE 2- though I’ve really no idea what America would be [8 maybe? 6? 10? I don’t have a clue about women’s sizes). Lose the braces and trim the hair, though, that’s a realistic concession the character might make.
Ah, and lose Val Emmich (can’t remember the character’s name). Gio should be her love interest (unless Freddie Rodriguez won’t move to NYC, in which case I don’t see her moving towards a whiny rocker). I’m hoping Marc and Cliff will get back together and get married because there’s a lot of plotlines there (including his mom at the wedding- at one point there was a rumor Martin Short was going to play his father but this seems to have been cast by the wayside). Also their last names could be fun- St. James-St. Paul, Sts. James & Paul, St. Pauljames… [I know most gay men don’t change their surnames, but…]). I’d also like to see Marc interact more with Justin as those have been some of his best scenes (not talking pervy obviously but more avuncular).
OK, so maybe the word “glamorous” is a bit much, but as Sampiro’s links show, the actress America is certainly not ugly by any means. If she suddenly appeared like she looks in real life, that alone would send the gossips in Mode into a tizzy for the final episode.
Another reason I love this show is simply the colors…if there was ever a show on television that made use of color, it is Ugly Betty…the set designers and costume designers should win ever Emmy, every year!
The Tube is a brilliant piece of decoration because the stark white makes every color pop.
Speaking of UGLY BETTY, sets, and tacky v. attractive, I have a running argument with a friend over the Suarez home. I like it- I really do- not the madonna and the kitschy stuff here and there but the colors (orange, reds, brights all around) while a friend thinks it’s super tacky and designed to show a family that, other than Justin, is a bit tacky. What’s your opinion- are the orange walls and bright colors yea or nea?
The Suarez home is brilliant!
Every nook and cranny is crammed full of color and beads and bangles and nick-knacks!
It totally fits the characters!
Betty is hardly color shy, and her sister and brother are both about as flamboyant as you can get, and even dad doesn’t shy from wearing odd aprons and add his personality into the mix. I would be honored to be invited into their home, and probably wouldn’t stop smiling the entire time I was there!
And check out Betty’s new apartment…week by week it is turning into her father’s house!
There was actually a scene this past week that I thought was at her father’s house until her father and Hilda left and I realized it was her (and Amanda’s) apartment.
Oh, and she needs to kick Amanda out. I wouldn’t put up with any of that crap (and I’m not even counting coming on to neighbor boy).
I don’t know about the Suarez home. Didn’t Justin say something like “Latin kitschy is trendy! What, I can say that!” What I sometimes get confused about is what’s upstairs and what’s downstairs? I think one time Ignacio said “go wait downstairs” or something, but I could have sworn they were already downstairs.
