Ugly Betty

[_Aya_]

I don't normally write about comedy series, even TBBT and I'm on S12 of it, but it kept bugging me and so here we go.

At first, it seemed like the Ugly Betty is just a Devil Wears Prada ripoff complete with a number of extra stock characters. There's a clueless unrefined girl, the royal bitch, the pretty mean girl, the flamboyant gay assistant and the manslut prick of a boss. But the actors have been able to really bring their characters to life and make them complex.

I'd say I watched it 80% thanks to Marc & Amanda, mostly Marc. Marc started out as a fabulous bitchy gay assistant but soon it became clear he was in fact The Fabulous Bitchy Gay Assistant. He's brilliant, he's hilarious and kind underneath all that cold facade. He and Amanda have this amazing chemistry probably because they also have in in life. I also really like Wilhelmina's character and sympathize with her. After all, she's worked in the company for 20 years and is perfectly qualified but gets stuck behind because the owner wants his careless incompetent son to take over. Sure she's wicked but you have to admire how she's always 3 steps ahead of everyone (and 10 steps ahead of Daniel).

Most other characters are meh. I'm not really a fan of Betty and I can't stand Daniel. Sure, he's become a lot better than in the beginning but he's still a selfish stupid prick, just less so. And then there's Alexis. I can't believe the creators were proud to have her as the first transgender character on TV. Pretty sure if they did it in 2018, the series would be cancelled the next day. They tried to make her relatable and emphasize her struggles but it looked fake af and muted by all the horrible jokes about her manliness so I'm glad they got rid of her.

Another thing that bothered me about the show more than it should have was unrealistic expectations of where a smart but unrefined and naive girl can get. I mean, for one, "ugly" Betty had at least 6 romantic interests over the course of 4 seasons. In addition, she was constantly frustrated that her career wasn't advancing forward even though she was an assistant to a main editor of an elite fashion magazine at 22! Not to mention most of the employees seem to get hired in 2 seconds without so much as a glance at their CV.

There were a few points where I was considering dropping the show, esp a few fuck-up episodes mid-S2 but Ugly Betty managed to recover and S4 was possibly the best. There was some good character development. The whole elephant in the room that was Justin's sexuality was finally brought to light and developed properly. Marc also got his first - gasp! - bed scene, albeit very brief.

Finale was ok. I'm sure they had to roll up some of the ideas and cut it short but I think they managed to wrap it up pretty well all things considered. Except MARC DESERVED SO MUCH BETTER! But it's nice that you are convinced you're getting just another Cinderella story when in face you are given a coming of age story.

I also found this webseries about Marc and Amanda's time when everyone left for the night called Mode After Hours
www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL36FBD2ED625EDA2...