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Ugly Betty: Four Thanksgivings and a Funeral
(S01E08) This show has so many great moments and is so confident in its candy-colored, postmodern style that you can almost overlook the shortcomings of its less than stellar episodes. I should qualify that comment by saying that Ugly Betty's "less than stellar" is akin to any other show's "home run." The bar's just that high, dreamgirls.Ugly Betty is a hybrid - part "center and eccentrics" dramedy with America Ferrera as its heart and part telenovela. Most of the criticisms I read about the show revolve around the series being too much telenovela and not enough Betty or vice versa. I've got no problem with the hybrid form, but it does lay at the heart at what I thought was this episode's weakness - balance.
Last week, the A, B, C and D stories were ridiculously well-structured. Maybe it's because I want to spend time with all of these characters that I'm bummed when I don't get enough Justin or Mark and Amanda or bitchy Wilhelmina or poor Betty, who just can't seem to catch a break. When it comes to making choices over what gets screen time on Ugly Betty, I'd much rather see Thanksgiving: The Musical with pilgrim jazz hands than some hitman entombed in Fey's crypt. And, speaking of people we need to see more of, who knew Judith Light would age into such a fabulous Jessica Walters-style matriarch? She's so dryly fabulous. I may even be able to forgive her for the Who's the Boss? years.
Since I don't have much to say about a very maudlin Thanksgiving, let's celebrate the killer moments Betty brought us this week:
- Marc and Amanda's rendition of Dreamgirls.
- Betty teaching Daniel how to salsa over the phone.
- Our little theater queen Justin mistaking a groin cup for a Phantom of the Opera mask.
- Guest star Martha Stewart! "You're cooking? Maybe I could run a fashion magazine. It would be like Freaky Friday." This bodes well for the rumored February sweeps appearance of Madonna although I was really hoping that Martha would be making Justin's party planning dreams come true.
- Betty and Gina's Thanksgiving shopping run-in. "A carton of cigarettes and a bottle of vodka?" "You have your traditions. I have mine."
- Daniel's Sofia lament. "I'm this close to splitting a Cobb salad with Sarah Jessica and discussing shoes." "I miss that show."
In respect to new plot and character developments, Santos came off well. Nico actually threw her mom a bone. Ignacio's situation went from bad to worse when guest star Debi Mazar turned out to be more scam artist than lawyer. Daniel got his heart broken by Salma "Va-Va-Voom" Hayek. Bradford knows for sure that Fey is alive, and Marc and Amanda's phone call have Fey and Wilhelmina a might bit paranoid.
I was glad to see Betty's family ease up on her about the demands of her career versus her responsibilities at home. With last week's Walter breakdown (Betty from Mode vs. Betty from Queens), I was afraid that this would become Betty's central conflict every week, which honestly, would get boring really fast. Fortunately, the writers have made these characters self-reflective enough and adult enough to realize that their demands on Betty reflect on them as much as they do on her. Well, Walter's not adult enough, but Hilda is.
Wilhelmina quip of the week: "If you want to live my life, pay my bills."
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