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'Ugly Betty' extinguishes a hot, non-tranny mess
Ah, Ugly Betty, you fill my humdrum life with just the right amount of drama -- whether it's in the shape of tiny fierce designers, outrageously ambitious divas, impossible romances or certifiably unbalanced pyros.
Spoilers lurking below the surface, like if you replaced medication with tic tacs.
I miss my Project Runway, but at least they brought winner Christian Siriano by Mode. Love him and his short stature combined with a big personality. And while I understand that guest stars can't always get bigger parts because there's, like, an ongoing story and, like, uncertain acting skills, it's just a shame he didn't get to do more. He flounced around, featured his Fashion Week designs on a trio of models, showed off his flatironed hair to advantage and uttered the requisite "fierce" and "hot tranny mess." I was not so enchanted. I want him unscripted!
More suprising was Nina Garcia, who had even less screen time, but her breezy and fun take on being Christian's handler was a hoot. Props to her!
Betty's love life is put on the back burner to accommodate Daniel's. Since Renee's medication has been substituted with breath freshener, she's returning to her old ways when she was committed long ago: paranoia, emotional instability and breakdowns, leading to undue jealousy and pyromania. Daniel is truly a busy man with Mode, but jealous Renee sees his unavailability as a combo of avoiding her and Betty's crush on him getting in the way. Crazy talk? Yes, but somehow, she convinces Daniel of the latter.
Since Daniel is busy, that means Betty is busy, so she doesn't need any more drama. Alas, drama is not as reliable as Taco Tuesday, so of course she learns that her final four weeks with Henry will be tainted with Charlie's presence because she can't travel back to Tucson for fear of harming the fetus. On top of that, Henry has the temerity to be jealous of Betty's renewed friendship with Gio and even punches his rival out. Okay, I get that it may seem that Betty's having an emotional affair, but hey, she's losing you FOREVER to your baby mama. Cut her some slack.
Meanwhile, Wilhelmina is doing her best to push Renee into a breakdown since she could divulge to Daniel the highly illegal, immoral and -- let's face it -- icky means that Wil had corpse-Bradford father a child with surrogate Christina. Apparently, fire is the key to going over the edge. Renee is all Frankenstein'd out (a la Phil Hartman, RIP) by flames: Fire BAD!!! So of course Wil invites Renee to a restaurant (appropriately called Brulee) and then has a waiter "inadvertently" serve her a birthday dessert complete with lit candles. Fire BAD!!!
Daniel wakes up to Renee's insanity when she crashes his Christian meeting, insults the models and Nina Garcia. Lovely. He accompanies Wil to Dr. Remus, who warns that Renee may try to target the "gatekeeper," which in this case would be Betty since she handles his schedule. Horrors! They race to his apartment in a cab, only to find Betty, who finally infiltrated Renee's crazy mind with a mention of Daniel's love for her, putting out a crazy-induced fire with an extinguisher. I love it when the women save themselves, and the men arrive just in time to witness their competence.
A few other plot points: Hilda's first client for a "glamour-tunnity" is none other than Gina Gambarro, who lords it over Hilda since she just married a successful chiropractor. Hilda raids Mode for designer samples, exposes Gina as wearing cheap knockoffs, but ultimately finds that the victory is hollow since Gina's marriage is built on love and support -- something Hildy misses about Santos.
A few other observations and martini-induced thoughts:
Fashion:
- Marc - While I loved his bright blue trench and newsboy cap, I didn't like them together. Too matchy-matchy in color without the same visual impact. I fully approved of his busy pink shirt, raspberry-striped suspenders and maroon printed tie, however.
- Amanda - Loved her puffy sleeves, reminiscent of a mature Anne of Green Gables, but with a sexy, sheer twist. She's so diva, especially with her old-Hollywood glam hair this episode, and yet she's still hilarious like when she was catwalking with Christian's real models.
- Betty - Is it just me, or is she getting a tad bit of fashion these days? Don't get me wrong, she's still heinous overall, but I really dug that belted overtunic thingy she wore for most of the episode. A different dress underneath and some killer stilleto boots, and I would have been down.
The moments:
- When Gina's hubby calls out Hilda on making Gina feel low: "Your life must be sad." Look, it was wrong of Gina to rub Hilda's nose in it in the first place, especially since she brought up Sancho's tragic death, but you know ... Hilda is better than Gina, so she should rise above the pettiness. As Betty so aptly puts it: "Gina might be in love, but she's still trash." Oh, how true and how sad for the poor Ginas of the world.
- Betty de-linting Daniel. OMG when she kneeled down to service him ...
- Amanda's "anyway" hand-erase gesture when talking to Daniel. Now that she's found her dad, she's sassier than usual.
- Betty holding up a jingly candle snuffer to battle crazy Renee.
- Betty mocking Daniel when he says she has a crush on him by wishing to be his "morning bagel." Food metaphors are always appropriate and effective.
- When Betty kisses Henry at the end, the camera pulls back to reveal an unhappy Daniel. Sure, Betty's romance is doomed, but Daniel has nobody to love him, even temporarily. I think the writers should rectify this soon, but who would fit in?
Was this episode fierce or a hot tranny mess? Do you miss Cliff and Claire like I do? What will the babies bring? Will Betty wake up to the impossibility of Henry?
Okay, I have to admit that going into this episode, I was prepared to absolutely despise Christian Siriano (I never watch "reality" shows, so I only knew of him through entertainment news and such). Over-the-top people of any stripe just annoy me, in most cases, and I have no use for people who throw together fabrics and clashing colors and call it "fashion." However...color me fiercely surprised that I actually like the guy. True, I still think his idea of fashion sucks, but then, I'm not Paris Hilton or Gloria Vanderbilt, so what do I know? Oh, and those glasses have to go. Other than that, I thought he was a fine addition to the guest star list, and I'd be highly interested in seeing him come back in later episodes. I can see him giving Wilhemina all kinds of hell, and I'd love every second of it. He did a fine job in his short scene, and I hope the show welcomes him back very soon.
As for the Renee debacle, I was not loving the whole rush-to-the-end plot this week. Sure, Willie's sister is more cracked than the paint on a hillbilly's house, but still...I realize the strike kinda forced the writers to wrap up storylines quicker than planned, but they have nobody to blame for that than themselves. If they were going to have Renee suddenly see Betty as a rival, it should've been dragged out over at least two or three episodes before reaching the violent climax it did. Kudos to both America Ferrera (I hope that's spelled right...it's late and I'm tired) and Gabrielle Union for working within a circle of fire, which is hard for some actors, even with all the safetly precautions in place.
The main crux of the episode kept the other characters away for most of the show, which was unfortunate. The perfect balance is when the Suarez family is given at least as much time as the goings-on at Mode and whatever extra stuff happens. For whatever reason, Justin has been seen rarely as of late, and he is one of the most important and interesting characters on the show. The whole Charlie-Henry-Betty-Gio mess needs to get wrapped up soon, because it's taking time away from the other, more fun aspects of the show. True, this is indicative of a sophomore slump, creativity-wise, so hopefully next season will have the stars back in their proper orbits, and the show will get back to the combination of fun humor and crazy drama that makes Ugly Betty such a thrill to watch. There is nothing else like it on TV at the moment (sorry, but shows like Lipstick Jungle and Cashmere Mafia don't even come close--neither of them have a scintilla of the heart that Ugly Betty has), and while it has stumbled a bit this season, I wouldn't miss it for anything.
Dark Disciple | May 1, 2008 8:29:21 PM | #I hate being the guy pointing out mistakes in the blog, but there are quite a few, so here goes:
1. Renee's medication had been swapped with weight loss pills, not breath mints.
2. Henry and Betty have 4 weeks left, not 4 months.
3. It's Gambarro, not Gambano.
4. It's Santos, not Sancho.
Daniel and Hilda. Crazy I know, but it could work. It would be interesting to see the fall-out for sure.
Krystal | May 1, 2008 10:05:52 PM | #Oh dear God, Willi is pure evil!! Sending her own sister crazy like that.
I should like to know how Marc is managing to support himself since he has no job -
Willi couldn't afford to pay him before so I doubt if she's able to now especially since her money's going to Christina's hubby. Probably the reason his wardrobe's suffered.
I was so wanting Justin and Christian to meet - Justin could have seen his future!
I loved that both Henry and Hilda acted on impulse and had very human reactions. I would have done exactly the same as Hilda - it's no fun rising above it when revenge is within your grasp and trashy Gina started it - she only visited Hilda to gloat so serves her right she had it coming. As for Henry punching Gio, he's full of surprises I bet everyone thought that scrappy Gio would win if it came to a fight with 'egg salad'! Poor Henry is stuck between the proverbial rock so why wouldn't he be jealous of Gio? You wouldn't think much of him if he kicked his Baby Mama to the kerb and she really did lose the baby - what's he supposed to do?
I want Cliff back it's confusing enough he's moonlighting on Moonlight. And more scenes with Amanda and Marc.
I hope we see more of Gabrielle Union she was great in this and really fit in with the rest of the cast but Vanessa Williams came into her own - I'm trying to picture her and Desperate Housewives' Dana Delany up against each other - they are both beautiful but very scary women!
who is cliff again?
Becky | May 2, 2008 10:52:20 AM | #Becky, Cliff is Marc's sig-oth, or at least he was as of the pre-strike episodes. I think he's only been seen once since the show came back, though, so I hope the writers aren't going to forget about Marc's love life, because the man needs to get his ass kicked by somebody more humane than he is every once in awhile. Which is also why I've been missing Justin--his scenes with Marc were some of the best in the earlier part of the season. Unfortunately, it's only an hour-long show, so some things have to stay on the back burner when surrogate motherhood and Betty's trevails with Henry take center stage. Maybe Cliff and Justin will be seen before the show wraps up season two.
I like the idea of a Daniel-Hilda hook-up. She'd grind him into the ground with those high heels of hers, and he'd love every minute of it. However, I can see at least one member of the Suarez family putting the nix on that relationship right quick. Would be fun for a couple episodes, though!
Dark Disciple | May 2, 2008 11:59:56 AM | #I had no idea who Christian was before reading this blog.
I'm against the Hilda/Daniel idea b/c then there would be too much crossover b/w Betty's family and work life. I say just bring in someone from 'the neighbourhood' to be Hilda's new bf and Daniel can just modelize for a little while again before introducing someone new for him. Hilda should get a bf before Daniel gets a gf IMO.
Rishi | May 2, 2008 2:06:22 PM | #@ AC
Fixed! You should have seen all the mistakes I DID catch on my own. # 2,3 and 4 -- I knew better, but it's just the rush of getting the thing blogged ASAP, so yes, occasional mistakes are made (but they were all spelled right!). #1 - Marc cut them with Tic Tacs AND weight loss pills. Recall when Renee said they were minty?
No worries about pointing out the flaws so I can fix them, but while you're at it can you also discuss the episode? We wanna hear your voice! :) Thx!
Hanh | May 2, 2008 8:50:21 PM | #I'm not a regular watcher but will be now-- so fun and trashy fun; Daniel and Betty together at the end of the series, yes, but I think he should be together with Nina Garcia so she can guest a few more episodes; I saw bits and pieces of project runway with Christian on it and he annoyed me to no end with his holier-than-thou attitude and always advising the other contestants. His personality and catch phrases were fun being spoofed on SNL, and it is fun to see him here though, on something so over-the-top. He'd fit right in.
John | May 3, 2008 8:37:33 AM | #Best moment/line of the night was when Betty told a tad too late Daniel that he "doesn't pay (her) enough." Excellent.
mel | May 3, 2008 9:48:03 PM | #
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