Photos
Video
'Ugly Betty' finds new digs
Well, thanks to last season's less than stellar Ugly Betty finale, I really didn't much care what happened with Betty's romantic dilemma. Apparently, neither did the writers.
Spoilers are my spirit animals.
In short order, we learn (via a confessional to her mom's tombstone) that Betty refused both Henry's wedding proposal and Gio's Rome date because she wasn't ready for a serious relationship and had to find out who she was. So yes, like Kelly Taylor and Brad Womack, Betty chose herself.
With this free time, Betty travels the country alone to gain experience and come back refreshed with a binder chock full o' ideas. Too bad the new Mode presided over by Wilhelmina is a chilly, monochrome wasteland where Amanda and Marc are so starved for warmth and fun they flock to Betty upon her return.
Although this wasn't the best episode, it did bring it back to the heart of what the show is about: Betty doing well in the face of her social awkwardness, backstabbing cohorts and ridiculous circumstances. She sets out three goals for herself:
1) Gain more responsibility at work in view of getting a promotion
2) Get her own apartment in the city
3) No more romantic entanglements
And for the most part, she does a good job ... although in spectacular, chaotic Betty fashion. Daniel has been booted from Mode, so now he's downstairs heading up Player magazine, which isn't exactly Betty's cup o' tea. Nevertheless, she gets assigned to head up their Harley event, which she botches by filling in for an injured babe biker. Catastrophe ensues, and MarcManda are delighted to be on hand to soak up the schadenfreude.
On the lodgings front, Betty's duped by a savvy realtor who can smell the eu de naivete and she buys an overpriced apartment sight unseen. Needless to say, it's a dump with the purported "sexy view" revealing itself to be an elderly nudist couple who always seem to do everything in front of their open window. The Suarezes band together, however, and clean and decorate Betty's pad.
Romantically ... eh. Who knows? There's Jesse, the cute, lanky musician next door, but he might be a red herring. My bet (which I know I'd lose) is on Kimmy Keegan, played by Lindsay Lohan. Think about it. Kimmy had it in for Betty when they were kids and is now jealous of Betty's success. Kimmy's also not very much into her boyfriend. Oh, and LiLo has been walking among her Sapphic sisters lately, so wouldn't it be perfect if they incorporated it into the show? Methinks yes, but methinks it's highly unlikely.
Speaking of Kimmy, she turns out to be Ignacio's manager -- excuse me, on-site senior executive in charge of food operations -- at Flushing Burger. Yup, Papi has joined the work force and is doing what he does best ... cooking. Well, actually if he could cook and be a bartender at the same time so he could dispense advice and lend a sympathetic ear, that is what he'd do best. Anyway, once Kimmy learns that Betty is Ignacio's daughter, the workplace becomes hell and his hours are cut. When Betty and Hilda confront Kimmy, it turns into an all-out food fight, which ends in the police arriving on the scene and Betty's idea binder in the deep fryer.
An apology sets things to rights though, and Kimmy reveals that she's jealous of Betty, which leads to our girl giving Kimmy a pep talk. Hmm, I wonder how this will play out? Okay, maybe not in the girl-love fantasy, but perhaps with LiLo doing a little modeling for Mode or Player?
Some other musings and highlights:
- What kind of money is Betty making, because that apartment is HUGE!
- How great is it to see Marc and Amanda back together? More, more, more!
- Some element of Betty's outfit always works. I kind of dug the yellow bobby socks w/ the bright blue pumps. Dunno if I'd wear them though.
- Wilhelmina in her impending motherhood is unstoppable, but it's not too surprising that she was able to get funding to Hot Flash cut. But really, did you have to pull in the big guns (Regis & Kelly) to do it?
- "It's like a long-lost teddy bear!" -- MarcManda about Betty.
- Uh, the jokes around Player, like Ginger saying, "I was once voted the lay of the land," are a bit obvious, n'est ce pas? How long can this plot line last on the show before Betty AND Daniel are safely back at Mode?
- Daniel's son DJ is a snot.
- Wilhelmina's favorite things: macaroons, Sade and Karl Rove. Woot!
- Rebecca Romijn-O'Connel is expecting twins this winter, but is it too early to see thickening around the waist, considering that this episode was taped earlier? Hmm. 
- Hilda needs to be lucky in love sometime. Married-ass Coach is not gonna do it.
- Betty considers eating ramen twice a week to economize. Uh, hello? Did she never live in a dorm? That was at least 5x a week for me. I still have dreams about flavor packets.
- Betty defending renting blind: "It was occupied." Hilda: "It was occupied ... by a corpse?"
- Kimmy to Betty: "Well, I'm not a cheeseburger, so I know you're not going to eat me."
- Kimmy: "I'm 98 percent certain I have Lyme disease. Don't have sex in the woods on Fire Island."
- I'm so sick of the DJ storyline and Daniel's broken French. Me tuer!
- If Justin can sew curtains + he has his own sense of style = A Justin line should be in the offing!!!
Your thoughts on the episode? Glad to see your girl back? What's up with LiLo?
I have never felt so sad about a season premiere in my entire life. I think the show's decision to move to NYC and eliminate certain lovable characters from the show will backfire.
Ugly Betty is my favorite show right now and even though I understand that the show is about Betty growing up and finding herself, I was so in the tank for Gio. I loved the guy. His character was just wonderful and it's a shame that he won't be a regular on the show anymore. I thought he complimented Betty well and that he helped motivate Betty to pursue her dreams and goals. So I'm not one who believes that by picking Gio it would've kept her back from doing what she wanted to do.
I thought her excuse was also lame and has crushed the possibility that Gio might come back as a love interest. I don't believe that she didn't feel attracted to him in that way. It was an easy way for the writers to get rid of him I feel.
I also heard that Rebecca Stamos (Alexyss) was not enthusiastic about the move to NYC which isn't surprising since she is pregnant and her entire life is in L.A. I expect to see her character scaled back this season as well and possibly even longer if she doesn't want to move to NYC.
I won't miss Henry and I don't expect to see much of him anymore since I read that he will be on a new show.
Freddy Rodriguez (Gio) also has a movie coming out this fall and he's such a talented actor that I can understand why he wouldn't want to be held back by becoming a regular on Ugly Betty. However, I personally never noticed him until he joined Ugly Betty. I think the show, at least as a recurring character, is very good for his career especially with young women who watch the show and love his character. I'm still holding out some hope that the writers will decide to bring him back and that Betty might change her mind about him later as she finds out what she really wants.
Aaagh. I'm not that enthused about the show anymore. I like Betty but the romantic triangle, especially her love/hate relationship with Gio kept the show energized. I believe that they will lose some Getty fans because of this.
DisappointedUGfan | Sep 25, 2008 8:11:00 PM | #I found the episode better than most of any that aired during season 2. Just enough of every character without making them all seem like cameos. I'm glad they are paring down the cast a bit so that it gets back to the core family and Mode folks(even if they're all more dysfunctional than a marriage between members of the Lohan and Spears families...God, can you imagine THAT family reunion?). What I would like to see, though, is the melding of the mags again, because having everyone in different parts of the building won't work for long. Everyone needs to be in the same office in order for the best comedic situations to come about.
How great was it that Marc and Amanda secretly missed Betty, even if they'd never come right out and say it straight? Snarky as always, but you could tell they need Betty in their lives, even if she doesn't need them in hers. Life just works that way.
DJ is annoying, but I hope he'll actually become a part of the show and won't be just another needless extra character cluttering up the scenery. I wonder if he and Justin will become friends. Either they'd kill each other, or they'd be friends for life.
Willie is always at her best when she's evil. There was too much humanizing of her last season, which made her akin to Cruella De Ville joining PETA. I hope this season she'll continue to be the heartless mini-demoness we all know and love. I won't be surprised if baby-to-be has horns and a tail.
Glad Betty's back! :)
Revenant | Sep 25, 2008 8:15:42 PM | #Personally, Betty's romances never were all that interesting for me (a minority opinion, I'm sure), so I'm glad if they are concentrating more on core characters and Betty's personal growth and career this season. The romantic stuff in past seasons never seemed as fresh or original as the comedic touches or the ongoing Wilhelmina vs. the Meades plotline.
Betty's outfits in this episode reminded me so much of the Wizard of Oz! The high heeled shoes with anklets, just like Dorothy in the ruby slippers, and the striped tights, which reminded me of the witch who was killed by Dorothy's house.
Bunyip | Sep 25, 2008 9:56:47 PM | #DisappointedUGfan, Rebecca Romjin has been divorced from John Stamos for years. She has since remarried to Jerry O'Connell (whose new FOX show, Do Not Disturb, looks like will get the distinction of being the first show canceled this year). O'Connell is a New York Citynative. They have digs (and a large extended family) there in New York City. I don’t think the move itself had as much to do with the character of Alexis being cut back as the fact she is pregnant with TWINS. (Sorry, I thought Her baby belly was quite obvious, the first scene, less so in the Regis scene. Like it was taped WAY earlier). It would be very hard to explain THAT, on a program where the fashions are just as vital as anything, but especially when the character is transgender.
| Sep 26, 2008 4:02:26 AM | #This episode was so-so for me. The whole Kelly Taylor "I choose Me" was annoying -- I'd almost rather she picked one, like say Gio, and then have it not work out.
And re the apartment (which I pretty sure she leased not bought) -- it always cracks me up on these shows how they have this "disgusting" apartment that someone is duped into getting, and then WHAM! The friends/family show up and in no time at all, it is this totally fab place. And as the recapper mentioned -- very BIG!
Alli | Sep 26, 2008 7:44:49 AM | #I don't see any of you people writing anything for TV. It's not easy given a relocation, a strike and a sizable supporting cast that likely have other projects in the works as well.
At any rate, I felt the same way about the apartment. It took more than a few hours to get mine together and there is still work that can be done. However, it works for me. It's homely. It's lived in. But this is Betty TV, not HBO or real life.
There were several shows last season whose intertwining and multi-episode plotlines were severly altered or eliminated by the writer's strike. Give the show a chance to regain its footing.
"Betty" is a great show and there will be a helluva lot of complaints if ABC took it off the air.
I was all for Gio myself in the wake of Henry's baby mama drama. I would have loved to see Gio appear this season, even if to have the relationship not work out.
However, the writers did what they had to do since Freddy Rodriguez opted out of the relocation.
By the way, Rodriguez was a regular on "Six Feet Under" and a 2002 Emmy nominee for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.
Terrence | Sep 26, 2008 8:25:30 AM | #I, too, loved Marc & Amanda's obvious glee over Betty's return.
The Fire Island remark tickled me no end. I like the reviewer's idea about getting Kimmy and Betty together, though agree it will most likely NEVER happen.
Really liked seeing more of the Suarez clan; they were too often out of sight last season.
Yes, we need to get Daniel and Betty back to Mode ASAP!
I am happy "Ugly Betty" is back.
I wish that Henry did not have The Baby Mama Drama, because Betty & Henry are so perfect together. Gio was a great guy, but he was sort of Betty's rebound. She was having to deal with Henry being a father and having to compete Charlie to develop more feelings for Gio. She needed to make a clean break.
I am going to miss Rebecca Romijn. She can come back for some episodes next season. Hated her hair in this episode.
I feel bad for Daniel, because he's handling everything the wrong way regarding D.J. He's trying so hard not be his father that he's not in control of his son.
Lindsay Lohan being on "Ugly Betty" was better than I thought it was going to be. I liked how she was jealous of Betty's success. The Lyme disease line was funny.
Hilda needs to end things with the coach. I don't trust him when he's telling Hilda him & his wife are separated.
Ignacio was right about Betty being naive. What was she thinking signing a place that we all knew was going to be bad?
Carly | Sep 26, 2008 12:39:51 PM | #I felt like I was watching a different show, like the first 2 seasons didn't exist. The way they blew off her love interests sucked, no matter what you thought of them. With no common enemy Betty and Daniel didn't have the same friendship either. There were just too many changes thrown on the viewers at one time, her clothes, her job, her love life, her home, etc. I hope it gets better soon or I'll have to give up on this show. I almost did last year but I kept watching because I liked Freddy Rodriguez, although the love triange thing was tiring.
I was really disappointed with pretty much the whole show and like someone earlier said - sad.
Zap2it Twitter Talk
