Movies / Home Theatre

Ugly Betty the Complete Fourth and Final Season

By Hervé St-Louis
August 25, 2010 - 22:33

Betty Suarez, the former assistant of editor in chief Daniel Meade, has received a promotion as a junior editor at fashion magazine Mode. But the new job is fraught with challenges as former boyfriend Matt Hartley gives her hard time as her new boss as managing editor and the always evil Wilhelmina Slater continues to plot to take over Mode and the fortune of the Meade family. In all these perils, is love still possible for Ugly Betty?

I admit that I never watched this series before. I only remember watching brief sequences in one episode years ago, but I had no idea what to expect as I started watching all of the last season of this series. I was afraid that somehow I would be transformed into a woman and start chatting about the latest gossips surrounding this series at the water cooler at work. But thanks to the beauty of the DVD, new viewers can skip all this anguish, keep their masculinity and, sit down and enjoy one of the funniest and over the top series in the last few years. Ugly Betty is patterned after soap opera Yo Soy Betty La Fea that has been featured and adapted in many countries in South America. The North American version skipped the lust Betty feels for her boss Daniel Mead and focuses on more intrigues and different love interests for Betty.

I’ll give kudos to ABC. They included a brief synopsis of the series at the beginning of the fist DVD disc allowing viewers like me to immerse themselves in the universe of Ugly Betty. Parts of the it were confusing with so many characters and plots threads to keep track of, but after a few episodes, all was alright and I was able to keep pace with the strange and crazy cast of this series. I’ll say it now. My favourite is villainess Wilhelmina Slater played by Vanessa Williams. She’s hot and she’s mean. 

I felt that in this season, Betty’s plots were less involved in those of Wilhelmina Slater and other intrigues involving the Meades. I can’t tell how it used to be in the past, but it’s as if she was given a break and almost made a secondary character to what happening elsewhere while the creators of the show could slowly transform her into a more beautiful woman. For example there was a plot involving a long lost child and Betty was barely involved in the story. Neither was she as involved in the stories of her own family. I’m not against the central character not being mixed in all the different threads.  It worked.

The story about Betty changing from ugly to beautiful was explained as being part of her new job, but it did not explain how she suddenly have more taste in her clothing. By the end of the series, she was wearing beautiful things, although they still had a vibe of eccentricity to them. The removal of the braces however was well explained and did totally change the character in later episodes. I shudder at how ugly and annoying it must have been to watch betty in early episodes the first year the series was on.

Speaking of ugly, can someone explain to me the multiple boyfriend thing? I understand from what I saw that over the years, although she looked like a dud, many guys have aimed for her heart. In this season alone, we met four love interests. I didn’t like how they got rid of Matt Hartley, played by Daniel Eric Gold after establishing back as the ultimate love of Betty. Then towards the end, the writers try to match the Colombian version of the series by making Daniel Meade fall for Betty after having resisted to use that ploy for the past four seasons. Not a smart move.

The series also dealt with Betty’s gay nephew’s coming of age. The first time I saw the character, he annoyed me a lot and I was wondering what was the deal with him. From the research I’ve done, it seems to have been an old plot point culminating only in the fourth season. I thought that was a decent subplot and I really like the coming out party his folks prepared for him. That was so over the top, it was laugh out loud material.

I felt that the plot with the long lost child, something I expected from something like Dallas or Dynasty, was badly written with little resolution to the crazy shooting the rogue son performed towards the end of the series. At many point in the series, it felt like many important scenes that would have made the plot stronger had been lifted completely and that the creators expected the audience to fill in the gap. For example, the lost son was never properly introduced to all the staff at Mode, including Betty. He just showed up one day and no one questioned that he was the son of Claire Meade, after all the efforts she put in keeping all a secret.

I didn’t try the commentary mode of the episodes yet, but I assume it will provide much needed background information on the series. There are a few deleted scenes that were interesting too and really help cement the series.

I’ll say that I enjoyed Ugly Betty more than I did Cougar Town. It was much better written and with a tighter plot than the other series. It was snappy without a moment wasted. Some episode did bore me, like the alternate life Betty would have had if she had perfect teeth. It was stupid. Some of the chatter with the characters, like the many expressions of love between mark St.James and Betty , or Betty’s exchanges with her nephew annoyed me and slowed down the pacing.

Ugly Betty: The Complete Fourth and Final Season – DVD Bonus Features:
• Betty Bloops
• Deleted Scenes
• Betty Goes Bahamas
• Mode After Hours
• Webisodes 
 
Aspect Ratio:    Widescreen (1.78:1)
Languages:     English
Subtitles:      Spanish, French

Rating: 9 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12