Ugly Betty (Finale)

Thursday, May 22nd @ 8 PM

ABC

Ugly Betty - Season 2, Episode 18 - "Jump" (Season Finale)

Just as Gio makes Betty an incredibly romantic offer, Henry pops back into her life with a proposal of his own. Meanwhile, Betty finds herself centerfield at the charity softball game of the year: Mode vs. ELLE Magazine. Can Wilhelmina strike out ELLE's star player, supermodel Naomi Campbell? In other developments, an orphaned boy from France turns up at Mode with an amazing claim, and Hilda learns some shocking news about Coach Diaz. (ABC.com)

Manatee: There's not much to say about this season finale. It was very in the vain of the 90's comedies with the ambiguous endings - did she go to JFK for Rome or for Arizona? My guess is Season 3 will open with her having chosen neither. She's not going to go work in Arizona because half the cast would be out of a job. Plus there is the highly publicized move of the show to New York.

Here's my problem with the finale... actually the series, but a problem that was perfectly illustrated in the final episode - Betty is not a good character. Sure she does not care what people think of her, she's honorable and dutiful to her family, she saves her boss' ass at every turn, but she is not a good role model for young girls. When I first watched the show I thought, "What a breathe of fresh air, a girl on TV who is not super skinny with couture clothes, bad hair and braces. Someone other than all the other anorexic girls (Keira Knightley) out there or flashy slutty pop stars (Britney Spears). But she's not smart, ambitious, or driven. She says she wants to be a writer, and Henry is proud to announce in the episode that he got her a writing job at an Arizona mag (Arizona Penny Saver or Auto Trader?), but let's examine what Betty has written:

#1 Episode 1.7: "Fearing that his assistant is not challenged enough by her job, Daniel sends Betty off to write a review about a hotel where she is supposed to stay at over the weekend. Actually, Betty has planned to spend the weekend with Walter in Atlantic City, but now has to cancel this trip. When, Walter pays her a surprise visit at the hotel, Betty is at first very relieved to see him. But, when Betty continues her review observations of the hotel, Walter is not very helpful."

- What the recap didn't say - is she failed! The review was a mess.

#2 Episode 1.12: "Meanwhile as Betty's new boss, Sophia orders her to replace a suddenly prohibited lead article in her new feminist magazine by one on the social experiences of her, common ugly bird, working in Daniel's fancy fashion magazine, so she goes back there interviewing everybody. Betty finds out that Sophia not only enjoyed the services of hunky exotic dancer... [but] deduces she seduced Daniel with a mean purpose, but is too late to tell him before Sophia announces on national TV she only wanted to prove the validity of her book's 60 days plan to hook up any man, and turns his proposal down, which totally destroys his spirit...

- Needless to say, article does not run... Poor Betty. Used and abused. Go ahead run back to Daniel.

#3 Episode 2.4: "Betty takes steps toward becoming a writer and invests in a class that proves to be so challenging, she tosses her own writing assignment and instead submits a Mode story written by a woman who survived a bear attack -- with disastrous results."

- Class where she plagiarizes, nice Betty, really nice... exactly what we want to teach our youths.

#4 Episodes: 2.17-18: Betty gets the opportunity (by Daniel of course) to write for Mrs. Meade's Hot Flash.

- Hot Flash! Judith Light edits it and she's old enough to be Betty's grammy. Mrs. Meade admits that the piece is not great. She had good ideas, but bad (safe?) execution. This serves only to show Betty she needs to take risks and go with Gio to Rome, not take another class and become a better writer. Did Betty go to college? I'm sure NYU has a good Creative Writing Program she could enroll in.

And some editor agreed to put her on staff somewhere as a writer?! I don't think so. How many struggling writers are there in this town (LA)? A million, two? I think they will contest to the fact that it is not that easy to become a staff writer. Or at the very least a freelance writer. What kind of girl is this to look up to? She took one class and plagiarized and has never tried to hone her "skills" again. She does not even make the most of her position at Mode. She can't even figure out how to interview 12 year olds. I would rather see a prettier girl on the screen (not Amanda but somewhere between her and Betty) who is ambitious, goal oriented, career driven, and not just a pawn for whimsical romances with nerds. She never struggles with financial problems like most 20 somethings, career issues, or real relationship issues. She's super disconnected. Her problems have revolved around an illegal father, her father's health problems, her sister and her son, and 3 super weird guys. Give young girls something to look up to. Give us adults something to enjoy. I can't watch this anymore till Betty gets some real character, or at least becomes entertaining.

Nice to have Wilhelmina back at Mode. Finally back where she belongs and Alexis is the bad guy ... again. I could do without Rebecca Romijn.

Biggest waste of money: LILO. Did she even have a line? And why give her an arc next year.