Synopsis: Equally smart and soapy, this dram-edy starring America Ferrera picked up a pair of Golden Globes for its critically acclaimed first season. Returning for an equally popular second year, TVs most fashionable show continues to follow Betty Suarez (Ferrera) in her career at the fictional Mode magazine. Unlike Mode's staff of vacuous vamps and vixens, Betty relies on her strength of mind and heart to take her places, but remains constantly the brunt of her co-workers jokes for her lack of both fashion sense and a size-00 figure. The usual mis-haps, scandals and faux pas befall Betty and her co-workers in this hilarious follow-up that is brighter, bolder and Bettyer than ever before.
Very rarely do hit shows suffer a blip so early on, but in the case of the second series of Ugly Betty, truth be told, it was nowhere near as perfect or great as the first series. Which was a surprise given how amazing that first season was.
I had certain issues with the second series, probably moreso because of that one storyline, which started off well- the love triangle between Betty, Henry and Gio-, but as it continued and lasted until the end of the season finale, I had had enough of. But it would be wrong and unfair of me to direct my dislike of season 2 towards that one storyline as it wasn't just that one 'thing' that I disliked about the whole season- it was a number of things. The lack of good storylines, too many sub-plots taking place all at the same time, and often in one episode; the 'dumbing down' of the other characters themselves, the number of celebrity cameo appearances- of which many I didn't really care for, the humour, which whereas in season 1 it was campy, it was done with panache and style- here, the humour was mostly silly and too over-the-top. I could go on and on.
Ok, here it goes: personally speaking, I didn't enjoy it as much as the first season; for a dramedy, there was too much drama and not enough comedy and humour. The Betty/Henry/Gio storyline, whilst it provided much needed interest and drama for those benry and getty 'shippers, to an extent dominated series 2, so much so that the remaining characters were sidelined and were put on the backburner in favour of the Betty/Henry/Gio romance triangle. Which I clearly felt was a detriment to the show itself. I don't mind a bit of romance here and then, but it has to be done right, in a way that it does not affect the show and the other characters by making them less important than Betty and her love interests. In fact, I could've done with Gio and not have Henry as Betty's boyfriend, rather as a friend and not have that love triangle.
Season 2 was a massive down-turn in contrast to the first season, which was just amazing. There wasn't much interaction between Marc and Amanda- the show's main comic creations, of whom were a delight in the previous season, up until Ugly Betty returned from the writers strike and two of the writers got fired. In fact, the show only picked itself up from the ground and things had improved slightly towards the end, but by then onwards the damage had already been done and the viewing figures weren't as high as they were beforehand.
As I mentioned, there were many celebrity cameo appearences in the show; which included Victoria Beckham, Gene Simmons, Vera Wang, Bow Wow, Omarion and Naomi Campbell- but I felt that they were just an excuse on the creators and writers part for them to include them on the show, to make up for the lack of exceptionally good episodes, as well as to gain more ratings.
Season 1 was great in many ways because it managed to have enough humour and drama and romance to sustain the show's quality; not to mention the writing was better, sharper, consistent and much funnier than in Season 2. A lot of people had mixed feelings about the last episode, 'Jump' but I thought that that one and the last few episodes were good at least- if not great.
Overall, I was dissapointed with season 2- it just didn't work. It lacked a lot of the heart and soul in season 1; and for me it felt like something was missing, which made the first season so watchable in the first place. Which is no wonder why two of the producers got fired afterwards, one of whom was Marco Pennette.
There were some interesting moments involving Mandy and Marc, Mandy trying to find her real father and Marc and his boyfriend, Cliff and Christina too, but these were few and far between. Season 2 felt somewhat rushed and to be quite frank, it was all over the place.
For me to say that I hated, it would be harsh- rather I disliked it, a lot.
Usually, when it comes to other shows in the past, I have taken a liking to season 2 a lot, but unfortunately not this one. I'm not saying that I hate it, or that I hate Ugly Betty because I still think it is a wonderful show, which still has a lot of potential and one of which I have become a fan of myself. However, Season 2 pales into comparison to the first, by a considerable- if not long mile.
If you are a Getty fan, you'll enjoy this season more than other fans.
Waiching
Highs
- The first 4 or 5 episodes were interesting and good
-Marc and Amanda were funny, if not as funnier as they were in series 1, as ever here
Lows
- Betty's love triangle- need we say more?
- Too many celebrity appearances
- Humour was too over-the-top and silly
- I found myself skipping most of the episodes because it was just, well I didn't enjoy it as much as I should and did
- The show shifted away from Betty and of her fulfilling her dreams and ambitions as a person and at work, as it decided to focus on who she would go and make out with. Which is NOT what this show is about.
- The writing was bland and too much focus on Betty's love life and not enough on the other characters-of whom were a former shadow of themselves here in series 2 and of their situations.
Marks:
Cover art- 7 : It's ok; image is good but the background could've done with some more colour
Episodes- 6
Extras- 5
Overall rating(out of 10):
5
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