Farewell, Ugly Betty

Now that a few days has passed and I've had some time to ponder it, I have to say that the end of "Ugly Betty" hit a lot of right notes, but also felt rushed. When ABC canceled the show (after first killing its audience with the move to Friday nights) they also cut two episodes from their order for the season, from 22 to 20. So in tying up some storylines they had less time to tell those stories. There was almost a "connect the dots" quality to it. It was like they said "We have to do this, this and this for this character" and did them, without enough bridging between them to make them more believable. I think it would have helped had the last two episodes been aired together as a two-hour finale.

As far as the storylines themselves, essentially everyone got some sort of happy ending, and I'm okay with that. I'm also pleased that they didn't put Betty and Daniel together. Fans debated about which guy Betty should end up with -- Henry, Gio, Matt, Daniel, someone else, no one. (That last one is especially valid -- why should she have to have a man to have a happy, fulfilling life?) I would have been most happy with Henry (I think I'm in the minority here), but hated the idea of Betty and Daniel. They developed a great friendship over the course of the series, and to suddenly throw them together romantically would've been awful. Over the last couple of episodes they seemed like that's where they were headed, but instead it was left open. Betty moved to London to help run a new magazine, ran into Daniel there, they had a nice chat and he asked her to dinner. If there's an "Ugly Betty" movie in our future, I'm sure they'll pick up on it.


Of course, I can't go without commenting on the trailblazing story of Betty's now openly gay nephew Justin, and how the character of Marc went from just comic relief as assistant/henchman for Wilhelmina Slater's schemes to a well-rounded individual and a friend and mentor to young Justin. I loved how that relationship developed, and fondly think back to Justin's first appearance at the Mode offices in season one of the series, where it started. Marc complimented Justin on his Ralph Lauren vest...

Marc: "So...kids at school, they like it?"
Justin. "No. They don't really get me."
Marc: (slight pause) "Word of advice: be who you are, wear what you want...just learn how to run real fast."

Unlike the series-ending plot wrapups I mentioned, Justin's coming-out process this season was handled just brilliantly -- at times heartwarming and heartbreaking, ultimately sweet and filled with love and acceptance. Not to mention subtle. Justin doesn't actually say the words "I'm gay" to his family; he merely takes his new boyfriend Austin's hand and they dance together at Hilda's wedding reception. I don't own any of the DVDs of the series yet, but I have a feeling that I'll pick up this season's set right away, even if I haven't bought any of the first three seasons' collections.

As Justin's life is transformed, so too is Betty herself -- from the naive girl who showed up at Mode on her first day wearing a poncho, to the woman who developed her own fashionable style, and finally got those braces off! So it was perfect when, in the last scene, the show's title (as shown in the graphic pictured above) was superimposed on the scene of Betty walking away after talking to Daniel in London, with the word "Ugly" then fading away until all that was left was "Betty."