Ugly Betty mini-review
( Spoilers abound in this post. Consider yourself warned. That said, I haven’t even finished the first season, so please don’t provide any spoilers beyond episode 15 or 16 of the first season in the comments.)
I just got into the first season of Ugly Betty. The show is – very broadly – about Betty as she tries to make it in the magazine publishing industry. I started watching because I’d heard good things, and because I heard it had a trans character.
Honestly, I enjoyed the show so much that I straight up forgot about the trans character, so her introduction a little more than half way through the first season came as a bit of a surprise. It didn’t hurt that the show very openly parodies (or maybe not) ridiculous soap-opera-ey storyline shifts, so revealing a presumed-dead character was really in hiding to come back as a woman is pretty in line with the tone of the rest of the show.
What did surprise me (or, at least, has surprised me so far) is how respectfully the show handles the trans character, Alexis, even within the wholely silly and over-the-top world of the show.
For example, one of the first conversations around Alexis after her return are between Betty and her father, about the difference between being a transvestite and transsexual (and how he needs to shut up and be respectful). Likewise, Alexis and her brother have a really similar conversation to what I’ve had with my brother: Why didn’t you tell me sooner?! (Admittedly, our conversation was not in bumper cars at the behest of my brother’s assistance after I faked my death two years prior in a skiing accident. Ridiculous and over the top? As TV Tropes says, “Yeah, so?”)
And I was really impressed when Alexis was hit on in a bar and A) clearly didn’t know how to react and B) was then outed and embarrassed in front of the whole bar. (And made to be, without a doubt, the sympathetic character.)
Back to a wider look at the show, I really think it’s a ton of fun. It’s well acted for what it is (if, obviously and intentionally over the top), does a good job of simultaneously poking fun at itself while letting the characters stay invested, and is a great use of an “I’m not going out because I’m exhausted” Saturday night. (Although, for those of you who have seen more than the first season, keep your big mouths shut about any major plot twists! Feel free to say you’re happy or unhappy with the direction of the show, but please don’t tell me any specific information. Please!)
Themocracy
[...] Betty is a show I’ve talked about before. The trans character, Alexis, suffers from amnesia at one point (it’s that kind of show) and [...]
I’ve only seen the first season. I liked how it was handled on the show proper but the commentary tracks has some not-OK comments from Michael Urie.
Aww! That bums me out. Oh well…. =/