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fanpop > television > ugly betty > articles > opinion

Ugly Betty Season 2 Review

Opinion by waichingliu81 posted 8 months ago
3.7
 by 4 fans
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NB: *this review was originally posted on the michael urie online site last year and to coincide with the UK release of season 2 on dvd. since then the final mark has changed. btw, I re-submitted this review as it appears as if the original version appears to be lost on this site and that i could not retrieve it*

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.

Season 2 was a massive downturn 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.

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 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- 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.

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.

I will purchase the DVD set but I will skip most of the episodes. If you are a Getty fan, you'll enjoy this season more than other fans.

final mark(out of 10): 6
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2 comments
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I see where you are coming from, Liu. Compared to season 1, all through season 2, I kept disliking the episodes. Writer strike made the producers re-write the story from scratch many times. If you see the season can be sliced into three different parts: ep 1-10 ep 11-13 and the final post strike episodes.

On a good note, I disagree they didn't give the side-characters stories. Season 2 was NOT about Betty. Actually they gave the side characters a lot of new stories: Amanda and the quest for her father, christina interaction with Wilhelmina and Marc, Marc story with Cliff, Alexis, Daniel and Claire family drama, Willy/Bradford child and marriage. What I think they did was take the characters away from the main character (Betty) and give the rest of the characters their own background stories. The result was not that good.
Henry/Betty/Charlie baby drama was too heavy and all that I really cared about was the sparks between Gio and Betty, which was a breather among all that drama. And, like a lifeboat, I cling to it to death... the rest was just so watered and scattered.

Then it came season 3. But as they say "you don't know what you have until you lose it". I am starting to appreciate season 2 more than ever. Season 3 is a total failure with the unguided writing and inexistent storilines. Season 1 is wonderful, Season 2 brought drama and romance... season 3 just makes you nostalgic for what we are not getting now. Plus the clothes were much better!
posted 8 months ago.
 
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beatrice1979- oh well. you're entitled to your opinion and i respect that. just to note however, i do NOT hate gio- i just got sick of that betty/gio/henry love triangle. and plus, henry turned into a jerk in season 2. i know people will say he had to be there for his child, but he was also seeing betty at the same time.

in fact, i could've done with gio and betty- and get rid of henry and so that we didn't have that boring storyline. i would've been happy with that.

also, bea you made a good point when you said the problem was when all the characters were separated and had very little interaction with betty in season 2. that i do agree with wholeheartedly.

the only thing we beg to differ on however is season 3 itself- you dislike it a lot bea, but the likes of myself and besafe are enjoying it moreso.
posted 8 months ago.
 
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