I watched a few episodes of Ugly Betty when the first season hit DVD but I thought it was just a cheap knock off of the amazing Devil Wears Prada so I gave up on it. Apparently, the rest of the world felt differently because the show continued for four seasons. It’s not an epic run by any means; in fact I think it’s just long enough to allow for a syndication deal – So prepare yourselves pretty soon Ugly Betty will be smiling at you five times a week on some network.

In any case, I didn’t keep up with the show and sadly none of the other TCS writers did either so when the Fourth and Final Season arrived to us on DVD to be reviewed we had a problem. So for the very first time in our history, I’m reviewing a season long release without having seen everything that led up to it.

As a rule, I never do this because I feel it’s unfair to judge a season when there could be a heap of subtext and plot developments that go completely over my head because I haven’t seen all of the events leading up to it. But with a show like Ugly Betty I thought I’d be safe enough and I was right.

The best thing about this four disc box set is that it begins with a feature called The Ugly Betty Starter Kit that brings you up to date on what you’ve missed starting from the first season. It’s kind of like Cliff’s Notes for viewers and it does its job adequately. I felt pretty comfortable and familiar with this world of Mode Magazine and Meade Publications from the very first episode.

Even without extensive knowledge of the back story there are more than enough brand new twists and turns in this season to keep a viewer fully entertained. Murder, blackmail, illegitimate children, a cult, a knock down drag out brawl between Judith Light and Vanessa Williams and the most shocking thing of all… Betty has her braces taken off!

I really was not expecting to enjoy this process but I have to admit by the time I finished that last episode I was sad to see Betty go. People have said that the decision to cancel the show came down because the second and third seasons were such duds that by the time the fourth season started their fate was already sealed. If they had given the show one last chance with this season, something tells me we would have been spending at least one more year with our favorite little misfit fashion friend.

America Ferrera began her career as a ‘real woman with curves,’ then she became ‘ugly’ as Betty but through it all she has slowly been getting more and more beautiful. With most actresses the costume and make-up people

have to work hard to make the actor look as good as possible, the team working with America had an infinitely more difficult challenge as each week they tried to make this gorgeous girl look dumpy and awkward.

Sure in the beginning all you see are those awful braces and terribly mismatched outfits, but eventually all of those things are over shadowed by her true inner beauty that somehow radiates outward.

Initially my biggest complaint with the show was that Betty was constantly made fun of and tortured by everyone at the magazine and that she never really stood up for herself. The great thing about jumping into this story at season four is that she has now been promoted and is gaining not only the respect of her peers but also the gumption to stand up for herself and fight back when people take advantage of her. I know the whole idea is a ‘fish out of water’ ‘underdog’ theme but I can only take so much of watching someone being bullied before I have to turn it off.

Speaking of bullies, Ugly Betty has a bunch of them, all of whom somehow manage to find their compassion as this final season draws the story to a close. The first and my favorite is Betty’s main ‘frienimy,’ Marc St James.

Michael Urie who plays Wilhelmina’s gay assistant Marc is absolutely genius in the role. His portrayal vacillates between a way over the top ‘winking at the audience’ type of comedy and a real performance that shows worry and doubt and often times a subtle hint of guilt over some of his antics without it ever getting too schmaltzy and undermining the broad comedy he generally goes for. I think he’s one of the best parts of the show and I’d probably go back and watch the earlier seasons just to see more of him.

His most endearing and humanizing scenes are without a doubt the ones he shares with young Mark Indelicato who plays Betty’s nephew Justin whose sexuality seems apparent to everyone except him. Justin drops a bomb mid season that he’s ‘straight’ and while everyone is shocked by the news, Marc is the voice of reason who says, ‘if he says he’s not then he’s not;’ Knowing from experience that no gay person will come out before he or she is ready to. I love this aspect of the show and wish there had been something like this on air when I was young and still wrestling with those issues. I’m sure it’s helpful to the gay youth of today to finally see themselves positively reflected in pop culture.

Also in the ‘frenemy’ department we have Becki Newton as Marc’s best gal pal and Betty’s former roommate Amanda who couldn’t be more spacey or absent minded if she tried; and believe me… she tries! It took a long

time for me to warm up to her but eventually the flighty, bitchy, catty attitude somehow became endearing. She imparted such gems as this in reference to the gorgeous Neal Bledsoe as Daniel’s half brother Tyler:

Daniel: “What’s he doing here?”

Amanda: “Decorating my world.”

So you have to love her for the many, many moments like this that she has throughout the run of the show.

Ana Ortiz who plays Betty’s older sister Hilda is also fantastic at bringing this sassy no non-sense beautiful young mom to life. In a lot of ways she reminds me of Marisa Tomei in My Cousin Vinny; considering she won an Oscar for that performance it’s definitely high praise. She’s protective of her family without being terribly over bearing. Also, as the clearly more beautiful sister she manages to never make Betty feel like the ‘ugly’ little sister. It’s a great dynamic.

I also have to mention the timeless, forever beautiful Judith Light and Vanessa Williams as Claire Meade and Wilhelmina Slater respectively. Claire (and Judith Light for that matter) is the mom that every gay boy wishes he had and Wilhelmina is the surrogate mother / mentor that every gay boy also wishes he had. I love that the show doesn’t shy away from what is clearly its target audience and really embraces the fan-base. I’m not sure if any heterosexual men out there watched this show or if there was anything here for them, but as a gay guy its nice to be a fan of something that acknowledges my appreciation of it.

Now, believe it or not, as someone who knows next to nothing about either the world of fashion or the magazine publication business, Ugly Betty serves as a great little window into those trades. The fashion shoots and runaway shows are always fun to watch and its fascinating to see what goes into creating them and of course the politics that surround the editing of the magazine all seem surprisingly realistic despite it’s over the top campy presentation. I’m sure there are more than a few mags out there where nepotism rules and hard work can only get you so far up the food chain.

The real shocker of the show though is all of the amazing guys that fall for Betty. It’s seems like it would be the typical ‘they love her for who she is on the inside,’ but something about the way they play it makes it seem slightly different than that. We all know that America Ferrera is a beautiful woman as herself but the attraction that Betty’s suitors have for her seems as though they are not only intrigued by her personality and heart but that they also find her super attractive as Betty! It’s another layer to play that keeps things slightly more interesting than the typical caterpillar / butterfly scenario.

Most hit TV shows

get their fair share of guest stars and this is no exception. This season alone we have the karate kid himself, Ralph Macchio as Hilda’s politician boyfriend Archie, Adam Rodriguez as Hilda’s bad boy high school boyfriend turned grown up temptation, Jamie-Lynn Sigler as Daniel’s bereavement buddy Natalie, Freddy Rodriguez as another Betty X, Gio and Dylan Baker as the weird cult leader of ‘the Community of the Phoenix’.’

I don’t have much to say in the way of complaints about this season other than the fact that I felt the final two episodes were a bit rushed and there were several storylines that demanded more time to fully wrap up.

There are also some technical issues that I’m sure stem from money issues. This is clearly a show that doesn’t have to worry about special fx too often but on those rare occasions when they do have to go to green screen it’s kind of a disaster. For the episode The Bahamas Triangle they had singer Shakira as a guest star but they were filming at Atlantis on Nassau Island and apparently couldn’t get her there… so they green screened her shots and just stuck them in with the regular shoot which was actually on location and it was the most noticeable thing I’ve ever seen. I mean, you do what you had to do when you have a big name guest star on but c’mon I’m sure they could have cast another young diva and actually gotten a full schedule with her. In any case it didn’t ruin the show which was one of the better episodes of the season it just really pulls you out of each time they did it. And her stand in couldn’t have been more obviously not her if it had been a man in a dress. That wasn’t fooling anyone either.

This problem was also revisited later in the season when apparently they couldn’t get in to film at Macy’s during the holidays with Ana Ortiz and Ralph Macchio; bizarre.

As far as the DVD presentation itself, the only really annoying aspect to this set is that we are forced to sit through all of the previews and commercials that they put on the first disc. There’s no way to skip ahead to the main menu, you have to either watch or skip through each and every promo on the disc and there are a lot of them. It’s nothing terrible it’s just really annoying.

The special features on the other hand are incredible and well worth the wait. They are scattered throughout the discs but again, worth finding and watching.

Disc one has The Ugly Betty Starter Kit which is a must watch for any Johnny Come Lately’s such as myself and two deleted scenes. Disc two brings us a few more deleted scenes but disc three is where it starts to

get interesting. Disc three gives us a couple more deleted scenes and also Mode After Hours. It’s basically four fully produced shorts starring Michael Urie and Becki Newton as Marc and Amanda showing us what goes on when everyone else goes home and they stick around to play. (Definitely my favorite feature). On the final disc we have Betty Bloops which of course are the bloopers and they prove once again that nothing is funnier than people accidentally falling during a scene. Betty Goes Bahamas is a featurette similar to Mode After Hours except everyone is out of character in the Bahamas and it’s Michael and Becki trying to find everyone else on the island as they all do amazing things that really make you want to vacation there immediately!

I’m really thrilled that I got ‘stuck’ reviewing this title and coming in at the last minute like I did. I really enjoyed the season as a whole and I think that for anyone who gave up on the series or who never really gave it a try to begin with should check out this season because it really is a ton of fun and the special features are all really great too. So all in all it’s a great set to add to your collection!