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Ugly Betty - Season 4 (DVD)
by mattconnect
Ugly Betty is perhaps my favourite TV Show EVER to hit the screens and thus I must get all the DVD box sets. This is the Fourth and Final Season.
~~~BASIC INFO~~~
No of discs- 4
No of Episodes-20
~~~BOXSET COVER~~~
The cover of the box set is again bright and colourful and shows the transformation ... Betty undergoes from Season 1 compared to her current look. It is a nice cover and is fitting given this is the show's final series.
~~~BASIC PLOT AND THOUGHTS ON PLOT~~~
The start of season 4 sees Betty start a new page in her life as Mode's associate features editor. Matt Hartley, her ex (who saw her kissing her first love Henry whilst they were still together), now becomes her boss, and makes her life hell, until they rekindle their relationship, but it doesn't last as he is taken away.
Daniel tries to get over his dead wife, Molly, and enters an occult group which does not end well, whilst Willhemina is trying to find her lover Connor who keeps disappearing without a trace. Her problems are elevated when her daughter comes to her and they are involved in a murder case which turns into a monetary scandal.
Claire goes and looks for her son, whom she gave up for adoption, and he later comes to find her, and things end explosively with Wilhelmina's manipulation in between the two.
Amanda strives to something greater than being a receptionist, whilst Marc is fed up of not being promoted under Wilhelmina and becomes Daniel's assistant instead.
Mid season, the show announced that it would be the final season, and it would not be renewed, which meant the show had to quickly change the plot and tie up the loose ends and finish the show off... Despite all the open plots, they managed a good job up till the season finale.
The news brought a drastic turn in the plot and everything went towards this end, with Justin's relationship with his classmate Austin getting heated; Betty being given more job opportunities and Hilda's relationship with Bobby getting serious... but it isn't until the final few episodes that all is revealed- Betty's career move, Wilhelmina's decision in love or career and the future for Daniel.
It wasn't the explosive cliff-hanger I would've liked, but it was a nice rounding off of everything, tying all (well, most) of the loose ends, closing the chapter up till then, yet opening new opportunities...
I really liked this season, and is definitely better than season three, possibly two. The humour throughout was pure laugh out loud and the outrageousness does not cease. Betty is always wrapped up in some sort of problem... all of which are absolutely hilarious; one scene depicts Betty's braces getting caught on a diamond bra!
The "Betty getting her braces removed" episode was highly dramatised and exceptionally produced, whilst the Bahamas Episode was also amazingly focussed, stylish and hot... However, the London Episode was tacky as they didn't actually go to London, but for the season finale, they DID- which doesn't seem to make any sense, but there you go!
The show splashed out a lot of creativity for this season, and for it to be cancelled is such a shame, but it produced yet another hilariously funny season we can now enjoy as a box set.
Favourite Parts:
-Betty's alternate life if she was born beautiful
-Everyone being mean to her and hunting her down (early episodes)
-Bahamas episode with Amanda and Betty competing for Matt
~~~CAST~~~
America Ferrera- Betty Suarez
Eric Mabius- Daniel Meade
Vanessa Williams- Wilhelmina Slater
Becki Newtown- Amanda Tanen
Michael Urie- Marc St. James
Also stars: Tony Plana, Ana Ortiz, Mark Indelicato, Judith Light, Daniel Eric Gold, Yaya Da Costa, Grant Bowler, Adam Rodriguez, Kristin Johnston.
Guest Starring: Chris Williams (Vanessa William's brother), Shakira, Freddy Rodriguez, Christopher Gorham, Ashley Jensen, Brooklyn Decker and Aaron Tveit.
This season sees Betty grow up and move on from being an assistant to a features editor, and getting her braces removed. America Ferrera has also grown up and they are transitioning nicely. She still manages to pull of the naivety and emotion required of the role.
The role of Wilhelmina this season required much more of a change of heart. She is torn between her personal desires of love and her career driven lifestyle. Despite her increasing softness, she is still mean and evil most the time and Vanessa Williams does a great job portraying both.
Yaya DaCosta, who was a contestant on America's Next Top Model, stars as Wilhelmina's daughter, Nico, and she does a surprisingly good job at acting and being constantly distraught.
The mass of guest stars this season all contribute in some way or another, with Shakira mainly being a novelty, and the return of Christopher Gorham (Henry), Freddy Rodriguez (Gio) and Ashley Jensen (Christina) for the season finale rounds the show up nicely.
~~~EXTRA FEATURES~~~
*Betty Goes Bahamas
The show really splashed out this year sending a bunch of the cast to the Bahamas, and this special feature Michael Urie and Becki Newton trying to find the rest of their cast members during a shoot.
*Mode After Hours - Webisodes
I'm so glad they included these because they were definitely funny and feature Becki Newton and Michael Urie fooling around Mode.
*Betty Bloops
*Deleted Scenes
*Audio Commentary
~~~PRICE~~~
The DVD boxset can be purchased on Amazon for slightly over £20 which is great value given it has only just been released.
~~~OVERALL~~~
Having the box set, I am able to watch the show without breaks, without waiting, and I have had an Ugly Betty marathon- absolutely phenomenal- reliving every moment of the hit TV show since it first aired in 2006, and loving every moment of it.
This season finale sees the show take a creative turn in the right direction, and is possibly the second best season after Season one. It is such a shame the show was cancelled at this moment in time, as I'm sure given the opportunity for another season, it would've given SO much more. The show had and still has so much potential, with talks of a film already out within days of the finale airing.
The series finale was a good end, reflecting a lot of the styles found in the first episode ever, and I would highly recommend this box set because it is so funny all the way!
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Ugly Betty - Season 2 (DVD)
by amymw69
I absolutely loved series 1 of Ugly Betty and couldn't wait for series 2 which started being aired quite quickly after the end of series 1. I really do believe that Ugly Betty is underrated and in my opinion the way it was aired lost the show many UK viewers. There was nearly a year long gap whilst the writer's strike in America was ... going on and when eventually Ugly Betty returned to TV it was moved around in the schedules so much that even I couldn't follow when it was on.
Series 2 starts off where series 1 finished with the aftermath of the car crash involving Daniel and Alexis Meade and the convenience store robbery involving Santos, Justin's father. I really didn't expect the outcome of the robbery and I really thought that Ana Ortiz as Hilda was fantastic in those scenes. Series 2 again centres on the main character Betty Suarez and follows her complicated work life at Mode Magazine and her busy and chaotic home life in Queens, New York.
This series has many ongoing themes including Betty's father Ignacio who has been deported to Mexico awaiting a visa, Wilhelmina plotting to take over Mode Magazine by marrying the owner Bradford Meade, Amanda Tanen discovering she was adopted and finding out the identity of her real mother and father and the wife of Bradford, Claire Meade being on the run for the murder of former Editor in Chief, Fey Sommers. More characters are introduced during this series namely Marc St. James's boyfriend Cliff, Christina's Scottish husband, Stuart and Wilhelmina's sister, Renee.
It all sounds very depressing and heavy but there are many light and comical moments throughout the series. I always love the double act of Wilhelmina and Marc and also Marc and Amanda. The romantic storylines offers many lighter moments as Betty continues her doomed romance with Henry who is due to move away to bring up his child with another woman. The introduction of Gio creates a love triangle involving Betty and Henry and it very interesting to watch and provides the series cliff hanger.
There are many other twists and turns during this series such as Bradford Meade's death and funeral, the struggle for who gains control of the company, blackmail, an heir to the Meade empire, Claire Meade's murder trial, discovery of a special perfume, launch of a new magazine and many more OTT and entertaining situations.
There are also a few celebrity appearances this series with Victoria Beckham as Wilhelmina's bridesmaid, rapper Bow Wow, Lindsey Lohan as former school bully Kimmie Keegan, Gene Simmons as the possible biological father of Amanda Tanen and also Naomi Campbell.
Disc 5 which is the final in the series contains all the bonus features on it which includes a surprising amount of deleted scenes, Betty bloopers, tours of the sets, the casts thoughts on Wilhelmina Slater and episodes of the Spanish language soap opera 'Las Pasiones De Telenovelas' which is featured in the Suarez home throughout the series. It is all worth taking a look at!!
I still believe that Ugly Betty is one of the best comedy series I have seen on TV in recent years. I think that series 2 lives up to the fantastic series 1!!! It is definitely worth watching!!!
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