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Review: Do Not Miss This Week's "Ugly Betty" (Trust Us!)
Are you one of the many viewers who deserted Ugly Betty now that it's been moved to Friday nights? If so, it's time to come back, at least for "Back Seat Betty," this week's remarkable episode. No, Justin, Betty's 14-year-old nephew who's pinged more than a few gaydars, doesn't come out now that he's in high school. But the show seems to be on the verge of doing something even more interesting with the character
But just wait until the end. The show manages to do something truly extraordinary, tying together a number of different storylines with Justin at the dead center. It is also clearly setting the character up for what could to be a remarkable, unprecedented teenage journey. Here are three things I think are great about Friday's episode, and the show in general: First, the bond between Marc and Justin is strengthened, but not in an expected way. The character of Marc (Michael Urie) began Ugly Betty as Wilhelmina's catty, quippy assistant. Since then, he's deepened in a way I wouldn't have thought possible. Along the way, he's developed a conscience — and done something truly subversive in the world of television: he's befriended a young, possibly gay teenager. Think about this: an adult gay man has become a mentor for a young man who may very well also be gay. And he's done it with the full approval of both Justin's aunt Betty and his mother Hilda. I don't think such an inter-generational storyline between two "gay" non-relatives has ever been attempted on scripted television. And I love that the show portrays their friendship not as something in any way questionable, but instead, something to be encouraged.
Michael Urie Second, this episode spells out exactly why Hilda has long been so supportive of Justin and has always encouraged him to be exactly who is he, whoever he is. The close relationship between Justin and Hilda has long been one of my favorite parts of this show. Hilda is not the mother I had, but by God, she's the one I wish I'd had! This episode shows their relationship deepening in a way that I found truly touching. And yet, Hilda isn't the type of person who you'd necessarily think would be a crusader for gay rights. So why is she the way she is? In this episode, we learn the reason — and it turns out to be one of those perfect answers that is screamingly obvious in retrospect.
Finally, Justin does answer the question, "Are you gay?" and it is — and isn't — the answer you think. Watch closely at the end of the episode: Marc's reaction is pitch-perfect. Better still, I'm dying to know exactly where the show goes with this. But I've said too much already. Watch the episode yourself and see what happens. (And if all of the above is not enough to get you to tune in, Betty also has a hot new "bad boy" would-be boyfriend!) I truly think Ugly Betty is currently the best, most under-rated show on television and encourage you to start watching. Ugly Betty airs Friday night on ABC at 9 PM. Submitted by on Thu, 2009-11-12 15:13. |
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Looking forward to it
Obviously the spoiler is
Well, there was "My So-Called Life" back in the day
What a tease!
Ausiello said today the show is staying put...
that it's not moving to Wednesday now. Hopefully, he's misinformed!!
This is a great tease, I can't wait to watch it now!!
I have had a few issues with the show in the recent past (the long string of boring relationships they put Daniel in, mainly), but I'm starting to see a new energy in the show, like they are fighting to stay on! I hope it works!
"Open up your mind and then open up your heart. And you will see that you and me aren't very far apart." - Blessid Union of Souls
Ugly Betty
It's so cruel to tease us like this, since we won't get to see it until tomorrow (saturday for me)!
It does sound really great though, and I will definitely watch it.
And btw, I've always liked Ugly Betty. It's had some less-good episodes, but which series doesn't have that? It's really good overall, and episodes like these makes the show worth watching.
Harvey Milk: You gotta give 'em hope.
All Right I'll Watch!
Would anyone like to take odds
Well, they've used up all the letters.
Gay - Marc
Transexual - Alexis
Bisexual - Sure, why not?
Lesbian - Not applicable.
Straight all along - RAGE
Although I guess he could be primetime TV's first openly furry teen, let us pray not.
I can see how you might think that...
Check out my new fantasy website: TheTorchOnline.com. It's like AfterElton.com for fantasy geeks! And I Twitter
Oh wait, even better.
This made me spit my tea!
Check out my new fantasy website: TheTorchOnline.com. It's like AfterElton.com for fantasy geeks! And I Twitter
Too Funny!
HAHAHA!!!! XD
You seriously just made my day. I may actually be disappointed if that isn't what he says in the episode.
XD
Ok, I have to admit
How you tease us so! Can't
YAH!
I'll definitely be tuning in, thanks for the heads up. I think the show's hitting on all cylinders ago this season and it'd be criminal if ABC gave up on it now. Can't wait to see this week's episode.
The only down spot for me is Ralph Macchacio's Archie...Hilda, you could do so much better.
---
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught inan inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment ofdestiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly." - MLK
arrggh. . . not fair!
this season's ugly betty
Doesn't Ugly Betty air Friday's at 9:00 p.m.?
You're correct.
UB Time
A time zone on things like this would be awesome, too, for those of us having to calculate. I assume it's Eastern Time, but I'm not always focused enough to think of these things, and could easily tune into something at 9 only to realize that I missed it because I forgot to think about time zones.
(Of course, I already have UB DVRed, so it didn't really matter in this particular case.)
Yay! You changed it!
I know, I know!
When Justin is asked, ''Are you gay?'' his previously unseen manager steps forward and says, ''No comment.'' [just kidding]
I love this show!
Just a guess
That's all I am saying...
INSIDEGUY
oh i cant wait
Ugly Betty Spoiler
Adding this:
An embarrassing-turned-empowering incident at school leads to a major turning point in the ongoing saga of Justin’s sexuality that is alternately shocking and heartbreaking.
And this:
Ana Ortiz carves out an early spot on my Dream Emmy Ballot with a performance that will move you to tears and laughter. Honorable mentions go to Michael Urie, Mark Indelicato, Vanessa Williams, and America Ferrera, who has come to embody Betty so wholly that it’s easy to take her superior work for granted.
To what Brent says above....I can not WAIT until 9:00 tonight!!!
"Open up your mind and then open up your heart. And you will see that you and me aren't very far apart." - Blessid Union of Souls
please please please
Ugly Betty
Ugly Betty is Not Showing Tonight in CT
****SPOILERS****
** Spoiler-O-Rama **
Just finished watching the episode.
"I'm not Gay"?
Well then. Marc and Mommy (and me) ain't buyin' it.
Great episode though. Up to that part. No idea where they're going, unless they're going for denial drama. The Homecoming Queen bit was absolutely marvelous.
Response to Spoilers
I think this article very much wants us to buy it because Brent is impressed by this the same way someone would be 10 years ago at the depiction of a gay without a lisp.
I can't tell if the show wants us to buy it or not. I think Marc is in disbelief but is comparing the situation to his own with his own mom and is probably going in his head "Well, I would have come out to my mother if she was more like Hilda so if Justin says he's not gay than he MUST be telling the truth". In some ways, this is true, in other ways, any gay person can tell you this is very much not the way it works.
Either way, as I noted below, it ultimately doesn't matter unless Justin gets some more development. He's there to be swishy and bond with Marc and Hilda, and his sexuality doesn't matter to the plot or other characters - IE - I don't think we'll ever go into his love life, period.
Spoilers: They did exactly what I thought they would do.
I can't tell if it was brilliant or a cop-out, so I've come to the conclusion that it was a bit of both and just settled for underwhelming and think that it quite frankly didn't live up to the hype posted here. As for Justin's statement:
1) I had a mother just like Hilda and said the same thing to the face of her and her gay best friend, and look where I am now.
2) In general, Justin's character doesn't get enough fleshing out, depth, or screentime on the show for it to matter either way. Whopideedo, he's effeminate but not gay. But thus far, effeminacy is the only thing Justin has to his character so it feels like a clumsy attempt at depth at best. Effeminancy + heterosexual does not make a character anymore deep or groundbreaking than effeminancy + gay or even butch + gay, which in retrospect feels like what this article was getting at.
3) "Not gay" is not necessarily the same thing as heterosexual, or at least that's the attitude Brent would have us think from the tone I got during this article.
4) Is Justin really the only effeminate kid at a public high school in Queens? So many of the episodes this season have wanted us to believe that, and I'm not buying it.If this was in the backwoods of North Carolina, sure. Sorry Ugly Betty, you're not selling this part of the story well at all.
If anything, I thought that this was one of the weakest episodes of the season just far, and kind of made me realize that Justin doesn't have enough screentime to make any development he has worthwhile. He's just a prop for Hilda and Marc to bounce off of rather than an independent character (and I'm sorry, a sentance denying homosexuality does not solve 4 years of neglected character time or development), which negates pretty much anything they've attempted here.
that was it? *SPOILERS*
i thought justin was going to put those idiots at the homecoming event in their place. a witty remark that would be lost on them. SOMETHING. i'm not sure what praising his mom did...except make her happy that she got 'her crown'
I wasn't surprised that he said he wasn't gay. hell, the article even said he does not come out.
**SPOILERS** The article did say that
But reading back over it, it feels like it considers this a coming out episode - except coming out as heterosexual. Which was funny when Friends did it as a joke back in the '90s but doesn't work so well in an attempt for drama.
yeah, they did...*SPOILER*
they also did something similar on 'Frasier' once with the character of Gil.
frasier's remark is always stuck in my head when i hear someone do what he says: "that's the first time i've ever seen someone IN themselves..."
Yeah *spoilers*
Friends actually did it all the time. Once with Phoebe's figure skating marriage of convience husband and all the time with Chandler. It's not a concept that's exactly mind-blowing or groundbreaking by itself.
Really, I'll be kind of offended if this is all they do with it: "He's not gay, end of story. He was telling the truth. And not gay means he's heterosexual." If nothing else, that phrasing and the possible matter of fact acceptance of that binary implication would feel like a slap in the face to everyone who is neither gay nor straight.
I got the sense *SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER*
I got the sense that him saying he isn't gay and marc's reaction is basically saying "he's not ready to come out now. it will take some time. don't push him on it"
so i assume the show may, if they do go down the road of exploring who Justin is, they'll basically show him coming to terms somehow with being gay and then coming out and blah blah blah....
Hmmmm *SPOILERS*
Secondly, I thought his giving her the crown was the show's acknowledgment that the reason Hilda feels no shame toward Justin -- and won't let him feel any shame either -- is that SHE experienced that shame as a teen when she was pregnant (with him!). The crown is her "reward" for having experienced that before, and making sure no one else in her family was ever going to experience it again. I thought it was very moving.
Thirdly, I thought Marc's response, "Then he's not gay" was just so wonderful and perfect and spot-on -- accepting Justin exactly where he is RIGHT NOW and not asking for me. Except how a possibly "questioning" teen should be responded to.Check out my new fantasy website: TheTorchOnline.com. It's like AfterElton.com for fantasy geeks! And I Twitter
*SPOILERS* I sincerely hope I'm wrong,
I sincerely hope I'm wrong, but...
I think you are reading far, far too much into this scene. As filmed, we saw no indication that Justin was anything less than 100% sure of his sexuality. We didn't see any sign that he was saying what he THOUGHT his family wanted to hear. We didn't see any follow up of him alone in his room looking pensive and unsure. None of the typical signs that what we've just seen isn't exactly what we thought we saw...
Given how UN-subtle the writing on this show has been over the last year, I think it's far more likely that this episode was simply what it was: Justin is straight, end of story, end of speculation. I hope they prove me wrong, but my gut says it's done, over.
All I could think about when watching this scene was those Justin-like 15 year old boys who know (on some level) that they ARE gay and have watched this character over the last few seasons and see him as a role model. I felt that they must feel crushed and disappointed that the one example of someone "like them" isn't really all that much like them at all.
Here's the un-PC truth as I see it: boys like Justin aren't destined to be straight. Ever. We can all pretend that there's tons of exceptions to the rule, that Justin's gonna grow up to be a ladies man, but it's just not going to happen. Now here's the thing: would I *ever* say that to a boy like Justin face to face? Absolutely not. It's his journey to take. But as an adult who knows better, I'd have a pretty solid idea how that journey's going to go... and it sort of irritated me that Hilda, Betty, Marc and Ignacio didn't at least share a silent knowing glance to indicate that they, too, knew and understood.
Time will tell, but I was left with a very bad feeling about how this ended. I suspect that Betty will be cancelled this year and we'll be left with THIS as Justin's defining moment, and it just feels... insincere and false.
*Spoilers* I'm leaning towards your interpetation.
This post. Considering that Justin gets about one scene per season and there was no hint whatsoever that he didn't believe what he was saying, I think this is the end of his story. Especially since there's very little indication that Ugly Betty will be getting a season 5.
Justin was straight all along. Teenage gay kids have a much better and more developed role-model in Kurt Hummel, anyway, who has already gotten more screentime in a handful of episodes in that series than Justin has in 4 years. It's kind of a shame we can never have more than one of these at a time, though.
It's very telling in an episode that should be starring Justin that he hardly appears at all, because that's how the character is used.
Some debate here *SPOILERS*
I'm seeing as he's a 15 year old boy and confronted with the question by his mother, in front of his grandfather and aunt. Of course he's going to say he's not gay, even though everyone in the room knows that he is. He's only 15, it's not an easy thing to admit at that age. And, Marc's reaction was perfect.
The other half thinks that this is it, ABC wants to play it safe and keep the teen straight, and that if the show lasts they will never address it again. I seriously hope this is not the case.
Meanwhile, regarding the rest of the episode. That whole thing with Daniel and level 5. WTF was THAT?!?! I mean seriously?? It would've been a GREAT episode, but that brought it down to at least a C.
"Open up your mind and then open up your heart. And you will see that you and me aren't very far apart." - Blessid Union of Souls
wtf *SPOILERS*
That whole thing with Daniel and level 5. WTF was THAT?!?! I mean seriously??
I know, I was afraid it was going to turn into some sort of suicide cult/pact/thing with the crazy urgency of "getting to level 5 " and talk of being with [their] loved ones. wtf.
Thanks for the heads up!
*Spoilers* It's in His Line Reading and How the Scene is Shot...
To me, this wasn't shot like "Ha, ha, punchline, Justin's not really gay and we fooled you." If they wanted us to think Justin is really straight, they likely would've filmed it like "I'm not gay" and Marc would've reacted with something like a comic look on his face and "wow, didn't see that one coming! [comic pause]" or even more likely Justin would have said "I'm not gay and here's my hot cheerleader girlfriend who I've secretly been dating [comic pause as everyone does a spit take]."
Nope. The scene isn't shot to be funny, and Mark Indelicato delivers the line sadly and defensively and rushes out of the room. Marc's says something like "well, he is then," but note the tone, it's in a way that isn't like "that settles it," but more of a combination of "leave it alone" and "give him time." I think what the show is suggesting and why Brent likes the episode so much, as do I, is that it's clear they are going to finally deal with Justin coming out, and they're going to do it not just as a quick thing or as something jokey, but in a more realistic (or as realistic as this show gets) manner that does justice to the character.
This feeling is also suggested by something that would be a clear [Spoiler Alert], so I'm not going to write it here and ruin the show for those who hate that kind of thing, but if you've been reading Ugly Betty news updates on AfterElton the last few months, you may already have an inkling of what that might be.
BTW, I loved Justin giving Hilda the crown. What a wonderful moment. It's scenes like that that are going to make me really mad if ABC isn't doing everything it can to save this show, which is back in excellent form this year.
You and Brent
got it exactly right, and thanks for breaking it down and explaining it so well.
Spot on...
or at least that is how I saw it too...I rewatched the ending a couple of times after reading these posts, and I can't see it any other way...maybe I am being overly optimistic or naive...
Not only did "Mark Indelicato delivers the line sadly and defensively and rushes out of the room" but he couldn't look Hilda in the eyes. It felt hauntingly real.
And what you said about Marc's response...totally!
I agree that Justin has been used as a foil for other characters, but I have liked how his mentor/mentoree relationship with Marc is unfolding; it's lovely. I love how it's been a non issue.
Anyone hear Michael Urie's
Urie Interview
For the record, I agree with the interpretations that Justin is gay but not ready to admit it. And that Mark is telling Hilda to accept whatever Justin says until Justin tells her otherwise.
But I'm not sure how much the Urie interview could be evidence of that. I haven't heard it, so maybe you can give more detail that will contradict what I'm about to say, but actors often don't know any more about the direction of their storylines than the most recent script they've been given. So unless Justin will wind up coming out in the next few episodes, I doubt MU would be in a position to know that for certain. It's probably just how he's reading the scripts (and playing them.)
Maybe I'm wrong, and the actors on UB are the exception that have the whole season story arcs laid out for them in advance. But frankly, I've never been terribly convinced that the UB producers and writers even know themselves where they'll be that far in advance. There have been several storylines rushed to completion or veering off in odd directions in a way that suggests to me they're pretty improv on the show.
The interview
Michael Urie actually didn`t really say if Justin was gay or not in it.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120325162
I just have to add one thing