THE LYIN', THE WATCH AND THE WARDROBE

Ugly Betty

Season 1 (2006)

Watching this Halloween offering from Ugly Betty, I was surprised by the weird tonal shifts of this show.  I guess it makes sense, as it was adapted from a telenovela, but I was expecting more of a straightforward comedy than a soapy melodrama.  I think it would have worked better as a half hour sitcom than an hour-long mishmash dramedy.

“The Lyin’, the Watch and the Wardrobe” starts promisingly enough, with snarky Mode Magazine employee Marc dressing in drag as Betty for Halloween.  I wish he had stayed in costume for the entire episode but sadly he’s quickly ordered to change by his imperious boss (played by Vanessa Williams).  The real Betty, meanwhile, is pestering her dad about his immigration status (one of the episode’s many tacked-on dramatic subplots) while the poor guy is just trying to have a good Halloween, wearing vampire fangs, mixing up a batch of homemade blood and pretending to sever his hand while carving a pumpkin (as we all do). 

Sadly this doesn't last long.

Betty later shows up to work in a butterfly costume only to learn no one actually wears costumes to work.  After this the Halloween aspects of the show dwindle down to near nothingness as Betty (clad as a butterfly for the rest of the episode) runs around trying to retrieve her boss’ missing watch while he grills his alcoholic mother about some extremely complicated plot involving his father and his murdered mistress. 

Butterfly Betty is also fed up with this tangle of storylines.

Eric Mabius, who plays Betty’s boss, has the screen presence of a piece of toast soaked in milk so I nearly fell asleep during every scene he appeared in.  Also, the scene in which his alcoholic mom, played by the delicious Judith Light, is checked out of rehab and then he trades her a glass of wine for information was genuinely disturbing and not for the usual “Boo! It’s Halloween!” type of reasons. 

In the end this episode was kind of a bummer.  I felt bad for drunk Judith Light.  I felt bad for Betty.  And most of all I felt bad for Betty’s dad who, like me, just wanted to enjoy the holiday and forgo all of the drama.

Recurring Themes: Betty falls for the classic No One Else in Costume trick.

Halloween Quotient: There is just enough Halloween here to earn itself a 2.

See It, Skip It, Own It?

Skip it and, if this episode is any indication, you can skip the entire show as well.  Admittedly this was an early episode from Season 1 so maybe things got better.