DVD Review: Ugly Betty - The Complete Second Season

The series tells the story of Betty Suárez (America Ferrera), a young Latina from Queens, New York, brave but sorely lacking in social skills, self-confidence, fashion sense, and aesthetic polish. Betty is suddenly thrust into a new world, when she is hired as a personal assistant at Mode, a fashion magazine headquartered in Manhattan. The magazine is part of the publishing empire of Bradford Meade (Alan Dale) and his family. Despite her inexperience, Meade hires Betty to look after his son, the new Mode editor-in-chief, Daniel Meade (Eric Mabius). In time, the two develop a fairly strong, trusting friendship.

The Season Two cast of Ugly Betty.
© ABC Studios. All Rights Reserved.

During the first season Wilhelmina Slater (Vanessa Williams), the high-powered creative director who was passed over, conspires with other employees to discredit and undermine the new rookie editor's efforts and ultimately take over the magazine. By season Two Wilhelmina cooks up a plan to try and marry Bradford and Daniel becomes angry at Betty for not keeping him updated on things. Later, Wilhelmina gets so desperate she ends up stealing sperm to try to keep her hold on the empire (yeah, this gets good, but I don't want to give too much away), and then there's the little matter of Kiss's Gene Simmons turning up as the biological father (or not) of Amanda (Becki Newton), who buddy's with Marc (Michael Urie) who's been Wilhelmina's toadie. Betty? She ends up trying to decide between two guys: the nerdy (and annoying) Henry (Christopher Gorham) and a new guy in town, Gioivanni "Gio" Rossi (Freddy Rodriguez). Betty's gay nephew Justin (Mark Indelicato) starts as an intern at Mode and quickly shows an ability to navigate the murky waters of high profile magazine. Meanwhile, Betty struggles to get back into Daniel's good graces.

Ugly Betty is one of the funniest shows on television today. The show successfully mixes elements of comedy, soap opera, and mystery-drama, while spoofing the world of fashion magazines. With two complete seasons under their belt, the creative team behind Ugly Betty has yet to reveal a weakness in the series. The performances are strong, the humor is biting and the writing is top notch. America Ferrera was born to play the role of Betty. I can't imagine anyone else being able to capture the characters sweetness, vulnerability and drive, as well as Ms. Ferrera does, week after week.

All 18 of the second season's episodes are included in this DVD set:

How Betty Got Her Grieve Back
Family/Affair
Betty's Wait Problem
Grin and Bear It
A League of Their Own
Something Wicked This Way Comes
A Nice Day for a Posh Wedding
I See Me, I.C.U.
Giving Up the Ghost
Bananas for Betty
Zero Worship
Odor in the Court
A Thousand Words by Friday
Twenty-Four Candles
Burning Questions
Betty's Baby Bump
The Kids are Alright
Jump

The picture is presented in 1.78:1 widescreen, enhanced for 16x9 televisions so that it fills the whole screen. The colors are Mode bright, and for a TV show there's surprisingly little grain.

The audio is excellent for a television show, with an English or Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 filling the room with full sound and a surprising amount of ambient sounds distributed across the front and rear speakers.

Ugly Betty - The Complete Second Season has a few special features:

• On Set with the Besties (6:38) - Michael Urie and Becki Newton take the audience on a tour of the set that includes pop-ups that describe the set in more details and gives factual tidbits.
• The Suarez Tour (3:37) - Actor Tony Plana shows the Suarez home set to viewers in this short featurette.
• Wilhemina Slater: Love to Hate Her (6:57) - The cast members share their thoughts and favorite scenes about the show's villainess. The creator describes his inspiration for the character and Vanessa Williams discusses how she plays the role.
• Las Pasiones de Telenovelas - Two episodes of the Suarez family's favorite Spanish language soap opera.
• I Heart Betty (6:10) - America Ferrara and other cast members discuss Betty's love life through a series of clips from the show.
• Betty Bloops (4:47) - Outtakes from the show's second season.
• Deleted Scenes - Sixteen scenes from various episodes from Season Two.