TVSquad

(S01E15) This show wows me on so many levels - the humor, the subversion, the eye candy, the emotional pay-offs, but damn, the writing - on a structural level - is so freaking good. This may have been the best episode of Ugly Betty yet. They took what is a soap opera mainstay and typically written off as a joke - a man becoming a woman - and turned it into something real. Honestly, it was just plain artful how the writers thematically connected Justin's story of playground bullying and his father's concern about his sexuality to Alexis' story of her own father's disapproval and eventual sex change. In the Suarez home, being accepted for who you are and seeing beauty in the people around you wins the day. In the Meade home, your father would rather see you dead than happy. That wasn't the only structural parallel at work in this episode either - Betty and Daniel were, as always, playing out the same stories in different universes. Betty forced Daniel's hand in confronting Alexis, but Daniel didn't let Betty out of confronting Walter. "It's a lot harder avoiding people than facing them."

Before we get to the many loves of Betty, I want to digress on just two points about this show. It's amazing to me how much solid character detail they cram into every episode. I love that we get to see Wilhelmina be a conniving bitch, but also a responsible professional. We get to see Claire Meade be a loving mother and a drunk mess who may have killed her husband's mistress. And, that's my second digression. Judith Light. Maybe she was always great, and I just didn't notice because Who's the Boss? was such crap. But, ever since she starred in Wit on Broadway and became a human rights and AIDS activist, she's been awesome. With age, she's lost the vanity that plagues most television actresses. She's fun to watch, and makes a great, sexy matriarch. ("I didn't pass out in a Mexican whorehouse again, did I?") Ok, digression over. On to our green girl, Betty.

I've wanted Betty to break it off with Walter ever since he cheated on her, but I appreciate that Walter got a little dignity in the big scene. As he said, he's not stupid. He saw this coming, but he just wanted to get that last kiss in before he left. I like that the break-up wasn't loud or dramatic or confrontational, and I didn't feel like having Walter move to Maryland let Betty off the hook in any way. It just ended the way lots of relationships end in real life. You grow apart. You don't get the "tiny little heart attacks," as Neil Simon called them, when you see the object of your now waning affection. It all just ends with quiet, bittersweet resignation.

That brings us to Henry. Oh, Henry. Move over Pam and Jim. I have a new favorite star-crossed couple. Since the male writers on TV Squad are allowed to go all gaga over Jenna Fischer, Lauren Graham and Lucy Davis, than I get to lay claim for the ladies to Christopher Gorham. How freaking adorable was Henry after Betty quasi-committed to seeing Wicked? "Great, another friend." Then, his ex-girlfriend who he "wants to work things out with" shows up. Knowing that this show, like The Office, is so well-written, we'll probably like her, too. I hate that. I want to hate her. I want to hate her for Betty, but if the promo is any indication, we may be getting a kiss... or a lame dream sequence in which we are mercilessly teased with a kiss. Good TV is so masochistic.

Wilhelmina Quip of the Week: "Birthdays are the gateway to Secret Santas and Casual Fridays."