Ugly Betty – waiting for the uk version

Betty, Betty, where did it all go wrong?

Probably when they got rid of Gio.

My love affair with this show is over, taking a beating throughout the season. Somehow, the enthusiasm I used to have for Betty dwindled until I was merely watching it out of habit.

It’s hard to say what exactly happened, but I think it may have come from the lack of character development for Betty. We finally had some developments with her deciding to be her own person, move out of home and live in the city and..well, grow up (unfortunately this didn’t extend to her fashion taste, but whatever. Obviously the show has no concept of how people actually do evolve over time – and when are those damn braces coming off?).

And then they slam on the brakes and reverse wildly back to the firsts eason, throwing Betty back into the family home and just not letting her mature. It really frustrated me. We see all these people around her growing, expanding their roles and becoming more than the 2 dimensional characters we were first introduced to, and yet our titular character remins exactly the same. There is no need to re-invent her overnight but for god’s sake – by now maybe she could have tried contacts once or twice, decided ponchos aren’t the best idea in the world, experienced with heels and TAKEN IFF THOSE GODDAMNED BRACES.

We saw Daniel maturing with a child of his own, and then a splendid twist, where he discovers it’s not his biological son – but his brother/sisters. Ouch. And while he broods, he meets Molly, his best friend’s fiancé, and the perfect woman for him. Wilhemina softens with a relationship with said best friend of Daniel, and also has a new baby to tend to. We have growth with her, as her hard metal shell crackens occasionally to reveal how deeply she cares about her status in life and does everything within her power to hold onto it.

Even Amanda and Marc have growth, with Marc’s relationship going through the wringer as he becomes uncomfortable being with only one man, a man he loves but doesn’t fit the ideal world he is desperately trying to throw himself into. And then after breaking his heart, he throws himself into becoming a junior editor, which he obviously excels at…but which is cruelly stolen away from him at the end. Gah. I love you Marc.

Even Christina, who has Wilhemina’s devil spawn, gets her husband back, tried to help him with his disease, and then finds herself attached to the child, only to find out it actually is her child and waltzes back to Scotland – see? Some..semblance of…

Screw it. Betty just annoys me.

They keep flinging around the editor-in-chief role like it’s the holy grail, now it’s Alexis, now it’s Daniel, now it’s Willy, now it’s I don’t give a toss. We see Betty develop and then regress again. They bring bloody Harry back to destroy her new relationship with the rich boy, who I was growing to like (although he will never replace the joy which is Gio in my heart –Bring Back Gio!) – and then at the end of it, the new guy’s dad is now in charge of the whole shebang, and brings in the newly heartbroken boy to be Betty’s boss – and I find myself not caring. I honestly don’t care. I want to see Amanda, Marc, Wilhemina, Daniel’s heartbreak over losing Molly to cancer, hell, Hilda and Justin. I don’t care about Betty anymore.

Which is why this show is being relegated off the schedule. I’ll see what the first few episodes bring – and if they don’t entice me, it’s off to E4 with the show. I’ll see it when they finally show the new season next year.

Grey’s Anatomy – ridiculous but just can’t put it down

Grey’s took after its own subject material in its most recent season: started off alright, took a turn for the worse, flatlined, and then miraculously recovered, finishing strong.

GA has definitely peaked, which isn’t surprising as it would have been immensely difficult to keep up those numbers. Even so, the show seemed to fall into precarious waters and all over a dead ghost.

Complaining seems to work well on this show; that or being a Grey. As it is, while we still had our 5 beloved interns to follow around, after 2 seasons we still only know one of their subordinates and that’s solely because she’s little Grey. The others remain nameless characters (although they do manage to have a few beautiful scenes where their own personal dramas bled into the lives of our own doctors, without the back-story: pretty much what we’ve been watching from our famous five, but how everyone else would have seen it. Cute)

The season was mainly dogged by controversy. After disastrously ruining Callie’s strong embodiment femininity, they gave her a lesbian relationship with Dr Hahn (even though Callie continued sleeping with mark) and then spectacularly wrote Hahn off the show a mere 2 episodes later, in what became affectionately known as Hahn-Gate. After Isaiah Washington was kicked off for homophobic slurs, Hahn was kicked off for fear of scaring off the advertisers and network execs. Ouch. And then Hahn was replaced with another blonde doctor- a younger, prettier and more hyper version. May the live happily ever after (or at least however long any relationship seems to last on this show).

Our beloved George had no storyline this year, quite often just popping in to make his single line in each episode. It’s no wonder he asked to be off the show. But what makes this sadder for me is the last episode: Yes, George goes out a hero for throwing himself under a bus – but I never made the connection. Because I was so used to not seeing George on the show anymore, I didn’t even realise it could be him, just disappointed they were treating him so badly as to not even give him a proper farewell.

Christina stayed quiet this year and was in the background for a large chunk of the season, albeit the one shining moment in all the muck Her storyline with PTSD-stricken doctor Owen was pure genius. It’s so old-school romance and perfect and I’m just grateful she’s getting a storyline again.

After pulling out of the Emmy nominations last year due to lack of a storyline, Katherine Heigl was rewarded with a season-long story-arc –inevitably leading to the single incident which broke the show. Yes, it’s the infamous ghost sex incident. Izzie has sex with a ghost, even though the man we all know she belongs with is right there. We waited 4 years for her and Alex to get it on, and when they do, Izzie is sleeping with a ghost.

And then they have to go and fix it by giving Izzie brain cancer which has grown to such proportions it’s taken over her entire body.

And poor Alex, who has obviously had a crappy life, who’s recovered from his crappy exes, who is finally making something of himself (here is an amazing character arc they’ve been driving since season 1) only for it to fall apart when the woman he loves is dying. BAD SHOW.

That’s the problem with this show – the cast is too big (and their egos even bigger) and they just don’t know what to do with them all. It’s difficult juggling so many storylines, but it can be done – something which they proved the first couple of seasons. And yet, lately they’ve really stuffed it up. Characters fade into the background for a whole season before finally demanding they have something to do, while others are being constantly thrown through the exact same ringer time and time again. Yes, morose Meredith and McDreamy. Ugh. I’m so over this relationship. I don’t care. I don’t. And it was so obvious on their “very special” episode it would be Izzie and Alex walking down the aisle and not Meredith and McDreamy. We’re not stupid.

So, while it managed to keep me for the beginning of the season, it spiralled. Callie was still ruined, I didn’t care about Lexie and McSteamy, nor Meredith and McDreamy, and really didn’t care about the serial killer storyline and the tones of grey. Heh.

I wanted beautiful, strong Calliope back (and may that happen next season). I wanted Miranda to stride down the hall like she was the Lion Queen, and this was her kingdom. And then they brought Denny back yet again (intoning once more how he was the great love of Izzie and yes, he was amazingly wonderful and all, but they didn’t even date!) and I came every close to throwing it all in.

And then Izzie’s story came together, and she and Alex grew stronger together, showing how couple can come up against adversity and make it through. They had beautiful scenes between Christina and Owen and actually gave Christina a soul, and it made the show watchable again. Dr Roberts brought out the Callie we all love, and Miranda came back as well. I found the show creeping back up my favourites list.

And then we come down to the final moments with both Izzie and George’s lives on the line. We see the infamous elevator and Izzie in that damn pink prom dress (and when I saw that at the beginning of the season I had a feeling they’d  be killing Izzie off) – the doors open and there’s George. Not Denny. No, because Izzie has finally moved on and actually wants to be with Alex.

Who dies? Well, those who read the spoilers will know the answer. But after all the crap, they managed to pull the show back to its previous standards. Question is, can they keep it up?

Highest point definitely had to be the finale because that was amazing. Realising it was George on the table, realising the lengths Alex would go to, both of them flatlining and that damn scene in the elevator to tide us over…it’s just sad it took them over 22 episodes to get to that level. On the other hand, the scene a couple of episodes earlier where Christina and Owen slowly brush past each other in the corridor was damn HOT.

Lowest point: do I have to spell it out? They ruined a beloved character on this show by bringing him back to have ghosts ex. And who didn’t work out his words, I came for you, meant she was dying? Show, stop treating us all like 5 year olds. Please.

I will be back. But this is your last shot GA – any more shambolic shenanigans like last season, and I’m audi.