Ugly Betty 1.08 'After Hours'

After she started at MODE, Betty began to change in a lot of different ways. We see these changes most prominently when she’s spending time with the whiny pest that is Walter. Despite his constant presence being more than a nuisance, it was such a clever tool for contrasting the different girl Betty has become already, with the shy, fumbling mess from the pilot.

In ‘After Hours’ an ecstatic Betty is given her first major task; a hotel review but when she has to spend the weekend away, she’s forced to take a moping Walter along. Hilda turns to Santos, Justin’s father, for help in securing the money for Ignacio’s lawyer. Willy tries to entertain a much different client than she’s used to.

Betty’s struggle with her personal life and work life is constantly retread throughout the series and though it can get tiresome, I always feel like it’s a plot worth exploring given the importance of strength of character to this shows main thesis. Here, Betty has to confront that balancing act in an all-too-direct manner when she’s forced into bringing Walter with her on her first major assignment. As the evening wears on, he starts to notice all these changes in Betty’s demeanour, not the least of which is her newfound respect for her working life in place of her relationship with Walter, something he puts ahead of everything else.  

His constant whining is a pain to endure, but it’s all coming from a good place. The girl he once fell in love with is fading away, replaced with this new “worldly” (at least, by his standards) girl who’s career is about to take her to into unchartered territory. This separation in their lives is explored in a future episode, but for now, Betty’s struggle to retain her old life continues, as she ensures him she’s still a “Queens Girl”.

Willy’s character deconstruction continues as her run-in with the all too “common” Ted LeBeau revealed a more understanding and broad-minded woman. With a shared connection over their turbulent relationships with their respective loved ones, Willy saw a place where she could share her secrets and someone she could be open to. Contrastingly, Hilda has trouble showing any trust to the long-unrepentant bad boy, Santos, Justin’s dad. After initially failing to prove his worth, in the end he’s seen to have taken a tremendous hit for Hilda and her family allowing him a seat at their Thanksgiving dinner table. Yeah, that’ll go down well...

Despite some moments of downright annoyance, ‘Betty’s creative streak continues as the debut season proves to be full of heart warming drama, and easy to love characters.

8/10