Ugly Betty Season 1

The Bettyfied Edition

Ugly Betty follows the daily life of Betty Suarez, a promising college graduate from a struggling Latino family in Queens. She was promptly rejected at a "job interview" at Meade Publications in Manhattan based solely on her appearance (thus the series' title). However, company CEO Bradford Meade spots her and has her hired as an executive assistant to his son Daniel Meade, the newly-installed Editor-in-chief at MODE magazine. Primarily because Bradford did not wish for Daniel to continue bedding his assistants, this after catching him having sex in his office with a potential applicant. Betty is not very interested in fashion and is sometimes clueless about the company's motives and organizations, although she has expressed a passion for photography.

Betty finds herself helping Daniel personally and professionally. Daniel at times has been labeled a "himbo" and a "manwhore" (the latter quoted from the fictional Fashion TV). Daniel has always been outshone by his brother Alex Meade. He has no confidence in his own abilities except as a lothario. He is not experienced in the fashion industry and was placed as the Editor-in-chief of MODE solely based on his namesake. However, as the story progresses so does Daniel's potential.

Much of the earlier plot involved the suspicion surrounding the death of Daniel's predecessor, Fey Sommers. Fey's death and her involvement with Bradford Meade was used as the backdrop for a scheme to take over the company by Wilhelmina Slater, a former model currently serving as MODE's Creative Director, and a hospital patient swathed in bandages who in the later episodes would be revealed as Daniel's brother Alex, post-gender reassignment. Alex staged his death as he feared his family would not accept his decision to undergo the surgery. Now, Alexis also pursued revenge on her father by helping Wilhelmina frame him for Fey's murder. However, Claire, the family matriarch, confessed to Betty that she was the true culprit as she would no longer stand to see her husband's infidelity. Claire would eventually turn herself in to the authorities in order to release her husband from jail, this after Betty talked her out of leaving the country.

In order to improve the relationship between the eldest Meade child and her brother and father, while being detoxed at a hospital as she prepares to face murder charges Claire names newly terminated Alexis as the magazine's Co-Editor-in-chief. It is revealed that Claire is Mode's actual owner after Bradford started the magazine under her name to evade paying taxes on it. These circumstances give Wilhelmina a new scheme to drive a deeper wedge into the family by intensifying the Meade sibling rivalry (especially Alexis, who turned on Wilhelmina after sensing that Daniel had changed after all and decided against firing him), and manipulating Claire into signing a Power of Attorney (Claire refused). As a result of this, Wilhelmina decides to romance Bradford by offering him "...a little company", not knowing that she is using him by manipulating Bradford to divorce Claire, then marry him so she can takeover Meade Publications. The scheme has made Claire furious, prompting her to team up with a fellow inmate named Yoga to make a prison break so she can stop the planned November wedding.

Along the way, Daniel would tone down his womanizing ways, but at a price. First, starting with Sofia Reyes, who was hired by his father to launch a new magazine, Modern Young Woman (MYW). Sofia would later entice Betty (who was a fan of hers) into working with her. Unfortunately, just as Daniel proposes to her, Betty discovers that Sofia was fooling them both; using Daniel as the subject of a cover story in order to launch the new magazine. The chain of events would result Betty quitting MYW because of Sofia's deception. Daniel would later date lawyer Grace Chin, an old flame he once stood up back in college, after Bradford recommend that she represent him. But thanks to Wilhelmina's scheming and Alexis' hatred for her father, that romance ended quickly as well. After a deceptive scheme by Lena and Petra, a mother/daughter team who tricked him into believing that Petra was a teenager and would almost lose his job, only to be foiled by Betty after learning that Petra was an adult, Betty told Daniel that he might be a sex addict due to his family problems and recommended that he seek help. Unfortunately, after taking the advice of a doctor who was also a former sex addict, Daniel starts taking a bottle of pills that has lead him to start a drug addiction and in the process is beaten up by a drug dealer and eventually overdosing

Wilhelmina, in-between her conspiring also tries winning her father's approval (a United States Senator), disciplining her rebellious daughter Nico (who, despite not acknowledging it, shares her mother's traits) and relationship with retail mogul Ted LeBeau disintegrating due to issues with his family. In addition, she has an ongoing rivalry with Italian cosmetics/fashion mogul Fabia, which included sabotaging an ad campaign, using "duck sauce", and making a trade for a wedding date.

Her former ally, Alexis, post-surgery, has been ostracized and abandoned by her friends. Due to her transgender status she was the target of a bet between male patrons at a bar (Wilhelmina punched the winner out). She also had issues with her brother Daniel that has seen a series of ups and downs in the wake of learning that her mother was Fey's muderer as well as sibling rivalry between each other. Her relationship with her father has also taken a toll, prompting her to hire a hitman to cut the brakes on Bradford's car after he paid a creative director from MODE's Brazilian counterpart, Rodrigo Veloso, to romance Alexis (an idea setup by Wilhelmina). Unfortunately, she would end up taking the car after learning of Daniel's drug overdose and in the process tried to drive him to a hospital, resulting in the two crashing into a tree, both unconscious.

Some of Betty's co-workers, particularly receptionist Amanda Tanen and fellow assistant Marc St. James often ridicule her appearance and constantly taunt her. They often easily trick Betty due to her naïveté and trusting nature (she ate gluesticks after being led to believe by Marc that she was eating white chocolate, and showed up to work in a butterfly outfit for Halloween party that was fabricated by the assistant). Despite their dislike for her, the two are willing to work with Betty at times. Their personal issues have been addressed, such as Marc multi-tasking for Wilhelmina, mostly in plotting against Daniel, taking advantage of her takeover plans, taking side jobs by tipping off retailers, and coming out to his mother (who would reject him). Wilhelmina even forces him to test his close relationship with Amanda, leading him to trying to keep the receptionist onboard at MODE.

On the other hand, Amanda was one of Daniel's many paramours, until she realized that he would never commit. In addition to her binge eating she attempted to replace Betty and would find herself the target of a series of pranks made by another Meade employee after she received a Hobble Dress that she thought came from a designer. She also had a relationship with a straight designer named Tavares, who was pretending to be gay so he can get his designs noticed, but would end the relationship after he took advantage of her generousity. Prior to working at MODE, Amanda was an actress (one of her former roles was working as a "Serving Wench" at a restaurant), but when the offers dried up her father got her a "Lifetime Receptionist" job. Amanda would later find out why she got her job after she stumbled upon Fey's secret "Love Dungeon", where she would learn that Fey kept pictures of her as a child and a birth certificate that revealed Fey as Amanda's mother.

Betty did briefly befriend a group of similar outcasts. Her best friend and confidant at MODE is Christina McKinney, the Scottish seamstress. Christina's goal is to be a fashion designer. But in pursuing her goal, she finds herself becoming an unwilling minion of Wilhelmina's when she is coerced (by winning a spot at Fashion Week) into turning a package to the police that results in Bradford's false arrest. Fearing that Wilhelmina will manipulate it to look as if she was responsible, Christina goes along with her bidding to protect her friendship with Betty whom upon discovery she fears will turn on her, which eventually did happen after she invited her to a club. However the two would make up and Christina offered to give Betty any info on Wilhelmina's schemes. Christina would also find herself getting locked up with Amanda after learning that Amanda found the "Love Dungeon", where after two end up intoxicated, told Amanda that she was married to an insurance auditor back in Scotland and that she walked out on him. Christina would be the one who opened the safe that contained Amanda's birth certificate and photos.

At the Suarez home, Betty's father, Ignacio, an illegal immigrant who had not applied for residency as he murdered the abusive ex-husband of his now deceased wife (mother to his daughters) in his home country of Mexico. His residency status, however, depends on responding to romantic tactics from his caseworker, Constance Grady, which would be thwarted after learning that Constance was fired for being too involved in her clients. After an effort to obtain a visa was denied, Ignacio was told to stay in Mexico, unaware that he is currently the target of a revenge plot 30 years after he murdered the banker, now that he has returned to his home country.

All this puts the Suarez family in a legal bind as they also deal with Betty's older sister Hilda being unemployed after the health supplement company she represented is placed under investigation by the government. Hilda would later find a new talent in cosmetology. Hilda and her pre-teen son Justin, whose interests has sparked questions about his sexual orientation, slowly let his father Santos, a gambler who runs into trouble with loan sharks, work his way back into their lives as he attempts to understand his son, which would result in Santos asking Hilda to marry him; Hilda said yes. Unfortunately, the wedding plans would take a tragic turn when he is shot and presumably killed trying to foil an armed robbery.

In-between these events, Betty also finds herself dealing with a pair of romantic situations. Her long time boyfriend Walter cheated on her with next door neighbor Gina Gambarro. Betty reluctantly took him back but realized that she had lost her attraction to him and they ultimately parted ways. After the split Betty thought that she had found a soulmate in Henry Grubstick, an accountant at Meade Publications. However, Henry's on-again/off-again flame Charlie shows up, prompting Betty to hold off on her pursuit of Henry. But the friction between Henry and Charlie, whose relationship was on the rocks, would heat up as Charlie became jealous of Betty and told her to back off. After seeing a vision in Mexico that she thought was Henry, Betty would discover that he might be the right person for her, and when she returned she told him that she wants to be with him, and he agreed; Henry and Charlie had broken up, resulting in the two becoming a couple. Unfortunately, Charlie would show up on their first date at Betty's home to say that she was pregnant, thus crushing Betty's dreams. But Betty would later learn that Charlie had been cheating with Betty's dentist, Dr. Gabe Farkas, after Betty introduced him to Charlie at her birthday party, and as Henry and Charlie prepare to go back to Arizona, it is unclear as to whether Henry or Gabe is the actual father of Charlie's unborn child.

First Aired: September 28, 2006
Last Aired: May 17, 2007

Notes:

There are 23 episodes in this season.
There is 1 special episode in this season.