Betty La Fea (Ugly Betty) Mas Bella Update XXIII

Both leads are hitting bottom now on "La Fea Mas Bella," the Televisa-Univision remake of the classic "Betty La Fea." Lety is becoming what was always there in her duplicity and cheating on Marcia, and soon she will flee that corrupted person to become someone better, inside and outside. It's this part of the show that those who condemned the "transformation" of Betty La Fea missed. She lost the good part of herself in her cheating and her revenge. To recover the inside but still have the outside would have been only a partial recovery. The new person will be the best she can be (god, did that sound as bad to you?). As for Fernando, he's not as close to bottom as he will be, but he has reversed his original character as much as Lety. He too will have to undergo major physical as well as spiritual change before coming out all right and worthy of the new her. (No, he's not going to end the show with thick glasses and braces, but the physical ramifications will be clear.) It's very dark right now, which is why they've launched into the Alicia-Tomas plotline, which actually may be too silly to bear if it weren't a needed opposite of the Lety-Fernando piece. It's starting to hit a new cruising speed. And, if it follows the old plotline, I promise it will continue to improve now.

As for the other "remake," ABC's "Ugly Betty," having Salma Hayek (!!!) actually in front of the camera for the last few episodes meant the stories didn't really have to be about anything to be good. But for those of you who prefer that, they've done a nice job with the divergent paths they've taken. It's not "Betty La Fea," but it couldn't have been, given the different format and time restraints, but America Ferrara is just too good for this show to be a failure. She's been launched on the geographical America now, and I'm hoping it's just the start of a truly remarkable career. USA Today gives her the star treatment today, showing her to be smart and well-grounded, just like in the tv interviews I've seen. Doesn't seem likely to go DIVA, especially with Salma (!!!) around as her mentor. Maybe Lindsey should give her a call.