Is anyone else slightly disturbed by last week's Ugly Betty?

[MrsThierryHenry]

I found it rather uncomfortable that they came up with a storyline where the fabulous duo Mark & Wilhemina nick Willie's sister's psychiatric pills in order to make her lose her mind so that they can have her sectioned.

Am I being too PC here? It genuinely seems like a horrible plot twist for this type of comedy. Imagine if the pills had been for cancer and she'd ended up with a massive tumour as a result. Wouldn't be classed as comedy, would it?

Oh well, guess it's just me, then!

LOL it was a good story line thou

but it wasnt for cancer

they wouldnt do it if it was

i thought it was a good story, i love ugly betty though it gets more bizzarre by the week

whats going to happen with her and henry?

I am sure her and the other guy get together in this series and I love ugly betty

I didn't see it but I think it sounds awful.

As someone who has seen the damage mental illness can do, I think it's highly annoying that some people think this would be acceptable and even funny, where a similar storyline where the person had cancer wouldn't be.

What are you saying that mental illnesses are not to be taken seriously?

I hope that eventually it will come out in the story as definitely NOT being funny and show all the implications

it was taken seriously, i don't think it was handled badly, plus whilemina would probably do the same thing to someone with cancer she is such a bitch. I didn;t think it was meant to be funny, it just highlighted how low whilemina will stoop

I don't think it was made out to be acceptable. The person who did it is also portrayed as harvesting sperm from her dead husband (whom she married for power and not for love) and blackmailing another woman into acting as a surrogate for the child conceived using her egg and the sperm of her dead husband.

No, not slightly annoyed. And if they got it past the touchiest, most easily offended people in teh world, Americans, then it passes muster.

Ugly betty is fictional for god sake there is nothing in the show that is very realistic if your going to take it so seriously I suggest you don't watch it.

In the grand scheme of plots to murder and maim which exist in Ugly Betty this was par for the course, IMO - I don't think it was being portrayed as being acceptable any more than cutting someone's brake pipes.

I agree with FallenMadonna. Surely the storyline was showing that the Wilhelmina character would do anything, no matter how despicable to get her way. It's up there with the other things FallenMadonna mentioned. IIRC, she also tempted an alcoholic (Claire Meade)with vodka to get her to do what she wanted.

No one is saying that doing those things in real life would or could be funny, or indeed would be in a serious drama, but this is intended to be so extreme it is almost like a cartoon. In that environment, the nastiest behaviour is often played for some laughs.

OMG, pingping, are you saying it's not real??

expat, you make a good point about it getting past "the most easily offended people in the world"!

Penelope, you're right about the way it was handled in the show - I don't think they went for any laughs about her psychiatric illness (though it did make me laugh out loud when Mark was offering Daniel his PA services 'in case Betty doesn't make it').

Ribena - I agree with you, in fact I've always thought of UB as being like a cartoon in human form. On shows like The Simpsons and South Park they break as many taboos as they can and manage to get away without actually offending people. Well, except the Scientologists. Anyway, in a cartoon comedy you can get away with that much more easily than when there are people on the screen, which is why it felt uncomfortable.

Worse than that IMO is the guy who playscDaniel. In such a brilliantly colourful and talented cast, how did someone so dull ever get the part?

I second you on Daniel. I always feel that the actor doesn't have that cheeky twinkle you need to get away with a rather dull character!

Now just imagine if it were someone like The Clooney playing Daniel...drool...somebody peel me off the floor!

I don't always follow UB but my son's G/F always fills me in.
I HAVE to agree with the point about Daniel being sooooo lacking. He just doesn't fit the bill. Such a mistake and a disappointment, that I just don't care about him. He doesn't work IMO.