So the show begins properly now. Once again written by showrunner Silvio Horta, and edited by Queen of the South showrunner, as well as season 1 writer and script editor, Dailyn Rodriguez. Directed by Sheree Folkson in her only directorial work for Ugly Betty, Folkson has directed an episode of 12 Monkeys, an episode of American Horror Story, and several other things you’ve never heard of or don’t like. Such as Doctor Who’s “In the Forest of the Night,” which is a terrible episode that makes me want to strangle the writer every day of his life.

With the foundations of the show established in “Pilot,” now we get to the proper thing: The magazine at work, Wilhelmina scheming with her plastic friend and Marc, Bradford is concerned about the woman with car troubles, and Daniel is in over his head. Sorry, that’s also the basis of the whole season, but I’m talking more specifically about “The Box and the Bunny.” Unpacking her stuff onto her desk, Betty is accosted by Queen B (you can finish the word), Marc, for her gaudy pink graduation bunny. While Daniel learns about The Book – see The Devil Wears Prada for reference.

Meanwhile, the magazine is doing a shoot on Natalie Whitman, a stand-in for Renée Zellweger, who stars in the film series Jenna Fletcher (Bridget Jones). Played by Sarah Jones, best known for Alcatraz, For All Mankind, and Damnation, Natalie is supposed to be this everywoman who is sick of this aspiration to be a pin-thin supermodel. A body that no one can honestly achieve and maintain without doing short-term and long-term damage to themselves. You know, the fun side of being a woman who enjoys food, life, and basically everything that life has to offer; there might just be another America Ferrera role that talks about that.

Not only are we getting Ugly Betty in full now, but we’re finally establishing that sense of editing style the show has for the next 80+ episodes. A style, oddly enough, that is similar to the likes of Edgar Wright: Most notably, 25+ minutes in, Betty and Christina are on the phone, and as Christina moves clothes on a rack, the two shots swap positions. It isn’t the disposable camera in Shaun of the Dead, the travel montage from Hot Fuzz, and everything else, but it shows an influence. Better still, a good influence.

For the most part, the plot has been covered by the summation I’ve already given. Betty is finally embedding herself properly now, with the show similarly finding itself by establishing Daniel as a boss and someone who understands Betty, rather than whatever you want to call him in the pilot. I can’t say what I’d call him because Americans would gasp in horror and I’d be fired, but just know it wasn’t something nice. Now at Mode, it is Team Daniel vs Team Wilhelmina, as the latter wrestles and schemes for control of the whole empire.

As we’ll come to establish, the A-story of the season, for the most part, is this power struggle between the surviving prodigal playboy son and the wicked witch of the Upper East Side. While the B-story mostly pertains to the mystery of Bradford’s secrets and Fey Sommers’ car crash. All the while, there are details like Betty’s relationships, her family’s problems, bits about the magazine, the Meade family drama (spoilers), and so on. As we’re still establishing the magazine as a business, we focus on The Book – the proof copy for the Editor-in-Chief to review before publication.

Something Daniel only finds out about days before print, as Wilhelmina has secretly been taking it home and thus controlling the editorial style of the whole magazine. As a way to dramatize the show, it is fine, but speaking for a much smaller version of that similar role, it is sort of important for the second-in-command to be there and support the EIC. Of course, she’s not doing that out of the job description, but rather to scheme and plot her eventual ability to run the magazine, even the whole publishing empire.

The trouble there is that Amanda is still being Amanda, both casually racist/xenophobic (out of stupidity and ignorance) and unbelievably conveniently attractive, thus randy Daniel can’t keep his little editor in check. He leaves The Book alone in his office, and Betty tries to help while he ignores his phone. As a plot, “The Box and the Bunny” isn’t too special or great. It’s all rather simple if we’re honest. However, as I keep trying to say with some of the more sci-fi shows I’ve covered, that’s sort of what needs to be done in these early episodes to establish a series of plot points.

We’re still building the trust between Daniel and Betty, we’re still seeing how far Wilhelmina is willing to go to harm Mode to get her goal, and we’re teasing out the characters that surround Betty. Tony Plana’s Ignacio is a typical dad, who doesn’t know the hot new star but will praise her for complimenting his cooking; Justin loves pop culture; Betty’s neighbor, Gina Gambarro, is the stereotypical “Skank;” Hilda is annoying, and so on. The foundations are being laid, but we’re still getting things in place to metaphorically build the house on top of that.

At least with these first couple of episodes, I don’t want to go into late episode spoilers too much. However, drama ensues as Wilhelmina orders Marc to leave the unPhotoshopped (MS Paint) images of Natalie Whitman in The Book. The same Book that Betty takes home to Queens, as she feels it would be safer than leaving it in an office with creepy-looking cleaning staff. Given I’ve reiterated how basic the ideas are, thus far, I think it’s obvious what does happen for the most part. I won’t say it is bad because it isn’t, it is just the typical American TV, “it’s fine, there is nothing too bad to say about it.”

The biggest thing I could see being a “problem” for some is the casual jabs at Betty for being Hispanic, very little of which goes away for one reason or another. I’m not going to say “This WOKE generation can’t handle it,” it is a bit risky to use it as a tool, and some do not understand its point, both for the positive and the negative. However, the point is to show just how casual, how horrible, but how quickly Betty needs to ignore, move on, and do better despite that constant punching down on her.

I mean, according to Becki Newton and Michael Urie in their initial podcast, Still Ugly, Marc and Amanda weren’t supposed to be around for long, and they were supposed to be evil the whole time. Again, I don’t want to spoil too much, especially because they are supposed to be these one-dimensional catty, camp bitches. However, there is that eventual growth and change that feels true to them and makes you love them despite their role, despite how evil they are, and just how complex they become despite their simple characteristics.

That’s Ugly Betty in a nutshell, really, when I think about it from here and looking back. On the surface, it looks very simple and basic: A young woman who isn’t a model, who is the daughter of immigrants, and who doesn’t fit in with Marc and Amanda, also happens to be deeply personal, deeply heart-warming, and sometimes makes you feel for the villains of the piece because she does. The Venn diagram of this crossover is probably a circle, but Ugly Betty is much like Desperate Housewives in that regard; a simple premise, but insane stuff is about to happen.

Ultimately, “The Box and the Bunny” finds the footing for Ugly Betty going forward without throwing the answers of who the woman in bandages is, why Bradford cares about Fey’s death, and giving Wilhelmina the control of Mode. We’ve still to meet one of the most important characters of the whole thing, in my opinion, and I’m not even talking about the big reveal. Maybe the pacing of “The Box and the Bunny” could have been punchier in the second half, but it is a fine episode that moves us forward.

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Ugly Betty “The Box and the Bunny”

7.5

Score

7.5/10

Pros

• Such nuance in how horrible Marc can be.
• We're finally getting those really heart-warming parts of the show.
• The plot thickens.

Cons

• Pacing once The Book is in Queens is a bit flat.
• Gina and Hilda's little scrap felt like a take-it-or-leave-it moment.