I love Ugly Betty. But last night’s show left me a bit – perturbed. Just slightly. In “Dress for Success”, Betty is scrambling to hold on to her position in the YETI program. Being a magazine editor is her dream, her passion. Her family should understand this and know (after three years) that the job requires long hours, sometimes at the last minute. They should know she is called away from family functions to run errands for Daniel. It’s her job. She signed on for this and it’s a typical rung in the ladder she hopes to climb.

But her family is giving her flack for doing her job instead of hanging out with the family or putting together gift bags for her sister’s salon opening. (We never saw Hilda thank Betty for those gift bags – or at least not in the profuse way Betty deserved). They hound Betty and lay guilt trips on her for showing up to work, for networking, for basically having any dream that isn’t tied to the family.

I could possibly buy this as family crap. Families aren’t perfect. They guilt trip us into feeling bad when we don’t cave-in to requests. They yell when they should be grateful. They argue during Christmas dinner. I get that. But, when Betty’s father had a heart attack? While she was at a party for work? A party that Betty was lucky to even attend? I felt like the writers were showcasing the fact Betty actually was being a little selfish (for Betty, this is good!) and compounding to the thought that a young woman should not be allowed to have a life outside of her family. I wish they’d lighten up on Betty a bit with the whole work vs. family bit. She’s a young, single twenty-something. It’s her time to put herself and career first.

On another note, I loved seeing Nikki Blonsky play a guest role as an assistant at Mode’s rival, Elle magazine. She has great talent and is a pleasure to watch. I enjoyed seeing her play a pink haired, bad ass, manipulative bitch. Loads of fun!