Ugly Betty (season 2)

The second season of the American comedy-drama television series Ugly Betty started on September 27, 2007, in the United States and Canada and including a long, mid-season hiatus ran until May 22, 2008. The second part of the season began airing April 24, 2008.

Due to the fan base gained in the United Kingdom, the show's British broadcaster Channel 4 bought the UK rights to season 2 so they could begin airing it only a week later than the US. Due to the Writer's Strike of 2007, Ugly Betty went on a hiatus in Britain after the airing of episode "Bananas for Betty" (Episode 10). Channel 4 announced that Ugly Betty would return towards the end of 2008. When it returned to British television on September 5, 2008, it received 2.93 million viewers (12.9% share), according to overnight figures, which is a strong figure for Channel 4.[1]

Season 2 was the last to be produced in Los Angeles before it was confirmed that the series would move to New York City to complement the its setting in the next and last seasons.

Cast
All of the main cast from the show's first season returned for the second season, with the exception of Kevin Sussman (who had portrayed Walter). In addition, Christopher Gorham (Henry) and Judith Light (Claire) were promoted from guest star status to the main cast.

Starring

 * America Ferrera as Betty Suarez
 * Eric Mabius as Daniel Meade
 * Alan Dale as Bradford Meade (episode 1-32)
 * Rebecca Romijn as Alexis Meade
 * Judith Light as Claire Meade
 * Vanessa L. Williams as Wilhelmina Slater
 * Becki Newton as Amanda Tanen
 * Ana Ortiz as Hilda Suarez
 * Ashley Jensen as Christina McKinney
 * Tony Plana as Ignacio Suarez
 * Michael Urie as Marc St. James
 * Mark Indelicato as Justin Suarez
 * Christopher Gorham as Henry Grubstick

Recurring roles

 * Freddy Rodriguez as Gio Rossi
 * Kevin Alejandro as	Santos
 * Jayma Mays as Charlie
 * Alec Mapa as Suzuki St. Pierre
 * Lorraine Toussaint as Yoga
 * David Blue as Cliff St. Paul
 * Bailey Chase as Becks Scott
 * Max Greenfield as Nick Pepper
 * Rick Fox as Dwayne
 * Lindsay Lohan as Kimmie Keegan
 * Derek Riddell as Stuart
 * Juliette Goglia as Hillary
 * Gabrielle Union as Renee Slater
 * Julian De La Celle as Daniel Meade Jr.

Guest stars

 * Vera Wang as Herself
 * Victoria Beckham as Herself
 * Betty White as Herself
 * Gene Simmons as Himself
 * Christian Siriano as Himself
 * Nina Garcia as Herself
 * Larry King as Himself
 * Naomi Campbell as Herself
 * Roberta Myers as Herself
 * Joe Zee as Himself

Plot
Season 2 of Ugly Betty begins three weeks after the season 1 season finale. Betty finds herself increasingly stressed due to the many complications happening in her life both at home and at work. Daniel is hospital-bound following the car crash, whilst Alexis remains unconscious. When she does awake, she remembers nothing about her sex change, believing herself still to be Alex.

Following the convenience store robbery and the death of Santos, Hilda finds herself in denial and creates a fantasy in her bedroom in which he is still alive. After three weeks, she finally comes to terms with what has happened. Meanwhile, Ignacio remains in Mexico, unable to get a visa.

Wilhelmina takes control of Mode during the absence of Daniel and Alexis, still plotting to take over Mode with her upcoming marriage to Bradford. Claire, now on the lam living in houses of her friends on holiday, remains adamant to stop Wilhelmina from taking over her family.

Amanda finds out from her parents that she is adopted, and that Fey is her real mother, but they do not know who her biological father is. Amanda and Marcworry it may be Bradford, but a DNA test comes back negative.

Henry returns from Tucson, coming to work back at Mode for health insurance, and planning to leave back to Tucson to care for his unborn baby, still not aware of Charlie's infidelity. Whilst Betty remains defiant that she and Henry can be friends during his return, Christina tells Henry the baby may not be his. Henry confronts Charlie, who will take a paternity test. Henry and Betty decide that if the baby is not Henry's, the two can start a relationship.

Bradford takes advantage of Alexis' amnesia by telling her that they are on good terms and are a loving father and daughter. Daniel also does not tell Alexis the true nature of the car crash.

Betty and Christina break into Wilhelmina's apartment in order to retrieve the Mode mock-up issue. During the break-in, they overhear Wilhelmina sleeping with her bodyguard. Wilhelmina finds out Betty was there and gives her an ultimatum - tell no-one about what she heard, and she will help bring Ignacio home. Betty accepts Wilhelmina's offer.

Amanda finds it hard to get into the spotlight as Fey Sommers's daughter. She also finds out some more information about her conception, and receives a list of possible fathers.

Betty begins a writing class in order to inspire her dreams of becoming a writer. Ignacio arrives home. Meanwhile, Justin falls into a bad crowd following the death of his father, believing his father was not proud of him. Hilda reassures him that he was proud of him, and to be himself.

Henry discovers Charlie's baby is indeed his. Despite this, he and Betty begin a relationship with the realization Betty will eventually get her heart broken.

Daniel and Alexis return to work. Wilhelmina hatches a new plan to bring down Mode so that Meade Publications will publish her own magazine, Slater. With some 'help' from Wilhelmina, Daniel manages to lose a large percentage of advertisers, much to the anger of Bradford.

Marc gets a boyfriend, Cliff. Christina's husband whom she left five years ago returns. He tells her he is dying due to his earlier drinking problem.

At the Wilhelmina and Bradford wedding, Betty tells Daniel of Wilhelmina's affair with her bodyguard. Enraged she did not tell him earlier, Daniel fires Betty. Daniel tries to warn Bradford, but he does not listen. During the wedding ceremony, Bradford has a heart attack.

Later on, Claire Meade appears with her prison inmate Yoga at Betty's room seeking for help in knowing information of Bradford Meade's will, by breaking into his office. Betty finds out that the will leaves half the Meade Publications to Wilhelmina only if she was his legal wife, which she was not. After having Marc gain the right to be an ordained minister, the duo arrives at the hospital, but Bradford realizes that Wilhelmina never loved him, and rejects the marriage.

Claire Meade, still at the Suarez home, after seeing the warmth of Hilda and Justin decides to take the risk and see her two children. After meeting them, Betty, who was accompanying Bradford Meade calls Claire telling her Bradford wants to see her. Again taking another risk or not caring whether she gets arrested, sees Bradford for the last time, and gets arrested. Bradford later on dies.

Wilhelmina attends Bradford's funeral, where she is thrown into the grave and summarily dismissed by the family, led by a jubilant Claire who is attending in chains and an orange jumpsuit. Under cover of clearing her desk, Wilhelmina later deletes all the Mode files so that the magazine cannot meet their deadline, then starting up her own Slater magazine. Wilhelmina offers Daniel's staff a 15% rise in pay and most of Daniel's workforce join her leaving him and Alexis in a difficult position, with only Amanda, Betty, Christina, Henry and (perhaps) a few others to reconstruct the magazine before the deadline - while Wilhelmina asks her father for the financial backing she needs for Slater.

Alexis and Daniel are given a tape their father made before he died which tells them who will run Meade publications but, before the name is given, Bradford turns off the camera by mistake. Daniel and Alexis decide they will choose who will run the company by playing a game of paintball against each other. Daniel has the perfect opportunity to shoot Alexis with the paintball gun and win the game (after she falls while trying to jump over a table) but instead helps her up. They talk about running the magazine together and working as a team but Alexis then uses Daniels gun and shoots Daniel, winning the magazine.

Wilhelmina realizes she is in trouble when her investors don't seem keen to support her new project, Slater, so she decides to change her image as though she is a caring, genuine person. She does this by having a film crew film her while singing in a hospital for sick children. Wilhelmina gets the support she needs from the investors, but while on her way to a meeting she pushes an old woman out of the way in order to use the cab the lady was trying to get into. The old lady is none other than The Golden Girls actress Betty White. When the press finds out, Wilhelmina is then seen as being a cold-hearted woman. Later, Betty White calls Wilhelmina to arrange a meeting where she can publicly forgive Wilhelmina. While the cameras are rolling, Betty White plays the victim act, even further ruining Wilhelmina's reputation.

Meanwhile, Betty goes on a double date with Gio and Hilda in a bid to make her relationship more memorable. But it goes wrong when Henry is not very keen on the idea and is uncomfortable with Betty being around Gio. When Hilda arrives home from the date with Gio. He asks her out again but Hilda declines the invite and tells Gio that maybe he should think about which sister he really wants.

The ending to this episode (Bananas for Betty) concludes with Wilhelmina revealing her plan B, seeing as Slater has crumbled. She tells Mark that when she went into private grieving after Bradford's death, she made an arrangement with the person looking after his body to give her some of Bradford's sperm so she could create an heir to Meade publications.

In "Zero Worship", Betty noticed Justin's class was full of young girls who wanted to be just like the emaciated models they saw on a class trip to Mode. Eager to make a change, Betty and Daniel host Mode Gets Real. This runway show was at Fashion Week and was a huge success where Alexis took the credit.

In addition, Wilhelmina searches for a surrogate to carry Bradford's yield sperm. The episode ends with Christina being confronted. "Odor in the Court" starts off from where "Zero Worship" ended off. Christina, who has become desperate for money to help fund experimental procedures for her husband Stuart, is approached by Marc and Wilhelmina. She instantly refuses but later on in the episode, after other attempts to get the money for Stuart's operation were destroyed by Marc and Wilhelmina, she accepts to become the surrogate.

After encounters with a psychic, Amanda discovers her biological father is Gene Simmons from the rock band Kiss.

The Claire Meade murder trial case over the Fey Sommers's death brews much controversy. Claire asks Betty to please get her a special perfume Bradford has given to her after a trip to Europe. Since Claire is unable to wear the perfume due to prison rules, she gives it to Betty. The perfume is toxic and makes Betty do strange things that cause her to end up breaking into Gio's deli. Meanwhile, as Betty unwittingly poisons herself, Amanda discovers diary pages from Fey that say Fey poisoned the perfume so Claire would die, but the toxic effects made Claire kill Fey first. Amanda decides to steal the perfume so Betty is unable to defend Claire. However, after confrontations with Marc, Amanda decides to give the perfume and set Claire Meade free.

In the final episode written before the writer's strike, "A Thousand Words Before Friday", Betty is assigned a special task to interview Phil Roth who writes books on how to pick up women. Close-minded Betty decides that the material is not up to her standards but Daniel tricks her into writing it by using one of Roth's methods. In Betty's adventure to understand the book, Henry and Gio compete to see how many women, using Roth's book, they can pick up. Henry wins and convinces Betty to stop seeing Gio because he is a threat.

Amanda and Marc have been trying to reach her father, Gene Simmons and decide to talk to him in the language of music. They record a song and Amanda performs it in a club where Gene appears and the two finally meet.

Meanwhile, Daniel meets a new character, Renee, who we later discover is Wilhelmina's sister. Daniel and Renee have a rocky relationship in the beginning, but come back together in the end. However, Wilhelmina warns Daniel that he will regret taking her back. At the end of the episode, Wilhelmina asks Renee when she will tell Daniel "the truth about her". Christina, who is living with Wilhelmina, overhears the conversation.

After Claire is a free woman, she decides that her children have moved on and it is time she does as well. She decides to start her own magazine - Hot Flash.

Betty's birthday extravaganza is halted by an unexpected visit from Henry's baby mama, Charlie. Her plans for a successful and romantic birthday are over. However, Gio saves the day with a carriage ride and fireworks thus gaining more of Betty's affection.

In the meantime, Wilhelmina confronts Daniel about Renee and tips him off about Stony Brook which is later told to be a state college Renee attended which has a mysterious past. Even though Daniel finds out about Renee taking pills to get over her 'relapse', he still loves her for who she is. Marc and Wilhelmina however steal the pills Renee has been taking and will cause her to do terrible things as we discover, caused her to commit murder.

Claire is moving forward with Hot Flash in full force but her ideas and dreams are halted by Alexis due to the lack of money for staff etc. Claire listens to Betty's advice and utilizes her resources and decides to hire ex-inmates from jail who are trying to re build their lives - this new development is money free and government paid.

In Burning Questions, we see the last of Renee. The pills which were swapped by Wilhelmina and Marc are now causing Renee to act obsessive and erratic over Daniel. Renee discusses with him how she believes Betty is in love with him! Blinded by the truth, Daniel believes Renee until the end of the episode.

Meanwhile, Christina noticed how awkward things have been at the Slater household and investigates. She breaks open secret files and with the help of Betty discovers that Renee was a crazy pyromaniac and suffered from anxiety and paranoia which caused her to become jealous of her former lover - Larson. Renee believed Larson's assistant was in love with him and tried to kill her with a fire, but actually trapped Larson. Obviously, this worries Betty.

Back at Mode, Christian Siriano guest stars as himself because Mode and other magazines are vying for his designs in their magazine. The meeting with Siriano is halted due to Renee's crazy drama. The episode ends with Renee breaking down, destroying Daniel's apartment and almost killing Betty. Fortunately Betty convinces her to stop.

Also, Gina Gambarro returns with a whole new rich life and a new doctor husband. Hilda, jealous that she has nothing to show for her life, takes Modeclothing to show off however that idea backfires when she realizes Gina really was happy and had found someone who cared for her.

In the next episode, after several encounters where Charlie has constantly tried to break up Betty and Henry, Betty decides to throw her a baby shower to get on her good side. Henry and Betty decide to be "together forever". At the baby shower, Charlie gives birth to the baby and confesses how she was sorry for intruding on Betty's relationship and how she felt she was going to raise the child alone. This makes Betty realize her place in Henry's life is no good and has to end her relationship with him.

Meanwhile, it is the end of the first trimester for Christina and she finds out that she can go back to work and more importantly, that Bradford is the "unnamed donor". She runs away to her husband, Stuart. He tried to convince her to ask for more money thus revealing more about his character. We see the extent to which he tried to force Christina to get more money by inviting Wilhelmina over. Christina decides she wants to carry the baby on one condition - that Wilhelmina care for the child with all her heart. Also, Daniel is messed up over losing Renee but realizes that his passion is not woman seducing, but magazine publishing through the help of Ignacio. Hilda begins a new flirtation with Justin's gym coach - Tony Diaz. Justin is failing gym but with the help of Hilda, he will pass.

In "The Kids Are Alright", we see how wrecked Betty is over losing Henry - they have decided to take a clean break. With the help of Daniel, she is given an article to write for Hot Flash to help distract her from Henry. Betty goes to Gio's Deli to talk to him but is surprised when he kisses her. At the school dance Betty attends due to Hilda being sick, she falls for Gio and learns he does not want to be a rebound guy, but actually wants to be her boyfriend.

Hilda continues to try to get the Coach but her illness gets in the way. She sends Justin along with Betty to the dance to spy on the coach. The episode ends with Tony asking Hilda out.

Meanwhile, at Mode, Wilhelmina is back. She is taking over again and Alexis is going with it since she helped save the Mode cover and the advertisement problem for Hot Flash. She is re-instated as Creative Director.

Amanda is gearing up for a new reality show with her father Gene Simmons of KISS and does not want Marc to intrude because he not only takes away her spotlight, but also is the light of truth telling Amanda her father does not truly love her - a thing she does not want to hear. Later on, we find out Gene is not the father of Amanda and was simply using her as a publicity stunt.

Advertising
Singer Mika contributed a track to the show. The song, "Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)", a top-10 single in the UK, was used as the promotional theme for the second season, but with altered lyrics to say "Hey Betty, you are beautiful" in the song's chorus, along with a music video featuring the cast. This was the second time a Mika song had been featured on Ugly Betty, with a remix of "Grace Kelly" having already featured in "Punch Out".

After four episodes of the second season of Ugly Betty had aired in Australia, the Seven Network noted that special guests Victoria Beckham, Lindsay Lohan and Naomi Campbell would be guest-starring in the near future. However, Australian viewers only saw Beckham and the others were not seen until the season finale aired. After several weeks, "Giving Up the Ghost" aired on July 2, 2008. Ugly Betty was then put on hiatus and the Seven Network announced they planned to show the rest of the episodes after the 2008 Summer Olympics. After only one episode, "Bananas for Betty", was shown on August 28, 2008, Ugly Betty was cancelled for no apparent reason. After several complaints for not finishing the season, the show went back to air on December 2, 2008, where it aired twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays, eventually only airing the show on Thursdays. The final episode aired on Thursday, January 15, 2009.