Poll: Did You Like The Episode 2.06 Wicked Tie-In?

Ugly Betty Episode 2.06  (Something Wicked This Way Comes) featured a pretty heavy cross-promotion with the musical Wicked.  Now, I’ll be up front with you about a couple of things:  I’ve never seen Wicked, and I really loved this episode.  But, I’ve noticed that more than a few people (including some commenters at Ugly Betty News) were not too crazy about it.  The first and most prominent was TV Guide’s Ausiello, who said this (as we reported here):

BTW, I love Wicked. I also love Ugly Betty. But the two of them together? Not so much. I don’t know what motivated this piece of blatant product placement — does Disney own a stake in Wicked? — but nothing throws a show’s rhythm off like pausing every five minutes for a production number from a random Broadway show. It’s a shame, too, ’cause Betty has been on a roll this season. The first batch of episodes have been among the most well-written, well-acted and all-out entertaining hours this show has ever produced. Maybe that’s why this week’s episode stuck out like such a painfully sore thumb. 

That was downright loving compared to the skewering delivered by TV Club:

Because what is not the least bit helpful is Broadway tie-ins. The obsequiousness this episode paid Wicked made musicals seem even more tedious than they usually are, and it made the show seem desperate. Did the 37 or so plot strands Ugly Betty’s already managed to cook up really need to be intruded on by some harebrained cross-promotion bullshit? Apparently so. “Don’t lose sight of who you are,” went one sappy number as—gosh—various cast members began to realize the truth and rightness of the sentiment.

We won’t even talk about that “totally not getting it” post from NY Magazine. 

Now, I don’t know about all that.  What I do know is what appeals to fans of the show, and this last episode had lots of it: A little drama, a little situation comedy, some slapstick, a heavy dose of romance, and lots of witty quips.  I’ll be honest, there was one problem with this episode, but few have mentioned it: Betty and Henry are treading water.  Together/break up/back together:  we did this last week.  But, I felt that Wilhelmina and Wicked made this episode into an extraordinary one.

About the musical montages: yes they were everything TV Club said they were.  In response, I want to make this perfectly clear: everything about this show is over-the-top and obvious.  So, it should be no surprise that the montages would be over-the-top and obvious.  Those of us who are fans would expect nothing less.

So, now I’ll ask you, dear readers, what did you think of Ugly Betty’s Wicked episode?  I know some of you weren’t crazy about it, and others loved it.  Vote, and drop a comment.  I’m curious whether or not I’m full of it, looking at the world through my Betty-colored glasses.