Ignacio Suarez: All American Dad

With Father’s Day approaching, I thought it would be a good idea to honor Ignacio Suarez, the patriarch of the Suarez household on Ugly Betty, played by veteran actor Tony Plana.

Being a father myself, I am acutely aware of the shortage of any dads on television worthy of respect. Depending on the format of the show, we fathers are usually betrayed as bumbling idiots, or evil, or just absent. Considering how over-the-top most of the characters in Ugly Betty are, it is surprising just how true-to-life Ignacio really is.

(Except for the whole “almost murdering your employer, fleeing the country when you think you have, being kidnapped by said employer after being deported, and being present when the man is really killed – but hey, this is Ugly Betty!)

Here are the things we like about Ignacio:

• He loves his children unconditionally. There can be no doubt that Ignacio gets disappointed in his daughters and grandson from time to time. Yet, he lets his daughters know that no matter what, he will support them. Case in point: his last scene with Betty in episode 2.18, Jump.
• He loves his kids enough to get mad at them.. His reaction when Betty told him she was going to Italy with Gio was exactly the reaction ANY father would have. (I know I would). He cares about Betty, and knew she hadn’t thought the whole thing through. He was looking out for her – and yes, he got angry and blew his top, just as almost any dad would. But, he eventually calmed down. I’ll bet he really has it out with Hilda about seeing a married man in season 3.
• He doesn’t understand Justin, yet still supports him unconditionally. There is no doubt that Ignacio has a hard time relating to Justin – his faces when Justin is doing his thing tell the whole story. Yet, not once have we seen Ignacio trying to “change” Justin. He just does his best to give the boy as much support as possible.
• He’s a great father figure to Daniel. I loved the interaction between Daniel and Ignacio in episode 2.16 Betty’s Baby Bump. I’d love to see more of this in the future, because Ignacio doesn’t have sons, and his interaction with Justin is always going to be a little “different”.

I think the only thing concerning Ignacio that I’d like to see different next year is a “real” relationship. I know with the Betty-centric direction of the show, they might not want to get into that storyline too deeply, but then again, even from Betty’s view, there could be a lot of drama and comedy around the whole “step-monster” concept.

I know Claire is the obvious, perfect choice, but life just doesn’t work that way. I think it would be a hoot is Ignacio fell for a woman that Betty and Hilda hated. Shoot, it would be an extremely realistic story line, for Ugly Betty at least.

Happy Father’s Day to all dads from Ugly Betty News!