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Ugly Betty continues to prove that it is one of the best shows on television. I’ve written before that I love it’s mix of drama, mystery and comedy and tonight’s episode was no exception. You had the hilarity of Daniel and Alexis’ competitiveness and the ongoing drama of Wilhelmina trying to get control of the magazine. Then there was what turned out to be the poignant story between Marc and his mother (played by Patti LuPone no less). Marc had to pretend that Betty was his girlfriend because he’d never come out to his mom. They ended up having dinner at Betty’s home. Marc’s mom, however, found Betty’s family to be unacceptable for her son. While she was ranting, including a riff on Betty’s nephew, Justin, Marc blurted out, “”You wanna talk about swishy? Open your eyes, Mom, and look at your own swishy son.”

Since Betty is not a show where everything wraps up in a pretty TV bow, it didn’t allow things to end well. It played out the reality of a mother disowning her son for having the courage to say who he really is… something that is played out all too often in families around the world.

Kudos to Ugly Betty for displaying such real world examples of gay life (another recent standout is the episode where Justin’s father came to terms with his son while they were stuck on a subway and Justin performed Hairspray in it’s entirety).

You can check out both of these episodes right now at ABC.com. Simply launch ABC’s video player and look for “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (the March 22 episode) and “Derailed” (the February 15 episode).