Ugly Betty: Is Santos Really Dead?

Well, "Ugly Betty" can easily be called ABC's overnight success. The show, starring America Ferrera, is an intricate story that mainly follows Betty, the show's namesake. Betty is an average Bronx girl who is desperately trying to survive in her surreal work world of an upscale fashion magazine. While the plot lines directly concerning Betty, like her love interest in Henry the magazine's accountant, are enough to keep us entertained, the subplots from the show are also extremely well-developed.

One of the best subplots has to do with Betty's older sister Hilda. Hilda is billed as the pretty one, while Betty is billed as the smart one. Basically, Hilda got pregnant in high school by her sweetheart, Santos. Since then, Santos has been in and out of her life and pretty much unsupportive of their son, Justin. The plotline in some of the late first season episodes have Santos' character reuniting with both Hilda and Justin and planning an upcoming marriage to his old flame. The season finale ends with Justin performing in a play. Hilda is there watching the performance, wondering where Santos could be. The scene cuts to Santos in some sort of convenience store buying a present for Justin to congratulate him on his performance as he's on his way to the show. Unfortunately, the store is robbed at the time that Santos is purchasing the gift and he gets shot. The next related scene is Betty getting the news of her future brother-in-law's accident by visiting police and then showing up at Justin's play to give Hilda the news. To add to this exciting cliffhanger, viewers see Betty saying something to Hilda, but it is not audible. So the question remains, is Santos dead? Will he and Hilda never get the opportunity to tie the knot after such a rocky relationship? Will Justin lose his father that has just finally showed him some much-needed attention and acceptance?

Well, let's examine the facts: Kevin Alejandro, the actor that plays Santos, has been cast in another series called "Shark" that is to appear on CBS. Isn't this a good indication that he is dead? Well, not necessarily. Alejandro also made episodes for another show "Drive" while taping "Ugly Betty" so it is proven that he can prove double duty.

Also, if you watch closely in the series finale, many viewers are claiming that you can tell what Betty says to Hilda when breaking the news. Some viewers argue that Betty says, "He's in the hospital; he's been shot." This would indicate that he's still alive. However, other viewers argue that Betty says, "There was a gun. He got shot." So, that statement would be less indicative of his condition.

Personally, I think that Santos is dead or will die in the first episode. I say this only because of some facts that most people haven't really analyzed. The first is that police rarely show up personally to tell anything but death notification. Secondly, if you look on the International Movie Database website's (www.imdb.com) listing for actor Kevin Alejandro, it shows him only in 7 "Ugly Betty" episodes. The IMDB usually shows "works in progress" for actors as well as completed and aired projects. If Santos had survived, certainly Alejandro would be in future episodes that would be included on his bio. So, as much as I though Santos was a complex and interesting character on one of my favorite shows, I am afraid if I want to see much more of him I will have to start watching his new project, "Shark."