Warning! Spoilers for Netflix’s Ugly Ahead!
Netflix Ugly Made a handful of frustrating changes from Scott Westerfeld’s sci-fi book, but cutting the most unnecessary of Tully’s conflicts was the right move. Book-to-screen adaptations are always challenging to pull off since the resulting film is nearly impossible to represent the novel. In the case of Westerfeld UglyFirst released in 2005, there are nearly 20 years worth of readers ready to criticize Netflix’s various changes. Although the 2024 movie is not perfect, one such change is absolutely worth it.
in the Ugly In the movie, Tally arrives at Smokey’s and has a joyful reunion with Shay, who shows her around and introduces her to their fellow Smokey. Of course, what Shay didn’t know was that Tally was secretly a spy, sent to the smoke so that Dr. Cable could retrieve the escapees and stop David’s cure. Once this was eventually revealed (when Tally accidentally set off her tracker and Dr. Cable appeared), Shay was arranged. Tally’s betrayal puts a devastating rift in their friendshipWhich never had a chance to be resolved because Shay became beautiful. in the Ugly But that wasn’t all Shea was angry about.
Netflix’s Uglies cuts to the love triangle between Tally, Shay and David
Shea was already dating David when Tally arrived
in Westerfeld UglyThings were already pretty rocky between Tally and Shay when Dr. Cable turned up in smoke. That’s because, when Tally first arrived, Shay was in a romantic relationship with David. At first, Shay was excited. That Tali and David are so good together, but when they spent more time together, her jealousy started to grow. She’s anger came to a head when David gave Tally his handmade gloves. When Tally admitted that she kissed Shay’s boyfriend, A bomb went off in their relationship which was made worse by Tally’s betrayal.
Love Triangles Are a Worn YA Trope (And Uglys Never Knew It)
The love triangle served a purpose, but it wasn’t a must
The obligatory love triangle was a staple of 2000s YA fiction. Twilight And The Hunger Games are prime examples, and Ugly Clearly participated as well. These types of conflicts are tried and true and well suited to teenagers – the target demographic of the genre. Still, the love triangle trope has become pretty worn since the 2000s. Since it took almost two decades for Ugly To finally be made into a movie, it makes sense that Netflix would have cut it.
Still, there were plenty of other messy issues in Tally and Shay’s friendship for the Uglies movie to lean into.
To be fair, Shay, David and Tally’s love triangle in Ugly Served an additional purpose. This trope is a great demonstration of the messiness of teenagersWhich is a factor in the Ugly series as a whole. Pretties never fight since their brains have been surgically altered to be passive. Love triangles would be considered strictly ugly business, which is why Shea no longer cares that Tally stole her boyfriend when she became beautiful. Still, there were many other messy issues in Tally and Shay’s friendship before that Ugly Movie to lean in. There’s just no reason to make the characters fight over a boy.