Daniel Meade
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Daniel Meade | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | Pilot (aka I Am Not Going To Sell Herbalux) |
| Created by | Silvio Horta |
| Portrayed by | Eric Mabius |
| Information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Age | 33(est.) |
| Occupation | Unknown |
| Title | Former Editor-In-Chief of MODE |
| Family | Bradford Meade (Father; deceased) Claire Meade (Mother) Alexis Meade (Sister) Unborn half-sibling |
Daniel Meade is a fictional character in the American dramedy series Ugly Betty. He is played by Eric Mabius.
Contents |
[edit] Background
Daniel is the son of magazine publisher Bradford Meade. His father picked him to become editor-in-chief at MODE, the fashion magazine that Bradford publishes (his mother Claire Meade is the true owner of the magazine), after the mysterious death of Daniel's predecessor, the well-respected Fey Sommers.
Sensing that Daniel will need help because of his inexperience in the fashion industry, Bradford decides to hire a personal assistant to guide him. However, due to his son's habit of womanizing, he knows that the assistant he chooses should be one that his son would never be attracted to - so he chooses Betty Suarez. Bradford figures that by having Betty as an assistant, MODE will continue to thrive. Additionally, he knows that Daniel would never sleep with Betty because she has very little sex appeal, not to mention avoiding sexual harassment lawsuits.
At first, Daniel resents having Betty work for him, but he eventually reconsiders and realizes how valuable an asset Betty would be to the company. Due to the unusual combination of Daniel's business savvy and Betty's wealth of knowledge and ideas, the duo becomes the "darlings" of the fashion industry.
Daniel was also reminded by his father and Wilhelmina about his late brother Alex, who was the editor-in-chief of sister publication Hudson. Daniel hopes that by being in charge of MODE, he can prove to them that he can hold his own without living in the shadow of his late brother. However, he was unaware that Alex was not only alive and had a sex change, but plotting to have Daniel removed from the job. When Alexis does show up and reveals herself to Daniel, he was not happy about this and explains to Alexis that they really cared about him and blames him for their mother's drinking problems.
When Alexis attempted to fire Daniel, he fired back with an injunction because the family buried "Alex" and therefore Alexis cannot fire Daniel or claim ownership of the company, thus leading to a sibling rivalry which prompted Betty to play mediator between the two. For now Daniel has agreed to a truce with Alexis until the matter is settled. In addition, because their mother owns MODE he and Alexis must share co-EIC duties, despite Daniel not trusting Alexis because he feels she'll try to top him.
Daniel is strongly hinted throughout the series that he is not just a "womanizer", but unfortunately his Lothario ways would catch up with him, as it almost cost him his EIC duties after learning that a model he slept with was 16 and that the sister that accompanied her was actually her 38-year-old mother. But thanks to Betty and Henry, her passport was revealed to be 20 and thus averted a scam, along with Alexis taking over his job. While Daniel may have been saved by Betty, Betty believes that he using his womanizing to cover for his family problems, and has an actual physical sex addiction. Seeking the advice of a doctor who works at a sister publication, Daniel takes his recommendation and is prescribed a bottle of pills to end his addiction, unaware that he may have found a new one (drugs) to replace his old one (sex).
In the season 1 finale, Daniel overdoses on the drugs he uses to control his sex addiction, and stumbles into Alexis' office on the verge of dropping dead, blubbering nonsensical things to Alexis. Alexis then decides to take him to the hospital. On the way, the man Alexis hired to kill Bradford Meade had cut the brakes on the car and therefore the car is crashed, and in the last shot, he is lying unconscious beside his sister in the totaled car, no ambulances in sight.
In the premiere of season 2, Daniel has recovered from the car wreck, and confined to a wheelchair while his sister is still in a coma 3 weeks later. Later on, he helps Betty "bury" Henry, and he himself at the last minute throws his pills into the hole, saying that he will get over his addictions. Alexis wakes up from her coma and Daniel asks her Are you alright, Alexis? she then replies, why are you calling me Alexis, it's Alex! Alexis has forgotten about her recent Sex Change. Daniel tried to cover for her by saying it was his fault, but when Alexis regained her memory and admitted it (the murder attempt) to him, Daniel agreed not to say anything to their father.
Daniel's rocky relationship with his family would get worse when he learned that Bradford has started repairing his bond with Alexis when Bradford blamed him for dropping key advertisers, while at the same time opposed his father's marriage to Wilhelmina. When he discovered her bodyguard coming out of her apartment he put two and two together, only to learn from Betty that she knew about this four months earlier because she made a deal with Wilhelmina not to say anything in order to get Betty's father Ignacio back to the United States. Daniel would fire her because she betrayed his trust, but just as he tried to go to tell his father about what Betty told him, Bradford would have a heart attack at the wedding and would die several days later. Daniel would later regret his decision as tried to talk Betty into coming back after Ignacio arrived at the hospital and told Daniel about why Betty did it in the first place.
After Bradford's passing, both Daniel and Alexis battled to succeed him as chairman/CEO of Meade Publishing with a paintball contest. Daniel would lose to Alexis, who pretended to be hurt while they were playing.
Daniel briefly dated Wilhelmina's sister, Renee. That relationship came to an end when she was put in an asylum.
Wilhelmina returned to Mode after she revealed her unborn child with Daniel's dead father. That made her an even bigger enemy than before because she started making Alexis her ally again, and, worst of all, bumped him down from his Editor-in-Chief position.
Daniel also seems to be the father of a little French boy also named Daniel Jr. He met the boy's mother, a French model, at a Paris trip years ago. (Alexis was also present on the trip.)Results from a paternity test Daniel and his supposed son took is not (yet) known. However, in a letter to Daniel Jr. from his mother, she tells him that Daniel is his father.
As of the season finale, it is unknown what's going to happen to both Daniel and Betty at Mode.
[edit] Residency
Daniel Meade's letters and magazines are sent to his address at 6767 West End Ave., New York, but it is not specific whether this is his apartment or his workplace.[1]
[edit] Connections
- Betty Suarez - Former Assistant to Daniel; Her knowledge has helped Daniel succeed in their jobs at MODE. The two also seem to depend on each other a lot.
- Fey Sommers - Former Editor-In-Chief; Her death resulted in Daniel being named the successor, a move that stopped Wilhelmina from getting that job. He is also drawn into the mystery surrounding Sommers via a series of phone calls (made by Alexis, his brother/sister) warning him to "watch his back" when he is around his father.
- Wilhelmina Slater - Creative Director turned Editor-in-Chief at MODE; Daniel's role as the editor-in-chief has made Betty and him unlikely enemies of the Creative Director. She wants Daniel's job and is determined to make sure, by any means necessary, that Daniel and Betty never succeed in the world of fashion. She has now succeeded in taking everything away from Daniel, including his position as Editor-in-Chief.
- Bradford Meade - Daniel's father and owner of Meade Publications; Despite handing the job to Daniel, Bradford was not sure that his son could live up to the challenge. Daniel has gained his trust, even though the two have shown signs of a rift in their relationship. The rift is being fueled by Wilhelmina and Alexis.
- Claire Meade - Daniel's mother; Has been in and out of rehab due to her drinking problem. She has warned Daniel against his womanizing and told him that he will end up going the same route as his father when he had the affair with Fey. She later openly admitted to Betty, Daniel, and Bradford, and later turned herself into the police for she the murder of Fey Sommers.
- Sofia Reyes - Author and Editor-In-Chief of sister publication MYW; Daniel fell head over heels for Sofia, who was brought in by Bradford to launch a new magazine. At first she resisted his advances because of his womanizing ways but gave in afterwards, even though she had a boyfriend who just asked her to marry him. Her presence helped curb his womanizing. Daniel asked Sofia to marry him and she accepted. However, on a national TV broadcast, Sofia revealed it had all been a plan for an article on how any woman could get any man to propose to her in only 60 days and she did not love Daniel at all, devastating him.
- Amanda Tanen - Receptionist at MODE; She had an unusual romantic relationship with Daniel, and wanted the assistant editor job that Betty filled. However, Daniel only thought of Amanda as a one-night stand, and this, together with his constant womanizing has strained the relationship. In the end, she gave up on Daniel but agreed to a working relationship instead. She also gave up on being Daniel's assistant after realizing that Daniel trusted Betty more, and that she was overqualified for the job, and demanded a raise. But it would be at the expense of her job with MODE and future to go after Daniel; when forced by Marc to sabotage a date for Daniel, she does just that. During the season 1 finale, Amanda discovers a birth certificate declaring Fey Sommers as her mother when she was accidentally trapped in Fey's love Dungeon with Christina McKinney. In the second season, Amanda believes that, because of Fey's affair, Bradford may be her biological father and sets out to get a sample of his DNA to see if he really is. To the relief of Daniel and Amanda, the test results came back negative ruling out Bradford as Amanda's father.
- Justin Suarez - Betty's nephew; He worships Daniel as a father figure.
- "Daniel Meade Jr." - Daniel's alleged long-lost son. He is the son of a hand model with whom Daniel had a fling years previously. With her recent death, the boy came to America to find Daniel. Initally Daniel rejected him out of hand but has since come to believe that his story may be true. The two have had blood drawn for DNA testing but the results are as yet unknown.
[edit] References
[edit] Betty La Fea reference
While his character in this series is portrayed as a good guy but with minor flaws, his first name is the same as the main villain's in Yo soy Betty, la fea played by Luis Mesa. However, Daniel's character is actually equivalent to Armando Mendoza Sáenz, boss of Beatriz Pinzón Solano (character on whom Betty Suarez was based).
