Desperate Housewives Forums

This Sunday, January 8th, 2012, the 10th episode of the 8th and final season of Desperate Housewives (and 167th overall) will air, entitled "What's to Discuss, Old Friend". The episode was written by Wendy Mericle and directed by David Grossman.

Summary:

With a gun at her side, Bree prepares to end it all. Meanwhile, Gaby begins to suspect that Carlos may have had something to do with Chuck's murder. Susan makes up her mind to go to New York to become a true artist - with or without Mike - and an angry Tom cancels his plans to go to Paris with Jane when Lynette confesses that she's an accomplice to murder and may soon be arrested.

Guest stars include Michael Dempsey as Detective Murphy, Christine Clayburg as Reporter and Lee Meriwether as Doris.

Renato, as always, you're right I was just mindlessly copying some names from Wikipedia. I edited the list and kept it short this time, most seem like small roles anyway.

Only 'notable' guest star is Michael Dempsey, marking his 4th appearance on the show as one of the dumbest cops currently on tv.

i won't say much except for...that note i keep getting creeped out at those notes!

whoever this is has kind of accomplished a lot...knowing about mary alice's note, knowing about alejandro's murder/burial, and running over chuck. wow.

i gotta give DH one thing, at least they're smart enough to use the same handwriter

I can't even remember the last time they gave us such a good midseason opener. I didn't really trust it at first, with Wendy Mericle writing an episode for the first time, but she really did a great job. You could tell the writing (and sometimes even the directing) were different, but in a good way.

--Susan--

I'll start with the least impressive part. Susan was just there, I guess, with not that much going on. Lee Meriwether was blatant stunt casting and we finally got to see the only reason why Jamie Denton is still around (not that I think a lot of actual housewives will complain). I am looking forward to next week, but this part dragged a little.

--Gaby--

Was Eva on fire or what? From the abusive couple-scene in church to the silent threat in bed, she nailed both comedy and drama this episode. I loved the passive-violent thing Carlos and Gaby had going on and now they say it out loud, it actually makes sense. Now let's see what she'll be up to next week. Mrs. McCluskey had some good jokes too, especially the one with the 'let's use our imagination' line.

--Lynette--

Like Susan, this part took a bit too long, but it wasn't as bad. Dragging Bob into it all felt unnecessary, but it went well with the impulsive side of Tom we see now and then. I did like how the rythm of family life was slowly being built up again, only to end with it all falling apart. It was a nice ending scene, but it's time for Lynette to move on. This only supported my feeling that these two aren't meant to be together anymore. And it's weird not to see the twins at breakfast anymore, I almost forgot they moved out.

--Bree--

Very strong opening scene. At first I thought this would probably be my stand-out scene for these first 10 episodes of season 8, but it was even surpassed later on. I liked that they took their time with this storyline and was surprised by Marcia's acting. I always find her look weird when having that cry-look, but it didn't distract this time. She did great, especially in the opener, and I'm looking forward to next week. I loved the plotting chart she made with Lynette and the note at the end, of course. The plot thickens and we still have no idea who could be the one sending the notes + who killed Chuck.

--Renee--

I think she deserves her own segment here. Vanessa did a great job in the opening scene, but as I said, my real stand-out moment came later on in church, talking about her mom's suicide. For me, the most emotional scene in a very long time and not everyone could've pulled it off. I love Renee even more after this and what makes it even better is that I didn't even like the character at first, while she's in my top 5 of characters now. Props for Wendy Mericle, David Grossman, Marcia and (especially) Vanessa for delivering such a scene.

A very good episode to start the season, with good dramatic scenes and fresh jokes. The plot didn't really move forward a lot, but most of what we saw was necessary to make that work. One final compliment for David Grossman: that bird's eye view-shot of Susan's lawn when the ladies part looked beautiful, I hope we can expect some more expensive-looking cinematography in this season.

EDIT: I had to add this...

'How can you kill yourself with a shower curtain?'

'You can't, it was ugly.'

This was an exceptional episode, I am impressed!

Susan: Even though it was all just build-up for next week, I think the storyline was well-written regardless. I loved Susan's breakdown at the church and how she tried to sneak off without waking Mike up. Speaking of which, more of shirtless Mike please!

Gabrielle: She was stunning. The scene with the rehab receptionist was cute and so was the scene with the detective but she really shined in the church scene when she explained Carlos' confession, it was fantastic! Her last scene with Carlos was also pretty good; her ultimatum was unexpected and rather affective too.

Lynette: Loved Tom's reaction at the beginning because it was realistic. It was also funny how Tom brought Bob into this, his reactions were very amusing! The storyline then branched into the familiar Lynette/Tom territory but was still good. I hope we get to see more of Jane soon and Lynette begins to have a love life of her own as well.

Bree/Renee: Amazing! The opening scene was incredible and their later scenes were also very well-done. Renee was absolutely hilarious and I love how the writers decided to bring Renee's mother back into the equation, that was great continuity for her character! The church scene was fantastic obviously and very well-acted. I hope we see more of this duo in the upcoming episodes!

Amazing Episode!!!! Absolutely loved every second!!! It was worth the wait and I am now very glad they held episode 10 over to be the mid season return because it was such a well crafted episode with plenty of humour and drama. To be honest it is probably the best mid season return EVER! and that is saying a lot.

So I'm going to follow suit evaluating each character.

Susan:
Kinda pointless but it did bring in some humour and I think was true to character. However the second escape before Mike woke up felt forced. She tried it once so why do it again? I think its just part of Susan's desire to "create" drama which we all know she loves to do and has been explored before on the show. I just didnt like he disregard for Mike's feelings in the beginning or the fact she didn't consider MJ in any of her decisions. But then again Mike didn't mention him either. Hey here's a thought- maybe Julie could have returned to help out with MJ while Susan is away and Mike's working as opposed to coming back pregnant which is another storyline coming up I am not looking forward to.

Gabby:
While Gabby is probably my least favourite of late she did have some great scenes. Loved her exchanges with Carlos this week as well as how they worked as a team to get round the cop. However I dislike how Gabby is acting this season. She is very inconsiderate of others and acting very selfishly - plus the threat to Carlos was a bit much really. I dont know I just feel she is moving backwards this season to how she behaved in Season 1. Only now she seems morepetulant.

Lynette:
An amazing week for Lynette and I loved we finally got to see her and Tom moving closer together again. I think this episode wasimportantcause it explained Tom's attraction to Jane and allowed Lynette to come to terms with that (since she really hasn't) as well as highlighting to both characters and audience that they just dont fit well togetherany more- the issues are still there and they cant just be wished away. Shows the writers are playing this more real to since they aren't just slapping them back together like Gabby and Carlos.

Bree/ Renee:
AMAZING! INCREDIBLE! THE REASON I WATCH THIS SHOW! It had all the layers of both comedy and drama, plus that hard to accomplish place in the middle. I love these two together and loved they had Bree be honest to Renee about their friendship only later to realize how true a friend Renee is. Great use of both actresses and a really insightful discussion of suicide and its affects as well as discussion of Mary Alice which was fantastic!!!! I also agree that bringing Renee's mother back really made a difference cause it keeps adding to herback storyand makes last years Episode where Renee told Gabby about her mother's death seem less like a scape goat.

Overall loved this episode and plan to have a repeat viewinglatertonight.

I don't really have anything special to add, I agree with everything thats already been said but I did love the line Bob had about finding out his neighbors were involved in a murder and only having water in his hands, aside from being hilarious it was delivered perfectly

The ratings are in: The show was up 11% verses the last episode. It got 8.79 million viewers and a 3.0 in the 18-49 demo.

The last episode (8x09) on December 4, got 8.200 million viewers and a 2.7 in the deom. (Just if anyone wants to know).

Also our lead in, Once Upon a Time, grabbed 10.33 million and a 3.7 in the demo. It was up 28% verses there last episode.

Also, Pan Am only held onto 4.04 million viewers and a 1.3 in the demo.

Next week is the Golden Globes: How far will the ratings drop next week???

I don't post here often, but I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed this episode. I haven't thought that this season has had many (or any) stand out episodes, but this may be one of my favourites.

Great episode! The whole Silent threat between Carlos and Gabby, and I am loving Bree and Renee together. The opening scene and the funeral were awesome scenes. But, as much as i did like the episode, I didnt feel the same pizazzaz that I did in the first or seventh episode, I think that could be because this episode was more of a emotional rather than Mysterious episode. Overall 8/10 P.S I still voted for awesome