Desperate Housewives Forums

Today, January 22, 2012, ABC will premiere episode 8.12 (169 overall) of Desperate Housewives, titled "What's the Good of Being Good?". The episode was written by Jason Ganzel and directed by Ron Underwood. Discuss it here.

Summary:

Bree's life continues to spiral out of control as her alcohol consumption rises - along with her lust for men. In the meantime, Lynette goes out on her first date since separating from Tom... with Renee's hairdresser. Alejandro's current wife suspects foul play is afoot and has a confrontation with Susan, whereas Gabrielle discovers that Alejandro also abused his other step-daughter, Marisa. Ben has special plans in store for Renee.

Guest stars include Patrick Fabian as Frank, Justina Machado as Claudia Sanchez, Daniela Bobadilla as Marisa Sanchez, Cameron Mathison as Greg, Dakin Matthews as Reverend Sikes and Sal Landi as the loan shark.

Supporting regulars Kathryn Joosten as Karen McCluskey and Mason Vale Cotton as MJ Delfino also appear.

Not the loan shark again! Oh God, why?

better than last weeks...i was kind of hoping for another note or signs of that stalker ,but oh well

lynette: oh my god, lynette; what the hell is wrong with you? you basically tell the guy he's an average failure on the first date when he doesn't accept your unwelcomed advice? i mean...seriously. can't lynette just find a guy instead of itbeing about how she's so controlling, blah blah, this is why tom left, blah blah? and lynette's baby voice was annoying. i really, really hated this part, which kind of ruined the otherwise good episode for me.

bree: ...wow. i actually liked this story, despite being shocked. now she enjoys being the town bicycle? whoa. reverend sikes following her to the bar was funny.

susan/gabby: first of all...gabby, why the hell are you still mad at bree, for who knows what anymore, but you're not mad at susan? and really, susan, i do love your character, but "how did you find me?" did you not remember you wrote a check? however, this story was really good. that girl who plays marisa is a good actress. and when claudia said at the end, "i think you should get rid of that", knowing that was from alejandro's murder...that was creepy. but good.

renée: i'm glad ben realized that what he was doing was wrong, but now i feel bad for renée [although, in all fairness, we've seen them together in like, three or four episodes, tops, i think]. and now the loan shark knows where mike lives -and- is interested in renée! i bet ben won't be able to pay him back, so he'll go after renée or something.

i wanna see the next episode next week D: hmm...weird that they showed julie in the preview, but not orson. bree slapping that guy was awesome, though

Great episode! Better than last week's and continues the season's hot streak of compelling episodes.

Lynette: My least favorite of the night, obviously. I was happy to find Lynette going on a date but the outcome was really predictable and has been done many times before, didn't Lynette realize that she was controlling when her sister visited earlier this season as well? Anyway, I hope from now on we only have new storylines for Lynette and none of this rehashed stuff.

Renee: Love her!! She's being utilized properly this season, that's for sure. Her one-liners were fantastic and the proposal scene was heartbreaking, although I hoped that she'd be more angry after discovering the truth; I was waiting for her to slap Ben or something. Speaking of whom, I am excited to see how this mobster stuff will play out! I'm certain that Mike is going to be at the center of it all.

Gabby/Susan: This was a fantastic storyline. I basically loved each and every scene but I was surprised that Gabby wasn't so furious once she found the small posters. It was especially touching when Marissa confessed the truth to her mother and just the way Gabby reacted to it all, there was definitely great acting from everybody involved. The very last scene was my favorite though, when the mother asked Gabby to get rid of the "red wine stained" carpet!

Bree: Wow, I freaking love her. "Slutty Bree" is more in-character than any other variation of her character we've had in the last few years! This has turned out to be an amazing storyline. The sluttiness is no more than a portal to delve deeper into her character. I was pleasantly surprised by the bar scene with Reverend Sykes because Bree has never given up on her faith this way before, so this is definitely new territory for her. I also enjoyed her interactions with Karen McClusky but I'm surprised that she hasn't told the other housewives about her drinking problem, they need to do an intervention and fast! Of course, it also goes without saying that the last scene in church was the best of the episode. The way the confrontation happened and how she admitted that the other woman right and then her final comment about the gossip, it was all PERFECT. I am most excited about this storyline now and hope to see how everything turns out.

I can't believe that the show is going to be over in a few months, but I'm more than happy that we are being provided with such an amazing concluding season. I really hope it only gets better from now on.

Oh and by the way, did they air a promo for the next episode? I can't find anything on youtube but someone here mentioned a preview...

I don't think they could've had a better episode to go on a break with: definitely continues season 8's hot streak!

--Susan--

She didn't have a lot to do in this one, but I liked the secondary role she played in Gaby's story. It wasn't necessary to give her some random sideplot and I'm glad they didn't. But I felt like that emotional scene with Marissa would've worked better with Gaby, since we sadly didn't see those two bond over the fact they're both molested by the same man.

--Bree--

"Have you considered covering your lemons?" God, the writing was fantastic this episode, especially all the jokes in Bree's storyline. I have to admit I didn't like the thought of Bree going wild again and last week disappointed a bit, but Marcia gave one hell of a performance and it's obvious she needed a challenge after playing stuck up Bree for such a long time. The final scene was great and I loved that they brought in the church in the entire aspect. Great to see Bree do some soul-searching, but it looks like it could get ugly.

--Lynette--

Also, great storyline. It's something very true to the character to judge people on first sight and suggest improvements like she did with Frank here. Not necessarily an original story, but it was refreshing to not see Tom involved for once and see Lynette just make the same mistake all over again.

--Renee/Ben--

I kind of saw it coming, but I was so glad when the engagement was broken off immediately. It gives Ben a sympathetic/human side and since that scene about her mother two weeks ago, I'm looking forward to Vanessa having more drama material. Only downside is that this was an opportunity to finally involve her in Alejandro's death and it didn't happen. But overall a very good storyline: Vanessa's delivery continues to impress me.

--Gaby--

Now I think of it, the husbands really were set aside this week, right? No Tom, no Carlos and barely any Mike. Not that I'm complaining, this one was great too. The blood stain seemed a bit useless and the renovation was just there to give the episode a theme, but I liked it. Justina Machado brought out some bitchiness and it was great! Most importantly the flyers spread all over the street: it's been a long time since DH made me laugh and have me amazed at the same time. I hope we haven't seen the last of Alejandro's family, the last scene does seem to imply they might come back at some point.

A great episode and especially Marcia and Vanessa impressed me with their delivery. Too bad we have to wait three weeks for another dose of DH

Another series low in the ratings: 2.6 A18-49 and 7.46 million viewers

But considering it was up against a huge football game, DH did pretty well.

I think the show held up well considering it was up against an audience of 51 million with NFC championship.

But the next episode airs against the Grammys Awards, so I do expect to hit 6 million.

And as for the final episode, I really cant tell now. Need to see what the next few episode bring in.

Really!?, people weren't feeling Lynette this episode, she was my favorite sure the drama aspect didn't offer much but the comedy was unrivaled,that date was epic, what she needs is to find herself a fledging politician who shares her unyielding ambition

Gaby/Susan - So-So but I did like how the writers alluded Alejandro's fate to his wife without saying the words and how she handled it

Ben/Renee - Don't care for either character, so theres that

Bree - Not sure how I feel about the "new" Bree but I do love character development so hats off on that front

oh, and i thought it was funny when gabby mentioned "the" room and renée was like "why would he be uncomfortable in this room?". i hope renée does eventually find out, though. [since, you know. the whole neighborhood pretty much knows or will know, at this point ]

and i can't believe im saying this, but...i think i likerenée more than edie. i still miss edie, though. and i'm happy renée somewhat gets her own storylines this season, almost like being one of the wives, instead of just being the wives' friend.