Desperate Housewives

Forgettable episode here, despite the fact that the show brought just about every zany trick they had in the book out. There was not one remotely normal or believable storyline on display in tonight's episode. You had Susan trying to crush a teenager with a car, Tom fooling Carlos and his business partner that Lynette was drinking wine, Bree trying to murder Karl's new fling and Ms. Solis being more impressed with some photos from one of those machines at a carnival than her husband.



I just did not think anything in tonight's episode was believable at all and the main storylines were not really progressed in any extensive matter to make up for this insanity.



Sorry Desperate Housewives, but you are better than this.

Patently contrived and about as believable as your average L. Ron Hubbard novel, 'Never Judge a Lady by her Lover' tries oh so desperately (hah! What a pun!) to impress but sadly, falls flat on its sorry behind. Repeatedly. And with increasing kerfuffle. Yet again, Jesse Metcalfe is rolled out of cold storage to 'spice things up in', nee 'drive a stake right through' Gabrielle and Carlos's story, making his apparently obligatory once-a-season appearance as the owner of a fabtabulous new restaurant that's just opened in town. Naturally, this leads to a consideration of all the 'possibilities' down the road not taken, Gabrielle spending half the episode in some sort of wistful trance, reminiscing longingly about the time he banged her in her husband's bed, or perhaps the incident with his naked touche in the bushes (well, we all remember that one well... some of us have yet to get over it. Ahem.) We've seen it all before, endured the 'what if' pontification far too many times to be even remotely interested, and even the pay-off, her realisation that she prefers what she has with Carlos, threatens to bore you to tears, it's that unnecessary and down right obvious.



Elsewhere, Bree's narrative continues to feel like it's being played for shock value, trying so hard to do something that hasn't been tried before that it sacrifices all that's enjoyable about her character. Felicty Huffman does her best with a truckload of bad material for poor Lynette, who decides to hide the truth about her pregnancy from her boss, in spite of the fact that she should know far better than to conceal absolutely anything whatsoever, given her history, and as for Susan, well, words really don't do justice to the absurdity of this one. Yes, sure, she'd be distraught over the attempted murder of her daughter and okay, maybe this would lead her to jump to some hasty conclusions. We can all cope with her unwarranted suspicions of super hot, uber sexy, looks-far-too-good-in-a-pair-of-jogging-bottoms-for-it-to-be-legal Danny Bolan, but attempting to crush him with his friend's car? Um, sometimes you really do go far too far, Desperate Housewives. It's all played for laughs, obviously, but it just isn't funny; in fact, it reads as a plot device, not a naturally arising development, which makes it difficult to engage with the story. Disappointing, really; with a little more attention, this show could be a whole hell of a lot better. Still, at least we got that scene with the Scavo kids, eh? Now that was a scream.

Another fine episode of season six with a rather high level of comedy instead of all the drama.



Firstly, it was nice to see Jesse Metcalf again. Seeing how John has grown up during the time leap was a nice idea by the writers and all the continuity helped us remind ourselves of how great the Gabrielle and John Rowland thing worked. But still, her marraige to Carlos is forever strong.



Bree's naughtyness is fun to watch. Its nice to see Marcia Cross being dirty for a change, however she still maintains her dignity. Her little sabotage attempt on Karl's little woman was rather amusing.



Lynette and Tom were byfar the funniest. Lynette is desperate to hide her pregnancy from uncaring Carlos, and Tom's wine-drinking was very funny (see the comment above). I could not stop laughing.



But its Teri Hatcher who shines the most. Never upset Susan Mayer by hurting her daugther, because she will hurt you back. Nice to see Hatcher acting strong and powerful instead of clutsy and ditzy.

Just like I.S. in "Lost",Jesse Metcalfe became very famous for his role,but left after season 1.Since then,nothin',except for the movie "John Tucker Must Die",which did O.K.,but wasn't that huge.The best he's had in this past years are his appearances in the show.This time,I didn't like it.Why?It was pointless."Carlos" was jealous of "Gabrielle",and "Ana" got a job.That's it.The episode was still good,showin'"Susan"'s dark side(which occurs to any worried parent),and then I liked how she and "Angie" bonded at the end."Lynette"'s plot was the comic relief,and "Bree" also showed a dark side,but also that she has feelings for "Karl".Not cool.Why?"Karl" is just a guest.He'll leave soon.It's pointless.They just don't know what to do with her now that her marriage is practically over,she barely see her children,and she recovered from her alcoholism.

I'd like to begin this review by getting a few nitpicks out of the way.



John's return. Really? Come on, writers. I KNOW you can do better than that. Given the way this year's big mystery is unfolding, I know there's plenty of creativity at your disposal. Most of us already know where this is going - or, at least, where it's LIKELY to be going - but, I could be wrong. I'll see where this goes, but if it's headed for a love triangle, color me disappointed. Gabby and Carlos deserve better than that. But, as I said, we'll see what happens.



Bree. As much as I'm loving this Bree/Karl fling, I think it was a tad over the top that Karl would just "happen" to be at the same event as she. Even for Desperate Housewives, that was a bit too much. (Although the scene where Bree tosses oil on the dance floor was priceless.)



Orson. Man, I liked Orson. But now, I'm not really sure what to think. Is he really that clueless as to Bree's extracurricular activities? I'm not sure what the writers are doing with him, but I hope they fix this soon.



Alright, I'm done nitpicking.



I have to admit to becoming a big fan of the "Bolens." I'm actually starting to care about these people, although I'm still unsure of Nick, as he's been mostly hiding in the background. But Angie is a character I'm really beginning to get into. She's tough, but she's a genuinely loving mother and wife who will do anything to protect her family. What are they running from? And what happened to Angie? Why does she blame herself? Many questions here, and I look forward to seeing where this goes.



Lynette finally comes clean to her kids about her pregnancy, and the result was hilarious, particularly Penny's response: "If they're boys, I'm outta here!" I am a *tad* skeptical about Lynette's promotion, but we'll see where that goes. I did also love the dinner scene, with Tom and Lynette playing "musical wine glasses" and Tom getting a little tipsy!



Susan has been a big focal point of the season, and I'm really glad. I've always loved her as a character, and it's nice to see her get a little more edge. I think her rage is understandable, but it was a little shocking to see her almost crush Danny with his car. Wow. And the "silent apology" at the end - perfect.



Despite a few rocky plots, and the abscence of Katherine (very odd), this was still a great piece of television and a terrific addition to a fun season thus far.

Now that we are down to episode number 3, DH has put its foot on the brake pedal a bit. Here we see a different story for each housewife, excluding Katherine of course. Bree's track is according to me, probably the worst one of all. I wonder if its comedy considering she is cheating on one loser with another loser, or if its some sort of romantic tragedy because Orson thinks she is still in love with him. Either ways, it seems like a sheer waste of time. Susan paranoia is put to an end after the police conclude Danny Bolen didn't commit the crime. Now the mystery still continues as we still do not know who strangled Julie and what secret the Bolen's are hiding. Lynette gets a big promotion on account of Carlos thinking that Lynette is not pregnant. A foreseeable plot would include a fallout between Carlos and Lynette, once the truth comes to light.



But Carlos might have bigger problems to worry about. John is back and he is available. And it is revealed in the end that Gaby might have still have some feelings for him. Eva Longoria Parker has delivered yet another brilliant performance, proving she can do comedy way better than any other housewife.

First of all, I'd like to make clear that I've really liked this season until now and that it had some promising storylines, but when there's something about that makes of breaks an episode of DH for me, it's continuity and writing.



The acting was ok, but you could tell there was something of, probably because of the lack of good writing. But I'll take them one by one:



--Lynette--

Last episode, we left Lynette at night in her living room, where she was about to tell her kids she was pregnant. Now, suddenly, we're in the morning and the kids still don't know anything? If they wanted to show the kids's reaction (which was hilarious, by the way, certainly if you think about Porter's history), they should've left that out in the last episode. Another lack of knowledge of the characters was throwing in Penny's allergic for dogs. We've seen and heard of the Scavo dog until last season, for God's sake. It provided comedy at the dinner table for sure, but they could've written this another way and it really bothered me. But I guess the pregnancy/promotion storyline was ok, although it was all over the place.



--Gaby--

I didn't mind John coming back at first, but was this all they could come up with? A rehash of season 4's episode, but just like they'd forgotten everything that happened back then. Carlos obviously forgot he forgave John and letting your niece work with the guy who "banged" your wife? Seems a little desperate, just for making a point.

I also felt like the intro narration didn't really fit for Gaby, since she hasn't been frumpy since mid-season 5 anymore, but Juanita throwing food was funny. Gaby making a point to Carlos at the dinner was good though, but I just hope we'll have one more episode and then finally can close the chapter called 'John Rowland'. And was it just me, or was that dress Gaby wore at the dinner totally not flattering?

But the biggest shocker: Gaby got a bad one-liner! Really, the mime thing?



--Bree--

Again, all over the place. Acting was off, only good scene was when she made Orson slip, but other than that... From last episode, Bree could've guessed Karl was being serious with this relationship. Again, lack of continuity. But Orson thinking Bree really loved him again was a nice twist.



--Katherine--

Can be short with this one: looks like Dana's been promoted to Nicollette's place last year, but instead of muffins, it's now looking frumpy behind a cup of coffee. I would've liked to see more of her, but instead, we got crazy...



--Susan--

Wtf. That's pretty much the first thing that comes to mind. People that didn't like her already, sure won't change their mind after this episode. Granted, the scene where she's hiding in the car was classic and the same goes for the wonderful ending scene in the Bolen's front yard, but what was up with Danny under the car? Susan's never freaked out like this and my first thought went back to Julie in the season premiere :'From the women you can marry, this one's the stable one'. Serious doubts, even Katherine wouldn't try to kill somebody without hard evidence. And at the end, apologizing to Mike? Really, I don't get how her mind works anymore.



--the Bolens--

Probably the only storyline which was really decent, but I don't like the characterization of the family. The writers are trying too hard to make them the outcasts because of their background and especially Angie, the tough NY mother. Aside from that, Drea's acting was good ('Ya got a name?') and again, last scene was wonderful.

But again inconsistency: according to Mike and Bob, Danny's been in the park for over an hour. Didn't Nick state in the previous episode Danny couldn't have been in the park because he drove 'round there? Again, these things bother me a lot and that's partially the reason for the low rating. But the storylines were all over the place and there was just too much to cram into one episode. I don't like to bash an episode of my favourite show, but I can only hope for something better next week.

This week of DH provides the usual fun on a Sunday night, but looking back by season's end, how well will it really hold up?



Firstly, I'm happy to report that Bree probably got the best material this week. This week, more than great lines, Bree really just had some fantastic facial reactions to many of the situations that came up tonight. She also got some great responses from both Karl and Orson. Orson has such a thankless role playing so straight to all the comedy around him that I take him for granted sometimes. I was reminded tonight of what a really great a character he adds to these wacky suburbanites. Pairing Bree with Karl has a lot of comedic potential, and we enjoy their 'odd couple' banter.

Almost right on cue, comes the 'jealousy/other woman' plot device, as Karl brings his own date to a banquet, much to Bree's surprise. This was contrived, sure, and it is inevitable that Bree would fall for Karl; As soon as she ranted about not getting attached, it was obvious where this plot was going as soon as the show started. But the actors still make it all work, and slipping on the dance floor was a fun comedic payoff. Orson misreading the event did come as a nice surprise too, and I am especially tickled that he believes there's hope with he and Bree. This affair is finally getting some legs!



A little less interesting was Lynette and Tom telling the kids about the new babies. An underwhelming reaction here (anyone else wish the kids brought a little more to the show?- I'm really missing the younger rascals) with Parker (or Preston?) scolding the parents in a kind of un-funny bit of role-reversal. Also Lynette gets a promotion but the pregnancy is unbeknown to her boss. Of course. This just all feels too familiar, and I found it particularly odd that considering her boss is Carlos, a friend, that this wasn't handled more creatively. Huffman tries her best with a couple of cute lines, but I get a sense even the actress is tired of riding this cliche wave. Housewife hiding family life from work. Can't they give Lynnette something else for a change? Tom covering for the wine at dinner was mildly amusing at best.



My biggest gripe with this episode was that Gabby was criminally underused. The return of John seemed like a big deal to me! Why did it devolve into a petty 'you tried to look pretty' argument? Carlos' jealousy was touched on a little bit, and it provided Gabrielle with the best 'speech of the night' (Lynette has been the past winner 2 weeks in a row, now :P), But this all has so much potential, that I hope this is only the beginning of some really great stuff. John owns a restaurant now, he's doing well. I think the biggest roadblock between he and Gaby was not age, but that he couldn't provide for her. Now he can! With new kids, a jealous husband, and a horny niece, I really would hate for them to miss out on some juicy plots for these two.



Susan, still enraged about what she believes Danny did to her daughter, resorts to one of the most powerful weapons a woman can have in the suburbs: Word of mouth. She lets the entire neighborhood know they aren't safe with the Bolens around, and it has great ramifications. This is an icier version of Susan than we've ever seen, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. On one hand, I really love my plucky little 'Suzie Q'. On the other, it's nice to see her getting tough. Something Lynette, Bree, and Gabrielle all have in common is that they've established themselves as women you don't want to mess with when pushed. I'm glad Susan can display that sort of mettle, too. But at six seasons, does it feel a bit out of character? The scene I'm talking about of course is the driveway interrogation, where she is literally trying to crush poor Danny with a car! It was inventive and cool, but also kinda crazy. I get the whole Momma protecting her cub, thing but...Susan?...SUSAN?? Do we buy it?



Angie came to the rescue (thank goodness), and I'm starting to really get into her character. She's sketchy and she's tough, (clearly wearing the pants in this family) but apparently just as maternal as any other mother. She may be an adequate replacement for Edie yet.

Susan was so adamant about guilty Danny that it was clear she would turn out to be wrong, and learn a valuable lesson in the process. I liked the theme about persecution, and that the mystery of the attacker still continues (all fingers point to Katherine, now). But besides Susan's A-plot, all the other housewives' storylines were cliched filler. I know how good DH can be (last week, for exp) so this stuff tonight was just not enough.

GREAT episode. I was not expecting it to be this good, as it appeared to be lacklustre from the promos. LYNETTE: Great to see that she has gotten a comedic storyline, which has been needed from her in awhile. Funny how Tom got drunk at the dinner, and I liked the children's reactions to Lynette's pregnancy. A+



GABRIELLE: Eh, it was ok. Better than I thought it was going to be. Anxious to see Ana's mischief break out soon. Good humor though. B-



BREE: Well-done comedy but they kind of overdid it. Excellent storyline though, however, but it could've been planned out better. Orson's so idotic. A-



SUSAN: I know she wanted answers, but she went a bit too far in this episode. Teri Hatcher's drama acting has improved over these six years! I can't believe she just might've killed Danny or really hurt him! Angie made it just in time. Susan redeemed herself after helping Angie with the vandalism. A+



THE BOLENS: What is their big secret? Is Angie and Nick Bolen not their real names? I'm confused!! A+