Your Loss
Written by Jenna Bans
Directed by Stephen Cragg
6.0
"Fair"
"Invisible before birth are all beings and after death, invisible again. They are seen between two unseens. Why in this truth do we find sorrow?" The Bhagavad-Gita.
Something of a painfully true statement, miscarriage is one of the greatest heartaches that many women have gone through, including two people close to me. Grief is something we all deal with in a different manner. While some people are open with theirs, others are not.
Given the kind of person Gabrielle is, her denial over feelings of loss are believable, even if the writing on this episode feels a little strained. Her first reaction is to blow off her friends when they try to offer their support and strangely enough, they actually keep their distance for the rest of the episode, which is a shame because this episode really could've benefited from their support and it seems they gave up too easily on helping Gabrielle dealing with her loss.
Despite her caustic comments even I knew that Gabrielle was grieving privately. She may be manipulative and a complete bitch at times, but even I know that she's not entirely made of stone. Carlos' method of grieving however made for a fun exchange between him and his wife but given the fact he's still banged up in the tame version of Oz, we needed another way of having Gabrielle let rip.
Enter Hector, a completely muscular and rather tattooed up, ex-convict pal of Carlos' sent to mind Gabrielle, who does her best to get rid of him, including the obligatory bribery attempt which backfires. Even before we learned of his real purpose on Wisteria Lane, I liked the guy, although his comments about Carlos being perceptive were way off the mark. There's also an amusing scene where Hector notes Gaby's love of shopping that's rather to what Mama Solis pointed in "Come In, Stranger".
The scene in the car with Gabrielle seemingly in peril was an okay fake-out. We don't necessarily know that much about Hector, though obviously he's suffered his own share of grief in order to help Gaby come to terms with her own. At first this scene felt rather cheesy but a second viewing takes the cringe factor off.
Not only did Gabrielle to admit her grief for her unborn baby but she also managed to identify Caleb after Mike catches and police arrest him. Caleb aside, Betty isn't really doing herself any favours by denying her son didn't play a part in Gaby losing her baby to Matthew. Although I like Alfre Woodard, this wasn't Betty's best outing and even Matthew didn't have much of interest to do besides secretly meeting Danielle.
Besides his heroics, Mike spends most his time trying to blow Susan off as well. He refuses to go to Sophie's wedding with her and does his best to be abrasive around her, although he does give her vital information that Susan questioning her lineage. After two great episodes, Teri Hatcher is again relegated to hammy overacting as Susan's quest to learn more about her father does little to endear her or Sophie.
To be honest, I wasn't exactly bursting the seems to learns about Susan's parentage so the revelation of Sophie lying about Susan's dad being a marine and the truth of him being Sophie's former boss didn't excite even if it was better to listen to than Morty's half baked analogy. So Sophie nearly wrecked someone else's marriage and didn't want Susan to ruin her wedding day but told her the truth for all to hear? Yeah, smart move there. Susan's reaction was childish and tiresome to watch but it was hardly far fetched either though. That being said, this is one personal drama we could've done without for the time being.
More personal drama in this episode, we have Tom and Lynette engaged in battle of how to look after terror twins Porter and Preston as well teaching them not to talk to strangers. I felt bad for Tom, he really trying his best to be a good stay at home parent and to be honest, he's a little better at it than Lynette was last season. He taught the boys the vital protocol for dealing with strangers and they recited back to him like experts in training. How was he supposed to know that Lynette would be right and it would go in one ear and out the other? Also who would be stupid enough to want to snatch those kids?
Well apparently Lynette's co-worker Stu is when he insanely decides to aid Lynette in her quest to prove Tom wrong and ends up at the receiving end of a taser wielding Karen McClusky, whose return is a highlight in a surprisingly not as involving episode and while this plot outdid Susan's, we've had better ones with the Scavo clan this season.
Thankfully at least one arc came to be as good as Gaby's this hour and it was of course Bree's as George's hold on her is continuing to loosen and it's not before time too. His attitude over her not wearing his engagement ring irks Bree as does a visit from an ex-girlfriend of George's who warns Bree of his possessive. Bree stupidly buys into his lie of his former fiance being mentally unstable, even though you can see her questioning her feelings for the psychotic pharmacist.
It isn't until a nasty run in with Bree's ex boyfriend Ty does she finally see George's true colours and calls off the engagement. George doesn't take this well and reacts by burning Ty's car but being optimistic, George's stay on Wisteria Lane is about to become a lot shorter.
Also in "The Sun Won't Set"
Housewife of the week: This time around it's Betty as we get some fine examples of her piano skills which she puts to good use during a neighbourhood watch meeting, which is the second reminder of 1x05's "Come In, Stranger".
Karen: "We were taking a vote"
Matthew (re Betty): "She was a concert pianist".
We got the apple logo again for opening credits. That's two episodes in a row this season that this has happened.
Carlos: "You just lost a baby"
Gabrielle: "I grieve differently".
Tom (re eyes): "The two in the front work just fine"
Lynette: "Really, where's Penny?"
Bree said the cover of the newspaper where George announced their engagement had a story of floods in Sri Lanka. A little strange for a local paper, wouldn't it be?
Sophie: "Do we have to do this now? You are ruining my wedding rehearsal"
Susan: "You've been married four times; I think you got it down".
Morty (re Sophie): "Yes I know what I'm getting myself into".
Susan thought her father was Harrison Ross, a marine. Her real dad is Addison Prudy. She also mentioned to Mike about her memoirs from last episode. Will we see that?
Hector (re Carlos): "He's a perceptive man"
Gabrielle: "He thought I was having an affair with two gay guys".
We saw the new Caleb in this episode played by Nashawn Kearse.
Gabrielle: "You're not gonna kill me?"
Hector: "Hadn't planned on it".
Gabby was going to name her child Charlie if it was a boy and Aurora if it was a girl. Nice enough names.
No Andrew, Zach, Paul, Edie or Karl this week. Julie had no dialogue as well.
The episode's title is rather appropriate as it begins and ends during the night.
George: "I'm sorry, I just, we're engaged"
Bree: "See the thing is, I don't think we are anymore".
Its seven weeks since "One Wonderful Day". Surely more time would've passed since then.
What should have been a reasonably competent episode following last week's unforgettable instalment is a little too anticlimactic and disappointing. Although "The Sun Won't Set" has some nice moments, it lacks the sparks of previous instalments and is possibly the first disappointing hour of Season Two so far.
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