There are only a handful of episodes left of Desperate Housewives, and I, for one, am feeling a bit melancholy. I have now been faced with one of the biggest dilemmas of my adult life — just what the hell am I going to do without these desperate broads? Inquiring minds want to know! Ah, I suppose I’ll deal with that later. In the meantime, let’s get down to business, shall we?
In an episode that seemed to take things back to basics after last week’s mildly depressing installment, we were treated to some new interesting developments. For starters, it seems Lynette is really beginning to realize the error of her ways. It was nice seeing her and Penny team up to win Tom back, and it looks like Lynette may have gotten through to him. Still, Tom does have a right to move on. I mean, he tried and tried to fix things with Lynette, but she pushed him away. Maybe it’s too little, too late. Elsewhere, Bree was busy with the return of Andrew, and Gabrielle desperately searched for a job. I kind of feel as though those two plots were nothing more than filler. However, it was nice to see Shawn Pyfrom back on Desperate Housewives. It’s been a long time, and I’m very interested to see what he brings to the table. My mom kind of feels that he’s back for a reason. In regards to Gaby, eh. I feel Gaby’s storyline — if you can call it that — has been the weakest link this season. Sorry. Just being honest.
And while I’m being honest, I have to say that I felt sorry for Susan in this installment. The scene with MJ crying into her arms was sad. Am I the only one still a little peeved that the writers killed off Mike? Now Teri Hatcher has been forced to act miserable up until the finale. She didn’t deserve that. Furthermore, where were Susan’s friends in her time of need? Not a single woman stopped by to check on Susan, and that kind of ticked me off. I thought these chicks were the best of friends! I thought these broads were compassionate!
Try telling that to Renee who finally got her very own teaser in this episode — thank God! While it’s no secret that Renee is my favorite housewife on the street, I kind of thought that it was a little, um, shallow of her to go around talking about her engagement when Susan’s husband was just shot. Furthermore, Ben hasn’t really shown an ounce of remorse, has he? While it’s certainly not Renee’s fault that Mike is dead, I feel that Ben should feel a little guilty. He moved on a little too fast for my tastes. Then again, come to think of it, it seems that Bree, Lynette and Gaby have moved on as well. Is that bad friendship or bad writing? You be the judge!
There are only three episodes left until the two-hour series finale and we’ve got some questions to ponder. For starters, is Bree going to spend the rest of her life behind bars? Those detectives were certainly on to her in this episode, weren’t they? Is Lynette going to win Tom back, or will Jane get in the way? Will Susan be able to recover before the end of the series? And will Renee ever learn about the body that her friends buried in the woods? Sound off in the comments below!
Clacked by Jaylen Christie 
on Mar 26, 2012 @ 03:48 EST5EDT
I thought this hour was a little boring. I was reading a book while watching. Renee did give me a chuckle when she patted Ben down for the ring and put it on her finger and then dismissed him.
Bree’s engagement party was pure Bree, I knew she would do that. I hope Andrew sticks around a bit.
Otherwise..a bit of a snoozefest!
*POST AUTHOR*
I didn’t think it was boring, Toni…but I do see what you mean about it being a filler episode. Bree’s plot certainly reeked up being a filler, but overall I did find the episode to be amusing. I liked seeing Renee finally get her own teaser, and yes, it was funny when she patted Ben down. I was like, “Get that ring, Renee!” LOL
I enjoyed the show last night and would like to respond to your questions.
No. I do not think Bree will spend the rest of her life behind bars. You can’t arrest Bree without arresting ALL of the housewives because they each played a role in the burial.
Yes. I think Lynette will get Tom back. He is beginning to have second thoughts about Jane which is what Lynette (and her daughter) wants to happen.
Yes. Susan be able to recover before the end of the series. Susan and MJ will always love Mike but they will be okay.
Yes. Renee will find out about the body her friends buried in the woods. This will be the talk of the neighborhood! I can see Mrs. McClusky talking about it.
*POST AUTHOR*
No, I don’t think Bree will spend the rest of her life behind bars either. Still, I can’t help but wonder why it is that she’s the only one who’s in trouble? The police should have been able to spot the other fingerprints as well, right? The other housewives need to rally in Bree’s defense. Sheesh. It seems like everyone is having a hard time at this point in the season.
It’s upsetting to me that, with only 210 minutes of Desperate Housewives remaining, Gabrielle’s sixth-to-last episode of her breakthrough hit series was filled with such a boring and meaningless storyline. And it wasn’t only Gaby that was given average material this week.
As a whole, I enjoyed the episode, I even enjoyed Gabrielle’s storyline, to some extent, I just wish the writers were forming more appropriate and heartfelt storylines to bring the series to an end.
For me, the problems don’t lie in the decisions the writers make for the characters, always, it lies in the execution of a storyline. I liked the writers decision to kill Mike, it was a powerful decision, one that really was shocking. Right from the beginning, Susan and Mike were the Desperate Housewives dream couple; we were ALL invested in their journey, we all wanted them to find their happy ending, which would, in turn, give us a happy ending too. But his character’s death challenged the idea of the happy ending that was so obviously mapped out for them. And I credit the guts it took to do that. So, I applaud the writers for making it happen, even if most of the audience don’t agree with it, it’s okay to not always satisfy the audience in such an obvious way. I’m not so sure that what we’re seeing after Mike’s death is what I want to see though. I liked the emotions shown in the scene between Susan and MJ in the garage, throwing jam jars against the wall. And I liked that Julie and MJ FINALLY spoke to each other in an episode of the show! (They’ve only been siblings for what, 9 years now?) But the writers have let us down by isolating Susan from her friends in this episode. It’s all very well and good to have a unique storyline for each of the characters, but it just didn’t feel right that Susan wouldn’t share any screen time with her girlfriends last night.
Lynette’s little story arc was annoying to me. During last season’s finale, Lynette used the word ‘relief’ when describing how she felt what she thought Tom had moved out. It felt very final, like a beautiful, but very sad, end to their marriage. But, in order for that scene to have had any significant power, Lynette and Tom needed to STAY SEPARATED. This ridiculous and overly comical crapfest of watching Lynette’s silly pursuit of her ex-husband is just tedious. I don’t care one way or the other if they end up together by the time Mary Alice utters ‘Yes’ for the final time. Lynette knocked him back in the eighth season premiere. She’s had PLENTY of chances to win him back. I’m done caring about the fate of their marriage to be honest.
I was very happy to see that Renee was the focal point of the opening act last night! It was nice to see that, and now we can finally say that Renee has been a part of that Desperate Housewives tradition. Though, I didn’t like the scene very much. Mary Alice’s dialog was terrible, as it so often is during the opening and closing acts of this final season. But I did like that Renee was happy to let the police take Ben away once she got her hands on that engagement ring! That made me laugh.
I don’t think we’ll see Shawn Pyfrom again. The end of last night’s episode felt very final. And his name is not listed as a special guest star for next week’s episode. I was disappointed that Andrew had ulterior motives with Mary Beth. Obviously, he’s gay. But, before the episode aired, I thought he was marrying her to keep her in the States, maybe she was from another country and needed to get married to stay. But, once that scenario had been eliminated, within a few seconds of seeing the two of them together, I thought that he’d found a friend, someone he could have fun with, I was disappointed that he saw her as an ATM, someone who could pay off his credit card debts.
I liked the ending of the episode. I have to credit the writers on this occasion with pulling off a successful twist. I didn’t see the end coming. The writers have failed so many times over the past few years to pull off good twists, they’ve either been obvious, or terrible. But I really did not see last night’s twist shocker coming. I don’t know how, but Bree WILL get off this murder charge. Maybe Carlos will come to her aid. And I also want to question why the police are not interested in identifying the other five sets of fingerprints. Carlos, Gabrielle, Susan, Lynette and Mike ALL handled the body, and if they lifted Bree’s fingerprints from the corpse, then surely the other five sets of fingerprints could also be identified. They’re not even trying to find these other five people! It’s almost as if they never even noticed the other sets of prints. Are these inept police officers even going to question Bree about accomplices? This is so lazy from the writers to allow that to just slip by.
As always, Jaylen, I loved the review. It’s always a lot of fun to read and respond to your thoughts about each episode. Next week’s episode will air in Canada on CTV at 7PM because CTV are committed to showing the Canadian Juno Music Awards at 8PM. I don’t know what that means for GCB though. I am very excited to see next week’s episode of Desperate Housewives before it airs anywhere in the States!
*POST AUTHOR*
Lachlan, I agree with you about Andrew. I don’t think we’ll be seeing him again either. You want to know what I learned? It seems all four of the main actresses are getting paid around $400,000 per episode. This is obviously a significant raise after season seven. However, with the actresses now being paid so much, money had to be cut elsewhere — limiting the appearances of other actors and actresses and thus their characters — which in turn has somewhat backed the writers in a corner. This is why characters like Ben don’t appear much. It’s why Carlos disappeared in rehab and why Tom went to Paris. Doesn’t that suck? As much as like my four leading ladies, I feel like greed may have prevented this season from being stellar.