Monday, January 5, 2009

Desperate Housewives - Home is the Place

It's back: the drama, the deceit, the desperate housewives.


Nice casting addition in last night's episode with Joanna Cassidy playing Andrew's future monster-in-law. Bree definitely had her hackles raised by the boozy barmaid whose idea of family relations is to call dibs on major holidays. As the two one up each other for control over their sons' lives, Bree "outbids" Melina by buying Andrew and Alex the house down the street.

The writers skirted the Gale Harold motorcycle accident by having Jackson "appear" via phone calls to Susan. Susan, bored without Jackson around, spies on Lee and Bob fighting. When Lee confronts her, she counters by telling him "If you're interested, I have dirt on Bree!" She manages to finagle her way into going clubbing with Lee that evening. "You might want to pule on the makeup," Lee tells her. "Drag queens get their first drink free."

As they party at the club, Susan gets another phone call from Jackson--this time he tells her about a new job he was offered in a new town and asks her to move in with him. Susan confides this to Lee as well as the fact that she often sabotages her relationships. After a night of carousing, Lee and Susan end up in bed together.

Later Lee assures Susan that nothing happened. "Yo, gay here! Listening to opera in a kimono?" Susan is relieved that she hasn't sabotaged yet another relationship, but Lee--in a rare tender moment--advises her to hold off on moving in with Jackson.

And so that probably ends Gale Harold's run on Desperate Housewives.

Now that Carlos' sight is restored, Gaby wants him to get a real job making real money. Especially after she finds out he quit his massage gig at the country club. "Now that I can see, " Carlos explains, "naked people are gross." When Gaby runs into Bradley, a former colleague of Carlos', she thinks she has the perfect solution in the form of a six-figure income with perks. Carlos has other ideas and announces that he's gotten a job working with the blind.

Gaby arranges a dinner party so that Bradley can convince Carlos to take the job. But Bradley's bitter wife Maria does a better job of convincing him not to. Later Carlos and Gaby argue over the money situation with Gaby winning and a whipped Carlos making the call to accept the job offer.

How long 'til this blows up in Gaby's face? And isn't workaholic Carlos the reason she had the affair with John the underage gardener in season one?

Preston is still posing as Porter until Penny outs him in front of Lee the lawyer. Lee gives Lynette and Tom two days to locate Porter before he is forced to report what he knows to the authorities. Lynette notices Preston talking to someone on his cell phone and grabs it from him and redials the number. On the other end, Porter hangs up on Lynette and Preston claims he has no knowledge of his twin's whereabouts and refuses to help Lynette track him down. He tells Lynette that Warren Schilling threatened to kill Porter.

Later Lynette explains to Preston that as a mother, she has a primal instinct to protect her children--even if it means running Warren Schilling down with her car. Preston relents and pleads with Porter to talk with Lynette. As she begs Porter to come back home--promising to protect him from Warren Schilling--the phone is removed from Porter's hand.

Turns out the runaway is with Lynette's mom, Stella (Polly Bergen), who is dubious about Lynette's support given how she was treated.

And the Dave drama has finally reached a boiling point with our favorite vengeful schizo in full melt-down mode. While Roberta and Karen stake out Dr. Heller's office to get the skinny on the psycho, Dave calls in for a prescription refill. Too bad they end up leaving the office after finding the doctor has disappeared and before hearing the receptionist talking to a "David Dash" who resides on Wisteria Lane.

Edie is mystified by Dave's odd behavior and when she finds him talking to himself in the middle of the night, she confronts him. He admits being married before and tells her that his wife died. Rocked by this news, Edie kicks Dave out. As he walks down Wisteria Lane, suitcases in hand Karen McCluskey witnesses his leaving.

Um, why wouldn't he be driving away? Or call a cab? Who walks down the street carrying suitcases?

Maybe he's going to move in with his pal Mike Delfino?


  1. Happy Feast of the Epiphany!

    Last night, I turned off the Xmas lights for the last time. I, too, am a purist: first Sunday in Advent to Feast of the Epiphany for the lights.

    Good commentary about DH. But you seem less optimistic about Gale than before. Have you heard something?

  2. I get the feeling that the writers are "writing around" Harold's motorcycle accident--much in the way they would write around an actress' pregnancy.

    Since they're setting up another Mike and Susan run (from what I can gather), Harold as a love interest becomes less important.

    Hopefully he's recovering nicely from his injuries. He reminds me (physically) of an older version of Ashton Kutcher...

  3. It IS startling how much Ashton resembles Gale, but somehow I find Gale very sexy and Ashton not very sensual at all.

    Well, DH is just not my show. Too OTT for me, and I find a lot of the writing weak. I've heard so much about the first season as this golden age of deft, slyly satirical writing. Is this true? I've only seen the current season.

  4. Sometimes the writing is really sharp (last season's Halloween episode was howlingly funny), sometimes it is weak.

    If you're not a soap person (and I am), then DH wouldn't do it for you. It's a bit on the frothy side.