Same old song and dance on 'Desperate Housewives'

With several episodes under its belt since the strike and few signs of life, and I think it's now safe to say that Desperate Housewives has officially lost its momentum. It's a shame, too, since this season was shaping up to be the best since its freshman year. But the storylines have grown stale, the characters less endearing, and the satire less pointed. Ah, well. It was good while it lasted. (Spoilers ahead...)

Let's focus on the positives, first. In yet another casting coup, Desperate Housewives has landed Justine Bateman as the Solis's new tenant. And while on Arrested Development she played a prostitute mistakenly identified as a business consultant, tonight she was a tattoo artist mistakenly identified as a prostitute (oh, Gabby). And by tattoo artist, I mean drug dealer. Whatever, the point is that I love Justine Bateman. And she brought the gay couple back into our lives, at long last! And they're even more flamboyantly dressed!

Unfortunately, Kayla is also back in our lives. And she's a complete psychopath. Turns out, she talked the twins into setting the fire - a fact she holds over Lynette, threatening to go to the police when Lynette tries to get her to see a therapist behind Tom's back. And seriously, Lynette? A therapist? That kid totally would've come up with crazy repressed memories of Satanic rituals in the Scavo basement, or something. Psycho. Anyway, as Tom and Lynette are fighting, Kayla almost lures the twins to their deaths by pretending to jump off the roof with an umbrella. Parker takes the bait, and totally breaks his wrist. Kayla smiles, like the creepy little sociopath she is. (Incidentally, I totally though Kayla had killed Ida's cat when he went missing. Little did I know she had set her sights on larger game.)

In other murderous psychopath news, Bree is unwilling to forgive Orson unless he turns himself in to the police. After he shows up at her place drunk, with a plan involving the old "I was sleepwalking when I ran Mike down in cold blood" defense, Bree asks Edie to give Orson a ride back to his apartment building. Orson: "Please don't make me go back there. The other divorced men are trying to start a book club!" You know, that may be punishment enough.

Instead, Edie lets him sleep it off at her place, much to Bree's displeasure. Edie thinks that sleeping with Orson would be like "having sex with PBS," but retaliates against Bree by letting him stay and kissing him after they down a couple martinis. Which Bree totally sees. YAWN. As Bree helpfully pointed out, Edie has already screwed just about everyone else's husband. It's sort of old news at this point. Can't they give her something else to do? 

Even lamer, Susan's storyline involves a Lamaze class which coincidentally also contains a newly rich Carl and his young, blonde, intelligent, pregnant wife. He's totally a dick about the whole thing, and Susan tries to show him up by bringing Mike to the next class, somehow forgetting that he just got out of rehab and is on an honesty kick. Susan and Mike fight a little, Carl helps her to see the good in Mike again, blah blah blah pointless plot.

Finally, in a prime example of plots losing momentum, Katherine finds out that Dylan's new "boyfriend" is actually her dad (ew). Hey, remember when this plot involved a lost memory, a mysterious grave, a cryptic note, and a room with a secret? I barely do. Anyway, Katherine confronts her ex, refusing to believe that he's changed, or even cares about getting to know Dylan. Katherine, however, has changed. She's not scared of him anymore, and she's not the same woman he beat up on. However, she still feels that it's necessary to have a pistol within reach when he's around. He leaves, she watches worriedly, and I try to remember back to the days when I actually looked forward to episodes of this show, or even cared what happened.

Do you feel like this season has lost its momentum, or does Desperate Housewives still have you hooked?   

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