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RSS'Desperate Housewives': Conflict, resolution
Tonight's installment of Desperate Housewives was one of those oddities where it felt like nothing much happened, but we were left with quite a bit to talk about by the end of the night.
Dave: We start off with a little backstory on Dave -- finding out about the car crash, discovering his wife and child are dead, being committed to a psychiatric facility after a mental breakdown, meeting and marrying Edie after his release (who just so happens to have lived on the same street with the man who killed his family), and then being kicked out by Edie and thus possibly failing to get his revenge. Happily for Dave, Mike's such a nice guy that he offers to put Dave up while he and Edie are on the outs.
Edie and Susan: While the ladies comfort Edie after hearing about Dave's surprise past marriage, Susan breaks the news that she's headed to Riverton with Jackson. In a marvelous plot contrivance, Susan and Edie get trapped in Andrew and Alex's basement just long enough to fight about Susan stealing Edie's breakup thunder with her news about moving. Edie, predictably and somewhat correctly, calls Susan needy and pathetic for moving with Jackson, and proves it by creating a timeline of Susan's relationships. Essentially, she's never single by choice: "You have holes in your heart that can only be filled by a pair of trousers!"
Susan, in turn, accuses Edie of treating men like they're disposable. Past-sharing, psychoanalysis, slapping, and shoving ensue. And once they get out of the basement, Edie takes Dave back, saying she "could use a happy ending." Aww...that's sad, considering what's about to happen. And Susan, for her part, decides to try being alone for once.
Mike and Katherine: Dylan wants Katherine to move out to Baltimore, and Katherine wants Mike to ask her to stay. Lady, you're passive aggressively pressuring the wrong dude. Mike confesses to Dave that he doesn't want Katherine to go, and Dave questions him about whether he's really over Susan. Mike corrects him: He's actually just now realizing that he's falling in love with Katherine. Something tells me this might not bode well for Katherine. Especially after Mike sends her flowers with a card that says "Don't go," and Dave ominously watches them kissing from the window.
Lynette: A retirement home resident comes to complain to Lynette about Porter: "Red hair, with a face you just want to slap." Yep, that's Porter. Lynette goes to retrieve him, but grandma already sent him away when she heard they were busted: "Sucks to feel powerless, doesn't it?" Lynette drives away crying and calling Tom, and after witnessing a car accident, fakes one to smoke out Porter. Wow. I mean, desperate times call for desperate measures, letting your son and mom think you died is pretty cold.
She convinces him to go to court, where the judge throws out Porter's case for lack of evidence. Lynette's mom is still upset, though, and has trouble letting go of her anger. In a surprisingly touching scene, considering it's Lynette, her mom softens and Lynette agrees to visit her in the nursing home with the kids.
Bree: After uncomfortably watching Bree mock Orson's poor negotiating skills in front of himself and Andrew, Alex point blank asks her to stop, saying that his mom used to emasculate his father like that, and it drove him away. ...Wow. I mean, he's not wrong, but wow. "I'm saying if you're going to be rude to your husband, could you just not do it in front of me?" At the big barbeque, Bree makes a big production about being nice to Orson's overcooked steaks before suggesting that Alex was being rude, considering Bree had bought him a house. Alex refuses the house if it's coming with strings attached. Fair enough, but he kind of was being rude.
Andrew refuses to get into the middle of it, and points out to Bree that since Alex isn't her son, husband, or employee, he doesn't have to listen to her. Bree tries to make nice with Alex, but he won't let her, insisting that they'll fight again, and shouldn't make it worse by living on top of each other. Bree acknowledges that she actually needs someone to call her out from time to time, and they come to an understanding based upon his ability to do just that. This has the potential to be awesome, folks.
Gaby: Wow, after watching Eva Longoria set the red carpet on fire tonight, it was a bit of a shock to see her as Gaby again. The girls are upset that Carlos is going to be away for work. Juanita: "We don't need lots of money." Gaby: "Hey, what did I say about that kind of language?" Ha! Unfortunately, they refuse to listen to Gaby while Carlos is gone, and she can't exactly physically carry them where she wants them to go (in fact, she throws out her back trying). Carlos is no help over the phone, and Gaby can't make them listen without him.
Instead of figuring out how to be the alpha female, Gaby pays the yard guy to yell at them and get them to clean up. Carlos isn't into it, and reminds Gaby when she complains that he's no help that this is what she wanted when she insisted he take the high-paying job. Gaby: "I just wanted to have a normal life!" Carlos: "Well guess what, sweetie? Dad's unhappy at work, Mom's at home with the screaming kids. You got one." That's very, very grim. Remind me to never become a desperate housewife.
Is the Porter plotline really resolved? Who was ruder, Bree or Alex?
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Zap2it Twitter Talk 
You're right about the 'oddity' of this episode. Solid plotlines, evenly balanced. Enjoyable, but none of them make you feel very excited. Maybe it's because with the 100th episode up next, they knew they couldn't let much carry over?
I hope the Porter storyline is over. I've found it a little too dramatic. While Felicity Huffmann has pulled it off, I miss the grounded, domestic reality of her previous storylines, and want to see her have more comic material this season. I hope the writers make good with the reconciliation between her and Stella, instead of forgetting about the character (think of the Phyllis Van de Kamp storyline last season - very similar, or Susan saying she'd like to see more of her father in Season Two...). The mother and daughter have an interesting dynamic.
You're right about Bree and Alex - this could be good. Conflict in Desperate Housewives is always better when there's some affection behind it, like between the women, or sometimes between husband and wife.
Susan once more had a top notch "filler" episode that was probably more enjoyable than some of the Jackson storylines. They are making chances for his return look quite slim. Nitpick: Why hasn't MJ come up in this moving debate?
And as for Gaby. I'm glad we're finally getting down to seeing what she's like as a mother. And it was funny. But a bit more tenderness in the future. It's only fun watching bratty kids and a bratty mum to a certain point.
I liked the way this episode ended. Lynnett and her mom are on good terms. Bree and her son in law resolve their problems. Susan finally wants to be single, I noticed that this was a problem since season two, but technically all the women have trouble being single isn't that part of the reason why this show is called Desperate Housewives. They are all desperate to be loved.
I did not like Gabby not learning how to discipline her children because they sorely need it but Gabby did make me feel sad when Juanita said she liked Daddy more. The whole Edie and Dave storyline wrapped up too easily, she should have told him to tell her everything, even though i am sure he still would have lied. I went into a mental institution is usually something you tell a girl on the first or second date not in the first or second year of marriage. And Dave living with Mike, I wish their were more scenes of what went on with them while they were living together but it is called Desperate Housewives not Crazy Suburban Husbands.
I liked Edie's scene with Susan where she told the story of her father's betrayal. I thought that was a strong performance.
The Porter storyline sort of fizzled out, didn't it? Maybe thery can have some sort of follow-up where Porter is shunned by his cl***mates because they think he got away with murder. It seems like they are just dropping it all together after building it up.
I think they are making Gabby's kids TOO spoiled and unattractive. They are worse than the Schiavos and that is saying something, considering what brats Porter, Preston and Kayla used to be.
So... Dave never committed a violent act before killing his psychiatrist - a specialist in the criminally insane? Surely he has to do more than have a nervous breakdown to be considered so dangerous. Did I miss something indicating a violent past? I didn't see anything more than "had a breakdown when his family died, got better and released". I thought he was on probation of some sort.
We also found out that it was totally a coincidence that Dave's new bride used to live on Wisteria Lane. I'd ***umed he met Edie, found her connection with the area, and the courtship developed for that reason. Not that they married, and her connection with the area opened old wounds plus possibilities for revenge.
Also, my impression had been that Porter was far more afraid of his lover's husband than he was of going to jail. He didn't leave until threatened.
They've made Gaby's kids too sophisticated for their ages. Three and four years old? I don't think so.
dave is gonna hurt mike where it'll hurt the most: his heart. looks like he wants to know who mike is really in love with: katherine or susan. and by the looks of it, dave's somehow gonna go after either susan and mj or katherine and dylan/dylan's child.
Katherine might mean something to Mike, but not Dylan. She was long gone by the time they became a couple.
I keep expecting the revelation that Dave ***umed Mike was the driver and it was actually Susan. Nothing in the show has made this clear either way, but it makes more sense that Susan would feel guilty if she was driving.
I think that Dave blames Mike for leaving Susan and MJ. Dave's family was taken from him and Mike voluntarily left his. Twisted, but I get it.
Dave, just say no to overalls! I repeat, NO OVERALLS in the future. You'll thank me later.
Dave only told Edie that he had been previously married and that his wife had died, not that he had been in a mental institution. Apparently Edie hasn't noticed his collection of pharmaceuticals. Edie comes across as having a su****ious personality, but she has been remarkably un-curious about her husband.
Dave and Edie met at a symposium where he was a motivational speaker using a different name than he had whenever the accident occurred. Oddly, it seems as though they've never encountered anyone who used to know him back when he lived in the town a few years back.
Bree was the rude one. She's emasculated Orson in virtually every scene this season. I was thrilled when someone finally grew some balls and called her out on it.
The whole Porter thing could have gotten much more twisted so I'm a little annoyed that it got wrapped up so abruptly (practically with a bow to boot).
I ***ume Katherine is going to be in danger from Dave now that he realizes that Mike loves her and not Susan anymore. I couldn't see the show letting a guy try to kill MJ.