Desperate Housewives: Extreme Homemakers

While I wouldn't say the show is quite back at the level it was this season before the writers' strike, last night was definitely an improvement over last week.

We got an interesting re-introduction of, not one, but two past-season storylines. We also got a surprising twist to the anticipated smackdown between Bree and Katherine Mayfair (pictured, left). Most importantly, we also had to only suffer through one scene of James Denton's acting as Mike Delfino! That's two weeks in a row — let's make this a regular thing.

In fact we got our Mike appearance out of the way early as he had summoned Orson to rehab. Orson feared Mike had recovered the memory of being run over by the dainty dentist at the end of Season 2. (By the way, I didn't remember that scene being so brutal, and there's no way Mike should've survived that. Also, since it was a flashback, it doesn't count toward Mike's scene count, which remained at one last night.)

Anyway, it turns out that Mike just wanted to apologize to Orson for making him give him painkillers. Orson's guilt was a lot more compelling than I though it would be last night. Think about it — part of the reason he became addicted to painkillers was from being run over by Orson. Now the same man who almost killed him is living in his house, lounging around naked to be discovered by Susan in a couple of funny scenes. When the sleepwalking Orson mumbled something about Mike to Susan, you just knew he'd end up spilling the beans eventually. Still, it was a nice twist to have him telling Julie, who'd just asked her friend Dylan to get over all her family drama and have fun.

The other blast from the past was Rick, the Italian chef who came THIS CLOSE to getting Lynette to cheat on Tom last year. He showed up at Scavo's and announced that he'd be opening his own Italian restaurant — just down the street from Tom and Lynette's place. As if that wasn't slimy enough, he brought a bottle of wine for the couple.

When it was revealed that someone had thrown a brick through one of his windows, I thought that it would be WAY too obvious to have it be Tom. Of course, that theory sort of fell apart when he admitted doing it in a well-played scene that showed he hasn't recovered from discovering the emotional connection Rick made with his wife. Even though I was dead wrong about the brick, I'm having a hard-time imagining Tom as an arsonist. What did he do? Set the blaze during the Founders' Ball and then stroll right back into the party in his tuxedo? If anything, I'm looking at Tom's kids, who conspicuously overheard Tom's fight with Lynette. Then again, I could be wrong again (it's known to happen quite a bit), and it could turn out to be Tom after all.

Speaking of the Founders' Ball, the event was an occasion for Wisteria Lane's two alpha females to finally team up, after Katherine offered to help Bree. Of course we (as well as the characters on the show) could tell this was going to be a disaster from a mile away. Nevertheless, it was enjoyable watching Katherine be condescending to Bree, and Bree struggle to not kill her.

It all culminated with Bree trying to poison Katherine with some funky dip (though she had it coming) right before Katherine presented Bree with the night's biggest award. That was a nice twist, but an even better twist was the revelation by Katherine that she genuinely wanted to be friends with Bree. And why not? Those two ARE the same person, from the perfectionism, right down to the failed marriages and dead husbands. The fact that Dana Delaney turned down the role of Bree before Marcia Cross snagged it just adds to the heat between the two actresses.

Meanwhile, Gabby continued her campaign of terror against handicap men. After making Carlos stumble around his own kitchen last week, she took a couple of wheelchair bound guys who were upset at her usage of the handicap space at the discount store. (Gabby at a discount store is its own kind of hilarious, and I wish the episode had included a scene inside the store, in addition to in the parking lot with Lynette.)

Here's where I'm gonna surprise you (and I surprised myself) — I was actually on Gabby's side this week. I don't mind that she got a handicap card while she was doing shopping for Carlos and herself — it's not like Carlos is going to use it. Also, that handicap guy came off as a bit pissy, in my opinion. Sure, if I were in a wheelchair and I had to park far away, I'd be annoyed at seeing some chick in a designer dress hop in her convertible, but there was no cause for him to put his hands on her. Finally, I can see how Carlos would be upset at having to stay in the car like a dog while Gabby got her "chores" done (and by "chores", I mean "nails"), but what else is he going to do? Sit in the house feeling sorry for himself? At least his presence in the car stopped his wife from being harassed by bitchy handicap people.

By the way, it's official — I'm joining Gabby in hell.

So what'd you think of this episode? What's going to happen now that Julie knows Orson's secret? Did Tom really burn down Rick's place? Finally, do you think I'll be sent straight to hell or will I make a stopover in purgatory?