Desperate Housewives: Change of Plan

It’s not easy to get over the death of a loved one.

Ok so "Desperate Housewives" isn’t exactly real life, and Edie Britt wasn’t exactly a "loved one." What I’m trying to say is that, after last week’s solid-yet-momentum-slowing tribute to Edie, the show had some trouble getting back into the season’s storylines and back into its groove.

Then again, maybe the problem is that some of the current storylines weren’t that good to begin with.

I’ve never been a fan of the Orson/kleptomaniac storyline, so I was a little disappointed to see the show lead off there. Turns out the (latest) woman he was trying to rob was an elderly lady named Rose Kemper who was taken to the hospital after witnessing Edie’s crash and became convinced that it was Death who’d come after her. (I guess, in her belief system, Death wears a ski mask, covets knick-knacks and can be vanquished by a baseball bat.)

When Katherine relayed Mrs. Kemper’s story to Bree, who was in the hospital visiting Orson, Bree knew her hubby had lied to her again. Orson had claimed that he’d hit his head after going for a walk, falling and hitting his head on the curb. The fact that Bree believed this obviously-BS story in the first place is the main reason I hate this storyline.

I understand Bree WANTING to believe her husband after all they’ve been through. However, the overly harsh and dark turn Orson has taken (I still say it’s a "Desperate" effort to give Kyle McLachlan something to do) is now having the unfortunate side effect of making Bree look like a gullible weakling. It’s too bad, because I really liked the Bree/Orson, uber-WASPy pairing for a while. Thank goodness for bitchy Andrew, who’d expressed immediate skepticism about Orson’s decision to be "happy" and had put a divorce attorney on speed dial for Bree to apparently use toward the end of this episode.

Meanwhile, the season’s major mystery had a mildly surprising twist, but still ended up feeling like a missed opportunity.

Dave Williams was in full-blown depression mode, causing his neighbors to worry. First, Mike tried to reach out to him (bad choice since he’s the unknowing object of Dave’s rage). After that, Susan (the object of some viewers’ rage) gave it a shot, leading to a funny sequence in which she became convinced that Dave was suicidal after seeing the gun from his hunting trip. She proceeded to confiscate every possible item from a potential Do It Yourself Suicide Kit (knives, belts, ties) before getting pulled over for talking on a cell while driving (Katherine, on the other hand, uses a Blutooth). Unfortunately, the picnic basket of death sitting was in plain sight on the passenger seat and she was arrested.

I also think the show ALMOST did something interesting with Dave. Was he this upset because he caused Edie’s death (that’d be the second wife he’s lost) or because his plan didn’t work? I would’ve liked to have seen this explored.

Eventually, Susan opened up to Dave about knowing what it’s like to live with guilt. Dave felt guilty about causing Edie’s crash/death, while Susan felt guilty about being the driver in that fateful car accident a few years ago that killed Dave’s family. Earlier in the episode, Mike and Susan had a meaningful exchange about the crash and how they did "what they had to do." At this, I perked up thinking that the show would maybe have two of its most popular characters involved in something unseemly. (Maybe one of them was driving drunk? Maybe Dave’s wife was still alive after the crash, but they fled the scene?) Perhaps it would also help explain to me why Mike and Susan broke up in the first place. (I’m only a little ashamed to say that I STILL don’t get it.)

However, what really happened turned out to be disappointingly safe. Susan was driving the car, but the couple pretended that Mike was driving because Susan didn’t have her license. Just when I thought the show was about to do something edgy and maybe have Susan, its most innocent, lightweight character, do something dark, the writers chickened out. Too bad. On the other hand, Depressed Dave is gone, and Creepy Dave is back and apparently threatening to kill M.J. as a way to punish Susan.

While those two storylines continue to slump forward, I’m enjoying a new one involving the show’s best actress (Felicity Huffman), the show’s funniest character (Gabby) and the two most interesting male characters on the show (Tom and Carlos).

As much as I like watching the lead actresses do their things in a group setting, I liked getting fresh pairings last night. We’d gotten a hint of Tom the homemaker dishing with Gabby a few weeks ago, but last night the two teamed up so Gabby could stage a coup at her Garden Club (which featured a disappointingly high amount of gardening for Gabby’s taste). All that was tossed aside when Tom was a little too receptive to the attentions of neighborhood slut Patty (who I guess inherited the title after Edie’s death).

I’d liked Tom earlier in the episode as he worked out his biceps to desperately get his overworked wife’s attention, and I felt bad for him when she showed little sexual interest in him. However, by the middle of the episode, he’d gone back to acting like an idiot (as usual).

Still, it’s not like Lynette is completely blameless. After Carlos had come to pick her up for work, she slipped, hit her head in the tub, and Carlos lugged her unconscious, naked body to the bed. Since Tom had freaked out about Lynette using Carlos’ office shower, she thought it’d be best if they didn’t share this little anecdote with him. Of course, everything came to a head in a disastrously funny dinner party between the two couples. Like Carlos, I liked that Tom and Lynette still care enough to get jealous. I also liked the subtle reference to the Solises improved relationship - Carlos had shared the Lynette bathtub story with his wife - a lot more than earlier episodes when the writers would stop just short of pulling out neon signs saying "Gabby and Carlos are good people now!"

This storyline could’ve been a one-episode thing, but Carlos’ mildly sexual-harassment-y comment about liking what he saw from Lynette means this one might be around for a while - which is ok by me. Unlike other threats to these two marriages (John the Gardener, Rick the Pizza Guy) I think it’s interesting that the potential infidelity will have two Housewives squaring off against each other.

So what’d you think of this episode? Were you happy or disappointed to hear Mary Alice back as the dead narrator? (I was disappointed - I understand that Nicolette Sheridan is done with the show, but, from a dramatic point of view, it just doesn’t make sense for Mary Alice to know and have opinions on some of the newer characters. Writing the narration from a different character’s point of view would’ve been interesting.) How long until Mike and Katherine break up? (Could he have been more freaked out by her "I want to spend my life with you" declaration?) Finally, there’s no way Carlos and Lynette are going to do anything, right? Right?!