After a month-long hiatus, Desperate Housewives was back with an all-new episode last night. It was called “Home is the Place”, and helped move a few of the storylines along ever so slightly. I don’t know if we’ll ever get an answer to the Dave Williams mystery at this point, but thanks to the writers’ bad decision to drag things out so dang long, I just don’t care anymore. Anyway, here’s what happened.
Gaby/Carlos: Now that Carlos has his sight back, he’s decided that he doesn’t want to massage flabby old people anymore. Gaby thinks that’s fine, especially since she ran into an old colleague of his who’s offering Carlos a six-figure salary to get back into the world of finance. Carlos would much rather work with the blind at the community center, and tries to resist Gaby’s arguments for taking the higher paying job. In the end, however, she convinces him that he owes the family a better life since they had to make all kinds of sacrifices when he was blind.
Bree/Andrew: With Andrew and Alex’s wedding coming up, it’s time for Bree to meet Alex’s mother. She’s kind of low-class, so of course they don’t get along. Moreover, she has an annoying habit of “calling” things, as in, “I call Christmas with the boys!”. Bree finds all of this out of line and annoying, so she finally plays her trump card: she bought the boys a house right there on Wisteria Lane.
Susan/Lee: With Jackson out of town and Bob and Lee fighting about who knows what, Susan and Lee decide to head out to a club for a night of dancing and bitching. They end up having a good time and getting drunk out of their minds — and they wake up half-dressed in Susan’s bed the next morning. Susan, who can’t remember a thing, thinks that she and Lee might have had sex. When she finally confronts him, however, he sets her straight… by reminding her that he’s not.
Edie/Dave: Dave is sinking deeper into the abyss of mental illness, and Edie finally realizes that something is wrong with him. Things come to a head when she catches him muttering to himself at the kitchen table in the middle of the night, and he confesses that he was married once before. Edie doesn’t like the deception, so she kicks him out.
Scavo Family: Bob realizes that Preston has actually been posing as Porter, so he tells the Scavos that they need to get Porter back ASAP or he’ll be forced to reveal everything to the judge. When Lynette learns that Preston has been in contact with Porter the whole time, she stoops to emotional blackmail to get Preston to spill everything.
My Reaction: I find both the Dave Williams and Porter Scavo stories incredibly boring, so I pretty much tune out whenever they’re on the screen. Sorry, but neither of these guys is interesting enough to warrant a season-long arc. Give me a break.
Fortunately, I thought other parts of the episode were interesting. I particularly liked the Lee and Susan interaction. It was good to see them becoming friends after getting off on the wrong foot five years ago. They actually are very much alike — at least as far as love of gossip goes. I hope the writers continue to play up that friendship angle in more eps to come.
I also liked the Gaby and Carlos storyline. I know a lot of viewers think Gaby is just incredibly shallow and hasn’t changed much over the years (e.g. she’s still as materialistic as ever), but let’s face it: she’s the most believable out of all the wives. And actually, I think she was right to make Carlos take the higher-paying job. They’ve been struggling for a long time now, so they need to get ahead a little bit before doing the “charity work”.
Overall, this was a decent episode that was heaps better than the ones immediately preceding the hiatus. Let’s hope things continue to improve for the rest of the season!