Desperate Housewives - The Complete First Season review
It is rare that a television network´s sinking fortunes could make a sudden turn for the better just based on the emergence of two new primetime shows. Those two shows surprised everyone by amassing legions of loyal fans whose friends know better than to make any plans for Sunday and Wednesday nights. Of course, the TV network that I am referring to is ABC and its two hit shows are–yes, you guessed it–"Desperate Housewives" and "Lost". Proving that there is still a place on television for primetime melodramas, "Desperate Housewives" teased and captured the imagination of many with its creative mix of comedy, drama and a good dose of murder-mystery and intrigue. All that and more pushed the first season of the show to great new heights. Back then it seems that "Desperate Housewives" could simply do no wrong even if it tried.
Unfortunately that is not the case when the show returned for the second season.
The term "sophomore slump" was coined for a reason and although "Desperate Housewives" unfortunately became another statistic in a long string of casualties in this category, it certainly did not have that bad of a season. Viewership was down compared to Season 1 but most other shows would kill for the kinds of numbers that "Desperate Housewives" was attracting. I guess this minor letdown was probably inevitable as the show was so acclaimed by critics and beloved by its fans that there was nowhere else for it to go but down. Expecting the show to maintain the excellent pace and the high quality of the first season was probably too much for anyone to ask for.
Before I move on to review the second season of the show, let me first try to summarize what "Desperate Housewives" is all about. In this fictional world created by Marc Cherry (the brains behind the show), suburbia has always been a place where nothing is always what it seems to be, a place where the next Stepford is just lurking in a quiet corner of a supposed utopia waiting to be uncovered by the unsuspecting. In its debut season, "Desperate Housewives" latched on to this all-too-familiar premise but threw in a few original curve balls of its own. The world of "Desperate Housewives" centers on Wisteria Lane, a community where the American Dream is a stark reality–where every house comes with manicured lawns and picket fences, where the streets are impossibly clean and safe and where friendly neighbors (or so it seems) abound. In short, Wisteria Lane is a heavenly slice of Americana, ready-made for the perfect families. Sounds too good to be true? Well, of course it is! For behind every smile and every friendly hello, lie dark secrets and even darker sins. Like it or not, Wisteria Lane is more akin to Elm Street than one would come to expect.
In Season 1, the dominant storyline throughout that entire season was, why did the seemingly contented housewife Mary Alice Young (Brenda Strong) suddenly put a gun to her head and committed suicide? It was an intriguing plot that put the audience through many twists and turns before finally revealing the shocking answer in the season´s 2-hour finale. It is no secret that the mystery of Mary Alice´s death is the one thing that kept viewers coming back week after week, as tidbits of clues are slowly and cleverly revealed. Although the other secondary stories surrounding the main characters are interesting in their own right, they are just gravy compared to the main dish.
The major problem that I see in Season 2 is that it does not have a main dish–that one big ongoing mysterious plot that everyone is clamoring to uncover. Essentially, no sharp hook to reel in the fish. As Mary Alice´s death has been solved, the writers now have to rely on the lesser stories to carry the show through Season 2. And really, I thought that Marc Cherry and his crew of writers did a pretty job of it. First, they started out with an interesting hook that everyone saw at the end of Season 1–the introduction of a new family to Wisteria Lane, the Applewhites, Betty (Alfre Woodard) and her teenage son, Matthew (Mehcad Brooks). On the outside, they look and act like a typical family (don´t they all?) but don´t you dare snoop around the basement of their house, lest you stumble upon a dark secret lurking behind the double bolted door. I guess the Applewhites would fit right in on Wisteria Lane, where each family harbors their own proverbial skeleton in the closet.
Then of course there is that small issue regarding the death of Rex Van De Kamp (Steven Culp), a holdover from the previous season. The writers served up a huge surprise when they killed off Rex´s character, leaving the ever-composed Bree (Marcia Cross) devastated. Unknown to her, Rex´s death was not an accident and the man that she is currently dating, the creepy pharmacist George (Roger Bart), had a hand in his death. Poor Bree, as her troubles do not stop there. Her ungrateful son, Andrew (Shawn Pyfrom) is suing her in court seeking to be emancipated while her daughter Danielle (Joy Lauren) is seeing Matthew behind her back. All this, while we wonder when Bree would finally find out about who George really is.
While Bree goes through trying times, Susan´s (Teri Hatcher) storyline seems to be dominated by her on-again off-again romance with Mike Delfino (James Denton), whom we now know to be the real father of Zach Young (Cody Kasch), Mary Alice´s son. In this season, Susan meets two new eligible bachelors, a surgeon, Dr. Ron Berman (Jay Harrington) and a dentist, Orland (Kyle MacLachlan). Sequences of events that transpire later in the season would have serious consequences and further complicate matters between Susan and Mike.
As for the Scavo family, there is a major role reversal in the works. Stay-at-home supermom Lynette (Felicity Huffman) is now jumping back into the workforce while her husband Tom (Doug Savant) volunteers to stay at home with the kids. As you can imagine, most of the goings-on with Lynette focuses on her day-to-day interactions with her demanding boss and Tom´s adjustment to domestic life.
Moving on to the lady of leisure, Gabrielle (Eva Langolia), this is the season where she tries to make it up to her husband Carlos (Ricardo Chavira) for cheating on him with their gardener, John (Jesse Metcalfe). Things come to a head when Carlos expresses his deepest wish for them to have a baby. Now, can you imagine Gabrielle barefoot and pregnant? Not in a million years! So expect some hilarious and touching moments when the Solis family goes in search of a baby. Oh and by the way, there is that side story of Carlos befriending a nun, Sister Mary Bernard (Melinda Page Hamilton), who turns into Gabrielle´s sworn nemesis. This side story is really funny when you factor in the nun fight sequence, which by itself, more than makes up for some of the shortcomings of Season 2.
Perhaps one of the most underrated characters on "Desperate Housewives" is that of Wisteria Lane´s resident vamp, Edie Britt (Nicolette Sheridan). Not considered one of the show´s main characters, Edie has done wonders in keeping the level of comedy at a consistently high level throughout the show. In the first season, Edie and Susan were both vying for Mike´s attention, which led to some really funny and memorable moments. For Season 2, Edie ratchets up her ongoing competition with Susan to the next level, when Karl (Richard Burgi), Susan´s ex-husband, moves in with Edie. Expect sparks (and everything else!) to fly.
