Desperate Housewives - An Evening of Surprises

Last night's episode of Desperate Housewives was one of the most eagerly anticipated of the season (at least by moi!), but all-in-all the recap of what happened to the desperate divas in the five year gap between last season and this one was,in a word, anticlimactic.

I appreciated the clever way the story was structured with each flashback occurring as each woman was preparing for McCluskey's surprise 70th birthday party. For Gabby, it was lipstick. Susan was doing her eyebrows. Lynette working on her hair and Bree applying eyeliner.

Unfortunately that was the limit of cleverness in a fairly lackluster episode. We learned that Gabby surprisingly got pregnant and popped out two little girls--one after the other. Well, duh!

We also learned that Carlos was supposed to have gotten a vasectomy--which he didn't. Initially, this leads to a huge blow-out between the Solis' but eventually Gabby concedes to the possibility of maybe trying to have son in the future.

The evening is full of blow-ups. Lynette freaks at Tom's plan to sell the restaurant and take the family to travel the country in an RV. The missing piece in the Scavo's past was Tom being accidentally electrocuted and almost dying. His resuscitation gave him a new outlook--he wants his life to count for something more than an obituary that reads "Local Pizzamaker dies."

I can't help but empathize with Tom. Unfortunately Lynette continues her massive kill-joy streak. Teri Hatcher must love the writers this season. They've succeeded in making Lynette far more annoying than Susan ever was.

Speaking of Susan, she and Jackson also had a major fight. Jackson has fallen in love with the ditsy Susan and wants to take their relationship to the next level--by moving in with her. Susan's flashback consists of her first meeting with Jackson and her divorce from Mike (double DUH!). After Susan balks at the idea making their relationship more than "casual," Jackson walks out.

With Bree we get a bit more info: after Orson is incarcerated and Danielle takes Benjamin, she returns to drinking. It's Katherine who comes in and kicks her ass (figuratively) and moves in with her to support her through her ordeal. Once Orson understands why Bree feels such loyalty to Katherine, he backs down from his threat of divorce and makes amends with Katherine. It's nice to see Dana Delaney getting a bit more juice on the show--hope it continues.

The only real intrigue during the episode was Dave's attempt to get rid of McCluskey. While Edie takes her out for a birthday drink before the surprise party, he breaks into her house and moves some things around and leaves a bat on her sofa. McCluskey is incensed at the violation and almost attacks him with the bat at the party--just as Dave had planned. Her wild rants about Dave moving stuff around and taking and returning her cat lead her neighbors to call 911 and have her hospitalized.

Before the ambulance takes her away, McCluskey tells Dave she knows he's up to something awful. "You don't know what "awful" is," he tells her.

So now Dave is free to pursue his revenge on the man who ruined his life. Last week we found out the number one suspect for Dave's nefarious plan is none other than Mike Delfino.

Better watch your back Delfino!