Desperate Housewives

About the show:

A primetime soap with a truly contemporary take on "happily ever after," this new hour- long drama takes a darkly comedic look at suburbia, where the secret lives of housewives aren't always what they seem.

Looking down on her friends and family isn't a way of life for Mary Alice Young (Brenda Strong) … it's a way of death. One day, in her perfect house, in the loveliest of suburbs, Mary Alice ended it all. Now she's taking us into the lives of her family, friends and neighbors, commenting from her elevated P.O.V.

Her small circle of girlfriends are wondering why one of their own would do something so rash… and so messy. There's Susan Mayer (Teri Hatcher), the divorcee and single mom who will go to extraordinary lengths for love; Lynette Scavo (Felicity Huffman), the ex-career woman who traded the boardroom for boredom, mixed with moments of sheer panic as the mother of four unmanageable kids; Bree Van De Kamp (Marcia Cross), the Martha Stewart on steroids, whose family is about to mutiny; and Gabrielle Solis, the ex-model with everything she's every wanted – a rich husband, a big house – so what is she doing with John, the 17-year-old gardener (Jesse Metcalfe)? And there are her neighbors, including serial divorcee Edie Britt (Nicollette Sheridan), whose romantic conquests have everyone buzzing.

Then there are the men: Hunky new neighbor Mike Delfino (James Denton), a supposedly widowed plumber who has Susan and Edie vying for his attention; Rex Van De Kamp (Steven Culp), who's just told Bree he wants a divorce; Gabrielle's better half, Carlos (Ricardo Antonio Chavira), who figures he bought his wife a $15,000 diamond necklace, so she should do whatever he tells her; as for Mary Alice's newly-widowed husband, Paul (Mark Moses), there must be a reason why he's acting so suspiciously – and why he's digging up the pool in the middle of the night!
From her unique vantage point, Mary Alice sees more now than she ever did alive, and she's planning to share all the delicious secrets that hide behind every neighbor's closed door in this seemingly perfect American suburb.
Marc Cherry is executive producer and writer. Michael Edelstein and Tom Spezialy are executive producers, and Charles Pratt Jr. is consulting producer of the series, from Touchstone Television.

Recaps

Episode 23: "Season Finale: One Wonderful Day" (May 22, 2005)

When Gabrielle, Susan, and Lynette show up at the hospital, Bree confides that she feels guilty because she and Rex were having a fight when he had his heart attack and that now he needs a pacemaker.
Before his operation, Rex apologizes for being a bad husband. She tells him he's going to be just fine and that "the best is yet to come."

Rex's doctor says his potassium levels are abnormally high and asks him who prepares his meals. When Rex says it's Bree, the doctor points out their recent marital problems and reminds him of the time Bree fed him onions, nearly killing him. Rex insists that was an accident and orders the doctor out. But he writes a note to Bree saying he's forgiven her.

Bree is home when she gets a call from the doctor -- Rex has just died ! She can't believe it -- his operation wasn't even scheduled until tomorrow! She numbly sits in her empty dining room, looking at the chair where Rex would normally sit. She goes into typical Bree coping mode by polishing the silver but then she dissolves into heartbroken sobs. Gabrielle testifies on Carlos's behalf, but she makes him promise to do more than his share of caring for the baby.

She testifies that she lied about having an affair to make him jealous and that he's a "angry, jealous, Neanderthal" but that he's no gay basher. Just as the judge is determining that Carlos's attacks can't be considered hate crimes, John comes in and tells Carlos, "You beat up the wrong guy."

Seeing red, Carlos jumps to grab John, but instead tackles Justin, who just happens to be in his way. "I'll kill you!" Carlos shouts to John, but to everyone else it looks like he's shouting it at Justin. On the stand, Gabrielle rolls her eyes.
Lynette finds Tom at an arcade in the middle of the day and he tells her he quit -- and that he knows about how she got his promotion revoked. Now that her act of sabotage has been found out, she doesn't know what to say. Then Tom surprises her by saying he wants to be a stay-at-home dad and she should go back to work.

Edie stops by to introduce herself to Wisteria Lane's new residents, Betty Applewhite and her son, Matthew. "I've never sold a house over the phone before," she says, her curiosity piqued. They're polite, but standoffish.
Zach freaks out when Felicia tells him his father isn't ever coming back for him. "What did you do to him?" he demands and beats her up. His next stop is Susan's -- and he's got a gun. He holds her hostage, saying that since Felicia told him Mike was on his way to kill his father, he's going to kill Mike when he gets home.
Edie comes over, scared to be alone after the news of Felicia's attack gets out, but can't understand Susan's attempt to tell her Zach's holding a gun on her and storms off in a huff, completely unaware of the situation.

Mike takes Paul out to a deserted quarry, intending to shoot him.

Paul demands to know what it's for, if it's not about Martha Huber's murder. Mike says it's about Dierdre.
Paul finally comes clean about his and Mary Alice's secret: a drugged-out Dierdre sold them her baby to feed her habit. They fled Utah and changed their names, but she still found them. Mary Alice killed Dierdre by accident when she came to forcibly take Zach/Dana back from them and they hid her body where they thought it would never be found -- in a toy chest buried under their new pool.

Mike wavers. "Dierdre had a child?" he asks, clearly shaken. He walks away, leaving Paul stranded, but still alive. He drives back to his house, where Zach is still waiting for him, and goes inside.