November 26, 2006: The Miracle Song
It's always a treat when we get answers to questions that have been baffling our minds. But in the true
Desperate Housewives tradition, questions still remain unanswered, so our head-scratching never truly comes to an end. Alma is alive and has been in hiding and in cahoots with Gloria (
Dixie Carter) all this time. But where has she been? Has she been hiding because Orson was the one who killed Monique or did Mike? Since Mike still has amnesia,
he doesn't even know (although Monique's blood
was on Mike's wrench - uh-oh). When I saw
Valerie Mahaffey listed with tonight's guest stars in the opening credits, I figured it was because she'd be seen in only flashbacks. When Gloria called that mystery person on her cell phone and said "meet me on the corner in an hour," my smart roommate Jason yelled: "I bet it's Alma!" I liked Susan sneaking into Orson's office and finding the evidence that he was in a mental hospital for psychological depression when he was younger. Plus, Susan heard Orson tell Bree that he never loved Alma, and that's why he turned to Monique. Aside from those tidbits, what are the secrets that Gloria still has over Orson? Color me intrigued.
The other big unknown that was answered was the "Is Art a pedophile?" question, much to the horror of Lynette. I knew as soon as Art made the reference that his (newly dead) sister Rebecca always believed in him, Lynette's earlier suspicions would be correct. Gross. Art's two lines to Lynette - "I'm free" and "I have you to thank" - just made Lynette even more mortified. Earlier, Art sure got a Wisteria Lane unwelcoming when he showed up to the holiday block party as a ho-ho-ho-ing Santa. Everyone looked at him with disgust, especially Lynette. But it was oh-so-Lynette of her to start feeling sorry for Art after the neighbor housewives staged their protest with the anti-pedophile signs - a protest that Lynette caused herself. That was
Alison La Placa as Rita, the neighbor who organized the protest along with Mrs. McCluskey. I hope they give the very funny Alison more to do next time she's on. I was glad we didn't really get to know the
extent of Art's pedophilia. For that story line, less is more.
How typical of Edie to break it off with Mike (or "take a break") after he was arrested for Monique's murder and was behind bars. I loved that they had Susan come to visit Mike right after Edie's breakup. Nice timing: Just when Ian's parents were coming to visit and eat a delicious dinner that Susan asked Bree to cook for her. Then I loved that Susan and Bree argued over who murdered Monique - Mike or Orson. Of course, Bree was going to side with Orson, and Susan was going to side with Mike. No Bree cuisine for Susan. But luckily, Ian's parents were delayed and stranded at my hometown airport, O'Hare. That Ian is a clever dude. Interesting way to get Susan to stay away from Mike - paying for an expensive lawyer to represent Mike and get him out of jail, but only if Susan stops visiting him. We'll see how long Susan follows
that arrangement.
Eva Longoria was once again the comedy MVP. The way she set her sights on Bill Pearce - the single father of Amy, the one little pageant girl that Gaby and "spineless 'mo" Vern (
Alec Mapa) were planning on firing - was hilarious. Funniest moment was the baton hitting Amy on the head, and then Gaby closing the blinds and saying to Bill, "Yeah, she's a special girl." The actor who played Bill -
Mark Deklin - totally reminded me of
Casper Van Dien. And the young actress who played Amy,
Juliette Goglia, was a bit of a
Madonna's daughter Lourdes-look-alike. That conniving Gaby wasn't about to allow Amy to set up her daddy with her best friend Sherri's mother. What better way to thwart that than to suggest Sherri (the most promising contestant, played by
Chloe Moretz), perform with Amy (the least promising and so bad that Gaby said, "If she was a horse, we'd have to shoot her")? Suddenly, the best friends were enemies. There's no stopping Gabrielle: "Friends come and go, but a crown is forever."
Two final random observations:
- How many of you were thinking the wheelchair-bound Rebecca (
Jennifer Dundas) was going to get run over by a car, a la Mike Delfino and Mama Solis, as she wheeled herself away from Lynette? Thankfully, that didn't occur. Not that dying of a cardiac arrest wasn't tragic enough, but you get my point.
- Oh my,
Marcia Cross is definitely pregnant. It kills me when they don't hide it as well as they normally do.
Heads up for next Sunday and all of December: No new episodes! ABC is repeating the season premiere next week and won't have a new one airing until January 7. See you then; but in the meantime, comment away.
