Desperate Housewives' Dirty Laundry: Lynette Scavo's Wild Ride

Desperate Housewives wraps its eight-season run on Sunday, May 13 (9/8c on ABC) and what a long, strange trip it's been for the ladies of Wisteria Lane! As we prepare to kiss our favorite harried housewives goodbye, TVGuide.com takes a look back at each of the four protagonists' biggest triumphs, greatest downfalls and all the juicy hookups, makeups and breakups in between.

Check back every day this week for our takes on the other Housewives' wild rides.

Name: Lynette Scavo
Known For: Being a fiercely independent, meddling, stressed-out working mom
Marriages: Tom Scavo (separated)
Children: Preston, Porter, Parker, Penny, Paige and Patrick (deceased)
Professions: Former advertising executive, former pizzeria manager, interior designer

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HIGH POINTS

On the surface, Lynette (Emmy winner Felicity Huffman) had the perfect life: She's a stay-at-mom with a loving, hard-working husband and four young children. Right? Wrong! She's actually a workaholic who yearned to trade nap time for conference calls, and soccer practice for morning meetings. She literally punched her husband, Tom (Doug Savant), when he suggested sex without a condom and began taking her rambunctious kids' ADD medication to stay on top of her PTA duties.

In Season 2, Lynette kicked the pill problems and gleefully returned to work. She did everything imaginable to please her nasty, neurotic boss (Joely Fisher), like dancing atop a bar to prove that she was fun. Once, Lynette thought Tom was cheating, but it turned out he just had a secret love child, Kayla (Rachel Fox).

Lynette's uncontrollable kids morphed into uncontrollable teenagers during the five-year time jump. Lynette and Tom dealt with Preston's European gold-digger girlfriend and Porter's affair with an older married woman, whose vengeful husband accused Porter of burning down the local club and eventually bankrupted the Scavos. Just as her kids grew up, Lynette learned she was pregnant with twins — a fact she hid from her boss, Carlos. Although initially apathetic about being a mom again, Lynette was devastated when she lost one of the babies after the Wisteria Lane plane crash. During this time, she also unknowingly took in the Fairview Strangler, her son's troubled friend Eddie (Josh Zuckerman).

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LOW POINTS

The hits kept coming for Lynette in Season 3. She was shot in the arm by Carolyn Bigsby (Laurie Metcalfe) during her infamous grocery store killing spree (at least it got rid of Nora!), almost cheated on Tom with the family pizzeria's manager, Rick (Jason Gedrick) and ended the season with a bad fall. Even worse, the fall prompted a trip to the doctor, who discovered Lynette had cancer.

She suffered through the diagnosis in typical Lynette fashion — meaning that she was in complete denial. She wore a wig to hide the illness from her friends and refused any help from her prickly, pushy mother (Polly Bergen). Lynette's cancer battle was the perfect mix of humor and hardship, but the scales tipped against her when her evil stepdaughter — aren't they worst? — falsely accused Lynette of burning her and got her arrested. Kayla later admitted she lied and was sent away, never to be mentioned again.

Season 7 planted the seeds for Tom and Lynette's separation — one of the show's most despised storylines. Lynette learned about her college BFF Renee's (Vanessa Williams) one-night-stand with Tom 20 years earlier, and Tom's fancy new job kept him away from home too much. Single Lynette, to put it mildly, was every ex-husband's nightmare: She spied on his new live-in girlfriend Jane (Andrea Parker), used their children to manipulate Tom and almost got him transferred to Mumbai. Luckily, it wasn't all for naught, as Lynette and Tom seem headed for reconciliation in the series finale.

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HOW WE THINK IT WILL END

Honestly, we could care less if Lynette continues to be an interior designer or what Tom does for work next, after he was fired for punching his boss in Lynette's honor. We just want the Scavos back together!

Desperate Housewives' series finale airs Sunday, May 13 at 9/8c on ABC.