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Desperate Housewives Season 1 Episodes

23 Episodes 2004 - 2005

Episode 1

Pilot

Sun, Oct 3, 200443 mins

Mary Alice Young is a seemingly perfect housewife in a WASP suburban neighborhood who suddenly commits suicide. At her funeral all her friends show up for the wake, all of whom have mysterious secrets they keep from their friends. Then include Lynette Scavo, a former ambitious career woman who gave up her job, at her husband Tom's urging, to be a stay-at-home mom for their four children, three of whom are out of control and rambunctious. Susan Mayer is a divorcée living with her 15-year-old daughter Julie who has a meeting of minds with Mike Delfino, a plumber and new neighbor who's also pursued by Susan's narcissistic rival Edie Britt. Bree Van De Kamp is a stereotypical housewife with an obsessive-compulsive disorder for cleanliness which puts a strain on her long-suffering husband Rex and their two teenage kids, Andrew and Danielle. Gabrielle is a former fashion model married to a wealthy executive to satisfy her obsession for money and luxury items, and who is also having an extramarital affair with their teenage gardener John. Neither housewife is aware of that really goes on underneath each other's life, nor or they are of some terrible secret that Mary Alice's husband Paul and their son Zach are also hiding.

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Desperate Housewives, Season 1 Episode 1 image

Episode 2

Ah, But Underneath

Sun, Oct 10, 200443 mins

The ladies find an anonymous letter in Mary Alice's belongings which suggest that Mary Alice was hiding some terrible secret. Susan and Edie continue to fight for Mike's affections. But Mike's dog pays the price when Edie crashes his dinner date with Susan. Meanwhile, Gabrielle realizes that her lawn boy, John, is taking their fling to heart, and that Carlos may actually be catching on. Bree goads Rex into couples therapy, where the neurotic doctor may be the one who needs the most help. Lynette resorts to drastic measures to keep her kids in line, but it blows up in her face. Mary Alice's past resurfaces despite Paul and Zach's efforts to keep it buried... literally. Also, Susan's secret of accidentally burning down Edie's house may come back to haunt her as the measuring cup she left in Edie's house is found, by the nosy and bossy Mrs. Huber.

Where to Watch
Desperate Housewives, Season 1 Episode 2 image

Episode 3

Pretty Little Picture

Sun, Oct 17, 200443 mins

The women decide to go ahead with the big dinner party that the late Mary Alice Young had planned to host, despite the more-than-minor disturbances in their own lives. Adulterous Gabrielle finds herself with a nine-year-old blackmailer, named Ashley, who catches Gabrielle in the act with John. Meanwhile, control-freak Bree struggles to keep her crumbling marriage a secret. Susan bares all (in more ways than one) as she confronts her ex-husband Karl over his new girlfriend (who's half his age). Lynette has her husband Tom look after their kids for one evening just to show him just how uncomfortable her home life really is. Also, Paul and Zach continue to quarrel over the late Mary Alice and about her mysterious past they are desperately trying to hide.

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Desperate Housewives, Season 1 Episode 3 image

Episode 4

Who's That Woman?

Sun, Oct 24, 200443 mins

Cash-strapped Mrs. Huber figures out that Susan had something to do with Edie's house fire and tries to blackmail her, in which Susan is forced to recruit her daughter Julie to find Mrs. Huber's incriminating evidence. Carlos becomes suspicious that Gabrielle is seeing another man, but targets the wrong suspect: the cable guy instead of gardener John. Lynette balks when the twins' teacher insists the boys have A.D.D. but tries to salvage the matter by separating the boys. Bree struggles with her rebellious son Andrew after Rex moves out. Both Susan and Edie continue to vie for Mike Delfino's affections, both of whom are unaware he has an agenda when he's revealed to have a map and personal files on all Wisteria Lane residents, including Susan. The ladies show Paul the anonymous blackmail/death threat letter sent to Mary Alice, unaware that he already knows about Mary Alice's troubled life and he secretly hires a mysterious "associate" named Mr. Shaw, to find out who sent Mary Alice the letter.

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Desperate Housewives, Season 1 Episode 4 image

Episode 5

Come in, Stranger

Sun, Oct 31, 200443 mins

Wisteria Lane is near panic after a break-in, but is also brings around the attractive and flirtatious policeman Rick Thompson, just what Susan was looking for to replace or even better work up jealousy from Mike Delfino, who might well be the burglar as the screw-driver missing from his workshop fits the one found at the burglary site; alas she finds Rick never handed it in to the forensic lab, such minor crimes aren't actual police priorities... While their kids enjoy a weekend with dad Rex, obsessive housewife Bree turns her mother-hen attention to Paul Young's motherless son Zach, her Andrew's age, who clearly misses his ma but reacts weirdly, excessively emotional when she has to delay a home cooking invitation and returning the favor with un-seasonal decoration... Lynette and Tom hoped to get their hyperactive twin boys accepted in the prestigious academy Bree sent her offspring to, but after an encouraging start -wearing the raging rascals down by playing till they literally drop totally exhausted- find a rival couple's bigger donation probably outdoes the twin-advantage, Tom considers an alternative, home schooling... To Gabrielle's horror, cuckolded Carlos has asked his overbearing mother Juanito, as feared suspecting infidelity - shopping serves neither to bond nor to bribe the battle-ax, but the shop security has other possibilities, anything to shield the joy of joining young John from inquisitive in-laws...

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Episode 6

Running to Stand Still

Sun, Nov 7, 200443 mins

Gabrielle fains limited sexual stamina to frustrate Juanita's suggestion to save on the maid. Seeing secret boy-lover John go study in Bree's daughter Danielle's room, she reminds him of her sexual superiority; learning about Juanita's gambling history, she makes sure that temptation is irresistible- ma-in-law loses above Carlos's $15,000 credit card limit... Paul pretends his son Zack stays with relatives, but actually has him interned for borderline personality therapy, but Susan tailed dad to the juvenile rehabilitation center and sends daughter Julie in, whom the boy tells something terrible happened to Dana, no details... Now her twins are in Barcliffe, Lynette defeats Maisy Gibbons in a vote on abandoning the absurd 'political corrections' to the Little Riding Hood school play; as revenge her boys's oak tree parts are threatened unless she finishes the costumes, undoable unless... Rex complains about Bree's sexual disconnection to their marriage counselor who recommends a sex surrogate, she proves her seductive value to both men, only to succumb to her cleaning compulsion in bed, then insists he finally tells his sexual fantasy...

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Episode 7

Anything You Can Do

Sun, Nov 21, 200443 mins

Susan is miffed when Mike gets an unexpected house guest named Kendra; Andrew gets into a serious car accident that puts Mama Solis in the hospital; Mr. Shaw comes closer to solving who was blackmailing Mary Alice.

Where to Watch
Desperate Housewives, Season 1 Episode 7 image

Episode 8

Guilty

Sun, Nov 28, 200441 mins

Now Andrew fears his young life may be over after accidentally running over Carlos's ma Juanito, drunk at night, only sister Danielle fails to take his side. Bree may be a sanctimonious, selfish wife and mother from hell, a son in jail won't do, so she masterminds a clever cover-up, making sure the dented sports-car gets stolen in Fairview's destitute quarter and cleaning the traces of the hit and run with her friend, yet calls him a soulless monster for failing to pretend any guilt and for feeling loosing his car because the old bag didn't watch where she ran is punishment enough. Susan's trust in Mike hits rock-bottom when she searches his house, finds a gun and cash-stash but falls trough the floor; he furiously breaks up, but changes his mind and takes her back. Keeping Carlos company at comatose Juanita's bedside, Gabrielle who learned John, who tells her Danielle is now his safe girl-friend, has confessed their adultery to father Crowley, interrogates the priest about the seal of confession, yet refuses to confess herself. Lynette finds ADD pills come with mood swings violent enough to contemplate suicide and dump her happily overactive boys with the neighbors, who go look for her to share they all had desperate crises but covered up out of shame. Edie accuses her greedy host Martha Huber of theft and moves out; Paul has hired Mr. Shaw to revenge his wife's suicide, and orders Edie killed for writing the blackmail note, but at the last moment her unsuspecting confession she stole Huber's stationery saves her life; Paul refuses to transfer the hit contract, confronts the unrepentant, still badmouthing old bag and literally takes justice in his own hands.

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Episode 9

Suspicious Minds

Sun, Dec 12, 200443 mins

Gabrielle decides to organize a glamorous Halston fashion show; Bree and Rex are now at odds with each other on how to punish Andrew; The police investigate the skeletal body in a toy chest that Paul Young dumped in the river, and begin to close in on his secret.

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Episode 10

Come Back to Me

Sun, Dec 19, 200443 mins

Bree finds out that Rex is cheating, and he has a heart attack; Susan plans to take her relationship with Mike to the next level; Lynette, suspicious of her new nanny Claire, decides to secretly videotape her.

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Episode 11

Move On

Sun, Jan 9, 200543 mins

Edie organizes a neighborhood search for Mrs. Huber, just as her sister arrives on Wisteria Lane; Bree agrees to a separation and asks an attractive pharmacist on a date; Susan's ex-husband, Karl, suddenly returns for a visit; Lynette's fears Tom is attracted to their nanny.

Where to Watch
Desperate Housewives, Season 1 Episode 11 image

Episode 12

Every Day a Little Death

Sun, Jan 16, 200543 mins

The residents of Wisteria Lane learn the fate of Martha Huber; Susan confesses to Edie about her role in her house fire; Bree finds George getting a little too close for comfort; Carlos is released on bail, and placed under house arrest.

Where to Watch
Desperate Housewives, Season 1 Episode 12 image

Episode 13

Your Fault

Sun, Jan 23, 200543 mins

John's parents Bob and Helen Rowland threaten Gabrielle with a statutory rape complaint unless she talks him out of refusing a scholarship and starting full-time gardening, something dad Bob secretly envies, having been a too good boy all his youth. Alas, the love-sick puppy's motive is to succeed Carlos as her provider, so he even proposes on bended knee, the only way to break up is calling him a "sweet, dumb toy"... Grandpa Rodney Scavo visits and teaches them how to use boyish pride to overcome Parker's fear. Alas Lynette finds him practicing adultery with Lois McDaniel, having drifted apart from Tom's ma Allison, and is even more shocked Tom knew and still wants his dad to stay- so she kicks both out of his own house for a while; Tom tells dad he fears even worse when his own secret gets out... Paul tells Susan not to worry about Zach and Julie as he is selling the house; it's his turn to shiver when Zach says he trusts the girl enough to have told her about his returning Dana-memories, so he tells Susan it was little Zach who accidentally killed the baby- now she fears the boy; Paul tells Zach his memory is faltering, Dana lives- he will only keep the secret if they stay in Fairview and refuses to be kept away by Susan... Rex offers Bree to call off the property division fight, in vain- no, she could agree after having an affair herself, so she agrees to do it with pharmacist George, who learns the reason from Bree and tampers with Rex's pills...

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Episode 14

Love Is in the Air

Sun, Feb 13, 200543 mins

Felicia Tilman claims a photo of Paul and his late wife Mary Alice is of her Utah colleague 14 years ago, Angela Forrest, even digs up from her own album a photo of both of them as Dorothy Drake recovery house volunteer staff. Lynette was happy the boys gave her a pot of flowers she finally could be proud of as a presentable gift, but neighbor Karen McCluskey claims it was stolen from her. Susan learns Mike wants children 'some day' when he convinces the scamp trio to go face the maternal music. The threat of spanking ensures written apologies, but McCluskey even sneakily searches the boys' room for a missing clock; only after open warfare between the women Tom discovers it in the boys' scarily full meg-pie stash... Gabrielle's maid Yao Lin no longer considers the mistress superior and is fired. She takes a lowly job in the beauty-shop, where Yao Lin enjoys demanding service. Former fashion model Gabrielle is booked to pose in lingerie on "Siesta King" Charles Skouras's mattresses, with clients, but gets fired for diva attitude. Bree tries to get Rex's secret from her or their therapist Dr. Albert Goldfine. When Rex finally tells he secretly wants one try at his SM fantasy, she just slaps him instead, then changes her mind. Mike gets shot snooping in vain, is patched up by his secret employer, collapses dripping blood at his Valentine's dinner with Susan after she told him to want no more kids, she realizes shooting himself is a lie, the police questions him.

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Episode 15

Impossible

Sun, Feb 20, 200543 mins

Bree is shocked at first to find condoms when shamelessly searching adolescent son Andrew's room, but sees reason when realist Rex asks if she prefers becoming a grandmother, before they learn it's not his for use with Lisa, but Danielle's, for John, who however assures her he only loves 'another', and is encouraged to make that brutally clear. John's roommate Justin offers to do Gabrielle's garden for free and 'anything he did', she expects to scare him off with 'angry criminal' Carlos- who actually welcomes the shirtless lawn-boy, which in his absence reports for 'intimate service', even threatens to divulge her affair otherwise; when she turns up at their place to tell John, the kid confesses in tears he only wants sex with a 'safe' married hottie to find out if he's really gay; she tells him after an expert straight siren-kiss he must be. Susan agrees to Bree informing the police, but lies in order to be Mike's alibi about Mrs. Huber's murder, helped by Julie, yet the police keeps questioning her, even makes her doubt and slap him after seeing Delfino's police-record as convicted dealer and killer. Mike's terminal employer Noah Taylor uses his fortune to buy- Detective Sullivan, in charge of the case. Zach throws a teenager pool-party, just so he can invite Julie, who comes despite Susan still forbidding her seeing him ever, but is spooked by his gun-references; when ma bursts in, she finds there dropped boxers, actually belonging to two otherwise embarrassed young swimmers... Lynette always prodded Tom to be ruthless for his career, but when Tim Duggan, his rival for VP promotion, is hospitalized so Tom gets it, at an age he considers 'now or never', decides the raise isn't worth even more late hours and traveling all over the West coast, so when she finds out the boss's wife inspired the choice while visiting Tom's new office with the boys...

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Episode 16

The Ladies Who Lunch

Sun, Mar 27, 200543 mins

Maisy Gibbons' series of unfortunate events shocks Wisteria Lane; Gabrielle and Carlos' sewer system goes out; Lynette learns of a rumour that her twins started a head lice epidemic; Susan finds a surprising ally after her breakup with Mike.

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Episode 17

There Won't Be Trumpets

Sun, Apr 3, 200543 mins

Mama Solis awakens from her coma, as Gabrielle and Carlos fret over their financial issues; Lynette befriends a deaf woman; Bree encounters more trouble when disciplining Andrew; Susan finds herself attracted to Edie's hunky new contractor.

Where to Watch

Episode 18

Children Will Listen

Sun, Apr 10, 200543 mins

When the police asks Paul about a toy chest he had made, Zach says they threw it away, learns it was found with a chipped-up woman's corps in; dad swears it was the P.I. he would have taken him away as a kid. Gabrielle ignores Carlos successfully sabotaged her birth-control and defends not telling him about the hospital's fat check, refusing a post-nuptial and threatening to make his secret Cayman Islands account public, he makes her sign claiming he already cleared the account. Seeing John shirtless inspires her perfect revenge: more adultery. Susan is embarrassed when her obnoxiously neurotic ma Sophie Bremmer hugs Mike, ignoring they broke up, he just smiles that explains her weird sides. Felicia Tilman lures in Zach with banana-bread and tells him she knew his ma when he was a baby, originally named- Dana. Susan is astonished ma broke up with Morty, convinces him to make up, but she beats him again and lands at Susan's, a nightmare coming true early. Bree refuses to join Rex visiting Andrew's boot-camp Hennessy, is forced to babysit Lynette's boys so she can have cocktails and executes her first spanking threat on Porter's trousers-seat, earning ridicule for 'raising failure' Andrew, but after a balanced view from Tom given the three rascals are getting smarting and stronger, so Lynette changes her idle threat to sending them to Bree and makes up with her. Rex gets Bree to come along, now she realizes being a bad ma- because she doesn't know which color to pack for the boy; Andrew only wants to see his dear dad, she agrees to wait outside but hearing how others boys go completely astray storms in just to demand her men acknowledge her maternal efforts, but when Rex tells Andrew just outed himself coldly replies she'll wait in the car.

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Episode 19

Live Alone and Like It

Sun, Apr 17, 200543 mins

Lynette learns that no good deed goes unpunished when she befriends Mrs. McClusky; Susan's mother decides to try to jump-start her and her daughter's love lives; Bree forces Andrew to talk to the family priest about his conflicted sexuality.

Where to Watch
Desperate Housewives, Season 1 Episode 19 image

Episode 20

Fear No More

Sun, May 1, 200543 mins

Gabrielle plans a big party to bid farewell to Carlos and begins to suspect she's pregnant; George Williams returns, much to Rex's displeasure; Lynette learns Tom's old girlfriend, has been hired at his firm again; Susan and Julie encounter strange behavior from the Young family.

Where to Watch

Episode 21

Sunday in the Park with George

Sun, May 8, 200543 mins

To deflect Gabrielle's fury, Carlos pretends her pills were doctored with by his late mother, and enjoys his last pre-jail love life with her, while she worries about paternity. John is baffled by the pregancy news, but determined to step up as a responsible, though penniless father, while Gabrielle must save her marriage and provider, now for two, if only she can stop John by making him see everybody would be better off, yet it's Carlos who... Realizing a housewife's discrete merits can't match a flaunting foxy colleague in every respect, jealous Lynette decides to play the additional part of a sexy French maid, alas waiting in black lace costume till she dozes off before unsuspecting Tom arrives late at night with a visiting colleague without a hotel room. Tom proves not only a tease and good sport, he even delights her with a 'matching' surprise... Bree's sneakily ambitious wooer George Williams isn't content taking her out, which she feels guilty about when smirkily watched in a restaurant by man-eater Edie, his doctoring with Rex's medication starts to wear his 'rival' down dangerously. Susan finds her maternal problem goes away as spontaneously as it came, and because of the same Marty. However to revive her own problem she decides to hire a P.I. to check out Mike's story about Paul- alas the biggest ad is Mr. Shaw's so she gets a report paid for by the enemy, yet gets a precious consolation prize: the truth about Mike's homicide, enough to make up. Felicia is the one who uses her knowledge of the Young family history to lean heavily enough on Paul to make him stop drugging Zach, actually once a stolen baby, senseless, and even...

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Episode 22

Goodbye for Now

Sun, May 15, 200543 mins

Susan and Mike decide to move in together; Lynette takes steps to make sure Annabel doesn't come between her and Tom; Bree comes to a realization about George; Carlos' legal problems take a turn for the worse; Martha Huber's journal falls into the hands of Susan and Julie.

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Episode 23

One Wonderful Day

Sun, May 22, 200543 mins

Gabrielle, Susan and Lynette rush to the hospital in the middle of the night after receiving a phone call from Danielle telling them about Rex's heart attack. Dr. Craig suggests to unamused Rex his not getting any better indicates Bree was tampering with his medication. Rex writes her a note telling her that he understands, and then dies not knowing the truth. Lynette's marriage takes a dramatic turn after Tom, who quit his job due to Lynette's manipulation, vows that it is now her turn to go back to work and he'll be staying home with the kids. Carlos finally learns the truth about Gabrielle's affair with John, and he vows revenge as he is carted off to jail. A revenge-seeking Mike abducts Paul to a deserted quarry, intending to shoot him after finding out that he and Mary Alice killed Deirde. The deranged Zach holds Susan hostage at Mike's house intending to kill Mike after learning from Felicia that he intents to kill his father. A series of flashbacks to the late Mary Alice's life finally reveal the true Young family history. Edie welcomes a mysterious family to Whisteria Lane: the secretive Betty Applewhite and her adolescent son Matthew.

Where to Watch
Desperate Housewives, Season 1 Episode 23 image