Ah, the suburbs… with its white picket fences, perfectly manicured lawns and beautiful houses. It’s a place where you know all your neighbors and your neighbors know all about you. But beneath all the happy and picture-perfect façade lurks scandalous secrets, shocking deaths, blackmail, jealousy, betrayal and deception as what happens in the seemingly picturesque and idyllic Wisteria Lane.
Desperate Housewives
ABC’s mystery comedy-drama series, Desperate Housewives, follows the housewives in Wisteria Lane, looking at their marriage, kids, divorce, their friendship, dating, careers and affairs as they survived a tornado, a plane crash, a serial killer, numerous deaths and more.
When I watched the very first episode of Desperate Housewives and saw Mary Alice put a gun to her head and pulled the trigger—I was hooked. I had to find out why, what her secret was and who sent the note. And when I did, I stopped watching the series. It’s not that it isn’t any good. It’s just that I’m the type who skips to the end part of a mystery book to find out who done it and I can’t stand sitting thru the whole season to find out the answers. Although I did catch a few episodes on and off, but I make sure it’s the reruns so I knew already what would happen.
The Characters
- Bree Hodge – a perfectionist with homemaking skills that would rival Martha Stewart. She recently divorced her second husband and has two kids, Andrew and Daniel Van de Kamp, from her first marriage. She also has a grandchild, Benjamin, from Daniel.
- Gabrielle “Gabby” Solis – a former runway model who is married to businessman Carlos Solis. They have three kids, Grace Sanchez (who was switched at birth and lives with her legal mother), Juanita (biologically is not theirs as she was a switched with Grace during birth) and Celia.
- Lynette Scavo – married to Tom Scavo whom she met in college. They are both in advertising, although at some point, both have become the stay-at-home parent. They have also opened a pizzeria which failed. They have five kids: Parker, twins Preston and Porter, Penny and Paige
- Susan Delfino – is a clumsy romantic who has worked as a children’s book illustrator and writer, school teacher and during a tough financial period, she worked in a website where she appears on the internet doing housework in her lingerie. She is married to plumber Mike Delfino where they have a son, MJ. She has a daughter, Julie Myer, from a previous marriage.
- Renee Perry – Lynette’s frenemy from college who recently moved in to Wisteria Lane after divorcing her professional baseball player husband, Doug Perry. She is rich, vain, and insensitive who initially clashed with her neighbors.
- Mary Alice Young – narrates the series from beyond the grave. She died in season 1 when she committed suicide. She was married to Paul Young and raised their son, Zachary, who biologically is Mike Delfino’s son with an ex-girlfriend.
Season 7 Recap
After their attempt to save it, we saw the Scavo’s marriage breaking down (surprisingly, of all the housewives, it’s the only marriage that survived the whole seven seasons). Bree finds a new love interest in Det. Chuck Vance. Susan gets a kidney and saves Paul from crazy Felicia Tillman who then dies in a karmic death from crashing head-on to a truck. And the big one, Gabby’s abusive step father (who is not dead after all) stalked her and attempted to rape her again. She is saved in time by Carlos when he hit him with a candle stick… so hard, it killed him. The rest of the housewives see the body and decided to cover up the crime so that Carlos won’t go to jail.
Season 8
The housewives will be saying good-bye as Season 8 will be the final season for the series.
Season 8 starts off with last season’s murder cover up and how Gabby, Carlos, Bree, Lynette and Susan deal with their feelings in their involvement.
The guilt hits Carlos hard as he was the one who delivered the killing blow and it’s affecting his marriage with Gabby. Guilt will lead Susan back to art school. Bree’s has to hide her secret crime from Chuck, the detective she is seeing. Lynette, however, has a more pressing thing on her plate. She is dealing with her separation with Tom and they have decided to see other people and see if after 20 years if they’d still choose one another. The kids, of course, are taking it hard. Renee goes after new the neighbor, the rich, dashing British, Ben Faulkner. Will this new neighbor be bringing any new secrets or mysteries?
Last season, Mary Alice narrated, “the thing that binds friends together the most is a secret that changes everything.” It seems like the “big mystery” this season is the sender of the note that Bree got claiming that he/she knows what the gang did. Could it be Renee?
Speaking of Mary Alice, it has been said that there will be more flashbacks of her and the Young family this season. It would make sense for the series to end with something to do with her as the 1st season was with her as the central mystery.
A character (or two) will die. Of course, someone always does every season. But rumors are that it’s going to be one of the husbands. And expect a big whammy in the end.
Season 8 Premiere
September 25, 2011 (SUNDAY), 9/8c on ABC
Season 8 Promo
Starring
- Marcia Cross as Bree Hodge
- Ricardo Antonio Chavira as Carlos Solis
- Eva Longoria as Gabrielle Solis
- Felicity Huffman as Lynette Scavo
- Brenda Strong as Mary Alice Young
- James Denton as Mike Delfino
- Vanessa Williams as Renee Perry
- Teri Hatcher as Susan Delfino
- Doug Savant as Tom Scavo
