Desperate Housewives returns this Sunday, for the final two episodes of the series. I can’t help feeling a little sad about its departure, but I’m glad the series is going out on a relatively high note. The eighth season has probably been the best the show’s been in several years.
I do believe the introduction of new head writers (former writers of
Frasier) at the beginning of season 7 has helped the show. Since the beginning of season 7, you can see they’ve put more focus on how the characters behave, why they behave that way, and how they can grow and develop from there. As an ode to my favorite series, I’ll rank the eight seasons:
1. Season 1[/b] ~ Not very hard to explain. The show was hitting it on all cylinders. The mystery, comedy, plotting, pacing, and shocks were all on point--no punch was drawn. I believe it’s hard to follow this debut season only because the show began so dark, they had to ultimately humanize the characters somewhat for audiences to root for them in the long run. In the first season alone, all the housewives committed some kind of serious crime--Gabrielle’s statutory rape; Bree’s cover-up of her son’s hit-and-run; Lynette pilfering her children’s ADD medication; and Susan burning Edie’s house down. They would rarely do anything this serious again, until season 8 when they hid a murder. The Paul Young is easily the most complex mystery they’ve had, and the only one that justifiably carries a 24-episode season without lagging.
2. Season 3 ~ This would be my favorite season overall if only Marcia Cross hadn’t been pregnant. The mystery was probably the best they had other than season 1, and Kyle McLachlan is a great addition as Orson, but it ultimately ended too quickly because of Cross’s pregnancy. Every character except for Gabrielle seemed to shine this year--and even she had her moments. “Bang’ was one of the series’ best episodes, although it unfortunately spawned the disaster episode that would recur every season after until season 8 (season 4’s tornado, season 5’s fire, season 6’s plane crash, and season 7’s riot). The final episodes (without Cross) weren’t well-received, for multiple reasons. I know I didn’t enjoy the Edie/Carlos storyline at all, but the Rick-Lynette thing didn’t bother me as much as it did a lot of viewers.
3. Season 2 ~ Usually regarded as a case of sophomore slump, this season is actually one of the best, imo. Sure, Susan has no story arc and the Applewhite mystery hits a particular bum note (though Alfre Woodard does the best with what she’s given), but a lot of amazing things happened this season as well--particularly with the character of Bree, who was my favorite housewife for most of the series. Harriet Samson Harris makes the best addition this season, entering as Paul Young’s nemesis and dominating every scene she’s featured in.
4. Season 8 ~ This season isn’t without its share of slip-ups, but it has been pretty incredible. Gabrielle’s growth in season 5 really paid off. She’s ended up being the most interesting character in seasons 7 and 8, whereas she was once the weak link on the show (imo). As I guessed at the end of season 7, this really has been Felicity Huffman’s season; Lynette has had an amazing storyline this season, which for once puts more of the blame on the housewife rather than the husband for a marriage’s breakdown. Susan is horrendous this year. That’s generally the case; I believe the only time Susan is ever likable is when bad things happen to her or she’s playing the mother role. Season 7 was probably the first time since season 1 that I didn’t completely hate Susan, and she had the crap taken out of her that season. Bree was a little disappointing this year, but she, too, has had a lot going on; my only regret there is that Danielle and Andrew couldn’t have been more involved. Again, Vanessa Williams/Renee serves no purpose. I believe the only thing I’ve liked about the addition of Vanessa Williams is she gives Lynette a character to play off of.
5. Season 7 ~ I felt this season is one of the best of the later years. The only weak point this year is the show’s struggle to find storylines for Bree--other than a new love interest. That said, Chuck and Keith were probably the best men she ever dated on the show (even though Chuck go crazy in season 8 after being dumped). Surprisingly, Susan, in my opinion, had the strongest storylines this season. Not only did she build bridges with Paul, her struggle with debt which led her to softcore pornography and resulted in the loss of her teaching job was a throwback to darker and more “desperate” storylines from season 1. Gabrielle was dealt the soapiest storyline the show’s ever delivered with a switched-at-birth baby, which ended up much more interesting than I would ever have expected. The plotting was well-done, as her search for her real daughter ultimately led her back to her own childhood issues--resulting in a series finale that really gave me feelings of season 1 yet again. With Lynette, I wasn’t really crazy about most of her long-term storylines (Tom’s affair with Renee; her insecurities with Tom’s new job), but there were many short-term arcs that I enjoyed. The cameo of her mother-in-law was especially heartfelt, and her interactions with Penny (who tries to help her with mothering, which Lynette obviously hates) humanized a character who is too often written as heartless. My only nitpick this season was the addition of Vanessa Williams, who, although I love her, seemed to only be tacked on because she needed a job following the end of
Ugly Betty and she has friends in high places. The show had no idea what to do with her and, at most, she comes off as a hackneyed Edie replica with a little Cruella thrown in. My favorite thing to come from this season--the re-casting of Penny! The new girl is adorable, and I love every scene she has with Felicity Huffman.
6. Season 5 ~ While a little bit of this season felt like it was trying too hard--and the yellow coloring is ugly, btw--I feel that this year was a success overall and the time jump benefited the characters. Gabrielle profited the most from the time jump; we jumped right into motherhood and poverty with her, which ultimately gave her more of an earthiness and likeability after seeing how much she was willing to sacrifice for her family. Lynette’s storylines were pretty dark this season, with Lynette struggling to keep a hateful family from imploding (or killing one another). Susan was the weak link of the women, with a very uninspiring romance with Gale Harold (Queer As Folk) and predictable reunion with Mike; her best storylines revolve around her divorce and her interactions with her son, MJ, who was well-cast, imo. Bree’s business gave the character a very abrupt change, a change I enjoyed for the most part, and her storylines were strong for the most part; I only wish they had done more with Andrew’s mother-in-law, who was only seen in one episode of the series. Also, they pretty much character assassinated Orson, a character I loved in seasons 3 and 4. Katherine suffered from the writers not knowing what to do with her. The weakest part of this season was the mystery. I didn’t mind that it was easy to figure out, just that Dave didn’t really do much damage to Wisteria Lane or to Susan. You can only feel suspense if there’s real danger, and Dave really left no impact on anyone. The concept was decent, however, and Neal McDonough does a great job.
7. Season 4 ~ Season 4 saw the introduction of Dana Delaney as Katherine Mayfair. Though this season seemed to be well-received, I was left cold for the most part. The mystery was a straight-up Lifetime special and a lot of the storylines were re-hashed or downright bland (Susan and Gabrielle, especially). The only highlights for this season, for me, were Bree and Katherine’s interactions, Polly Bergen as Lynette’s mother, and Bree’s pregnancy cover-up attempt. The much-hyped tornado episode was probably one of their worst disaster episodes, considering nothing significant occurred. It only allowed Felicity Huffman to give an amazing performance, although her enormous family was left entirely untouched.
8. Season 6 ~ Unfortunately, this season (and season 2) are generally thought of as the worst of the series. It’s true that this season probably hurt the series--in the ratings, at least--and that it is, imo, the weakest of the series, but there’s still a lot going for it. Bree’s and Lynette’s storylines were probably the strongest this season, with Rex’s long-forgotten son and Lynette’s maternal difficulties offering interesting situations; Susan spent most of her time reacting to a not-as-entertaining-as-you’d-expect psycho Dana Delaney and Gabrielle was mostly involved with the very weak mystery (Drea de matteo). I liked the idea of the strangler storyline, and the actor cast does a great job with the role of Eddie, but the end result was banal. Julie Benz made a horrendous cameo as a stripper, while also participating in a very badly-executed lesbian storyline. It’s too bad John Barrowman didn’t show up on a better year.
My hopes for the series finale:
~ Please give Lynette a happy ending! I was mostly ambivalent about Tom and Lynette separating or getting back together until the episode where Lynette signed the divorce papers. Lynette’s breakdown was hard to watch. I have much more invested in these two than I ever did for Mike and Susan.
~ If Bree is given a romantic ending, I hope it’s with Brian Austin Green’s Keith. He’s the only halfway normal love interest she’s had (though I liked Orson, two negatives do not make a positive). I actually would like them to get back together. It looks like they’ll be pairing her with her lawyer at this point though.
~ Some kind of resolution with Zach Young. With the ending to season 7, everything seemed wrapped up with Paul and Felicia, but Zach was still left unexplored. I thought they might do something with him when Julie came back pregnant; that Zach might be the father. So far, this is the only real loose end that irks me. (Kayla is another one, but I can live with the show not coming back to her)
~ Guest stars galore! I’ve already read about many former characters returning/cameoing, but I’m still hoping Leslie Ann Warren and Polly Bergen will both return one last time. There are a lot of other characters from past years that I would love to see again (Sam, Eddie, Angie, Dave, Nina, Betty, Austin, Ana, John, Rick, Maisy, etc.), but it’s unlikely. I wish they would have had Andrew and Justin get back together at the end, too, but Danielle is also divorced. And I would really like if Gabrielle and her mother would face off once and for all, to resolve the stepfather storyline completely.
Sorry for the huge post, but I wanted to give
Desperate Housewives some kind of send-off.
I don't believe Lynette will get back with Tom though, although I would like that to happen. I feel like Jane and Tom are too close at this point.
© Best Buy ad September 23-29, 2012.
