After a couple of weeks off, Desperate Housewives returned to form this week with a show that almost felt like one from the first season complete with drama, comedy, marital conflict, and the big reveal of Paul Young’s plan for Wisteria Lane.
The biggest news of the week is that it seems the Gaby/Carmen baby switch story looks like it’s come to an end. I never liked the story to begin with mainly because of Gaby’s extremely selfish behavior. Yes Gaby is self-centered, but she’s never been as truly awful as she’s been throughout this particular story, and I really was on the verge of hating her completely when she called immigration on Carmen just so she could keep Grace with her. That’s just beyond the limits, even for Gaby. Of course, she was redeemed when she took a page from the Lucy Ricardo playbook and pretended to be Carmen when ICE arrived so that Carmen and Grace could head to Texas. The goodbyes were a bit heart-wrenching, but I really hope this is the last we see of this plot and Gaby gets back to being Gaby.
I’ve also been harping on the whole Tom/Lynette relationship and how predictable its become, because it seems like every week they have some issue that is resolved by episode’s end. This week the issue was that Lynette never seems to talk up Tom’s … um … “achievements” when she’s with the other women. In a funny moment, Susan walked in on them having sex and was impressed by Tom’s … um … stature. Tom overheard her and Lynette talking but was disappointed to hear that Lynette had never mentioned this to her friends so he felt emasculated (again), but we finally learned that Lynette feels so unworthy of having “the best husband in the world” that she can’t say anything positive about him because it just makes her feel worse about herself. Well, now that we’ve finally got that all out in the open, maybe they can stop the weekly bickering. Oh, well, that is until Renee starts to move in on Tom.
I’m really liking the addition of Vanessa Williams to the show, because she is like the new Edie Britt. She’s got all the best one-liners, and she’s single, hot, and on the prowl. I just don’t want them to ruin everything by having her pursue Tom. When Edie went after a man, she didn’t go after one who was happily in a relationship (and they were more often than not an ex of Susan’s). Having Renee go after Tom simply because they had a one-weekend fling twenty years ago could cause a huge rift between her and the rest of the women, and her residence on Wisteria Lane could come to a very sudden end by the end of the season. I won’t feel secure in the fact that Renee is staying on the show until they re-do the opening credits to include her image.
Paul Young’s big plan was finally revealed as he purchased another house on the lane and announced he was opening a halfway house for released prisoners. I can see why the residents of Wisteria Lane would be upset about this, but I wonder if this is Paul’s real intention or if he’s just trying to stir up trouble in the neighborhood. When he announced that he only needed one more house on the lane to control the votes of the neighborhood association, no one thought he had a chance; but he cleverly pointed out all of those who needed money, made them an offer, and then sat back and watched as a civil war erupted in the Scavo living room. Whether his intention is to open a halfway house or not, his plan to pit neighbor against neighbor came off without a hitch. It will be interesting to see where this all leads.
“I haven’t celebrated my birthday since the third time I turned 28.” – Renee
“She’s not the only illegal I know. Half of Carlos’ family scaled a fence at some point.” – Gaby
“Geez … cholera, getting shot at … doesn’t anyone have a happy story about coming to this country?” – Gaby, while in lock-up
“It’s kinda hard to believe in a higher power when you’re on your knees begging for help for your nightmare of a life and you get squat!” – Tracy, an old friend of Bree’s
“I admit, she was much nicer when she was fat.” – Bree on Tracy’s terrible behavior at dinner
“When you said you were the fun one on the lane, who was your competition? The mailbox?” – Renee to Susan, after hearing her talk about cooking chicken for 45 minutes
“He just hired me. I didn’t know he was so evil.” – Lee referring to Paul Young
Clacked by Chuck Duncan 
on Dec 06, 2010 @ 16:15 EST5EDT
My favorite line from the show, in reference to Tom’s package:
“We just assumed that Tom was one of those, you know, ‘button on a fur coat’ kinda guys.”