Desperate Housewives

The second episode of the 1st season was called “Ah, But Underneath”. It opens with Mary Alice talking about how your sight improves after death, even though your other senses leave. She adds that the living could see just as clearly, if they took the time to really look.

In this episode, Gabrielle and John almost get busted when Carlos gets home early. Lucky for them, they are fast enough to get him out of the house before Carlos sees anything he shouldn’t. Gabrielle decides that this is way too risky and that she and John should meet at his place from now on. Everything is fine until John hands her a “perfect” rose that makes her think he’s taking this far more seriously than she is. Meanwhile, Carlos has noticed that she’s unhappy and demands to know what’s wrong. She tells him she wants more excitement, like they used to have. She wants her breath taken away. Carlos decides the best way to do that is to surprise her with an expensive car. Gabrielle loves it, but deep down you can see that the rose meant more to her.

Bree, meanwhile, has demanded she and Rex go to marriage counseling to try and fix things. Rex agrees and tells all about his problems with Bree’s need to be perfect. Bree is shocked by one thing he says so much, she starts focusing in on the Doctor’s loose jacket button and shuts down during their sessions. Rex cancels on one appointment to get Bree the change to speak to the therapist on her own. While they talk, Freud comes up and she rants about how he most likely didn’t appreciate everything his mom did and how he had the nerve to come up with a theory everyone’s problems can be traced back to their mom. During another session, the doctor calls Rex on this and asks if he has ever thanked Bree for all she does. Bree’s happy now.

While all this is going on, Susan is desperately trying to get Mike to ask her out. When she sees it won’t happen, she decides to bite the bullet and do the asking herself. She does so by inviting him to a “traditional” welcome dinner that will consist of take out since she can’t cook. Mike offers to make them a meal at his house and Susan agrees, planning to have Julie be “sick” the night of the dinner. What she isn’t planning on is Edie later seeing them walking into Mike’s house with shopping bags and managing to get herself an invite as well. Susan agrees to let her come, but is obviously mad about it. Julie’s not gonna be sick after all. This turns out to be a good thing because when Edie starts making pointed comments to get Mike to like her more, Julie realizes what’s going on and starts playing the same game. Susan’s happy and actually tries a trick of her own to make Mike’s dog start licking her. Like many of Susan’s schemes, though, it backfires when Bongo ends up eating her earring and has to be rushed to the vet. Lucky for her, Bongo is alright. When Mike starts talking about his ex and how she made him promise to take care of the dog, Susan realizes he might not be ready to date her or Edie.

Finally, we have Lynette. There’s really not much going on here. She gets pulled over by a cop because the boys are bouncing around in the back without seatbelts and starts ranting about how hard she has it when the cop tells her that ‟it’s your job‟ to control the boys. When the boys keep up the behavior later, she takes a tip from Mrs. Huber and makes the boys think she is driving away without them. The only problem is, someone saw it and took the boys in her house to feed them. The woman threatens to call CPS before the boys and Lynette make an escape. They’ve learned their lesson, though, and have immediately fasten their seatbelts after getting in the car.

I really liked this episode. Like many of the early season 1 episodes, it’s done a great job of introducing us to everyone and helping us to get into their heads. Gabrielle, in particular, was really good in this one. I don’t agree with what she’s doing, but I can understand why she feels the way she does. Carlos was a bit cold and oblivious like that back then. Well, that’s it for now. I will leave you with some of the best quotes from the episode. Take care and see ya next time!

Julie- Dear Diary. Mike doesn’t even know I’m alive.
Susan- Shut up.
Julie- If you want to date him, you’re gonna have to ask him out.
Susan- I keep hoping he’ll ask me out.
Julie- How’s that going?

Carlos- I know you’re awake.
Gabby- I know you’re a jerk.

Edie- It’s all gone. Everything my ex-husband worked for all those years. Gone.

Rex (to the therapist after she gives the doctor some homemade potpourri) The answer is yes. You’re about to make a fortune off us.