Desperate Housewives 8×21 – The People Will Hear

I guess I jinxed Desperate Housewives this year when I kept saying that I hoped they wouldn’t screw up the ending. After a stellar final year, this is the second episode in a row that the show fumbles and it’s just utterly embarrassing on practically every level. I really can’t believe that the legacy of the show is being corrupted with these weak and ill-conceived hours.

Where to begin? Lynette plot tonight was beyond abysmal. Looking beyond the fact that they’ve made Lynette truly detestable with her plot to break up Tom & Jane by shipping off Tom using his boss no less, everything about this storyline was horrid. Tom sees Lynette getting undressed through the window and automatically assumes she’s with another guy? Desperate Housewives has never resorted to such cheap sitcom-y ploys to manipulate its characters and its laughable that Tom didn’t notice it was Lee. Seriously it’s like the writers have no respect for their audience with developments such as these. Going back to Lynette, are we just supposed to assume that she finally realized all of her flaws during a half-baked conversation with Lee? Suddenly she notices she’s been controlling her entire life? Good lord what a disaster. I get that Cherry wants to tie up loose ends and give his characters resolutions but this is not the way to go about doing it. Pathetic.

Moving on to Susan, while her subplot wasn’t horrible per se, it was pretty boring. So she’s going to leave the lane and help Julie raise the baby? Fair enough. It’s sad of course that the women will separate but it at least makes sense after Mike’s death. However, we really didn’t need that much time spent with Julie (and Porter no less) for her to reach that conclusion.

The less said about Gabrielle the better. Much like Lynette suddenly learned all about her flaws this week, Gabby finally realized she was being completely selfish with Bree for pretty much the past year after she screams at her kids for not looking out for each other. This realization just felt so forced and contrived that I really couldn’t believe it was happening before my eyes. I will however say that I did enjoy Lynette finally berating Gabby over her selfishness. This whole ordeal did start with her after all.

As for Bree, the writers continue to think giving her a new love interest this close to the end is a bright idea. Whatever. I was nonetheless amused by the trial scenes. Sure they were very unrealistic and rushed, yet I still enjoyed how the various women’s interrogations were edited together. However, this trial really should have started a few weeks ago so we could really immerse ourselves in the proceedings. It just feels very tacked on.

Finally, I wanted more from the ending. So Gabby thanks Bree yet really does nothing to help? Pretty damn selfish and not in a way that makes the character endearing. Moreover, there’s really no suspense because we all know Bree won’t throw Gabby under the bus. I do however wonder how the ladies will get out of this without ending up in jail in one pretty little cell. So at least there’s still the intrigue with that.

The Grapevine

Bree: It’s lovely but I am being accused of sleeping with a total stranger and killing him.
Gabrielle: And red is the color of blood and whores, got it.

Renee: Lee look at my wedding dress. All of this wearing all of that? Santa Claus in a thong riding a unicorn would not be able to pull focus from me!

Conclusion
A weak episode. I seriously pray that Cherry and the writers don’t mess up the finale as well because there’s still time to salvage the show’s reputation. It would be a true shame if all of this season’s efforts go to waste and the show’s eight year legacy becomes tainted.

Nad Rating
 D