Tuesday , March 19 2024
Nothing else seems to have worked, so TV and Film Guy tries a little tough love on this once fun show.

Speaking the Truth About Desperate Housewives

It seems as though the truth hurts, and I just can’t figure out why that has to be the case. And this may hurt, but I have to say it anyway — last night, those Housewives proved once again that they’re straying farther and farther from what once made the show great. 

First up, we have the incredibly obnoxious, the show would be better off without her and everything she stands for, Edie Britt. When Edie attempts to seduce Carlos, Carlos is eventually smart enough to realize what’s going on and calls her on using her own child to try and bait him into having sex with her. And then, in a completely surprising twist, and I can’t imagine how this is the case, Edie becomes angry at Carlos for telling her he knows what’s going on. She is not, at this point, upset with herself for her incredibly self-centered actions and her maltreatment of her own child, no, she’s upset with Carlos for having the audacity to call her on it. 

By the end of the episode Edie successfully seduces Carlos with what I’m sure is either a ploy or a fleeting change of heart, where she “reveals her true self” by getting naked. It’s insane. Carlos bought it, but it’s still insane. How is this man not still upset that she used a young child to try and have sex with him? My money is on the fact that Edie was still just trying to get some and that an “honesty is the best policy” approach seemed like the best way to succeed in that endeavor. The whole thing is disgusting.

Actually, the whole show is disgusting, and not disgusting in a juicy, pulpy, fun way like the first season. It’s disgusting in a 'these characters have become so vile and self-centered and self-serving' way that it’s hard to watch. 

Gaby, who has been sliding downhill into a pit of her own vanity for at least a season (and probably closer to a season and a half), sunk to a new low last night by stealing dresses of the man she’s only dating because of his money’s ex-wife. Seriously. She lies to the maid to get into the house where the clothes are, runs for the closet, takes off her coat revealing that she’s only wearing skivvies underneath (it’s not even sweeps), and throws on as many outfits as she can before running back out of the house. What a wretched waste of time this woman has become. She’s a horrid, vapid woman and while she was once deserving of pity, she is now simply repugnant.

Why am I supposed to like this show? The writing is no longer clever, the characters no longer so much shocking as they are depressing (I can’t even face a discussion of Susan’s asininities here), and the “mystery” that the season is supposed to be about has completely vanished. Everyone knew Marcia Cross was pregnant heading into this season, so maybe having the mystery surround her character wasn’t the brightest move on the part of the producers. I can’t help but feel the ship is completely rudderless this season and that a firm hand needs to take control of matter and get the whole thing back on track. Maybe they should spin-off a show with the Scavos, because they’re the only people that still seem human and worth caring about.

The only answer the producers supply as to why to keep watching however is really poor: they’re going to show more of Edie and Gaby and not just with increased screen time. The problem is, that to make a character attractive requires more than just showing a nice body and some skin, and these two creatures are such horrendously bad human beings that seeing more of them is only depressing, and the more they take off, the worse it gets.

That truth may hurt too, but it’s something that has to be said if this show is to get any better, and I’m still pulling for it, but I just don’t know for how much longer.

About Josh Lasser

Josh has deftly segued from a life of being pre-med to film school to television production to writing about the media in general. And by 'deftly' he means with agonizing second thoughts and the formation of an ulcer.

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