In This Section
|
« Desperate Housewives
November 19, 2006: Beautiful Girls
After last week's ending, I was really hoping that we'd find out more info on the backgrounds of Orson and Art tonight, but they are really taking baby steps when it comes to those two mysterious characters. So now we at least know (thanks to Orson's mama, Gloria) that Orson was having an affair with Monique while being married to Alma — the same Monique that had an affair with Harvey Bigsby, Carolyn's hubby. As Gloria so eloquently put it, Monique "got around." But Gloria still knows more and is holding those nuggets over Orson's head: "What are you going to do to me that hasn't already been done?" That look of death that Orson gave Gloria made me believe he'd kill her in the next scene. But instead, Bree packed Orson's things and asked him to leave, apparently believing Gloria. I'm still loving Dixie Carter as Gloria, and I hope she spills more of the beans about Orson soon. How perfect for Andrew to be in cahoots with Gloria, attempting to sneak her wine behind Bree's back, but how ironic that Bree the alcoholic is the one trying to hide the booze from Gloria. Bree's got to regret not allowing Gloria to live alone in that house in a bad neighborhood that Edie showed them.
The mystery behind new neighbor Art continues to boggle the mind of Lynette, but we're right there with her. Your comments last week proved that not all of us believe he's a pedophile. It would be quite typical of this show to confuse us with those photos of shirtless little boys, but come on. Yes, he's supposedly a swim coach, but all of the photos were of shirtless little boys. You be the judge. Until proven otherwise, I myself will still be creeped out by Art. He told Lynette he donated and sent all of the toys and the pinball machine to the children's hospital with nary an acknowledgement of the photos that were also removed from the basement. We did get to see Art's sister Rebecca (Jennifer Dundas) tonight. Hopefully next week we'll find out more about why she's in a wheelchair.
That scene with Lynette and Tom at the police station was one of my favorites, especially when Lynette had to explain to the officer why she was inside Art's house uninvited. Best part was Tom apologizing to the officer after Lynette left the room and then Lynette shouting: "You better not be apologizing for me!" Felicity Huffman and Doug Savant play so well opposite each other. And I love that they give Doug comedic stuff to do, like having Tom show up at Mike's house to watch football with Mike's "best friend" Carlos. I'm surprised more of the neighbors haven't taken advantage of Mike's memory loss like Carlos has.
Having Mrs. McCluskey be involved in everyone's business continues to make me laugh. Last week, she returned Mike's toolbox and encouraged him to hide it, especially the bloody wrench, and now she's the one keeping an eye on Art. (For more on her, go here to read Matt Webb Mitovich's great interview with Kathryn Joosten.) That toolbox is really getting Mike into trouble. Detective Ridley (Ernie Hudson) showed up and shined a flashlight on Mike as he was about to bury the hatchet, I mean, the whole toolbox. They seem to like to bury things in that neighborhood.
How refreshing it was tonight for Gabrielle to focus on something besides being mean to Carlos and trying to rejuvenate her modeling career. I enjoyed all of Gaby's scenes with the young girls — the highlight was when she convinced that shy, skinny little blonde girl to focus on being confident and giving the proper attitude. Best Eva Longoria line was when Gaby was strutting her stuff on the faux catwalk and said to the gals: "Yes, I'm unbelievable. Close your mouths," and they all closed their mouths. Alec Mapa was hilarious as Vern, Gaby's personal shopper. You knew the mothers weren't going to be happy when their daughters were desperately trying to lose weight, since Gaby told them that fat girls don't get magazine covers. Speaking of the mothers, that was Winifred Freedman as Mrs. Tomlinson (the one that said it would be the Christian thing to do to forgive Gaby). Winifred's first claim to fame was playing Millie in The Last American Virgin.
Another awesome guest star was Ian Abercrombie (Mr. Pitt from Seinfeld) as Rupert, Ian's butler. (I guess Ian is a popular British name.) It gave Teri Hatcher something else to do besides pine away for Mike, be a protective mother to Julie and, in general, be a klutz. I liked that Rupert was so protective of Jane, even though she's in a coma, and he kept reminding Susan that Ian was still married to Jane. His best line came after he gave Susan the choice of an omelet, strawberry tart or brioche for breakfast, and she said, "That sounds great — you pick," and he said "You are aware there is a Mrs. Hainsworth." Then Susan said, "Yes," and Rupert said, "Tart it is." Second best was after Susan gifted him with a T-shirt with a British flag on it: "It'll come in handy should my nationality ever slip my mind." Having those two actors together was a reunion of sorts. Since most of you know Teri guested on Seinfeld as Sidra ("They're real and their spectacular"), did you also know that both Teri and Ian appeared in the show's finale? Yep.
One gripe I have — what's with Bree's daughter, Danielle? She (Joy Lauren) was given one line tonight — three little words. ("We all did.") Sometimes they don't give her any lines or they don't have her appear at all. The writers have got to think of something for Danielle to do. At least Andrew (Shawn Pyfrom) gets to be a sarcastically funny little snot each week.
So what were your favorite and least favorite parts of the episode? Take the good, take the bad — don't be shy.
|
TVGuide Links:
|
|
|
|
Nov 20, 2006 5:33 AM
|
I'm still not sold on the fact that Art is a pedophile and that woman is his sister. They could both be undercover agents. Art could have gotten rid of those toys as so not to blow his cover.
Also, why didn't Mike have either Mrs. McCloskey or Edie get rid of those tools for him? He should have known that the police would be following him.
Best Gaby scenes of the year.
|
|
Nov 20, 2006 8:00 AM
|
I think this was one of the stronger episode of the season.
Why would Art set up the whole basement up if he was giving it away to charity. The train was set up to go around the celing. If I am giving something away I do not want to take the time to set it up in my basement just to take it down the next day.
|
|
Nov 20, 2006 8:38 AM
|
I like the story turn for Gaby, I was getting so I hated her on the show.
I'm glad we didnt have to watch Teri be a klutz.
|
|
Nov 20, 2006 9:46 AM
|
|
The Vern character seems like a shameless rip-off of the Lloyd character on Entourage. I mean......really!
|
|
Nov 20, 2006 10:36 AM
|
Once again: Eva got the funniest/campiest line of the night: "I look like something Ike Turner would hit."
I do think the children on the show are underused. But at least most of them are in the show when they should be. The biggest question mark of the night for me was: Where is Kayla? We haven't seen her since Nora's death, and there's no good reason why she isn't already at the Scavo household; she should have been with Parker and the others when Lynette was "watching" them.
|
|
Nov 20, 2006 10:48 AM
|
It may just be me, but I am really NOT liking Mike's storyline this season. Carlos may be sleazy, but I had a hard time believing both he and Tom would take advantage of Mike. And speaking of Tom - where is his daughter?!?!? I know that last week it was stated that she was with her grandmother, but I thought that Tom and Lynette were going for custody - and now after her mother's death, it seems that she should be with Tom. There was not even a mention of her last night.
As for the Art story...hmmmmmm. Something IS fishy there - just not sure what! I did love the scene with Tom and Lynette in the police station. The look on the officer's face when Tom was apologizing and Lynette called him on it was priceless! And Mrs. McClosksy is a gem! I hope she continues to be a strong part of the cast.
I was noticing that Marcia Cross is getting quite a baby tummy. Does anyone have any idea as to how they will continue to hide that? I haven't heard if she will be taking an extended "leave" or not. There could be some interesting storylines around her "disappearance".
|
|
Nov 20, 2006 10:54 AM
|
|
Even though, YES they're taking baby steps !!, I do like the fact that the show is moving and it's still entertaining so I'm still liking it. Lynette and Tom were so funny at the police station (leave it to this show to make that kind of situation funny). Although I didn't care that much for Susan's story line IT WAS refreshing not seeing Susan being too silly. It was also nice seeing Gaby not being hateful (although I don't mind when she's hateful b/c she always cracks me up) and to me her best line was when she was trying on that sparkly dress: "this looks like something Ike Turner would hit" (YES it was kinda mean, but still hillarious). As always I enjoyed all of Orson and Bree's scene, Orson does get some funny lines, he manages to be funny (serious) in a scene and in the next he can be kinda scary (I also believed he was going to kill his mother at one moment) and when he said to Bree "I can explain" I thought "here we go again" which reminded me of how funny it was on the shoot out episode when he explained to Bree why Alma was all bruised: >"She fell down the stair" >>"how did she fall ?" >"I pushed her". I wasn't expecting for Bree to kick him out of the house although it made sense that she did that, but I wonder that if he leaves is she gonna be stuck with his mother ?, I'd say she would get screwed in that marriage, lol. I really really like Orson's character and seriously hope he won't be written out of the show any time soon, which is making me consider starting a "making excuses for Orson" campaign.
|
|
Nov 20, 2006 10:58 AM
|
|
One possible explanation for the photographs of the shirtless boys - Art is a photographer! and he's laying out a yearbook of sorts for his swim class. I know nowadays the entire layout and photographs would be done on a computer, but if he's from the old school, he'd lay out the photographs beforehand, on a table (or wall) on how he'd want it to look. That's just one my opinion tho.
|
|
Nov 20, 2006 11:00 AM
|
As far as Art's having only pictures of shirtless little boys, couldn't he have been a coach at all all-boys school? If he were a pedophile, wouldn't they have been naked? And what about the very real presence of his sister? There must be a better explanation.
BTW Gaby was excellent. And Carlos as Mike's "best friend!" I'm glad he's still on the show.
Could Alma have killed Monique? Does Orson think that Mike killed her? I can't wait for more.
|
|
Nov 20, 2006 11:02 AM
|
Based on last night's eppy I now think that Mike could have been the person (or one of the people) that Monique was "cheating" on Orson with. When Orson found out he probably killed Monique. That would explain why Orson has such disdain for Mike and tried to kill him and is now trying to set him up to take the fall. Or, like Imzadi said, maybe Orson just thinks Mike killed her.
But, it doesn't explain the prison link.
|
|
Nov 20, 2006 11:23 AM
|
Morning All,
I have a couple of comments:
1) Rolfe - I thought the SAME thing about why the basement set-up if you're giving the toys away (don't get me started on how he got it set up that quickly if he'd just moved in). What bothers me the most about that scenario is this: If you have a secret "lair" in your basement, wouldn't you put a padlock on the basement door? And would you EVER leave your front door unlocked, much less ajar? This makes me lean toward the "he's got a strange explanation and Lynette's got it all wrong" crowd.
2)Gandalf47- Wouldn't you say that both Vern and Lloyd are shameless rip offs of Bobby Trendy? He was Anna Nicole's stylist/decorator/person who seemed like more of a cartoon than she is?
And now my rant:
Did it bother anyone else that after Bree witnessed Orson and Gloria's argument (which got so heated, I really thought he was going get in touch with his inner "Norman Bates"), Bree runs from the house (seeemingly scared) and LEAVES HER CHILDREN THERE? No warning. Nothing. Great job for leaving them with a suspected sociopath, Mom!
On a side note: Was anyone else REALLY shocked when Rupert (Ian's butler) called Susan a "gold digging whore" and all she did was slap him? I've seen women slap guys for a lot less. What he said was totally out of line. I don't know that I could have kept my mouth shut about it.
/Rant over, thanks 
|
|
Nov 20, 2006 11:41 AM
|
i also loved the scenes with tom and lynette at the police station. the hole thing with art still puzzles me. and i agree with you ktdas....that something is fishy. the part that i didnt like is how the cop took it so likely after lynette told him about the pics. hopefully the cop knows more than he is telling them. if art donated all of the toys to a childrens hosiptal then what did he do with the pics?? and why did he act so strange when it turned out that lynette was in fact in his basement?? i hope we find out more
i also love kathryn joosten as mrs. mcClusky.....i wonder who she called after lynette told her about art. i hope we get to see more of her.
when susan was with ian.....i was like "ohhhh a mini seinfeld renion" i had a feeling that rupert was going to say "tart it is".
when gloria said that monique gets around....im thinking that she was with mike while she was with orson and carolines husband. but i have no idea on how orson knew mike and all. hopefully we will find out more.
|
|
Nov 20, 2006 11:42 AM
|
Last night was good. But it wasnt great. I did like Gaby. For the first time is weeks she did not get on my nervous!
I thought it was funny about Carlos telling Mike and him were best friends. They both got something out of it. Carlos got a place to stat and Mike has someone to help him with the bills.
Excited to see how all the storylines cont to play out!
|
|
Nov 20, 2006 11:51 AM
|
|
is it me or have the writers completely disregarded the talk Gaby and Carlos had in the "Hostage" episode where they said they wanted to get back together?
|
|
Nov 20, 2006 1:06 PM
|
|
|
