'Desperate Housewives:' The Many Faces Of Despair
New ABC Show Provides Comical Edge To Women's Plights
Melissa Harrold, Staff Writer
"Desperate Housewives," a new ABC Sunday night primetime
soap, gives a sometimes comical, sometimes naughty and sometimes
depressing glimpse into the lives of four upper-middle class women
through the eyes of their deceased friend, Mary Alice.
A new episode of "Desperate Housewives" airs Sundays at
9 p.m. EST on ABC.
The immaculately-kept shrubbery and beautiful, spacious homes of
Wisteria Lane seem to embody all of the promise and bounty of the
American dream -- at least on the outside. The men of the houses
all have important jobs as doctors or businessmen, leaving their
little ladies at home to care for the children, supervise the gardener
and keep house.
What lies beneath all of this superficial serenity, however, is these
women's desperation and unhappiness in the lives they thought they
wanted, and possibly, something even more sinister.
Mary Alice (Brenda Strong) provides an incisive narrative into the
lives of her friends; Lynette, the frustrated mother of four out-of-control
kids; Gabrielle, an underappreciated housewife who's fooling around with
her underage gardener; Bree, a pseudo-Stepford wife whose husband wants
a divorce, and Susan, an unhappy single mother who's desperate for a man.
Ironically, however, while Mary Alice provides so much detail about her
friends, her own life remains mysterious. At the end of the first episode
on Oct. 3, her four friends discover a note addressed to Mary Alice that
says, "I know what you did."
While her friends attempt to decide what to do with the note, Mary Alice's
husband, Paul (Mark Moses), is shown digging up an unexplained box from
underneath their in-ground swimming pool, and depositing it into a lake
for safe-keeping.
Aside from this mystery plot, designed to keep audiences guessing, each
of the other four main women participate in hijinks that reveal them to
be comical and pitiful at the same time.
For example, in the pilot episode, Gabrielle (Eva Longoria) is scared
that her husband Carlos (Ricardo Antonio Chavira) will discover that
the young gardener John (Jesse Metcalfe) hasn't mown the lawn because
Gabrielle has been keeping him to herself all day -- and it has nothing
to do with gardening work, if you know what I mean. So, she leaves the
formal party they are attending to frantically mow the lawn in her pink
beaded evening gown, returning before her thoughtless husband even misses
her.
In another sad but comical scene, a frazzled Lynette convinces a police
officer not to give her a ticket for being unable to make her children
buckle up in her sport utility vehicle by having a small nervous breakdown
when he insults her parenting.
"I have no help. My husband's always away on business. My babysitter
joined the witness relocation program. I haven't slept through the night
in six years. And you stand there and judge me..." Lynette raved.
While desperately attempting to catch the eye of the handsome new
widower in the neighborhood, Mike (James Denton), Susan (Teri Hatcher)
and man-eating neighbor Edie (Nicollette Sheridan) participate in a war
of the wiles, with the cunning Edie usually ending up on top. Each is
continually coming up with a lame excuse to visit Mike.
Susan even went so far as to break into Edie's house when she thought
Mike was visiting, and inadvertently knocked over a candle, burning
down the home.
While Bree (Marcia Cross) would not bring herself down to the level
of exhibiting human emotion, she is probably the most interesting
character. When she and her husband go to a marriage counselor, it
becomes apparent that her perfectionism is an attempt to cover up
all her emotions.
"She doesn't like to talk about her feelings. To tell you the
truth it's hard to know if she has any," Rex complained to
their marriage counselor.
One gets the sense that Bree will soon erupt and it will be goodbye
Betty Crocker and hello reality.
Each of these characters can be easily judged as pathetic in some way,
yet their stories make it easy to sympathize with the plight of an
overworked mom, a lonely wife, a lonely single woman and an underappreciated mom.
And, as the mystery of Mary Alice's past unfolds, and her four friends'
lives move forward, it will be tempting to find out where they all end up.
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