Summing Up: Desperate Housewives

The final few episodes leading up to the season finale of "Desperate Housewives" proved to be throughouly annoying and pretty much entirely uninteresting. By the start of the first hour of the finale, all of the characters' plotlines had deteriorated to unbearable points. The formula of having each comedic plotline suddenly turn deathly dramatic did not work well at all. Susan and Lynette's stories proved cyclical, while Gabrielle's were tiring and Bree's didn't seem to make much sense.

The twins burning down Rick's restaurant was a bit much to ask viewers to believe, in my opinion. I particularly detested and disapproved of the return of Kayla, the worst character even to appear on the show, who had been all but written out a while ago after her dreadful initial appearance. There was absolutely no reason to bring her back, and its disturbing nature did not fit the show. Last year, when Matt Roth guest-starred as a pedophile, the disturbing drama was done well. Here Kayla is made out to be much smarter and more cunning that she should be, and for no purpose other than to make the already overburdened Lynette get more stressed out. Regarding the finale, Tom's impression of a secret agent with that phone call was less than impressive. Once written out, there seemed to have been no reason Kayla ever needed to be there in the first place. At least Tom and Lynette still love each other - but does anyone care at this point?

It seemed inevitable that Orson and Bree would get back together, and the introduction of this super-sketchy priest was unnecessary. Anything with Susan was hardly interesting at all, and its ridiculousness only led each time to a conclusion that things will turn out okay and Mike will be there for her. Mike's mom wasn't that terrific. The Maynard fiasco was just annoying and tedious. Carlos going blind could have been interesting, but it just showed how spoiled Gabrielle was. The conclusion each time there was that Gabrielle shouldn't feel blind too, but it got tired pretty quickly.

The big reveal with Katherine, much like that two years ago with Betty, proved to be a bit of a letdown. After a season of mystery, there was little left to be found out. Gary Cole's guest appearance was good but more could have been done with that, rather than simply making him out to be a savage wife-beater. He claimed that Katherine's tale was not altogether fair to him, but it hardly seems that way. Adam's somewhat-supernatural skills in faking unconsciousness seemed a bit of a stretch. As for the finale, Katherine seems to have been cemented into the official Housewives club, effectively replacing Edie.

Now about that flash-forward finish. I had heard that the show would be traveling either five years forward or five years back, and I think that the decision to go forward should be a good one. Seeing a successful Bree and a happy Katherine is comforting. Gabrielle with kids should probably be more annoying than amusing, but who knows? Lynette having to deal with unruly children who are now common criminals may not be the best thing, since a happy and relaxed Lynette might be nice after a season of cancer and an evil daughter. The most exciting and interesting thing is Susan with a new lover who most definitely is not Mike. Purposely making the actresses up to look older and spending a number of episodes attempting to cleverly sum up all that has occured over the missing five years could prove extremely tedious, but a fresh start could be just what this show needs to reinvigorate itself.

Season grade: C-
Season finale: C+
Season MVP: Dana Delany