What I’m Watching: Desperate Housewives

Desperate Housewives: Season 6, Episode 4 “The God-Why-Don’t-You-Love-Me Blues” (C+)

Having too many crazy characters in one place is problematic, and the fact that even if someone like Orson doesn’t appear at all in the episode, there will still be a deranged Katherine around is just unfortunate. Katherine telling Bree about how she watched a football game with Mike and how it doesn’t matter that it was through a window and he didn’t know she was there was painful. Simply put, there’s enough drama happening on Wisteria Lane that doesn’t involve people who are legitimately nuts that it just doesn’t seem necessary to spend time with the real crazy ones, and Katherine’s dominance of this episode really drags it down, especially when we don’t even see a glimpse of Mike to react to her hysterics. Gabrielle’s longing for the adventurous days of her affair with John and Ana’s initial distaste for and eventual acceptance of her feelings make for a decent story that’s compelling. Susan’s concern over Julie’s affair with a married man is also a good way of keeping her serious while still giving her some comic material when she refuses to stop pestering Julie with questions the moment she awakens from her coma. Andrew’s brief appearance was fun, and his accidental slips made it clear to anyone who had doubts that Julie was having an affair with the elder Bolen. His appearance with flowers at the tail end of the episode confirms it definitively, and the terrified look on his face when his son tells him he knows everything indicates that there’s a bigger mystery to be unearthed there. Angie’s casual discussion of the explosion that caused her scar leaves much to be desired in terms of revelatory conversations. I’m sure we’ll have to wait until the season finale to learn the whole truth behind that. While Lynette’s considerable enhancements elicit a funny scene with Carlos, she really just needs to stop lying and get it together because it’s clearly not going to work out well. The narration at the beginning of the episode was a bit darker than usual, detailing the friendly mailman who beats his wife and really catching me off guard with the couple that loves their cocaine. I guess things are getting more serious on Wisteria Line, but that threw me for a loop.