What I’m Watching: Desperate Housewives

Desperate Housewives: Season 6, Episode 15 “Lovely” (B-)

This episode stood out to me because of the format in which it was presented. I don’t remember the titles being used anytime in the past to fragment the story into chapters except when it announced a time jump. Splintering the plot into Robin’s interactions with the five housewives (welcome back, Katherine!) was a good way of really introducing her to the neighborhood, but it all felt a bit too simplistic, sort of like when handyman Beau Bridges hijacked an entire episode to help the housewives discover something meaningful about themselves. On “Dexter,” Julie Benz was impossibly annoying, but the show didn’t treat her as such. Here, it’s acknowledged that she’s a thorn in everyone’s side, but the attempt is to establish that maybe she could be a decent character if given time to develop properly. Some of the arcs worked well; others didn’t. Ultimately the concluding parable offered by Mary Alice made it seem more worthwhile than it was. It just feels as if everything else has suddenly been put on hold, save of course for two threads: Ana and Orson. Gaby’s rush to ship Ana off to her modeling career is silly, but that should hopefully help quickly unravel the mystery the Bolen family has been shrouded in since their arrival on Wisteria Lane. Bree’s ill-fated attempt at a lap dance was productive in its end result of fostering a renewed tranquility between her and Orson. Besides that, not much was accomplished in this episode, save for one thing. Katherine may well have finally found herself some happiness by trying her luck with a person of a different gender.