What I’m Watching: Desperate Housewives

Desperate Housewives: Season 8, Episode 20 “Lost My Power” (C+)

The circular nature of all of this show’s plotlines is truly frustrating, and none of them feel any less repetitive after a month of this show being off the air. Only one completely original thing occurs in this whole hour, and that’s Renee’s bright idea to have Ben tell her everything about his involvement in the murder so that she won’t have to testify against him in trial. It’s hard to decide which story thread is more lamentable this week, Gaby’s or Lynette’s. I wonder if guest stars Doris Roberts and Reed Diamond knew that they’d be coming in to these storylines at a point where they really need to end. It’s clear by now that all Gaby cares about is money, and to decorate Carlos’ office so that Doris wouldn’t give him money to sponsor his charity work was truly abominable. Worse still, if she had the money to go all out on something like that, why couldn’t she just donate the money, or stop caring so much about wooing one client. Carlos’ one mistake was doing a victory dance, and Gaby calling him a shark wasn’t really fair. Lynette dating Tom’s boss was a whole new level of awful, and when she does dump Gregg to be with Tom, it’s going to make things even worse. Jane’s misery isn’t worth all that. Susan spending all night working on MJ’s racecar only to have him push it into the street so that it would be destroyed led to her strong conclusion that he could use male role models in his life, and her assembly of tough guys (and Lee) was a great idea. MJ, however, is a brat, and Susan needs to stop caving to his tantrums and letting him push her around. I understand that it’s the nature of her character, but it’s still aggravating. Bree’s sexual past being brought up in court is no surprise, and Trip does deserve credit for telling her about his sexual past to get her to open up to him. She has also been down this road before, back when she dated her divorce attorney Karl, and the only reason it’s somewhat tolerable is that Trip is one of the more well-rounded men Bree has expressed interest in on this show.