I've been pretty loyal to Desperate Housewives in its troubled second season. Despite the unavoidable wails of "sophomore slump" in the media (delivered with that sickening relish present in most attacks against massive media sensations) I've found the show to be mostly enjoyable, if not up to the high quality of the first season.
While season one came out of nowhere and stunned everyone with its enormous ratings and creative mix of comedy, drama and mystery, season two has been hit with almost nonstop critical brickbats, has seen lead-out Grey's Anatomy overtake it in ratings and buzz and has been notably less nimble in its genre-hopping tendencies. But I felt the show was settling into a nice groove as a light comedy—with occasional well done "serious" moments—driven by four talented actresses and a solid, if a bit bloated, supporting cast. I still preferred Housewives to the more celebrated Lost, which has had its own second season issues, thanks to the performers and storylines that were more fun than frustrating or repetitive.
At least I felt that way until the last few episodes, "sweeps" installments driven more by Big Events than the strong solid moments—comedic and dramatic—that I still appreciated. And then last night, with a two-hour season finale that was generally miserable, the show fell completely off the cliff.
I'm not quite ready to join the Housewives-haters club (we'll see where they go next season) but I'm now about 99% convinced that this show will never be better than it was in season one and its chances for survival beyond a fourth or fifth season are minimal at best (it really and truly is Ally McBeal on a larger scale). (And it doesn't help that current and former cast members are getting so vocal with their criticisms in a series of USA Today articles: James Denton (and others), Mehcad Brooks and Doug Savant.)
Among the weak developments in the season ender:
-Marcia Cross has been treated alternately wonderfully and terribly by the show this season but her performance has been a consistent highlight (she's fully exploded Bree beyond simple "caricature" into an incredibly complex person). However, she's been vocal about the clear differences she sees between Housewives and her previous TV hit, Melrose Place. Those lines are getting increasingly blurrier, especially with last night's mental hospital visit, and she has to realize it.
-The writers took way too long to confirm what we all pretty much knew anyway: Tom isn't having an affair and Carlos is. Wow.
-The revelation of Tom's "second family" is something that's been floating around online since over a year ago, during the whole "Marcia Cross is a lesbian" tabloid frenzy (as was the long gestating idea of Andrew sleeping with one of Bree's boyfriends). The USA Today article on Savant dealt mostly with this point. Considering they had so long to prepare it’s a shame that the execution was so sloppy. Huffman and Savant are two of the strongest cast members but Kiersten Warren's performance as Tom's other baby mama was immediately off-putting and falls into the show's bizarre penchant for writing guest stars in a broad, trashy way. I'm not looking forward to more screen time for her next season. (And I know it's hard to pay attention to other shows when you're working for one but the writers really should check out what a poor idea it was to give Luke a kid on Gilmore Girls...)
-The Applewhite family storyline came to a conclusion as boring as everything that preceded it. What a waste of Alfre Woodard. I imagine she's at least disappointed, if not outright pissed, with what they gave (or didn't give) her to do. The climax even belonged to Marcia Cross.
-Since USA Today said we'd be seeing the last of six cast members, and the Applewhites won't be returning (#1-3), it seems like we're also done with Paul and Zach Young (#4-5). There really wasn't much use for them anyway, outside of a few amusing scenes with Harriet Harris' Felicia Tillman. Especially since...
-Why the show never played out the father/son story between Mike Delfino and Zach Young is beyond me. And now that Mike appears to be dead (#6) and Zach is gone then I guess that is that. Mike's hit-and-run murder at the hands of mysterious dentist Orson (Kyle MacLachlan) likely sets up the Big Mystery for season 3. During the episode I was excited at the prospect of what seemed like a developing love triangle between Susan, Bree and Orson. That could've been fun. But the shocking death ruins that, especially since...
-The show decides to end the season with a threatened reprisal of the Worst Housewives Storyline Ever. Bree is about to become romantically involved with ANOTHER killer?? Sure, at least this one didn't kill her husband, but COME ON. Even if they try to have fun by twisting this story in a very different direction from what they did with wretched pharmacist George, it still seems like they're back in the same unappealing corner Marc Cherry trapped the show in at the end of last season by killing Rex.
Add to this the minor complaints that the finale was completely free of Nicollette Sheridan's Edie and almost completely free of Richard Burgi's Carl—two of the most enjoyable side characters—and that the great idea of flashbacks to the Housewives' move-in days was pretty much for naught (except ironic juxtapositions with their current situations) and you get a massively disappointing finale. Worlds away from last season's tight, satisfying hour.
Right now I'm still coming from a point of love with my criticisms but that love is turning into frustration and there are an awful lot of interesting looking pilots—many even on ABC—next season...
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