As much as I love my Desperate Housewives, I’m not sure Marc Cherry is still loving them as much anymore. The addition of Vanessa Williams has been great for the show, at least whenever she’s in a scene, but what is going on with the other characters, Marc?
Case in point — Lynette. She’s become a really terrible person, whereas she used to be the most grounded in reality. So far this season — and we’re only talking four episodes — she’s ridiculed her husband for having male postpartum depression and swapped out his medical marijuana with oregano (and Tom couldn’t smell the difference?) to prove it was all in his head, and this week she discovered that her daughter Penny really enjoyed watching the new baby. So much so that Lynette saw it as a free pass to go and do whatever she wanted because the new nanny, Penny, would take care of it. It took a trip to Penny’s principal’s office for Lynette to see what a terrible mother she had become … and then demanded Tom get her a nanny. She keeps using the “I’m raising five kids” excuse but the twins are hardly ever around anymore, the next oldest boy can take care of himself, and Penny seems pretty self-sufficient for an eleven-year-old. Get Lynette back in the game, and fast, before she just becomes unbearable.
At least we have Vanessa Williams as Renee, Lynette’s old friend — with whom she rarely interacts. The writing between Renee and Lynette on the first episode was crackling with wit and it continues to do so with every scene Williams is in. I was liking the rivalry that was being set up between Bree and Renee over Keith, but after two weeks Renee has thrown in the towel. So she’s already gone through the motions with Lynette and Bree, and next week she becomes a thorn in Gaby’s side. How long will that last? Please don’t screw up this great addition to the cast! Alfre Woodard was terribly misused, so I hope lessons were learned from that. Tonight’s episode really set us up for a great rivalry between Bree and Renee, and the scene in the restaurant was laugh-out-loud funny. I really wanted more of the mind games between the two women and it’s all been snatched away so quickly. Keep Renee wickedly funny and don’t turn her into a one-note evil witch, and don’t push her into the background like Dana Delaney!
I don’t like the way Gaby is behaving with her biological daughter, and I don’t know what to think about Susan’s internet career and the mystery man who took the torn banner with her face on it. It looked like Mike, and I can’t think of anyone else who would be stalking her unless we have a new character on the way. The one good mystery now is Paul Young and why he is trying to buy up the houses on Wisteria Lane. Maybe he’s got more than one body buried in the neighborhood. I hope this can play out for the season and at least be more interesting than anything else going on. So Marc, if you’re reading this please know that it comes from a place of love. I’ve been with these women from the beginning and I’d hate to watch them just fade into obscurity because people just stopped caring.
“Isn’t it convenient how during the day you’re my wife, but at night you turn back into a house guest.” – Paul Young to his stand-off-ish new wife.
“Don’t worry about me. Up until today I thought you were Juanita.” – Renee to Gaby before she revealed the baby switching details to the ladies.
Clacked by Chuck Duncan 
on Oct 18, 2010 @ 08:14 EST5EDT
