DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES: SHE NEEDS ME (TV)
Summary
One in this darkly comedic soap opera about the denizens of Wisteria Lane, a suburban neighborhood with a seedy underbelly that is thrust to the forefront after the suicide of one titular housewife. Porter talks to his parents about his decision to raise his unborn child, and announces that he has gotten a job which will give him health insurance for himself and the baby. However, he asks for help taking care of the baby while he’s at work, and Lynette reiterates that she believes keeping the baby is a terrible idea, especially since she and Tom already have their hands full taking care of their own children. Orson continues trying to convince Bree to move up to Maine with him, but Bree becomes suspicious when he mentions the mysterious letters Bree has been receiving lately, which she never told him about. He claims Lynette told him about it and distracts Bree with more photographs of his cottage in Maine. Gabrielle prepares for Carlos’s return from rehab, and Roy comments that Gabrielle is acting selfish by buying champagne for herself despite Carlos’s alcoholism. She asks him to repair his relationship with Karen, but he seems unwilling to do so. Julie returns to school, and Susan talks to Porter about his job situation; he is looking for a better one after his discussion with Lynette. He had hoped that his job as a waiter would serve as a temporary position while he worked his way into a managerial position. Susan offers to help take care of the baby while Porter is at work, claiming that she would be happy to do so. Gabrielle cuts flowers from Bree’s front lawn and delivers them to Karen in an attempt to convince her that they were from Roy and that he wants her back. She admits that she helped to incite their argument for personal reasons and wants to fix her mistake. Karen yells at Gabrielle to mind her own business, but nearly collapses on her floor. Gabrielle immediately calls an ambulance to come for her. Susan and Porter tell Lynette about Susan volunteering to help take care of the baby, but Lynette does not seem happy at the prospect. At the hospital, Renee informs Ben that she settled his account with his loan shark. Ben is upset that Renee became involved with his financial troubles, but she insists on doing as she pleases, even with the understanding that paying her back could take a long time. Tom decides to have Parker and Penny stay over at his place for the remainder of spring break in order to give Lynette a break from taking care of them. He explains that he feels guilty for leaving Lynette alone with their children for long periods of time. Lynette’s happiness fades when Tom informs her that she’s taking Paige as well, and that Jane will be taking care of her. At the hospital, Gabrielle finds out about Karen’s cancer relapse, and Karen tells her that she is convinced that she won’t live through it this time. Roy doesn’t know about it, and Karen is distancing herself from him in the hopes of sparing him the grief resulting from her inevitable death, especially after the death of his first wife. She begs Gabrielle not to tell Roy. Susan and Porter set up a nursery for his baby, although Mike points out that Julie still doesn’t want to have it. Gabrielle gets Roy to talk about his first wife, Miriam, to whom he was married for nearly 40 years before she died from brain cancer. He tearfully recounts his final days with her, and Gabrielle decides to break her promise to Karen, and informs Roy of her condition. Ben’s loan shark comes to visit Renee and tries to extort more money out of her, but she refuses, telling him to stay out of her way, although he promises that he will return. Bree prepares to leave with Orson, who unsuccessfully convinces her not to stop by his apartment beforehand. Lynette quickly becomes bored when left alone in her house, and offers to help Susan paint the nursery. Susan is already finished and shows Lynette; she feels slighted when she learns Porter plans to name the baby “Sophie” after Susan’s mother, and not “Lynette” as he had originally planned. They get into an argument about their differing approaches on raising their new granddaughter, and Lynette gets upset and tries to take back the bassinet from the nursery, as it was the same one which all her children slept in when they were babies. She accuses Susan of trying to “steal” her granddaughter away from her and returns to her house with the bassinet in tow. Bree and Orson arrive at his apartment, and he sends her away long enough for him to dispose of his photos and news articles pertaining to Bree covering his wall. She enters briefly and notices one of his photos in his trash bin pertaining to Chuck’s murder, and Bree figures out that he was the murderer and the sender of the mysterious letters. He claims that he did it to prevent Chuck from killing her, and that all of his actions were for her protection. He explains that he wrote the letters to “isolate” her from her neighbors, since he wanted Bree “all to myself” and didn’t want to compete with them for her attentions. Bree yells at Orson for his actions, calling him “sick” and storming out of his apartment. Tom visits Susan and Mike visits Lynette, each trying to resolve the dispute between the two of them. Tom tells Susan that Lynette’s initial reluctance to take care of the baby mirrors the behavior she exhibited over their children. Lynette is afraid of becoming “white trash,” although Mike reassures her, and notes that Susan’s excitement over the baby may be a means of getting Julie back into her life, as she craves affection from her. Tom tells Susan that despite Lynette’s constant complaints about having to take care of her children singlehandedly, she gets upset when others offer to do it for her; Susan notes that “she needs to be needed.” Roy goes to visit Karen in the hospital and tells her that he’s willing to be by her side in spite of everything. Karen admits that she’s afraid, and Roy comforts her. Renee calls Mike from the hospital to tell him about Ben’s condition, and just then Mike notices a light go on in Renee’s house. He enters to find the loan shark inside ransacking the place. They get into a fistfight and Mike literally throws him out of Renee’s house, telling him never to come back. Carlos returns home and Gabrielle welcomes him. She tells him about Karen’s situation and remarks that it has made her think about her own mortality and what it means in the context of their marriage. Despite her belief otherwise, Carlos insists that Gabrielle will be brave enough to endure even his death. Susan and Lynette resolve their argument and come to a compromise about the baby as they work on the nursery together. Orson calls Bree and says that she was right about him, and that a “sacrifice” is necessary to make up for his misdeeds, implying that he plans to commit suicide. He says goodbye to her before mailing a package to the Fairview Police Department and departing. Includes commercials.
Details
- NETWORK: ABC
- DATE: March 4, 2012 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:01:00
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 108745
- GENRE: Drama, night-time serial
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, night-time serial
- SERIES RUN: ABC - TV series, 2004-2012
- COMMERCIALS:
- TV – Commercials – Angel Soft toilet paper
- TV – Commercials – Audi automobiles
- TV – Commercials – Aveeno hair products
- TV – Commercials – Blackberry mobile phones
- TV – Commercials – Campbell’s soup
- TV – Commercials – Cartier jewelers
- TV – Commercials – Chili’s restaurants
- TV – Commercials – Chrysler automobiles
- TV – Commercials – Citi credit cards
- TV – Commercials – Claritin antihistamine
- TV – Commercials – Honey Bunches of Oats breakfast cereal
- TV – Commercials – Huggies diapers
- TV – Commercials – Hulu Plus video streaming service
- TV – Commercials – JCPenney department stores
- TV – Commercials – Lean Cuisine frozen meals
- TV – Commercials – Listerine mouthwash
- TV – Commercials – Little Caesars pizza
- TV – Commercials – Maybelline cosmetics
- TV – Commercials – MetLife insurance
- TV – Commercials – PetSmart pet stores
- TV – Commercials – Simple skin products
- TV – Commercials – Stride chewing gum
- TV – Commercials – Victoria’s Secret underwear
- TV – Commercials – Weight Watchers diet plan
- TV – Promos – “Dancing With the Stars”
- TV – Promos – “Desperate Housewives”
- TV – Promos – “Don’t Trust the B----- in Apartment 23”
- TV – Promos – “GCB”
- TV – Promos – “Good Morning America”
- TV – Promos – “Missing”
- TV – Promos – “The Bachelor”
CREDITS
- Marc Cherry … Executive Producer, Created by
- Marco Pennette … Executive Producer
- Matt Berry … Executive Producer
- Sabrina Wind … Executive Producer
- Bob Daily … Executive Producer
- George W. Perkins … Executive Producer
- David Grossman … Executive Producer
- Sheila Lawrence … Co-Executive Producer
- Stephanie Hagen … Supervising Producer
- Charles Skouras III … Producer
- Annie Weisman … Producer
- Wendy Mericle … Co-Producer
- Dana Wilson … Associate Producer
- Dave Flebotte … Consulting Producer
- Randy Zisk … Director
- Jason Ganzel … Writer
- Steve Jablonsky … Music by
- Danny Elfman … Theme Music by
- Teri Hatcher … Cast, Susan Mayer
- Felicity Huffman … Cast, Lynette Scavo
- Marcia Cross … Cast, Bree Van De Kamp
- Eva Longoria (See also: Eva Longoria Parker) … Cast, Gabrielle Solis
- Vanessa Williams … Cast, Renee Perry
- Ricardo Antonio Chavira … Cast, Carlos Solis
- Doug Savant … Cast, Tom Scavo
- Charles Mesure … Cast, Ben Faulkner
- James Denton … Cast, Mike Delfino
- Kathryn Joosten … Cast, Karen McCluskey
- Charlie Carver … Cast, Porter Scavo
- Joshua Logan Moore … Cast, Parker Scavo
- Darcy Rose Byrnes … Cast, Penny Scavo
- Orson Bean … Cast, Roy Bender
- Kyle MacLachlan … Cast, Orson Hodge
- Sal Landi … Cast, Donny
- Brenda Strong … Voice, Mary Alice Young