DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES: AH, BUT UNDERNEATH (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.
Gabrielle is enjoying a bath with John when Carlos comes home early; she sends John out the window without his clothes in order to avoid detection. Together they manage to allay Carlos’s suspicions. Later, Susan, Gabrielle, Lynette, and Bree discuss what to do about the letter they found addressed to Mary Alice, curious about the mystery surrounding her and her death. Paul unearths a wooden chest from his backyard and takes it into a storeroom. The four women are unable to fall asleep that night; Bree wakes up Rex and urges him to cancel their divorce proceedings so that they can try to work out the issues in their marriage together. Susan continues to pine for Mike, and Julie advises her to ask him out. Gabrielle expresses her frustrations to Carlos about his lengthy absences in the name of his business, and they get into an argument. She tells him that their marriage has lost its excitement, and he promises to remedy matters.
That morning, Mike comes across Susan as she’s taking out her trash in a somewhat disheveled state, much to her embarrassment. Before he leaves she decides to take Julie’s advice and ask him out to dinner, and he offers to have her and Julie come over to his house for a meal. Susan accepts and is quite excited, planning to concoct an excuse to go over to Mike’s house alone for the occasion. Edie and Martha pick through the burned-out remains of her home, discovering a measuring cup that does not belong to her; unbeknownst to Edie it belongs to Susan, and Martha is suspicious of its presence. Bree and Rex visit noted marriage counselor Dr. Albert Goldfine. Lynette gets pulled over by a motorcycle policeman while driving with her kids in the back seat, much to her frustration. When the policeman tells Lynette to keep her children under control and implies that she is being a good mother, she snaps, gets out of her car, and goes on a tirade about the difficulties she faces in raising the boys. Her intimidating demeanor intimidates the officer into rescinding his ticket.
Gabrielle visits John at his house, and explains that she is afraid Carlos might discover them and they will have to carry on their affair at John’s house instead. Dr. Goldfine tries to get Bree to open up about her feelings concerning her marriage, although it is quite difficult for her and Rex notes that she is something of a cipher when it comes to her emotions, and Bree seems to prove his assertion when she finds herself obsessed with repairing a loose button on Dr. Goldfine’s shirt. John gives Gabrielle a single rose as a gift, one he claims has “no flaws,” and she realizes that he is falling in love with her, much to her distress. Edie notices Susan and Mike together and Susan reluctantly invites her to join their dinner, and she accepts. Lynette gives Martha some clothes for Edie, and she gives Lynette advice for how to deal with her children misbehaving in the car.
Susan finally decides to speak to Paul, who is in the middle of wrapping up the chest and putting it in the trunk of his car. When Susan tries to comfort him about Mary Alice’s suicide, he claims that he doesn’t care what her reasons were, and that he cannot forgive her for abandoning them. Paul drives out to a bridge somewhere and dumps the chest into the river. Martha drops by Susan’s house to pick up clothes for Edie and is greeted by Julie. While inside, Martha snoops around and finds that Susan has just purchased a new measuring cup, furthering her suspicions of Susan’s involvement with Edie’s house burning down. Rex is unable to make one of the marriage counseling sessions and Dr. Goldfine suggests that they meet individually in order to get Bree to discuss her feelings openly. She refuses, but goes back in to repair the loose button, as she still finds herself obsessed with it. Susan sees the rose John got for Gabrielle and she accidentally tells her where it came from, although she hastily contrives an excuse to allay suspicion. While repairing his jacket, Bree inadvertently reveals much about her feelings to Dr. Goldfine, especially that she feels as though her family is ungrateful towards her for her efforts at being a good mother and housewife.
Lynette decides to take Martha’s advice about disciplining her children, briefly leaving them by the side of the road when they act up in the car again. This plan backfires when she comes back for them momentarily but finds that they have gone. She panics and finds them in the kitchen of a nearby middle-aged woman who believes Lynette has serious anger management issues. They get into an argument, and the boys attack the woman when she roughly grabs Lynette; the Scavos all run back to the car afterwards to flee. Carlos gets Gabrielle a new car as a present, much to her astonishment. She acts overjoyed despite her true feelings, although John sees the entire incident and believes her feelings are genuine. Susan arrives early at Mike’s for their dinner, hoping to beat Edie there, but finds Edie is already there, and privately takes this as a challenge.
Bree and Rex continue their marriage counseling sessions, and when Rex claims that the problems in their marriage are entirely Bree’s fault, Dr. Goldfine points out that that Rex has failed to acknowledge and thank her for her contributions to their household. During dinner, Susan and Edie attempt to subtly take control of the conversation, and Edie makes it a point to bring up Susan’s ex-husband Karl and Susan’s attachment to him. However, Julie helps Susan save face by bringing up Edie’s string of failed marriages and relationships. Edie attempts to endear herself to Mike by befriending his dog, who seems to dislike Susan for some reason. In an attempt to outdo her, Susan smears herself with gravy, causing the dog to lick her in apparent affection; this plan goes awry when the dog accidentally swallows one of Susan’s large earrings. Mike rushes the dog to the vet, and Susan is mortified at this turn of events. Susan comes to see Mike in the vet’s waiting room and apologizes. They learn that the vets will not have to operate, and that the dog will make a full recovery. Susan learns that the dog belonged to Mike’s wife, and that one of her dying wishes was for Mike to care for him. Susan notes that Mike seems to still pine for his dead wife, and decides to try befriending him for the moment instead of trying to romance him. Includes commercials.
Details
- NETWORK: ABC
- DATE: October 10, 2004 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:59:59
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:85509
- GENRE: Drama, night-time serial
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, night-time serial
- SERIES RUN: ABC - TV series, 2004-2012
- COMMERCIALS:
- TV – Commercials – Air Wick air fresheners
- TV – Commercials – Applebee’s restaurants
- TV – Commercials – Campbell’s soup
- TV – Commercials – Carnival cruise line
- TV – Commercials – Chili’s restaurants
- TV – Commercials – Chrysler automobiles
- TV – Commercials – Elidel eczema treatment
- TV – Commercials – Fruit Harvest breakfast cereal
- TV – Commercials – Hungry Man frozen meals
- TV – Commercials – K-Mart department stores
- TV – Commercials – Lowe’s department stores
- TV – Commercials – Mazda automobiles
- TV – Commercials – Old Navy apparel
- TV – Commercials – Pizza Hut pizza
- TV – Commercials – Pontiac automobiles
- TV – Commercials – Taco Bell restaurants
- TV – Commercials – Target department stores
- TV – Commercials – Tyson chicken
- TV – Commercials – Victoria’s Secret underwear
- TV – Commercials – Visine eye drops
- TV – Commercials – Volkswagen automobiles
- TV – Commercials – “Aladdin” DVD release
- TV – Commercials – “Christmas with the Kranks” motion picture
- TV – Commercials – “Surviving Christmas” motion picture
- TV – Commercials – “The Day After Tomorrow” home video release
- TV – Promos – “8 Simple Rules”
- TV – Promos – “According to Jim”
- TV – Promos – “Boston Legal”
- TV – Promos – “Complete Savages”
- TV – Promos – “Desperate Housewives”
- TV – Promos – “Good Morning America”
- TV – Promos – “Hope & Faith”
- TV – Promos – “Lost”
- TV – Promos – “My Wife & Kids”
- TV – Promos – “NYPD Blue”
CREDITS
- Michael Edelstein … Executive Producer
- Tom Spezialy … Executive Producer
- Marc Cherry … Executive Producer, Created by, Writer
- Kevin Murphy … Co-Executive Producer
- Patty Lin … Producer
- Tracey Stern … Producer
- Alexandra Cunningham … Producer
- George W. Perkins … Producer
- Larry Shaw … Producer, Director
- David Schulner … Co-Producer
- Charles Skouras III … Co-Producer
- Stephanie Hagen … Associate Producer
- Charles Pratt Jr. … Consulting Producer
- Oliver Goldstick … Consulting Producer
- John Pardee … Consulting Producer
- Joey Murphy … Consulting Producer
- Steve Bartek … 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 … Cast, Gabrielle Solis
- Nicollette Sheridan … Cast, Edie Britt
- Steven Culp … Cast, Rex Van De Kamp
- Ricardo Antonio Chavira … Cast, Carlos Solis
- Mark Moses … Cast, Paul Young
- Andrea Bowen … Cast, Julie Mayer
- Jesse Metcalfe … Cast, John Rowland
- Cody Kasch … Cast, Zach Young
- James Denton … Cast, Mike Delfino
- Christine Estabrook … Cast, Martha Huber
- Sam Lloyd … Cast, Dr. Albert Goldfine
- Jan Hoag … Cast, Beefy Middle-Aged Woman
- Brent Kinsman … Cast, Preston Scavo
- Shane Kinsman … Cast, Porter Scavo
- Zane Huett … Cast, Parker Scavo
- Timothy Brennen … Cast, Cop
- Adam Lieberman … Cast, Veterinarian
- Brenda Strong … Voice, Mary Alice Young