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Desperate Housewives “The Best Thing That Ever Could Have Happened”
Air date: Jan. 18, 2009
Live blog / recap [preview]
Aight, so here’s the deal: Neighbor Peggy and I are watching the ‘wives tonight and commenting about all the events of the show. Some of them might be even witty comments. Check back tomorrow (Monday) for the winners and losers of tonight’s show! (And suggest some of your own if you have ‘em!)
Shall we begin?
8:55: I always get really excited when Ty Pennington says “Welcome home, ____ family!” This is about the time I turn on the T.V. in desperate Desperate anticipation. I start shaking my fists like a 7-year-old boy at a Spiderman movie.
8:59: Before this episode begins, I need to make a quick rant about the title. Why’d we decide on the longest, most rambling show title for the 100th episode?? “The Best Thing That Ever Could Have Happened”, guys? Seriously? It’s like the writers are stickin’ it to all the bloggers out there who just want a short title to fit in the headline spot!
9:00: Looks like we’re starting right off with Eli Scruggs….I just know his death is going to be ridiculous(ly AWESOME).
9:01: Eli has a “bum ticker”? What? Am I watching a cop drama from the ’40s? I expect he’ll call Susan a dumb broad a couple of times by the end of the show.
9:02: “I prefer to go quietly, if you know what I mean. Don’t wanna big fuss.” Ooh man. That’s just what he did. Of course he died on Susan’s roof.
9:03: Aw, serious Gaby. Serious Gaby in non-pretty clothes. Ain’t nothin’ funny or good about that.
9:05: OK, so it’s no surprise Gaby’s wearing extensions because she’s got short hair, but seerriously, them’s is some bad extensions.
9:06: Gaby in a gold dress with gold…everything else…that, my friend, is probably what she meant by “making an entrance.”
9:08: Eli’s awfully nosy in the neighborhood for someone we didn’t know existed until eight minutes ago…
9:09: Why am I about to cry with Gaby’s little confession about being lonely? She’s far too endearing when she’s being humble.
9:11: I LOVE FLASHBACK SHOWS. QUIT BEING COMMERCIALS, COMMERCIALS. That is all.
9:13: Yes! Time for the Bree flashback! REX. REX IS BACK! YES!
9:15: He wasn’t this big of an a-hole, was he? Why is Rex bein’ all “I’m the man of the house, woman”??
9:17: OK, it’s the 100th episode — so I’ll let this slide — but again: We didn’t know dude existed before the show started, and now we’re discovering he’s behind everything that ever happened on the show? Wait, is he…? Could it be…? Eli Scruggs is….Jesus Christ? On second though, nah, can’t be. Not even Jesus was this ubiquitous.
9:23: Edie! You look fantastic! Even when you’re getting bad news. But not as good as you look in…red…underpanties….(except for the Edie-anama Canal between your boobs?)
9:26: I’m not going to even get into the “I turned him gay” rant. Glad Eli’s there to be like, “listen, lady, you wish you had something to do with. Only I’m to thank for his orientation because I’m Jesus!” Ha. Just kidding.
9:31: Ooooohhh, Penny. Who know you were still on the show?
9:32: I love this continuous gender-role argument that’s happening on the show these days. Between Rex thinking Bree should be subservient and Tom making stupid “fix the kids some breakfast” comments, the writers are makin’ us all think about it in all the right ways.
9:35: Aight. So I’ve mentioned this a couple of times. You know, that thing about me being angry that we should care about someone we just met this episode. But after he brought Penny in the house when Lynette left her in the car, I now care about him. Leave it to Lynette to make me love someone else.
9:42: Ahhh, saving the best flashback for last, eh? I really, really wish the Internet would soon invent a way for sarcasm to be apparent in text. Until that time comes, I’m just going to have to spell it out: I am being sarcastic because I’m pretty sure Susan’s flashback will be annoying.
9:44: Speaking of, way to kill the messenger, Susie. You asked Eli what he knew about Carl’s cheating, and you got your answer.
9:45: All my complaining aside, this is a great crying scene. I sincerely believe/pity her!
9:46: Eli just called Susan heroic. Uh, what, Eli? What’s your definition of “heroic”? When I think of a hero, I tend to think of someone who water-lands a plane in the Hudson River and saving everyone on the flight…not a whiny, neurotic, man-driver-awayer.
9:47: Whelp, that clinches it. Susan told Eli she and Jackson broke up, and I don’t think we really had that definitively before. So no more Jackson. No more Gale. Good thing I still only think of him as Bryan from Queer as Folk anyway.
9:54: Aw, Eli! I love you! Where have you been for the past four seasons? He literally gives the shoes off his feet to help these women.
9:55: But he’s obviously never heard about the signs of a suicidal person. Giving away your worldly possessions? Check. Thanking people who’ve “helped” you in your life? Check. He knows something’s wrong…and still leaves the house!
9:58: This scene is literally straight out of the first episode. I need to go back and rewatch it to see if there’s a sad handyman chillin’ in the background.
10:00: Down Eli goes into the ground. Can we talk about the 180 I just did? I went from criticizing Eli’s appearance on this show, to loving him. In my defense, he was a great catalyst for the writers to give us some more insight about the ladies and where they came from. I’m happy we saw some characters we haven’t seen in years and I want more of this! Continue taking some time-bending lessons from Lost, DH writers!
I know I’m commenting on this much later, but I only began watching the series in March (and I watched about 4.5 seasons in 2 weeks). I’ve been obsessed ever since and have watched all the episodes more times than I want to admit. While I liked this one for the most part, one part of it that bothered me was that the Lynette storyline made no sense timeline-wise. I was wondering if anyone else has ever noticed this.
The premise of this was that she wanted to go back to work because Parker was starting kindergarten, but that makes no sense. The show had an ENTIRE EPISODE about Parker starting kindergarten back in season 2, presumably when Penny was already a year and a half old. And maybe this is me just reading too much into it, but at the end of “One Wonderful Day” in season 1, when Tom tells Lynette that he’s going to be a stay-at-home dad, the look on her face (while ambivalent) always seems to me like it is the first time she’s seriously considered leaving the kids and going back to work (although I concede that I’m sure it was in her mind over the years). I’m probably obsessing over this way too much, but it bothered me because it made me feel as though the Lynette plotline in this episode was rather contrived. I hate that.
So who knows if anyone will actually read this months later, but it was just something I needed to get off my mind. I’m looking forward to the coming season!
[...] Both of these are for the 100th episode “The Best Thing That Ever Could Have Happened” [...]
Why did ABC run this episode again tonight, twice in consecutive weeks?
>>I’ll explain it to you one day when you’re older, Jamie!
HA! I’m 38 years old! Three more weeks until the next episode? I’ll be in a nursing home by the time this series is finished!
In all seriousness, I enjoy the differences in opinions. When our friends all get together for “DH Night”, some say Lynette is the most annoying one, some say Bree. We’ll all just have to ‘agree to disagree’.
You are the best, Amy! I love it when (Neighbor) Peggy jumps in as well.
Kathy: You weren’t happy to see Edie in a bathing suit? OK, so what would you have wanted to see in the 100th episode that you were upset you didn’t see? Chloe Sevigny?
Brooke: You know, you’re not wrong. I’ll always go nuts when something big changes on one of my TV shows, but end up liking it. I ALSO was pretty angry about Eli, but I think they wrapped it up well! I totally understand and support your reasons for disliking it, though.
Holly: I think my water (by “water” I mean “bladder”) broke, too, while I was watching the part with Lynette and Tom. Amen on that one.
Jamie: I think your reasoning might be why I ended up being OK with Eli. He was someone we never saw, because he wasn’t “important” to the ladies until he died — then they realized how important a stranger could have on their lives, as you said. And quite frankly, it really wasn’t about Eli. This show was about watching the ladies become what they are!
As for Susan, my annoyance tolerance is pretty low for her because she’s not a strong person (which is not the same as a strong character. I think Peggy made the comparison to Carrie on Sex and the City…not a likable person, but why did we all watch her for so many years? Susan and Carrie both are strong characters.) All the other women know what they want (regardless of how honorable/dishonorable it might be) and they go for it, you know? I will admit that I do find myself relating to Susan on the klutziness and awkwardness…OK, and the neuroticism. I DO like that the show isn’t celebrating her co-dependency. I do also believe that she does, in fact, have a heart. So do I not have a heart because I find a character with a heart annoying? Ha! Sorry, that made sense in my head. Possibly not in writing. I’ll explain it to you one day when you’re older, Jamie!
Thank you guys for all the comments!! We’ve got some important discourse going on this show. It might even change the world, who knows?
p.s. I only just noticed
”
“And now we have to wait three more weeks!
are you serious?? I can’t handle another break!
Okay. A few points. Disagree if you will.
For starters, I believe Susan’s career is an illustrator for children’s books, to answer (Neighbor) Peggy’s question.
I’m not sure why anyone would find Susan annoying. I think she’s a vital part of the show and different from the other housewives for many reasons. She’s co-dependent. We all know this — but it’s a character that some of us can actually relate to. I used to be that way myself. I found myself going it alone for a long time, and it really put things into perspective — so I understand where her character is coming from. Her character is important to the show for a few reasons. She’s clumsy, awkward, and sometimes immature. But she has a heart, and I think we’re going to see why in a future episode sometime. (More flashbacks, anyone?)
I think the episode was nothing short of brilliant. Eli was brought in for a (very good) reason. He was an unknown character who changed people’s lives. His presence on the show was important for two simple reasons:
1. It gave us some insight into the characters and why their lives had become so meaningful. Let me explain:
A) Bree with her cookbook that eventually launched her success. Holding onto it for her brought her new hope after Rex passed away, and look where she is now.
B) Susan was Eli’s “hero” because she was able to take many bad situations which could lead to all sorts of emotional scarring — yet keep finding love despite the odds (something he made it clear he was never able to do) She dusted herself off, raised a wonderful daughter, and kept her sanity and sense of humor, without losing her compassionate side. (I’m sorry to spend so much time on Susan, but to me, she adds a zest to the show that I can’t ignore)
C) She helped Edie through a difficult “false-reality” by helping her to realize that she didn’t “make” her husband gay. This is an especially touchy subject for me, since I am openly gay and gay men use that excuse as one of the most hurtful, vindictive ways to get back at women. They seek out a woman, then assume that the woman is going to “cure them” of these “sinful” acts, and when they don’t — it’s suddenly the woman’s fault, and they lash out. I’m sure Marc Cherry (who is openly gay as well) had this in mind while using that in the script. Oh, then Eli slept with her, which I’m sure helped her recover somewhat. Perhaps that was the start of her slutty behavior?
D) He helped Lynette to realize that she needed guidance with her parenting skills without being condescending, which eventually led her to prioritize her life — and put her family first.
E) He helped Gaby to realize that she was being conceited, and pushing away potential friends with her actions; which helped her make the new friends that she so desperately needed.
F) He helped Mary Alice by bringing her some much-needed joy in her final hour, by giving him her favorite vase — and having the final satisfaction of knowing that she did something beautiful for a man whom she helped get started as the neighborhood handyman. Mary Alice’s part was the most important, because their relationship was symbiotic. She helped him — he helped her. And his was the last face she saw before she ended her life.
The show wasn’t about a mystery character who can be seen anywhere in any episode. He wasn’t a part of the show. He was a stranger. Which leads me to my second reason:
2. It made an EXTREMELY profound statement about how strangers have touched and maybe even changed our lives. Think about that for a minute, and the phrase “Random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty” might make more sense. Everyone you meet, becomes a part of you in one way or another. I’m not trying to play the existentialist here. I’m just saying that somewhere in your life, someone has said or done something that has changed who you are. This episode was about Eli Scruggs — a man who touched not one life, but six — and many more; as you saw the funeral turnout.
I loved it, flashbacks are always fun, and I love Eli! He’s definately a winner.
You never really imagine the wives not being amazing friends right from the beginning so it was weird seeing them not loving Gabby, but her apology was lovely!
And Lynette was awesome as ever.. Tom slipping over her water.. ‘I swear if you touch this phone I will have this baby right here and then beat you with it!’
I was trying to think of winners and losers but.. noone was a loser*.. thanks to Eli! I wish we could have seen more of him than one episode.
*obviously except Susan, who as we all know, is always a loser.
So er.. good luck writing the winners and losers Amy! Can’t wait to read what you come up with x
I didn’t get this episode at all!! I was kinds pissed off that this Eli guy was supposedly always there for the ladies of Wisteria Lane, but we never saw him even once before. Im glad he died, because I displace all my anger at the writers on his fleeting character. I felt like this episode was thrown together by interns or something. It was so far outside the norm for D.H. I can’t believe this was what they did for the 100th episode. But I was also pissed off when they jumped 5 years forward, and I got over it. I can’t wait to get back into the regular routine!
Am I just having a bad start to the week? I didn’t like the episode at all !! I learned very little I didn’t already know. I thought panning through the back of everyone’s hair was ridiculous to introduce the clip. Nicolette Sheridan just wanted to be nearly naked to show off her body. Good as it is, it didn’t warrant standing in front of the handiman cupping the girls. I was disappointed.. I thought we would learn some really interesting facts. I could have skipped it entirely. I’m glad I watched Big Love on HBO and taped Desperate.
I *was* super-emotional, but still.
It’s too bad the writers still think Susan is “interesting,” since she isn’t–I feel like the narrative pacing of the story would’ve been better served by letting her flashback first, except that he died on her roof, so I understand why they did it that way.
And I GUESS that at some point I could cut Susan some slack, because it’s not like Problems With Relationships aren’t real problems, but… could she maybe have a different problem sometime? It would be really nice to have the show have her realize that you can, in fact, be a complete person without a husband/boyfriend/whatever. I mean, if they’re going to couple-up Edie, who actually gets that, the least they can do is make Susan figure it out and live it, right?
The way I was watching the show, it seemed like you could definitely see how the characters had evolved and become more complex over the last few seasons/years. Um, mostly…?
Lynette has to balance her personhood with caring for her family (giving up job to be behind family, submitting personal to group). Fine. That makes sense, based on who Lynette is, and the fact that she recognizes this as a choice that she has is what makes me love her. Her commitment to her family doesn’t make her any less a person; it just shifts her focus so that now she’s a shark at home instead of just at work. (I am also kind of amused by how uber-femme her costumes have become at the same time. “Back when I worked, I wore men’s shirts and jeans, but now that I’m primarily a mom, I wear cardigans and full skirts!”) She effectively makes her public skills private.
Bree learns that she has to be a person to be happy (recipe book = own identity, self-sufficiency, renown, etc.) by making her private life (homemaking) public (cookbook). She is married to Orson, but she’s still a person in her own right (even if she sometimes goes a little crazy, which is why we love her, right?). She and Lynette have taken opposite journeys, which is interesting, since these two ‘wives seem to be the least alike but I think might actually have the most in common in terms of personality traits.
Gaby had her distractions removed by coming to the ‘burbs and realized that there wasn’t much to her besides her looks (“that’s why models don’t talk!”). She has over time developed more of a personality, and grown as a person by learning to connect (or should that be “Connect! Connect!”) with others. She’s still greedy, selfish, short-sighted, and obsessed with fashion, but that’s definitely why we love her.
I’m leaving Mary Alice out because she removed herself and can’t really grow forward as a character–only backward, in flashbacks.
But that leaves us with Edie and Susan, who were posed as opposites in the last episode, and began to see that perhaps they needed to take a lesson from each other. For Edie, that means taking an emotional chance to work on an established, committed relationship; for Susan, that means not desperately clinging to a doomed relationship that would only limp along if she made massive changes to her own life (selling a house? In this market? Leaving her friends??). These are both good changes, but I’d argue that Edie’s change continues to develop a character who understands that her relationship doesn’t define who she is, and Susan’s change… is maybe the first step she’s ever taken toward becoming an independent adult??
I’ve always been kind of annoyed with Susan because she seemed like the least mature one of them (yes, even counting GABY, who is without a doubt immature and spoiled and selfish… maybe I just like Gaby because she’s not whiny about it?). This episode and the last sort of highlighted that for me–like, I have no idea what Susan’s job is. (Is she a “designer” or something?) I have no idea because it totally doesn’t matter–we don’t ever see her working. She’s always either trying to get a man, trying to keep a man, trying to get over a man. WHAT.
Ok, rant over. Sorry that was the longest comment ever. I just really felt like Susan sticks out against the rest of them as less rounded as a character. And I do not AT ALL buy this “you’re a hero because you keep trying to love obsessively, even to the point of making terrible decisions!” I think it irritates me even more because Susan’s set up as the “main” character (this is mitigated because Mary Alice narrates and the other ‘wives all have interesting stories). She’s supposed to be the one that the audience identifies with, I think, who is supposed to be closest to us based on narrative structure. So in a way, it makes sense that her character is vague and gets to fall in love with lots of new, hot dudes. She’s supposed to be our wish fulfillment. But you know who’s a better example of heroic love? ANYBODY!
Eli’s helpful love is heroic. Lynette’s fierce defense of her family and herself is heroic love. Bree’s desire to create perfection and promote harmony (even if she does constantly stab people in the back and mess up at it) causes her to go to great lengths. Gaby having no marketable job skills and caring for a blind husband and two children she never wanted is pretty impressive.
But Susan, falling head over heels for the pretty face?
That’s not the character I want to be identified with. Sorry.
Good to know I wasn’t the only one crying!! I thought I was just super emotional or somethin’.
Yeah, this was an amazing show. And now we have to wait three more weeks!
OMG im really crying! This was a really good episode! I wish i knew Eli, lol!
A fantastic episode, all the way around.
We (Richard and I) were blown away.
FANTASTIC episode! One of the best. A beautiful and touching tribute to the show and the fans. I couldn’t be happier.