DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES 6.1 & 6.2 – "Nice Is Different Than Good" & "Being Alive"

WRITERS: Marc Cherry (6.1) & Matt Berry (6.2)
DIRECTORS: Larry Shaw (6.1) & David Grossman (6.2)

Continuing a trial run of guest reviews by regular readers of my blog (covering TV blind spots of mine), Chris Howard's here to dissect the first two episodes of Desperate Housewives' sixth season...

[SPOILERS] While it may still be popular (it would not have lasted six years if it were a ratings disaster), it is fair to say that the return of Desperate Housewives no longer generates the same level of excitement and anticipation as ABC's other front-running series, Lost, which took to the air in the same year we set up residence in Wisteria Lane. Perhaps this is because Housewives creator Marc Cherry has had to go to desperate lengths to keep his show fresh as the season-long story arcs come and go, or maybe it's simply a case of pay disputes and diva-like spats between the blossoming stars somewhat eclipsing the show itself? Nevertheless, Desperate Housewives has always been a fun, if shallow, way to spend an hour, and this new season looks unlikely to buck the trend.

Immediately answering the season five cliffhanger, "Nice Is Different Than Good" opens with Mike Delfino (James Denton) unveiling Susan Mayer (Teri Hatcher) as his bride once again, before rewinding two months and counting down the weeks to the climatic nuptials. Not that this continuity-altering format is employed to build to a revelatory crescendo; the prologue establishes that Mike's recent partner Katherine (Dana Delaney) is so distraught by his reunion with his ex-wife that she interrupts the wedding, and Katherine's reasons and emotions hardly require further explanation.

For all their money and good looks, the rest of the housewives are hardly having a pleasant time of it, either: Bree (Marcia Cross) is set on divorcing Orson (Kyle MacLachlan) for blackmailing her, and is reluctantly attempting an affair with her divorce lawyer Karl (Richard Burgi), Susan's first husband; Gabrielle (Eva Longoria Parker) feels like she is fighting a losing battling after taking in Carlos' (Ricardo Chavira) rebellious teenage niece Ana (Maiara Walsh); and for all Tom Scavo's (Doug Savant) joy at his wife's pregnancy, Lynette (Felicity Huffman) simply isn't enthralled with the prospect of more children, especially not twins.

Plenty to be dealing with in one episode, then. But it wouldn't be a new season without new residents harbouring dark secrets and looking for a new start on Wisteria Lane. Enter the Bolen family, who move into deceased narrator Mary Alice's (Brenda Strong) old house. There's brash mother Angie (Drea De Matteo, ostensibly playing the same character she played in Joey) who hides a bad burn on her back and uses the word 'ass' in friendly conversation (!), her overly nice -- potentially creepy? -- husband Nick (Jeffrey Nordling), and their distant teenage son Danny (Beau Mirchoff), whom his parents blame for their relocation. It isn't long before Danny takes a shine to Susan's daughter Julie (Andrea Bowen), yet they fall out in public and it is obvious where fingers will point next week after Julie is strangled in the ominous epilogue.

With so many plot-strands to juggle, creator Marc Cherry does a good job of balancing light-hearted, witty fair with darker, dramatic scenes without making the episode feel like an overcrowded mess of juxtaposing tones. While "Nice Is Different Than Good" is by no means a gripping standalone episode, it is a successfully smooth transition from one series arc to another without feeling jarringly disparate or taking the focus away from the characters we know and love.

A creeping concern I have as the show ploughs into its 113th episode is that Cherry is becoming so comfortable with his creations that the characterisation is slowly descending into heavy-handed sitcom-like caricatures; would uptight Bree seriously refuse to have an affair simply because the hotel room is too dirty? Is former model and fun-lover Gabby so out of touch that she would take the microphone at a nightclub to find her curfew-breaking niece? Is Lynette that angry at the world that she would reduce an expectant first-time mother to tears in the clinic? Humourous though these situations may be (even the latter, to a certain extent), are they not borne out of monstrous exaggerations?

~

Life is certainly never dull for the Desperate Housewives. Not a day goes by when a scorned ex doesn't interrupt a marriage ceremony, or a teenager isn't strangled in her back yard. Indeed, both of these events do occur on the same day in Wisteria Lane, although Julie Mayer's unconscious body isn't discovered until the following morning by a loved-up Karen McCluskey (Kathryn Joosten), out on a stroll with her new man-friend Roy (Orson Bean).

This is the catalyst which jump-starts the sixth season’s second episode and bands the suburban community together as they show their support to the Mayer/Delfino clan and ponder who could commit such a terrible crime against such a nice girl. All, that is, except new neighbours the Bolen's, who only show their faces and then return to their house. Clearly, they must be guilty. This is the somewhat flimsy line of thought which leads (evidently bored) husbands Orson, Tom and Carlos to confront Nick and Angie Bolen, leading the panicked parents to persuade son Danny to find an alibi, pronto, despite his protestations that he spent the previous night getting drunk, alone, following a bust-up with… Julie.

How inconvenient.

Who does he turn to but rebellious Ana Solis, who has apparently been desperately trying to catch his eye, despite this being the first we have heard of her infatuation. Aunt Gabby lends her niece some relationship advice, in the hope it will bond her and her newly-acquired resident. Meanwhile, the news of his daughter's hospitalisation temporarily interrupts Karl and Bree's implausible affair, yet it seems Bree is willing to risk her friendship with Susan for "Karl-nal" relations. Seriously. Having Julie momentarily regain consciousness to see her father snog her mother’s friend was a neat -- if rather obvious -- complication, which will no doubt cause much fretting, plotting and arguing later in the series.

Lynette Scavo brings both the shock and the soul to this episode, first by begrudgingly revealing to an oblivious Susan that Julie might be pregnant, then by bearing her soul to her overwhelmed friend by revealing her own pregnancy, and her indifferent feelings to the twins she is carrying. Susan puts things into perspective for the expectant mother by reiterating the fear of loss she felt following Julie’s attack. It is a touching scene between close friends which brings momentary pause to an otherwise busy episode.

Oh, and Julie isn’t pregnant, so it happens, not that Susan's life is going to get any simpler once her daughter is discharged from the hospital, as bitter Katherine's slide into depression takes a sinister turn following Susan and Mike’s wedding. After attempting to console/come-on to her ex, she then feeds Orson lies about exactly how far Mike allowed her to take things.

As I said, life is certainly never dull for the Desperate Housewives. Although, it amazes me how any of the characters manage to keep even the smallest of secrets to themselves, given how tightly intertwined their lives are, and how frequently they gossip about them. Tact and subtlety are alien concepts to this community. As are honesty and morality, which is fortunate, because if the characters held such values, we'd be watching a very different, very boring show.

"Being Alive" was a slightly darker affair than last week's frivolous opener, and all the stronger for it. There were still flashes of humour (Gabby asking to use the policeman's mace to scold Ana was a chucklesome highlight), but they seemed less forced and more subdued. Even a slapstick trellis collapse didn't make me roll my eyes as Gabby realises it would have been impossible for Ana to have snuck out with Danny on the night of the attack. Without an alibi, Danny is once more prime suspect, and the episode's labyrinthine plot strands culminate as the neighbours look on as the Bolen teen is taken away for questioning.

Of course, given how early this is in the series, the case is undoubtedly far from closed. We can expect many a spanner and red herring to be thrown into the works in the forthcoming instalments. Darker days lie ahead for the street permanently bathed in sunlight.

27 JANUARY & 3 FEBRUARY 2010: CHANNEL 4 (HD), 10PM