Desperate Housewives: Season Two

Everyone involved with a television series hopes and prays for a hit. The thing is after that initial sensational season you know they are going to get renewed and the quagmire appears of what do for season two. The plight of all involved is to recapture the aspects that made the show a hit while adding new, fresh elements. For Desperate Housewives their sophomore season was not quite up to the first but overall they maintained a level of writing and acting that exceeded most of the other series on the major networks. The ladies of Wisteria Lane wrap up some old business before moving on to even more outrageous high jinx. Each episode is still narrated by the late Mary Alice Young (Brenda Strong). While the mystery surrounding her suicide, which drove the plots in season one, is now settled the disembodied voice still looks over her friends and family. Bree Van de Camp (Marcia Cross) is a woman wound just a little too tightly. Her devotion to cooking, cleaning and hosting dinner parties occludes any visions of reality. Lynette Scavo (Felicity Huffman) has moved from being the at home mom back to her high power and higher stress position working for an advertising agency. Her children are still out of control and her husband Tom (Doug Savant) now works for her but Lynette has to run just to keep up. Gabrielle Solis (Eva Longoria) has stopped sleeping with her under aged gardener but still manages to finds ways to confound her lamentable husband Carlos (Ricardo Chavira). Susan Mayer (Teri Hatcher) is still a klutz but has a heart of gold. Of all the ladies on the street she is the one with the most conscience. Lastly there is Edie Britt (Nicollette Sheridan), what we used to call back in the day, a woman of questionable moral fiber.

As the second season starts a new neighbor, the Applewhites move in. On the surface they seem like any other single parent household with mom Betty (Alfre Woodard) caring for her son Matthew (Mehcad Brooks). Little do the neighbors know is there is a younger son Caleb (Page Kennedy). Caleb is kept under lock and key in the basement. When dear mom goes down there to feed him she is sure to take her gun with her. Just a little side note here Kennedy ran afoul with the law and was replaced by Nashawn Kearse for most of the season. For Susan she finally thinks that she has found the man of her dreams in Dr. Ron Berman (Jay Harrington). In the way that makes Susan so endearing to the audience she accidentally knees the good doctor in the naughty bits in her initial meeting. Trying to find an excuse to keep seeing him she invents some medical complaints only to find out she really needs surgery. Susan is uninsured so she conspires with her ex husband Karl (Richard Burgi), who is living with Edie, to technically remarry so Susan will be insured. This stirs up old feelings and the ex spouses find themselves falling back in love. Gabby’s husband is no in jail on tax charges leaving her to her own devices. When Carlos gets out of prison he finds religion and Gabby feels he is spending too much time in the company of a young, cute nun. Leave it to Gabby to become jealous and she finagles a way to have the nun shipped over seas. She then wants a baby but when there are problems she decides to force her illegal immigrant maid to become the surrogate. While Lynette was home alone with the kids all she could think about were her glory days at work. Now that she is a working mother she finds that life is worse than ever. Her husband gets a lower position in the same firm and his macho efforts to fit in are a dilemma for Lynette. Fairing the worse in this second season is without a doubt Bree. Now a widow she finds herself under investigation for the death of her husband, the object of a overly compulsive pharmacist and dealing with a rebellious son who just came out as gay and a daughter who has fallen in love with Matthew Applewhite. Yes, this may look like the same street where Beaver Cleaver played so many decades ago but his mother June was nothing like the ladies of Wisteria Lane.

This season took the basic premise that made it a hit and occasionally went too far over the top. Sure the have to continue to push things for the ratings but the story lines with Bree where just unbelievable. It reminded me of the previous series with Marcia Cross, Melrose Place, where her character removed a wig to display some serious scars on her head. If they had just reigned in a few of the threads the series would have faired better. All the new characters in all the plots did confuse matters somewhat. You might need to go to a website for a player’s handbook to keep them all straight. Overall the series was darkly funny and after all that is why audiences tune in each week. The writers take what appear on the surface to be normal occurrence and twist them in an offbeat fashion that still sets this series above many of the rest.

The cast assembled here is what makes the series. Teri Hatcher is the real gem here. Her character Susan is one that many in the audience can identify with. She is a single mother that is just trying to balance caring for her teenaged daughter Julie (Andrea Bowen) and find a bit of happiness for herself. Hatcher has a natural sense of comic timing that comes across great here. It should be noted that Bowen plays well off her on screen mom unfortunately she is not in many scenes. Felicity Huffman has been a favorite of mine for years. From her inspired work in independent films to such television series as Sports Night she combines comedy with pathos as few actresses could. As a mother who has to go back to work she is someone many in the audience can connect to on an emotional basis. Lynette comes home exhausted at the end of the work day only to find her children are as awake and needing of attention as ever. Gabrielle Solis should be a character that everyone hates but Eva Longoria’s performance is so well crafted that those watching can actually care about her. Longoria plays Gabby as a spoiled, self-centered brat but there is a glimmer of humanity somewhere in that Prada clad exterior. Edie Britt played by Nicollette Sheridan is a delight. She is really the one we love to hate. She is deceitful to the extreme but deep down a very insecure person. Sheridan plays her role close to the edge without ever going over the line.

Buena Vista has done an excellent job bringing this season to DVD. The anamorphic 1.78:1 video is crisp and clear. The Dolby 5.1 audio fills the room with a realistic ambience. It is the extras that really set this box set apart and makes it perfect for the fans. One featurette focuses on the direction taking the story from planning to completed episode. The next has a number of former television housewives share their feelings about the ladies of the Lane. Creator Mark Cherry brings his mother along for a look at his inspiration of the series. Unaired story lines for Susan and Lynette are featured. Both Cherry and the main cast go over their favorite episodes and there is a featurette on the fashions used in the series. All in all this is one for that the fans just can’t miss.

Posted 8/23/06