REVEW: Desperate Housewives “A Moment in the Woods”

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Color me surprised. After weeks and weeks of episodes that read more like bad fanfic Team Wisteria delivered a solid hour of drama. Yes one needs to suspend disbelief a bit to accept that Felicia Tillman is back on Wisteria Lane but that’s okay. The penal system in Fairview is obviously more relaxed than other places and we accept that. We also accept what a handsome man young Andrew Van De Kamp has grown into…drunk or not.

Andrew (Shawn Pyfrom) is 30 days sober now and Bree is so proud she has erupted into a pie baking frenzy. His next big challenge is making amends for those he has wronged and Bree (Marcia Cross) is more than a little put off that she isn’t at the top of the list. After all he did steal her purse and wreck her car and totally slept with her boyfriend that one time which is so much worse than running an old woman down in the middle of the street right? Wrong. Carlos Solis (Ricardo Antonio Chavira) is at the top of Andrew’s list and this sends Bree into a panic. Remember it was Andrew who ran the old woman over during a drunken haze back in season one but it was Bree and Rex who covered it up, leaving Andrew’s damaged Mustang in a shady part of town and claiming it was stolen. Gabby (Eva Longoria) found out about this later on and decided not to tell her husband. We all know what a temper Carlos has right?

Andrew gets another shot when Carlos invites him to have their own moment in the woods and accompany him on a hunting trip. When Bree and Gabby get wind of this they turn into hysterical hens and rush up to the cabin where they are certain Carlos has murdered poor Andrew. In their hysteria they reveal the truth before Andrew has a chance to and Carlos is pretty pissed. After an unsuccessful attempt to get Andrew drinking again Carlos takes off into the woods.

Also destined for a moment in the woods are Paul and Felicia. Creepy Paul (Mark Moses) is shocked when he finds out Felicia (Harriet Sansom Harris) is living in one of the many houses he bought on the lane earlier this season in Operation Low Property Value. Felicia, who is just as crazy and creepy as Paul explains that through some legal hocus pocus involving Beth’s Will she know owns the home and plans to reintegrate into life on Wisteria. Paul is, shall we say, less than pleased. Felicia swears that she wants to put all that messy murder business behind them and asks Paul to help her spread Beth’s ashes. For some strange reason he agrees.

Paul – “Do you think the people of this street want a psycho for a neighbor?”
Felicia – “Well they let you live here…”

At first it looks like Felicia lured him there to kill him but she surprises everyone by tossing the gun in the lake and pleading with Paul to put an end to all this unpleasantness. He reluctantly agrees but Felicia isn’t done yet. Back at her new house (Mike’s old house for those playing along) she explains to Beth’s ashes that she intends to make Paul pay dearly for his crimes but death is to merciful.

Susan (Teri Hatcher) has had a remarkable recovery from her kidney transplant, which happened off camera I guess and she visits her old pal Dick from the dialysis lab. He’s had a minor setback but is nothing but happy for Susan. He tells her she’s on a winning streak and she shouldn’t waste it. This turns out to be true when she wipes the floor with her friends at their weekly poker match. Later, when she discovers Dick has died she decides to visit a casino that he mentioned liking to play the $100 chip he left her. She quickly turns it into 12K but has a crying fit at the table because she can’t figure out why she’s so lucky and Dick had to die. Mrs. McKlesky’s boy toy offers some words of wisdom about the Korean War and that’s all we see of Susan. Hey, at least she wasn’t mopping floors in a thong. But it was Poor Lynette (Felicity Huffman) who got the throwaway plot of the week as she struggles to cope with her husband’s new hotshot status. His work is keeping him away and she’s lonely…but rich. Renee (Vanessa Williams) helps her cope with some retail therapy.

Carlos finally turns up and Andrew has a talk with him, and he is forgiven. But the big shocker comes when Bree arrives at the Solis house with a basket of muffins and gratitude for not killing her son. Carlos tells her to go to hell and forbids Gabby from seeing her anymore. It was an emotional gut punch and I totally had to side with Carlos on this one. He reacted exactly as most people would have I think. The previews for next week indicate that Gabby is not following orders very well, which is also exactly how I think she would react.

Kudos to Team Wisteria for getting their shit together this week. With only a few episodes left in the season there may be some redemption after all. Drunk Andrew seemed to come out of left field last week but after I thought about it a bit it does echo back to the first two seasons when he was a complete mess. He took a little slide back but is redeeming himself yet again. I hope Shawn Pyfrom becomes a series regular again.

Desperate Housewives is back next week.