DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES: EVERYBODY SAYS DON'T / IF IT'S ONLY IN YOUR HEAD {SEASON FIVE FINALE} (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.
Dave makes a video explaining that he wants to kill M.J. as a means of making Susan suffer for the accident which killed his wife and child, but is interrupted by the arrival of M.J., planning for their fishing trip that weekend. Detectives try to determine the identity of an unclaimed body from the remains of the White Horse nightclub, and via dental records conclude that the body belongs to Dr. Samuel Heller, although his receptionist believes they are mistaken since she has been in contact with him since his disappearance some months earlier. They try to contact him, and it goes to a phone in Dave’s possession. Susan tells Dave that she is uneasy about going on a fishing trip with Dave since she is still concerned about Jackson and wants to wait to hear from him, and politely declines Dave’s offer. Preston wants to live in Europe for a few months but Lynette is adamant that he should go to college instead, and they argue about it. Tom admits to Lynette that he feels that the trip might do Preston some good, even if it is a mistake. Lynette asks Tom to take Preston on a tour of his college to help him see the value of it. Gabrielle is preparing to go to a Solis family reunion, although she is not particularly enthused about it and is only going to make other members of the family jealous. Karl and Bree sort through her valuables in storage as they discuss divorce proceedings between her and Orson, with Orson secretly looking in on them the entire time.
Jackson calls Susan from Fairview Jail, where his deportation papers are being processed. He is convinced that Mike is responsible for revealing his immigration status to the authorities, although Susan does not agree with him. Lynette’s plan backfires when Preston remains unchanged about his decision, but Tom decides he wants to go back to college, hoping to major in Chinese and be more focused than his previous experiences in college. Lynette is highly distressed at this development and seeks advice from Bree, Susan, and Gabrielle on how to stop Tom without coming across as a nag. Susan heads over to talk to Mike and is greeted by Katherine; she waits inside for him. Bree returns home to find that her artwork in storage has been placed throughout the house, and finds that Orson is responsible. Orson informs her that he has figured out that she staged the robbery on their house and asks her why she did it. Bree admits that she wants to divorce him and hoped to hide some of his things so that she wouldn’t have to give them up during divorce proceedings. Orson doesn’t want to divorce and tries to talk about it with Bree, but she refuses to discuss the matter further.
Susan tells Katherine that she is beginning to suspect that Mike is responsible for Jackson’s deportation, but Katherine denies this, informing Susan that she never told him the real reason for their marriage, and furthermore that she was the one who texted her pretending to be Mike agreeing to keep paying alimony. Katherine reveals that Mike proposed marriage to her, and that she was afraid that if Mike learned that Susan was not actually in love with Jackson that he would change his mind about marrying her. She begs Susan not to reveal the truth to Mike as he arrives, and Susan doesn’t let on. Gabrielle and Carlos arrive at the Solis family reunion and Carlos’s aunt Connie is highly complimentary towards Gabrielle in spite of her belief that she would act in a contrary manner. Lynette receives a phone message explaining that Tom’s college admission exam is early the following morning, and seizes the opportunity to intervene; she pretends to be supportive of Tom’s decision and takes him out to dinner to “celebrate.” Connie announces in front of the whole family that her heart condition has reached the point where she may only have a few more months left to live. In addition, her condition has left her unable to care for her teenage granddaughter Ana, and she asks someone in the family to take her in, and Gabrielle prevents Carlos from volunteering, claiming that they should all think it over until the next day.
Orson insists that he is not leaving Bree, much to her anger. He attempts to blackmail her into compliance by threatening to reveal her insurance fraud scheme, as he filed a claim after the fake robbery she set up. Carlos attempts to convince Gabrielle to take care of Ana, although Gabrielle feels awkward about taking care of a child she doesn’t know. Carlos feels it would be the right thing to do, especially since Connie took care of him and his mother after his father left the family. Lynette, Tom, Preston, and Porter return from a night out, and Tom is quite inebriated. Tom hears the phone message about his entrance exam and panics. Dave suffers a mental breakdown and believes he is speaking to Dr. Heller, Lila, and Edie; the latter urges him to abandon his plan and kill M.J. immediately. Susan approaches Mike and apologizes for her behavior during their last meeting, claiming that she was surprised at the news of his engagement to Katherine. She asks him if he loves Katherine, and he says that he does. She seems satisfied with this answer and wishes them her best, although she still does not tell Mike the truth about her and Jackson, especially when Katherine returns.
Tom comes back from his entrance exam convinced that he has failed, given that he was hung over and disoriented from the previous night. Tom explains to Lynette that he wanted to learn Chinese to open up marketing opportunities in an emergent market, and Lynette is crestfallen when she realizes that she has prevented Tom from achieving real success with his marketing skills. Mike and Katherine tell Susan that they plan to get married that weekend in Las Vegas, which makes her somewhat uncomfortable. Dave goes over to Susan’s house and nearly pulls out his handgun to shoot M.J., but stops when Susan comes out and tells him that she changed her mind about the fishing trip. Carlos calls Connie to tell her that he and Gabrielle have agreed to take care of Ana and she is appreciative, but secretly has an ulterior motive. Dr. Heller’s receptionist calls Roberta to tell her about Dr. Heller’s death, and she confers with Karen about the matter; there was no smoke in his lungs when he was found, indicating that he was dead before the fire at the White Horse began. They deduce that Dave is responsible for his death, but feel that they cannot go to the police without more concrete evidence to support their hypothesis. To do so, they plan to break into his house to obtain such evidence.
The police interrogate Jackson in prison about Dr. Heller’s death and the fire, and he mentions running into Dave while he was briefly in the back of the club. The police come to suspect Dave as the culprit behind the fire. Dave gives Mike a video tape just before he takes Susan and M.J. on their fishing trip, instructing him not to watch it until he returns from his honeymoon. Mike stows the tape away in a drawer in his house. Three years earlier, Dave, Lila, and Paige are living a happy, idyllic life, and one night Dave convinces Lila to take Paige out for ice cream. This turns out to be the night that Lila and Paige are killed in a car accident. In the present day, Mike finds himself worried about Susan and M.J., but Katherine convinces him not to worry and to continue with their wedding proceedings. Katherine grabs the video Dave gave to Mike, unaware of its contents, to record over for their wedding. Carlos and Gabrielle await Ana’s arrival, hoping to give her a good home and stop her from constantly shifting relatives. They are surprised to find that she has grown into an attractive young woman; Carlos has not seen her since she was a little girl and is surprised.
Bree informs Karl that she told Orson about the divorce and about Orson’s attempts to manipulate her into breaking it off. Tom learns from the university that he somehow managed to do exceedingly well on his test despite his alcohol-addled state, and is extremely excited. He takes the entire family out for sundaes to celebrate, but Lynette makes a call to Dr. Rushton; she believes that her cancer may be returning. During their car ride, Dave talks about his deceased daughter to Susan. Roberta and Karen break into Dave’s house and find various medicine bottles made out to his former name, “David Dash.” The police arrive at his door and confront Roberta and Karen. Orson is assaulted by a man in a suit, who threatens him to allow Bree to follow through with the divorce proceedings. Gabrielle talks to Ana about her responsibilities around the house, and is surprised that Ana seems agreeable, compliant, and rather pleasant. However, Gabrielle is surprised to find that Ana has a number of rather expensive dresses, and Ana reveals that she habitually manipulates boys with rich parents into buying her gifts. Orson confronts Bree about the assault incident, and despite his accusations Bree claims she had nothing to do with it, and Orson believes her. He reveals that he was planning on taking the man’s advice and leaving the house, but has decided to stay.
Ana seems to endear herself to Gabrielle and Carlos quite well, although Gabrielle finds that she has manipulated the Scavo brothers into doing her chores for her. Gabrielle gets them to leave and tries to explain to Ana that she cannot continue to do this, as she feels it sends the wrong message to the kids. Ana believes Gabrielle is motivated by jealousy, but Gabrielle threatens to throw her out of the house if she continues to be resistant. Ana retaliates by convincing Carlos that Gabrielle is trying to throw her out for no good reason, and he chides Gabrielle, telling her to act more responsible about Ana. Roberta and Karen are interrogated by the police, and together they manage to piece together Dave’s plan and motivations. Dr. Rushton informs Lynette that while her cancer has not returned, she is approximately six weeks pregnant. Katherine believes Mike is still in love with Susan, but he denies this and professes his love for her. When Katherine gets up for a drink she accidentally activates Dave’s tape in her video camera, and Mike overhears Dave’s message, including his intention to kill M.J. Mike immediately rushes out of the airport in an attempt to save M.J. without telling Katherine. Katherine believes that he left because he still loves Susan.
Bree confronts Karl about the attack on Orson, and he admits that he was behind it. She is incensed that he would resort to these tactics and is angry at his apparently bankrupt sense of morals. Karl believes that Bree is more approving of his methods than she lets on, and furthermore that he is very much attracted to her, much to her disgust. She fires him, but he grabs her and kisses her, which she seems to enjoy. Mike calls Susan to try to warn her about Dave’s true identity and his plans, ordering her to get away from him any way she can. Susan agrees, but manages to allay Dave’s suspicions for the time being. She tries to get Dave to pull over by giving M.J. a juice box, thus forcing him to have to use a restroom. Lynette returns home and tells Tom about her pregnancy, and that she is going to be having another set of twins, which could disrupt Tom’s college education and Lynette’s job.
Susan gets Dave to pull over for M.J. by the side of the road in a wooded area. While they’re outside, one of the police detectives calls Dave to tell him that they have figured out his plan and asking him to turn himself in. Before he can answer, Susan knocks him unconscious with a rock to the back of his skull, but he awakens before she can get the keys to his car to escape. She takes M.J. and runs into the woods to try and elude Dave. Susan trips and injures her foot on a stone as Dave goes into the woods to search for them. She tells M.J. to run and hide from Dave at all costs. Dave finds Susan and holds her at gunpoint to get her to call M.J. out of hiding. This fails and Dave knocks her unconscious to look for M.J. himself in a nearby graveyard. He finds him and brings him back to Susan just as she regains consciousness. Dave continues to hold Susan at gunpoint and gets them to resume their trip, while M.J. remains unaware of any distress. Mike tries to call again and Dave answers. Mike offers to give himself up to him if he lets Susan and M.J. go. Dave agrees, but threatens to shoot Susan and M.J. if any policemen arrive, asking Mike to meet him on the same road where Lila and Paige were killed.
Dave arrives at the meeting place first and orders Susan out of the car. He ties her to a signpost and reveals his new plan: he plans to trick Mike into ramming his car into Dave’s with himself and M.J. still inside, thus forcing Susan to witness M.J.’s death. Susan pleads with him not to go through with it, and Dave is haunted by visions of Paige. Susan escapes her bonds just as Mike comes around the corner and tries to get him to stop, but she is too late and Mike’s car rams into Dave’s. However, Susan finds that Dave put M.J. out of the car, sparing his life and leaving him unharmed. Mike stumbles out of his car and embraces them. Dave survives the crash and is put into a mental hospital. Two months later, Mike gets married, but the story ends before the identity of his new wife is revealed. Includes commercials.
Details
- NETWORK: ABC
- DATE: May 17, 2009 9:00
- RUNNING TIME: 1:58:08
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 105228
- GENRE: Drama, night-time serial
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, night-time serial
- SERIES RUN: ABC - TV series, 2004-2012
- COMMERCIALS:
- TV - Commercials – JCPenney department stores
- TV – Commercials – All laundry detergent
- TV – Commercials – Ally banks
- TV – Commercials – Applebee’s restaurants
- TV – Commercials – Apple computers
- TV – Commercials – Aquafresh toothpaste
- TV – Commercials – Brawny paper towels
- TV – Commercials – Charmin toilet paper
- TV – Commercials – Chrysler automobiles
- TV – Commercials – Claritin allergy medicine
- TV – Commercials – Comcast cable service
- TV – Commercials – Cottonelle toilet paper
- TV – Commercials – Cover Girl cosmetics
- TV – Commercials – Degree antiperspirant
- TV – Commercials – Dove body wash
- TV – Commercials – Electrolux washing machines
- TV – Commercials – Ford automobiles
- TV – Commercials – Frontline pet insect treatment
- TV – Commercials – Garnier skin cream
- TV – Commercials – HP printers
- TV – Commercials – Hershey’s chocolates
- TV – Commercials – Juicy Juice fruit drink
- TV – Commercials – Kia automobiles
- TV – Commercials – Lean Cuisine prepared meals
- TV – Commercials – Lincoln automobiles
- TV – Commercials – Listerine mouthwash
- TV – Commercials – L’Oreal hair color
- TV – Commercials – Marshalls apparel
- TV – Commercials – Neutrogena sunblock
- TV – Commercials – Nikon cameras
- TV – Commercials – Nivea skin cream
- TV – Commercials – Olay skin cream
- TV – Commercials – Old Navy apparel
- TV – Commercials – Olive Garden restaurants
- TV – Commercials – Purex laundry sheets
- TV – Commercials – Ritz crackers
- TV – Commercials – Schick shaving razors
- TV – Commercials – Sprint phone service
- TV – Commercials – Subway restaurants
- TV – Commercials – T.G.I. Friday’s restaurants
- TV – Commercials – TJ Maxx apparel
- TV – Commercials – Target department stores
- TV – Commercials – Toyota automobiles
- TV – Commercials – Victoria’s Secret underwear
- TV – Commercials – Visa credit cards
- TV – Commercials – Volkswagen automobiles
- TV – Commercials – Wal-Mart department stores
- TV – Commercials – “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” motion picture
- TV – Commercials – “Imagine That” motion picture
- TV – Commercials – “The Proposal” motion picture
- TV – Commercials – “Up” home video release
- TV – Promos – “Dancing with the Stars”
- TV – Promos – “Diamonds”
- TV – Promos – “Flash Forward”
- TV – Promos – “Good Morning America”
- TV – Promos – “Here Come the Newlyweds”
- TV – Promos – “The Bachelorette”
- TV – Promos – “The Goode Family”
- TV – Promos – “The NBA Finals”
- TV – Promos – “Ugly Betty”
- TV – Promos – “Wipeout”
CREDITS
- Matt Berry … Executive Producer
- Alexandra Cunningham … Executive Producer
- Larry Shaw … Executive Producer
- Sabrina Wind … Executive Producer
- Bob Daily … Executive Producer
- George W. Perkins … Executive Producer
- David Grossman … Executive Producer, Director
- Marc Cherry … Executive Producer, Created by
- John Pardee … Executive Producer, Writer
- Joey Murphy … Executive Producer, Writer
- Dave Flebotte … Co-Executive Producer
- Lori Kirkland Baker … Co-Executive Producer
- Jamie Gorenberg … Supervising Producer
- Stephanie Hagen … Producer
- Charles Skouras III … Producer
- Dana Wilson … Associate Producer
- Jeffrey Richman … Consulting Producer, Writer
- Jeff Greenstein … Consulting Producer
- Bethany Rooney … Director
- Steve Jablonsky … Music by
- Danny Elfman … Theme Music by
- Teri Hatcher … Cast, Susan Mayer
- Felicity Huffman … Cast, Lynette Scavo
- Marcia Cross … Cast, Bree Hodge
- Eva Longoria Parker (See also: Eva Longoria) … Cast, Gabrielle Solis
- Nicollette Sheridan … Cast, Edie Williams
- Ricardo Antonio Chavira … Cast, Carlos Solis
- Doug Savant … Cast, Tom Scavo
- Kyle MacLachlan … Cast, Orson Hodge
- Dana Delany … Cast, Katherine Mayfair
- Neal McDonough … Cast, Dave Williams
- Shawn Pyfrom … Cast, Andrew Van De Kamp
- James Denton … Cast, Mike Delfino
- Charlie Carver … Cast, Porter Scavo
- Max Carver … Cast, Preston Scavo
- Joshua Logan Moore … Cast, Parker Scavo
- Kendall Applegate … Cast, Penny Scavo
- Lily Tomlin … Cast, Roberta Simmons
- Kathryn Joosten … Cast, Karen McCluskey
- Gale Harold … Cast, Jackson Braddock
- Maiara Walsh … Cast, Ana Solis
- Liz Torres … Cast, Connie Solis
- Stephen Spinella … Cast, Dr. Samuel Heller
- George Wyner … Cast, Dr. Rushton
- David Fabrizio … Cast, Detective Collins
- Billy Mayo … Cast, Detective Lyons
- Richard Burgi … Cast, Karl Mayer
- Madison De La Garza … Cast, Juanita Solis
- Daniella Baltodano … Cast, Celia Solis
- Mason Vale Cotton … Cast, M.J. Delfino
- Jay Pickett … Cast, Man
- Erin O'Shaughnessy … Cast, Receptionist
- Marina Palmier … Cast, Maria
- Livia Trevino … Cast, Lupe
- Armando Molina … Cast, Hector
- David C. Scott … Cast, Prison Guard
- Marie Caldare … Cast, Lila Dash
- Madeleine Michelle Dunn … Cast, Paige Dash
- Steve Tyler … Cast, Minister
- Judy Jean Berns … Cast, Older woman
- Bonnie Hellman … Cast, Nurse
- Brenda Strong … Voice, Mary Alice Young