By David Valdes
To circumcise or not circumcise. That was the question faced by Bree Hodge and her husband Orson on this week's installment of DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES. You see, Orson subscribes to the belief that the process is a mutilation that robs a man of substantial sexual pleasure. Bree, of course, thinks an uncircumcised penis is unsightly and unhygienic. The twosome dueled it out in a storyline that lent itself to some hilarious moments, like Orson's retelling of his own circumcision at age 5 and Bree crashing a brisk and posing as a Jewish person.
Lynette spent the episode trying to get rid of her live-in mom, who has taken to bringing home men at bars. During a pretty crowded kitchen scene, we met Stan, an older fellow with whom Lynette's mother planned on taking a shower. And you thought the circumcision talk was too much information! There was a hilarious scene in a diner in which Lynette tries (and fails) to convince her younger sister to let their mother stay with her. Felicity Huffman had me in stitches with a sight gag in which she popped her sister's trunk and stuffed them with her mother's luggage, hopped in her own car and sped off.
Meanwhile, Susan confronted MIke about his drug problem. Though she's the most annoying character on the show, there is something to be said for Susan's ability to be upfront with what ails her. I expected the MIke is Taking Pills storyline to drag, but there was surprisingly little time in between Susan finding out about his problem and the actual confrontation. I know it can't be this simple, but I kind of bought his explanation. Mike might have a dark past but there's something harmless about him. I see him as much more of the plumber/dopy husband than the ex-murderer but maybe that's just me.
Over at Katherine's house, her daughter came one step closer to learning more about her father. But just when it seemed that Katherine had been broken down and coaxed into revealing the juicy details (all of which were supposedly written no a folded-up piece of paper), we found out that Katherine was still as cagey and manipulative as ever. Back to square one on the Katherine mystery. Did you enjoy that soap opera-style close-up of Katherine looking all wily? Neither did I.
How could I forget Gaby and Carlos, who were up to even less good than usual. Victor took Gaby on a boat ride to the middle of nowhere, which was especially troubling to Gaby when she found out that Victor had caught wind of her affair with Carlos. So what did she do? Knocks him across the face and into the ocean (or lake? I officially give up on trying to guess where in the U.S. this show takes place). The kicker is that Gaby helps Victor back onboard the first time but smacks him right off into the water again when he tries to attack Carlos. Oh yeah, Carlos was on the boat too by this point because, well, it was more dramatic to have all three members of the love triangle on a boat in the middle of nowhere. I like how they were pretty much sure they just killed a guy but didn't seem all that upset over it.
DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES won't be on-air again for a couple of weeks. Apparently the answer to last year's supermarket holdup episode, the next showing promises to be the "best episode of the season." I've heard rumblings about a tornado coming to Fairview and at least one character dying. Who do you think it will be and who should it be? Better yet, how great would it be if a house fell on Susan?