Season 3 of Desperate Housewives certainly made up for the less-than-stellar second season.
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A primetime television show with a naughty-sounding title like "Desperate Housewives" is sure to attract some attention. It certainly intrigued me when the show first made its debut in 2004 and the show subsequently went on to post boffo ratings that just about took everyone in the TV business by surprise. After suffering a minor sophomore slump and after just completing its third season earlier this year, the show, while still very popular, has certainly lost a little of its glamorous luster that was so carefully cultivated through its cast of sexy female stars. Speculations were rife that the ratings drop in Season 2 could be attributed to the fact that series creator Marc Cherry delegated most of the season´s writings to others and also to the loss of the show´s executive producers Michael Edelstein and Tom Spezialy.
However, no matter all that had happened previously, "Housewives" seemed to have taken the hard lessons learned to heart and was able to produce a better than average third season. Still, Season 3 certainly did not start out as strong out of the gate as everyone had hoped. In fact, for the first few episodes at least, the show opened with a whimper and seemed almost destined to flame out spectacularly. Then suddenly the various story arcs started to pick up steam and the show finally righted its course and came out of its self-inflicted funk. Nevertheless, "Housewives" is not the cultural phenomenon that it once was when it first made its debut. Ratings are down for the second year running and the show really needs to find that extra spark to get its dwindling fan base to tune in again.
For those who have been living under a rock the past few years, let me first try to summarize what "Desperate Housewives" is all about. In this fictional world created by Marc Cherry, suburbia is a place where nothing is always what it seems to be. The world of "Desperate Housewives" centers on the residents of Wisteria Lane, a community where the American Dream is a stark reality--where every house comes with manicured lawns and picket fences, where the streets are impossibly clean and safe and where friendly neighbors (or so it seems) abound. In short, Wisteria Lane is a heavenly slice of good old Americana, ready-made for the perfect family looking for the perfect life. Sounds too good to be true, right? Well, of course it is! Life is always messy--deal with it! For behind every smile and every friendly hello, lie dark secrets and even darker sins. And there is more than enough of those to go around on Wisteria Lane.
Season 2 ended with a cliffhanger of sorts, when resident Wisteria Lane hunk Mike Delfino (James Denton), on his way to finally pop the question to Susan (Teri Hatcher), was ran over by a car and left for dead, leaving loyal viewers to wonder for the next 3 months during the summer break whether he survived or not. Well, to cut to the chase, Mike did survive but unless you consider lying on a bed unconscious acting, be prepared to not see Denton act for the first few episodes of the season, as his character is bedridden in a comatose state. Susan is of course at Mike´s bedside everyday but it´s been six months since the accident and there are no signs of Mike ever waking up. At the hospital, Susan runs into Ian (Dougray Scott), a well-to-do Englishman whose wife is also in a coma. They soon hit it off but Susan is still in two minds about starting a new relationship, with Mike in his current condition.
Meanwhile, Bree (Marcia Cross) is now engaged to Orson (Kyle MacLachlan), whose dark past include his recently returned wife, Alma (Valerie Mahaffy), who disappeared a while back and thought to be dead. In addition, Orson may also be connected to a recently discovered body of a murdered woman. Bree can sure pick them! First, it was George the pharmacist who poisoned her husband and now this. The question of whether Orson is guilty or not becomes a major plot point in Season 3. Also, fans of Marcia Cross should be prepared for a Bree-less show in the second half of the season as the actress takes some maternity time off to deliver her twin daughters.
Lynette (Felicity Huffman) has now taken the role of breadwinner for the Scavo family as Tom (Doug Savant) decides to stay at home with the kids and later, follow his dream of opening a pizza parlor. Not only that, Lynette also has to deal with Kayla (Rachel Fox)--Tom´s daughter from a previous relationship--coming to live with them and also Kayla´s annoying mother Nora (Kiersten Warren). As for the Solises, looks like Gabrielle (Eva Langoria) and Carlos (Ricardo Antonio Chavira) are finally going through with the divorce after the fiasco of Carlos´ affair with Xiao-Mei (Gwendoline Yeo), the surrogate mother of their baby. In the midst of this mess, Gabrielle finds herself pursued by the city´s mayoral candidate and one of its most eligible bachelors, Victor Lang (John Slattery).
After a slow start, Season 3 soon picked up the pace as the show delves into Orson Hodge´s mysterious past and also weaves its way towards the answer to the burning question on everyone´s mind, why did Orson run Mike over. These are the kinds of stories that the series really needs in order to inject life back into the show. After the mystery of Mary Alice´s suicide--which probably kept a lot of fans at the edge of their seats throughout--was revealed at the end of the first season, the following season just could never live up to the high expectations. Now, for the third season, an air of mystery has returned to Wisteria Lane and all is right in the universe once again.
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