DH recap: Pretty Little Picture

Season One, Episode Three: "Pretty Little Picture"

Mary Alice starts this episode by explaining all of the parts of herself that she left behind when she died. All of her hopes and dreams and ambitions and doubts went up in smoke, along with her body, which is cremated as she narrates. In fact, the only thing Mary Alice maintains in death is her memory. Oh Mary Alice, don't sell yourself short; I'd say that you moved on with a sense of humor and some wicked literary devices too. But as an instance of memory, Mary Alice mentions her very specific memories of Bree Van de Kamp, who lies wide awake in bed: the easy confidence of her smile; the gentle elegance of her hands; the refined warmth of her voice. And, most of all, a look of fear in her eyes.

Bree rolls out of bed to go downstairs where Rex sleeps on a fold-out couch. Thus begins the ongoing mystery of Bree's sometimes-existent guest bedroom. Personally I have to believe it exists; if a house like Lynette's has four bedrooms then Bree's certainly must. But why does it appear so sporadically?

Tally:

No Guest Bedroom: 1
Guest Bedroom: 0

Bree wakes Rex and insists that he come upstairs so the kids don't find him sleeping on the couch. When Rex complains, she rips his sheet off and prods him to keep up appearances for their children's sakes. Beaten, Rex puts on his slippers and prepares to go upstairs as Bree notes that he looks exhausted. Rex admits that the pull-out couch is uncomfortable, and Bree makes the argument that he should move back to their bed. As he head upstairs, Rex agrees that if he doesn't start getting some sleep soon he'll have no choice but to move upstairs out of sheer exhaustion. With a devious smile, Bree waits until Rex is upstairs and then pulls out wire cutters from the side drawer. Lifting the mattress, she clips part of the wire frame and pulls it upwards for maximum discomfort; judging by how many are cut, she's done this for several nights now.

Opening credits. Sometimes I really miss these full length ones.

Mary Alice explains that this day on Wisteria Lane started like any other--including what I think might be stock footage of that paperboy from the pilot episode--with a cup of coffee and the morning paper. "And while Lynette read the business section"--she does this while her boys play fight with light sabers around her--"and Gabrielle studied the fall collections"--a maid pours Gaby a cup of coffee--"and Bree searched for decorating ideas,"--she fiddles with a vase of flowers on her table--"Susan scanned the front page and saw something that caught her eye." That something just happens to be the date, October 15, 2004, which a quick glance at Susan's calendar confirms as the day before Mary Alice's dinner party. Other notation of interest on Susan's calendar: Pet Rescue Meeting on October 6. Is this to make up for nearly killing Bongo, perhaps?

Minutes--hours?--later, Susan navigates the cluttered sea of toys on Lynette's front porch to knock on her door and remind her of Mary Alice's upcoming party. Before Lynette can answer, however, Susan drifts into a flashback of strangely muted colors in which Mary Alice answers Lynette's door to let Susan in for poker. As Bree complains about Lynette's sticky cards, Susan and Mary Alice come into the room and sit down. Mary Alice tells Susan that she was just discussing throwing a dinner party since they've never done "a big group thing" on the Lane. The ladies agree that it's a good idea and Susan asks when it will be. "How about a month from today?" asks Mary Alice. "That would be the sixteenth." It's interesting to think that the notion of suicide clearly hadn't entered Mary Alice's mind at this point when it was probably a mere two weeks before she killed herself.

Back in the present, Lynette answers her door and nods in agreed disappointment when Susan reminds her of the dinner party. Some time later, all four of the ladies have gathered outside Lynette's house to discuss the party. Susan wonders how they all could have forgotten and Lynette points out that when the hostess dies the party is off. They agree that they should have the party anyway in honor of Mary Alice and Bree volunteers to host, asking how many she'll be cooking for. "Seven," says Gaby. "Three couples and Susan." Susan makes a face and Bree asks if she'd like to invite someone. Just then, Mike jogs by and he and Susan have some PG-rated eye sex as the other girls take note. "I have an idea," Susan says coyly.

At the Solises, Carlos balks at the idea of attending a dinner party, claiming that he'll be working late all week. Infuriated, Gaby reminds him that he promised to be home early all week, but Carlos shrugs off her complaints by saying that it's part of the job. Then he suggests that Gaby find a way to relax. This, of course, prompts Gaby to call John and a split screen shows their subsequent phone call; Gaby from her living room and John from algebra class. Which begs the question: why is Carlos at home at this point in the day anyway? Gaby invites John over for a booty call and he agrees to wear his gym clothes.

Also home from work for no apparent reason is Tom, who, like Carlos, has no desire to attend this dinner party. His excuse is that he needs to chill out after so much recent traveling. Digging into her sales pitch past, Lynette tries to entice Tom with promises of liquor, adult conversation, and silverware. Barely aware of Lynette's desperation to get out of the house, Tom responds by asking her to develop a disposable camera for him. "Have you heard anything I just said?" asks Lynette. Tom apologizes, but still persists that he's not up for a dinner party, even going so far as to suggest that Lynette cancel the sitter. Combating her indignant scoff, Tom insists that all he wants is a bottle of wine, a movie and a night at home with his best gal. He even punctuates this speech with a kiss. Disappointed, Lynette says, "I was looking so forward to a night out." Tom remains completely oblivious and stupidly asks Lynette if she remembers what it was like to work a sixty hour week as he packs up his briefcase and heads out the door. Lynette, holding a full basket of laundry, looks after him in disbelief amidst the complete chaos of her house.

Guess who else doesn't want to go to the dinner party? Rex, of course, whose first words are, "Do I have to go?" Not only does he have to go, he also isn't allowed to drink because Bree doesn't want him to tell anyone that they're seeing a marriage counselor. I am completely distracted by Bree's outfit, which appears to be a tweed skirt-jacket combo with odd little blue bows fastened to the cuffs and closure of the jacket. As if that isn't enough, the bland color isn't doing much for her either. Oh right, they're still talking. Rex thinks that if Bree put half as much work into solving their problems as she did covering them up than they'd be much better off. Bree has even gone so far as to concoct a cover story for Rex: he and Bree are taking tennis lessons in which her backhand is improving and his serve needs work. Rex nods as though he's not surprised.

Despite not actually having a husband, Susan has managed to dig up her ex, Karl, to respond negatively to her announcement of a dinner party. In Karl's case, though, it's because he's none too enthused about keeping Julie for an extra night. He reluctantly agrees, but stresses that it can only be for one night since he and Brandy are heading up to the cabin on Sunday. Karl explains that Brandy wanted a get-away, so he bought a cabin; as he says this, Brandy is shown leaning against Karl's sports car while Karl scratches his chest. That's Karl: classless to a fault. An indignant Susan wonders how Karl can afford a cabin when he can't manage to send child support payments on time. Just as their fight starts to escalate, Julie comes outside and announces that she found her dental guard and they can leave. She orders her parents to stop fighting and kisses Susan goodbye.

Despite Julie's best efforts, however, Brandy chooses this moment to toss her soda can towards Susan's trash and misses. Susan can't let this slide and orders Brandy to pick up the can. Brandy seems fine with this, but Karl interferes, insisting that Susan stop being petulant and pick up the can herself. They bicker, even as Julie offers to pick up the can, until Karl finally agrees to pick it up. As he approaches, Susan kicks the can away, so Karl tells her to pick up the can herself and gets back in the car. "Yeah, well you can just go to hell!" yells Susan, and she kicks the can again, horrified when it comes to land at the feet of Mike and Bongo. "You want me to pick it up?" asks Mike. Susan shrugs, speechless with embarrassment.

Over at Mary Alice's, Paul and Zach are enjoying a breakfast together, apparently unaware that Zach should be in school. Zach asks if Paul put an obituary in the paper for Mary Alice and Paul says that he forgot to. Upset, Zach points out that in the month that Mary Alice has been gone (month?! but she was planning that dinner party exactly one month ago!), Paul hasn't mentioned her. Paul shrugs this off too, so Zach says that when Paul dies maybe he won't put in an obituary for him. Hilariously, Paul tells Zach that's his prerogative, if Zach outlives him, and goes back to his paper.

To throw the time continuity even more off-kilter, Gaby is on the phone with her mother when John knocks at the door. She quickly ends her conversation as she lets John inside and orders him to take off his clothes. They make out while discussing school between kisses, until Gabrielle gasps in horror at the sight of a little girl staring at her through the glass in the front door. Well, Gaby, you had to know you'd eventually pay the price for all those great views out of the house.

Commercials.

Presumably on the same day, Lynette and Susan climb out of Susan's car while discussing the can incident. Susan thinks that Mike won't be joining her at the dinner party now that he's seen her crazy side and regrets letting him see how Karl gets to her. Magnanimously, Lynette suggests that Susan forgive Karl so she can get past her rabid rage, but Susan isn't sure she can. The girls part ways and Lynette begins to flick through the pictures she developed for Tom, coming to one that makes her exclaim, "Son of a--"

Cut to inside the Scavos' house, where Tom is holding the offensive picture. It features him and two other guys in sombreros, smoking cigars and drinking margaritas. He tries to argue that it was a business meeting, but Lynette points out the clear debauchery. Tom sighs, asking if she expects him to just sit around the hotel watching cable. "No," says Lynette, "but when I say, 'We've been invited to a party,' don't whine about your exhausting sixty hour week. Put on your dancing shoes and take the mother of your children out for a good time."

Realizing that Lynette is right, Tom finally acquiesces about going to the party until Lynette tells him that she already canceled the sitter. I assume that she had the sitter scheduled before Mary Alice's untimely death and just never got around to canceling before this. If not then I doubt her inability to get another sitter at this late date. Tom goes on to suggest that they throw the next dinner party and Lynette openly scoffs. Finally she decides that she'll go to the party and Tom can stay home to watch the kids. "Fine. I can handle that," says Tom, struggling to open one of those individually wrapped applesauce cups. As Lynette is want to do, she gets in the final blow of this match by taking the applesauce from Tom and expertly opening it. Sheepishly, Tom thanks her.

Meanwhile, Mary Alice decides to further throw off the timeline by announcing that Gabrielle (who is driving down the street) spent her "whole morning" looking for the little girl who spotted her macking with John the gardener. Now, either this is in fact Saturday now--the day of the party--or...or what? It's still Friday but somehow time has regressed and it's morning again? Everyone is in the same clothing, meaning that it should still be Friday. Whatever, show. Anyway, Gabrielle is horrified when she pulls into her driveway and sees Carlos in the yard with said little girl. So, of course, this would make much more sense if Gabrielle had spent all afternoon searching for the little girl, since both Carlos and Tom are back home from work. Gaby jumps out of her car and nervously approaches Carlos, who asks if she's met Ashley. Before Gaby can respond, Ashley's mom runs over with a ball that Ashley lost in the Solises' yard earlier. Carlos introduces the mother too--apparently they're new neighbors--but Gaby is clearly too unnerved by Ashley's vacant, evil stare to be a good neighbor at the moment.

Back at the Youngs', Zach enters his garage and starts moving boxes around. When he finds a white shoebox, he opens it and finds a gun.

Bree and Rex are at therapy with the wonderful Dr. Goldfine, who I miss desperately. He's just suggested that Bree and Rex partake in private sessions with him, but Bree readily dismisses the idea. Dr. Goldfine tries to suggest that private sessions will allow them to work on their personal issues. Immediately, Bree says she has no personal issues except that Rex is trying to leave her "and how can I work on that if he's not in the room?" This escalates into an argument between the couple: Rex says that there are things he wants to discuss privately and Bree thinks that he should be able to say anything in front of her. She also thinks that a few more sessions will solve all of their problems, a notion that Rex quickly quashes. Taken aback, Bree can't even argue when Dr. Goldfine suggests that Rex will take the first half an hour and she'll take the second. The most she can manage to do is ask Dr. Goldfine to take a moral hard-line if Rex tells him anything about adultery, prostitution or internet pornography. Then she stands to leave, swinging a tennis racket over her shoulder. Bree is nothing if not thorough.

Gaby approaches Ashley again, who is now drawing on the sidewalk with chalk. Despite Gabrielle's compliments of Ashley's artwork, Ashley isn't taken in and Gaby only becomes more antsy. She uses the idea that Ashley's picture looks like kissing flamingos to segue into an awkward conversation about how kissing isn't just for husbands and wives: it's also acceptable to kiss a mom or a grandfather or a dog or even just a friend. Heavy emphasis on friend. All the while, Ashley simply continues to draw. Gaby then moves on to plan B: bribery. Ah, her forte. She pulls out a little doll that she got at the mall--when was this?--and gives it to Ashley as a gift. Thinking that all is well now, Gaby stands to leave. Unfortunately for Gaby, Ashley ain't no simpleton: she ups the ante and demands a bike.

Night; exterior shot of the Youngs'. Inside Paul enters the kitchen-living room area to find Zach sitting on the floor playing with the gun he discovered earlier. He asks Zach where he found the gun, but Zach ignores the question, demanding to know why Paul would keep the gun that Mary Alice used to kill herself. Tearfully, Paul says that he thought they might need it for protection. For some reason Zach chooses to gloss over this revelation, and stands up threateningly to tell Paul that they're going to discuss Mary Alice. Paul tries to tell Zach that he needs his medication, but Zach simply raises his voice, becoming more and more irrational. Before anything else can happen, they're interrupted by a knock at the door. Shushing Paul, Zach goes to open the door a crack and finds Bree outside with a big smile on her face.

Commercials.

The show picks up right where it left off: Zach asks Bree what she needs and Bree invites Zach and Paul to the dinner party. Oh because Zach wouldn't feel awkward in that situation at all. Bree apologizes for the last minute notice and tells Zach that the party is in honor of Mary Alice. She stumbles a bit in her explanation as Zach breaks down on the verge of tears when suddenly Paul creeps up behind Zach and greets Bree. As moments before Zach claimed Paul wasn't home, Bree is clearly startled, but she holds back her surprise and begins her speech again. Paul interrupts to say that he already heard her and that he and Zach won't be able to attend. As he says this, he reaches down to take the gun from Zach, out of Bree's line of vision. Acutely uncomfortable at this point, Bree excuses herself. As she turns to go, Zach calls out a thank you for remembering his mother. Bree can only give a slight nod as Paul closes the door.

The next morning, Gaby unloads a bike from her car to give to Ashley. She even bought her a helmet! As she rattles off a list of the bike's features, Ashley continues to stare at her with her same horrifying perma-glare, so Gaby finally gives up and just tells her to go to town. At this point, Ashley lets her know that she doesn't know how to ride a bike. Finally, Gaby starts to lose her patience; curtly she asks why Ashley even wanted the bike. Ashley shrugs and then suggests that Gaby teach her to ride it. "One of these days," laughs Gaby, but the little gremlin wants immediate satisfaction.

Down the street, Susan sits in her house flipping through an old photo album from which she's cut Karl's head from every picture. Thinking about the exacto knife skills that must have been required for such precision work makes me wonder about the time Susan has on her hands. Mary Alice lets us know that Susan is reassessing her self-image and finding herself less than becoming. To make up for this, Susan calls Karl and leaves him a message that she'd like to talk to him when he drops off Julie the next day. She even adds that he give her best to Brandy. After she hangs up, Mary Alice says that Susan was proud of herself and almost ready to let go of her anger. With the exception of pulling a little Karl head out from under a picture and crumpling it in her fingers. Why did she even save the heads? That's so weird!

Next door, Lynette is in full preparation mode: she's wearing a bathrobe, has a facial mask on, her hair is up in curlers and she's rattling off dinner instructions to Tom, who isn't taking her too seriously. He starts up the stairs as she warns him that he'll be in big trouble if the kids' dinner is late. "Beautiful, I don't need a pamphlet," says Tom, turning to face her. "It's not brain surgery. They're just kids for God's sake." Even though Lynette softened for a moment at the compliment, Tom's insistence that their children aren't nearly impossible to manage puts her in full revenge mode. As Tom goes upstairs, Lynette beckons Preston over and hands him a box of cookies, letting him know that he and his brothers can go to town on the junk food despite their usual rule of none in the evening. "Thanks, Mom!" says Preston. Lynette smirks.

Meanwhile, Gaby hasn't even bothered to change out of her heels to teach Ashley to ride the bike. Ashley's doing pretty well until she almost runs into a parked car, but the subsequent fall doesn't deter her: she wants to keep going. Gaby backs out and Ashley asks if they can do it tomorrow. Gaby reminds Ashley that she has school the next day, despite the fact that you'd think she'd at least know her lover's schedule (or, you know, the basic weekly calendar). Even more unfortunately than the fact that the next day is actually Sunday, Ashley drops the bomb that she's home-schooled which means that she'll be around constantly. Or, you know, never again after this episode.

Karl rings Susan's doorbell and Susan answers wearing nothing but a towel. Because she's Susan. She balks over the fact that Karl came over when she specifically asked to talk to him the next day, but he just elbows past her into the house. With a sigh, Susan tries to back out by saying she wanted to have a speech prepared. "Brandy and I have plans tomorrow," says Karl as he rolls up his sleeves and takes a seat. "I suggest you wing it."

Susan takes a seat too and begins to stutter through an awkward speech that makes little sense, though Karl nods through it mockingly. Finally Susan spits out that she needs an apology from him so she can forgive him. I'm not sure that this is what Lynette had in mind when she suggested Susan make peace. Karl shrugs. "I'm not sure what to say, Susan. The heart wants what it wants." Disgusted, Susan demands to know that that means, but Karl can't give her much more of an explanation. "Yeah, well my heart wants to hurt you, but I can control myself," snaps Susan.

Done with the conversation, Karl gets up to leave, but Susan is angrier than ever and follows him, even going out of the front door in her towel. All the while she's yelling at Karl and he's ignoring her. Karl climbs into his car and Susan opens the passenger's door to continue berating him, saying things like he's scum and no one is on his side; she can walk down the street with her head held high. Susan slams the door shut and Karl speeds away. Unfortunately for Susan, he takes her towel with him and she's left naked on the street. Helplessly holding a hand out toward her towel, Susan quickly realizes she's better off making a break for the house. Too bad for her, the door locked behind her. Horrified, Susan cowers behind a bush in front of her house.

Commercials.

Susan still hides in fear from the neighborhood when the show returns. Picking up a little bush to hide her naughty bits, Susan begins to crab-walk across her lawn like a percussionist in a marching band. She tries to open the back door, but it's locked too. As Susan leans precariously on a stair to try to budge open a near by window, she slips and falls into a bush. Mary Alice: "Lying naked in her shrubs, it occurred to Susan that this could be the most humiliating moment of her life." Yet. I can think of a much more embarrassing one to come, and it's not, as Mary Alice thinks, the next second when Mike appears out of nowhere. Immediately he notices that Susan is naked and gentlemanly averts his eyes, a little smirk playing on his face. Hilariously, Susan recaps her predicament, even casually crossing her legs in the bushes as she does so. Mike mentions that he got her messages about dinner and that he'd love to go; he walks away with a smile and Susan whimpers.

Saturday night: the Van de Kamp home. Susan and Mike approach the front door and we learn that Mike helped Susan get back into her house and that he still thinks it's hilarious while she doesn't. She asks him to not joke about it yet, so of course when Bree answers the door and asks what's kept them, Mike has to answer, "Oh, Susan had a hard time finding something to wear." Oh that Mike!

Inside the house, Lynette is on the phone with Tom giving him a pep talk about how he should be able to get their rambunctious kids to bed since they're "just kids." Gaby walks by and Susan notices that she's limping; Gaby lies that she jogged in the wrong shoes. Across the room, Carlos and Rex are discussing the Van de Kamps' fictional tennis lessons. Carlos is thinking about picking up the sport again and wants to know what Rex thinks of his instructor. Rex, being no where near Bree's skill level at this type of lying, makes one weak attempt to distract Carlos and then admits the truth: he and Bree aren't taking tennis lessons, it's simply a story Bree concocted to avoid telling people they're in marriage counseling. Of course, Bree is standing right behind Rex when he says it and she drops a tray of hors d'oeuvres all over the carpet. This, not Rex, is what attracts everyone's attention and they all watch as Bree snatches Rex's drink from his hand. Rex goes on to further embarrass Bree by announcing to everyone that they're in counseling; Lynette has the best reaction, shrugging exaggeratedly in a way that kind of indicates, "Yeah, so?" Ignoring all of their friends, Rex turns back to Bree and asks if her whole world came crashing down because her secret is out. With that crazy Stepfordian smile of hers, Bree merely asks everyone to take their seats for dinner.

Over at the Youngs, Zach is passed out on the couch apparently all doped up on sleeping pills (the bottles are abandoned nearby). Paul sits down on the coffee table and tenderly covers Zach with a blanket, only to get distracted by the TV news, which reports that the toy chest he dumped in the lake was found and it contains human remains. Wow, Paul. Who would have thought that would be LESS safe in a lake than buried under concrete in your back yard. Idiot. It's amazing Paul and Mary Alice ever got away with this, considering how jumpy they are. Paul turns off the TV and leaves the room; Zach opens his eyes and stares suspiciously at the TV.

Back to dinner, where everyone is now seated around the table. It's painfully, awkwardly silent. Maybe everyone is having trouble figuring out how to tell Mike that it's polite to take off your workman jacket during dinner. Finally, Susan breaks the silence to admit that marriage counseling is no big deal compared to falling into your bushes naked and being caught by your potential love interest. Everyone is relieved and laughs except for Bree, who is studying Rex with angry eyes. Lynette ups the stakes by telling a story about how she and Tom once got thrown out of Disney Land for lewd behavior; "Things got a little out of hand on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride." I'm not sure what my favorite implication of that story is: the first indication given that Tom and Lynette get off on exhibitionism; the fact that the two of them were in Disney Land without the kids; or how proud Lynette seems to be of this story. Gaby adds in her own tale of how she and Carlos popped a water bed in Cancun with her spiked heels. The mood is considerably lighter; everyone is finally having a good time. Then Bree drops her own "funny" anecdote: "Rex cries after he ejaculates." Immediately silences descends again, more uncomfortable than before, and Rex gets up and leaves the house.

Commercials.

Later that night, Mike and Susan are walking down the street together discussing whether or not they left too early. I really wish they would have shown how the rest of that dinner went. It must have been horrendous. Mike asks if Rex is gone for good; Susan isn't sure. She says that the Van de Kamps were always "wound a little tight" but that she's never seen them that way before. With self-awareness Susan rarely shows, she mentions that she shouldn't judge considering how she is with Karl, prompting Mike to bring up the soda can incident. Susan explains it away with her usual rationalizations and Mike generously tells her that she should think of Karl as a "starter marriage" that prepared her for something better. Susan grins hugely and then thanks Mike for being a perfect gentleman when he saw her naked. "Oh I wasn't a perfect gentleman," teases Mike, adding that he sneaked a peek. Susan laughs and goes to head inside and as Mike backs away he adds, "And for what it's worth...Wow." Nothing could please Susan more.

Over at the house of the insanity, Tom is asleep on the couch, covered by his work, when Lynette wakes him by teasing his face with her scarf. With a smile she asks how his night was; "We are raising little terrorists, you know that don't you?" he responds. Still playing coy, Lynette asks, "What, you didn't have a good time?" Tom laughs and tells her to drop the act; Porter cracked and told him that she gave them cookies.

Lynette sits down on the coffee table to remove her shoes and Tom asks her how dinner was. Immediately Lynette launches into the story--without giving the specifics of Bree's revenge--while also sipping from a juice box left out by one of the kids. Ah the little details that make me love Felicity Huffman so much. Tom says that he's not surprised because he never thought that Rex and Bree were really happy. Lynette gives a little nod--of acknowledgment, agreement or both, I don't know--and then stands to take some plates into the kitchen. A moment later she turns back and asks, "Are we happy?"

Gaby and Carlos are in their bathroom getting ready for bed and also discussing the Van de Kamp meltdown. The best line of Carlos' assessment: "I'd probably cry too if I had to have sex with that woman." Gaby even gives a little smile as though she agrees; is that odd considering she and Bree are friends? Carlos goes on to add that if a woman ever humiliated him that way in public that it would only happen once. At this, Gaby looks anxious. Even though this affair has been supposedly going on for almost a year, this seems to be the first time she's really considered what the consequences might be. Interesting.

The next day, Bree packs up Rex's suitcase; he's going to stay at a motel. Rex is obviously still pissed, acting very cold, but as usual, Bree tries to be as pleasant as possible. She even makes a joke about telling the kids that he's gone to tennis camp. Rex stands to leave and Bree asks why their marriage is falling apart; Rex: "Because you can't even let me pack my own suitcase." Bree's face falls and Rex leaves the room. For a moment, it seems as though she's going to cry, but instead she simply straightens a wrinkle in the bed.

At Susan's, Karl is dropping Julie off when Susan runs outside, blows right past Julie and hops into the car next to Brandy. Immediately Susan launches into an apology to Brandy for the way she treated her and adds that with or without an apology from Karl, she's moving on with her life. It's an oddly dignified speech for Susan. As she climbs back out of the car, Brandy follows her, much to Karl's chagrin. Brandy gives Susan an apology of her own, saying that she thought Karl and Susan's marriage was over when she started to boink Karl. Oh, well now Brandy's a class act. She gets back into the car while Karl glares at Susan and Mary Alice chimes in to say that Susan finally got the apology she'd always wanted, even if it was from an unlikely source.

That evening, Lynette arrives home with two arms full of grocery bags and a prescription bag in her mouth. Tom rushes to greet her wearing a sombrero and takes everything off of her; Lynette stares at him in surprise. "You're wearing a really big hat," she observes. Tom sets everything down, turns on the radio and adds some limes to a couple of margaritas while explaining that they have about forty-five minutes until the boys are done watching their movie. "So I suggest that we make the most of it," he says. "By reliving your night out with the guys?" asks Lynette, perhaps a bit harshly. "Lynette," says Tom, "I'm trying." Finally, Lynette acquiesces, realizing what Tom is trying to do, and accepts one of the drinks from him.

"You look ridiculous in that thing," she says, almost as a toast. Tom waggles an eyebrow; "Sexy ridiculous?" "Maybe," admits Lynette as she takes a sip. Tom sets the glasses back on the table and takes Lynette's hand, pulling her into a dance. For a few minutes they circle the living room, even sharing a kiss, but also acknowledging that it's going to take more than just one night to keep their marriage going strong. As their dance continues, Tom points out that they have an audience: their three boys have come downstairs and sit watching them through the banister. "Let 'em look," says Lynette. "As long as they don't try to cut in." And thus ends one of my absolute favorite Tom and Lynette scenes in the series. This was the one that originally made me fall in love with this couple.

Possibly the next day, Bree arrives at Dr. Goldfine's office in a panic over Rex leaving. She says that it happened "today" but why would Dr. Goldfine see patients on a Sunday night? Anyway, that is not the point. The point is that Bree wants Dr. Goldfine's help since he seems to have more insight into her marriage than she does. Dr. Goldfine steps out for a moment to see if his next patient can wait. While he's gone, Bree spies an open cabinet that contains recordings of the doctor's sessions and goes over in search of Rex's. Instead she finds one labeled "M. A. Young." Curiosity gets the better of her, and Bree pulls out the tape; when Dr. Goldfine walks back into the room, she's so startled that she slips the tape beneath her sweater and agrees to wait to talk to him the next day.

End narration. Mary Alice speaks about the fear she felt when she was alive while the camera pans through the bedrooms of Bree, Gaby and Susan. All three are interrupted from their musings by a strange sound coming from outside. Turns out that it's Paul, putting up a for sale sign in his front yard as Mary Alice says that there will always be those who run away from their fears. Well I guess she and Paul really were made for one another.