Desperate Housewives has not gone downhill
It seems the favorite pastime of TV critics this fall is bashing Desperate Housewives by saying it isn't as good as last season. Apparently those critics have been conditioned into expecting to be entertained 100% to-the-max every week, every time.
And yet, if DH did make every episode like last season everyone would complain. Each week we'd see the same thing:
-Susan embarrass herself in some slapstick physical comedy kind of way
-Edit try to steal someones man while acting real sleazy
-Bree would clean something
-Gabrielle would buy something expensive after making out with the gardener
-Lynette's devil children would do something that shocked everyone
Instead, this season the producers opted to let the characters grow and mature. After all, last season major characters died, others were run out of town, and someone went to jail. Anyone of these events in real life would cause a seismic shift in people. The show is now trying to show that these people have been affected and are struggling to adapt. We, the television public, should be glad that the show respects us enough to try and grow with us, instead of slapping us on the ass and telling us the cab money is on the nightstand, like so many other shows do.
So, check out the the first season
and be thankful that such a great show has been allowed to air. And then enjoy the 2nd season that is currently on the air.Except for that guy in the basement, that's just plain creepy. What's up with him?
I give it 8 out 10.
Tags:Entertainment, Reviews
posted by Nick @ 10:02 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
I think it absolutely did go downhill this season. What you have to remember about DH last year was that, much like Twin Peaks, at core the show was a mystery. Who was Dana? Why did mary Alice kill herself? What was Mike's secret? Indeed the very first scene of theseries, we see Mary Alice do the deed; that sets the entire plot in motion. That was what the show was about; all the sex and other character traits were amusements and misdirection. The writers brilliantly wrapped up the season by tying all three mysteries together. But now, post-solution, the show is empty, all style and form, but devoid of the glue that held it together. It is very much like Twin Peaks after the killer of Laura Palmer was apprehended.
And too, the characters aren't actually growing. They are just placed in different circumstances. Bree is a widow, Lynette has been put in an office. But neither character has so much grown as responded to the change in setting. And these changes are thus far cosmetic; they are not driving the plot to anywhere near the heights of last year.
The obvious teaser is the guy in Alfre Woodard's basement. But that sub-plot is writ way too large and obvious, and unless it ties in with the rest of the show, it will pale in comparison to the compelling mysteries from last year. We know the guy killed someone in CHicago; we just don't much care. THat is no mystery.
Ok, you do make some really good points. I've been thinking that most people were attracted to the sex/naughty factor that the show presents. I absolutely agree that the mystery aspect of the show is huge part of what the show is. Perhaps I've been looking at it from the wrong angle.
I also agree that the writers pretty much gave away everything major at the end of last season. There were a few things that I thought would carry over into the new season (Rex's death and how Bree handles it, the baby, Zach, etc.).
When I wrote this post (it was a few weeks ago) I thought that things were on a low simmer that would soon be brought to a boil. In the episodes that have aired since then, I've begun to change my mind. Some of the plot threads are getting a bit weird (George and Bree).
As for letting the characters grow, I'm now on the fence a bit. I feel that some are growing (seeing Lynette handle work and home and the pains she endures trying to be everything to everyone). But after re-reading my post I see that many of the points I made about what an episode would be like if we copied last season, is what has been happening. When Susan is on the screen I find myself waiting to see if she falls down, Gaby goes shopping in response to almost everything, etc.
And in the case of Bree, its like she's growing in reverse! Last season she was very intelligent, prim and proper, and model of control. Yet this season she seems to have gone off the deep end by letting George get away with all of his shenanigans.
*sigh*
Josh, thank you for you posting, I think you may have changed my mind about the direction of the show. The more I have typed in this comment, the more I have realized I'm defending a position I'm not 100% sure of myself. ;)
-Nick
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