See Also: 'My Heart Belongs To Daddy' Episode Guide

Synopsis

"My Heart Belongs To Daddy" starts off with Gabrielle going to visit Carlos with their lawyer. She insists that the lawyer arrange a conjugal visit but the lawyer refuses and insults Gabrielle. The inmates behind the fence immediately demand that the lawyer aplogize to her. When he doesn't, the inmates poke and grab at the lawyer through the fence...actions spawn a prison-yard riot.

Lynette arrives home late to find Parker in bed, clutching an umbrella. Tom informs her that Parker has an imaginary friend, a British nanny named Mrs. Mulberry. Susan and Mike arrive at Susan's house after a date and Susan wants them both to go inside. Mike balks, stating that being casual is weird. Realizing that she might lose Mike, Susan agrees to accept that Zach will be a part of Mike's life. Bree and George have also come back from a date. Andrew comes outside and when he indicates that George should leave they get into a scuffle.

Lynette wakes Parker up early so they can get doughnuts together. Mrs. Mulberry has forgotten her umbrella and, after looking and failing to find it, Lynette yells at Parker. Parker gets out of the car and goes back inside. Andrew refuses to show up for dinner Friday night since George will be there. Bree forces him into coming by refusing to pay for Andrew's swim meet entrance fee unless he shows up. Susan is posting signs with Zach's picture when Edie comes approaches her. They talk and, when Susan expresses doubt that Zach will be found, Edie accuses her of putting on a show for Mike.

Gabrielle meets with a new lawyer, David Bradley, who refuses to take Carlos' case, adding that Gabrielle and Carlos' marriage is doomed. Lynette is called in to Parker's school after Parker poked a teacher with Mrs. Mulberry's umbrella. Lynette breaks down in tears when asked if Parker has recently experienced any sort of major change. George is at dinner at Bree's and he and Andrew are getting along well until Bree leaves the room. Andrew then makes disparaging comments about George's sex life and then talks about Bree's, as well. George attempts to discipline Andrew but Bree won't back him up without knowing why. Rather than tell Bree about the remarks, George leaves.

Gabrielle goes back to tell the lawyer off after he leaves a message for her recommending a divorce lawyer. He hits on her and she tells him she's pregnant and that she loves Carlos. He then accepts the case. Mike and Susan go to a local park where runaways tend to hang out. They split up and Susan sees Zach, who runs away from her. She doesn't tell Mike. Later, Susan relates the incident to Gabrielle and Bree. Bree tells Susan that Zach needs to be brought back home where he would be better off.

Lynette talks to Parker to reassure him of her love, but Parker says Mrs. Mulberry is calling her a liar. Bree tells George that they can't see each other anymore because she wants to focus on Andrew. George agrees before suggesting that Andrew should go back to the discipline camp. Bree states that she doesn't want to send Andrew back there unless things get out of hand. Gabrielle and Carlos get their conjugal visit and Gabrielle asks if their relationship will survive. Carlos promises it will and then asks if she likes the new lawyer. Gabrielle changes the subject. Susan goes to find Zach. He states that he wants to find his father (Paul) and Susan tries to talk him out of it until he asks about Julie. Susan then gives him the money he needs to find Paul.

Lynette takes Parker's umbrella and puts it out in the trash. The next morning, when the garbage truck comes, the umbrella slips out onto the road and opens. Parker steps outside in time to see it get run over. Mrs. Mulberry is dead. At Andrew's swim meet, George shows up to give Bree a gift and then kisses her. Andrew gets out of the water and attacks George. The next scene shows Andrew packing a suitcase.

Analysis

I'm really starting to feel bad for Carlos. I wince everytime Gabrielle mentions that he's going to be a father because even she doesn't know who the biological father is. Granted, if Carlos acts the father figure to this child, he's the father no matter what. But this is TV, you know that eventually the child's biology will be addressed again and for maximum dramatic effect it will most likely be after the child is born. Then, when it's brought up, I won't be surprised if he or she turns out to be John's child (again, that whole maximun drama thing). If Carlos has come to care for the child, which I'm sure he will, and the child turns out to not be his, it's going to hurt him.

But that's in the future, in this episode we saw the beginnings of trouble between Gabrielle and David Bradley, the new lawyer. At first I was amazed, in fact, I might have even cheered her on a little when she effectively shut down David's come ons. However, her reaction later when Carlos questioned her about how she likes the new lawyer was suspicious. I suppose, though, that's it's completely possible that to avoid any further suspicion on Carlos' part, that she was merely reluctant to bring up the fact that the lawyer hit on her. We'll see.

Last week I despised Susan. There was no excuse for her behavior in "You'll Never Get Away From Me" but this week, well, it's easier to play devil's advocate. Her decision in the beginning of the episode to accept Zach as a part of Mike's life was obviously a spur of the moment thing stated in the heat of the moment. Even later, Edie calls her out on simply putting on a show, but her decision to bolt after Zach that first time is perhaps indicative that she's somewhat serious about it. Then, later, Bree helps push her in the right direction. So at this point it's less of a show and more of a positive decision that Susan has made. It's not until Zach mentions Julie that Susan changes her mind. Perhaps she may have been willing to compromise on her own behalf, but when it comes to Julie, she's going to protect her child. And, given Zach's unpredictable behavior at the end of season one, I can't say that I blame her. Admittedly, though, giving Zach the means to leave was still a bad move no matter what.

I have one question regarding Lynette's storyline...where are the twins? At one point we saw Penny playing in her playpen but no sign of Preston or Porter. When Lynette wakes Parker up early, we're able to see bunk beds on the opposite wall, but were there kids occupying them? I was expecting to be treated to a scene where the twins raised a fuss about not being able to go get doughnuts, too. Oddly enough, their not being there was more distracting than the chaos they usually create. I guess I'll just chalk it up to that mysterious way TV deals with kids.

All in all, though, Lynette's storyline perked up this week with the appearance of the imaginary British nanny, Mrs. Mulberry. It made me realize, however, that perhaps the reason why Lynette's storyline has come off as so mundane is, essentially, because it is. Consider the other housewives, they've got death, danger, intrigue, and lies to make their storylines more palatable. Lynette is merely struggling with adjusting to being a working mother. Now, not that that's not something that's very real and tangible in today's world, but when compared to the high drama of the rest of the show it's...boring.

With Andrew's behavior crossing the line so many times in this episode, it was almost easy to forget George is a murderer and see him as the victim. And as a victim was certainly how Bree was seeing him and it's nearly guaranteed that George will milk that factor for all it's worth now that Andrew has been shipped off to the camp again. It looks to me like the writers are planning many twists and turns with this particular storyline and I have to admit, I'm looking forward to it.

The Applewhites who? They didn't show up in this episode. In fact, I didn't even realize they didn't show up until I started writing this review, meaning I didn't miss them at all as I watched the show. No big loss.

It was nice to have the housewives interact some in this episode while Susan told Bree and Gabrielle about Zach. Interaction is something I'm not sure the show does enough of, after all the women are neighbors and, more importantly, they are friends. Also, it's nice every once in a while to feel like the whole show ties together rather than feel like we're watching four or five seperate mini-shows woven together.

Overall, the theme of fathers being important would have been nicely done, subtly, if it weren't for the fact that Mary Alice is still narrating each show and clunking us over the head with the show's "meaning" at the end. At this point I'm thinking the show has moved far enough away from the Mary Alice aspect of last season's mystery that her voice-overs could be dropped and no one would notice. Otherwise, the show was entertaining, at least; all the way from Gabrielle inadvertantly causing a prison-yard riot to the unfortunate demise of Mrs. Mulberry. This show seems to specialize in dark humor and it's nice to see, in light of other aspects of the show faltering, that it can still get the humor right.

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