See Also: 'They Asked Me Why I Believe In You' Episode Guide

Synopsis

Noticing that Nina is often tense, Lynette makes the suggestion that they both go out for a drink after work. At the bar, Lynette picks up a guy for Nina, who then comes into work the next day relaxed and dressed in the same clothes as the previous day.

Susan's book agent, Lonny Moon, stops by to ask her to sign over to the new company he is creating. She agrees to look over the contract even though he admits to "moving" money around at the old company. Carlos fires the new lawyer, David Bradley, after meeting him for the first time. Bree demands Rex's body back, a request that the insurance investigator complies with easily. Lynette is about to leave work when Nina suggests they go back to the bar. Betty goes to Edie's to sort out a mail mix-up and sees the news reporting an arrest in the murder of Melanie Foster which happened in Chicago. Betty goes back to her house where Matthew is relieved, stating that they're in the clear.

Bree, Gabrielle, Susan, and Edie are playing cards together when Bree requests their presence at Rex's reburial. The other women agree to come. Carlos and Gabrielle are at a jail marriage counseling group session when Carlos reveals that the reason he fired David was because David is too good-looking. Susan is reading over Lonny's contract when Mike reminds her that Lonny embezzled money and that some things don't deserve second chances. After Mike leaves, Susan tells Julie about her encounter with Zach.

Again, Nina suggests that she and Lynette go to the bar. When Lynette refuses, Nina then suggests that perhaps Lynette can't handle the "long hours" required for her job and that she should move Lynette to a different account. Lynette caves and goes to the bar. Out of guilt, Betty writes an anonymous note to the Chicago Police Department, telling them that they've arrested the wrong man. Matthew finds the note and yells at Betty, telling her that if they are caught, "they won't care how slow Caleb is, they'll just execute him."

Susan goes to Lonny's house which has no furniture or electricity. She asks just how much trouble he's in and whether or not he "moved" any of her money. When he says that he did, she refuses the contract but tells him that she'll always be his friend. He tries to kiss her and she runs from the house, screaming. Gabrielle speaks to David, telling him to convince Carlos that there is nothing to worry about. Rex's body is released to Bree and while she's waiting, the insurance investigator tries to get Bree to admit her guilt but she leaves, instead.

At the jail, David admits to wanting to pursue Gabrielle but that ethics prohibit him from doing so while Carlos is his client. Carlos then rehires David. Lynette, sick of being used as Nina's "wingman" decides to liven up. She mingles with the men at the bar, leaving Nina to sit by herself. Angry that Rex would believe that she was poisoning him, Bree has him reburied elsewhere and throws her wedding ring in after his casket.

The final scene shows Paul Young opening the mail that had piled up at his house.

Analysis

Lynette livening up was probably the most interesting thing she's done all season. It was nice to see another facet of this particular storyline since it's only logical that Lynette would eventually interact socially with some of the people she works with. While the fact that she went out with Nina wasn't exactly surprising, it was intriguing. Finding out that Nina is actually somewhat shy was a nice touch, and when she admitted as much to Lynette it made me kind of hopeful that the writers were headed in the direction of a sort of friendship between these two. After all, it's not as though Lynette has been around the relatively few times that the Housewives have all gotten together. In fact, if I recall correctly, Rex's reburial scene in this episode was the first of the season where all four of the main women have been in the same scene together.

Either way, I think that Lynette letting loose was a fresh change from the whiny "I'm a working mother!" scenes that we've been getting thus far. I hope to see more of this type of interaction in the future and I'm even looking forward to seeing how Nina will treat Lynette after her "betrayal" at the bar. The writers have an opening here seeing as how Lynette showed that, in the long run, Nina doesn't scare her. Nina seems like the type of person who would admire such a trait, even if she doesn't exactly like it. It could prove entertaining for the two women to maintain a friendship that walks such a thin line.

Have I ever mentioned my love for Edie? She's so blasé and cosmopolitan, she's like a breath of fresh air after all the drama the other housewives put us through. Her easy statement telling Betty to feel free to "snoop around" gave me a laugh but at the same time it gave us a large insight on her way of thinking. She expects her neighbors to be nosy and it doesn't bother her. She doesn't seem to have anything to hide and is thus frighteningly normal on this show. I'd love to see more of her but that would probably require giving her a tawdry past and an angsty outlook on life and I'd rather keep her the way she is.

Darn you Desperate Housewives for restoring my interest in the Applewhite mystery. We were finally given a full-faced glimpse of the man in the basement as well as being given his name, Caleb. Given that Matthew called him by this name, it seems unlikely that Caleb is Matthew's father (he also didn't look to be old enough, although in television it's possible for looks to be deceiving). We also know now that Caleb murdered a high school teen in Chicago and that he is, as Matthew put it, "slow". I'm guessing that Caleb is Betty's other son but now I'm wondering what, if anything, her husband has to do with this whole situation or if he's another situation unto himself.

I'm terribly delighted that (so far) Gabrielle doesn't seem to have an interest in David Bradley. He's way too slick and I'd hate to see Gabrielle fall for that sort of thing. Also, although Carlos certainly has the grounds to be worried, I don't like the idea that Gabrielle could be a serial cheater. Given that Gabrielle honestly believed that John loved her and that she has since come to see how immature they both were in the situation, I don't think it would be that believable to have Gabrielle have an affair with David just for the sake of plot.

Bree's outburst at the cemetary was executed perfectly by Marcia Cross and, while I appreciated her talent before, this scene raised my level of respect for her. It's all too easy to fall flat in a scene where the only emotion is anger and the only way to deliver your lines is by yelling, or something close to it. But Cross managed to keep the scene going despite this and a beautiful scene it was. Knowing Bree as we do, it's not hard to feel that she is perfectly justified in her disgust at Rex, although I have to say, Edie's question was the same one I've been asking for a while now.

The situation between Lonny and Susan was completely believable; Susan obviously had a platonic history with this man, making her decision of whether or not to sign his contract something that required a lot of thought on her part. That she would decide not to once she found out that he definitely embezzled some of her money was inevitable, and the lack of animosity and the clear distinction between business and friendship was very natural as well. So why did the writers have Lonny move in for a kiss? Amazingly, it was horribly cliche and surprising at the same time...and it totally ruined the scene.

The same sort of overkill happened in the marriage counseling session with Gabrielle and Carlos when one of the other wives wished to talk about the major problem of her marriage. Gabrielle and Carlos kept interrupting with their bickering about David until finally the other husband expressed that he suspected David is probably hot. The scene could have ended right there and I guarantee that most viewers would have gotten the joke about what the biggest problem in that particular marriage was. But no, the writers seem to have little faith in the intelligence of the viewers because they had to add in an expository line for the wife, "Can you tell what our biggest problem is? Or can everyone guess for themselves?" Memo to the writers: we're not stupid.

Which brings me to this...Mary Alice can go. I've said it before and I'll say it again, she's really not necessary anymore. The whole Mary Alice mystery has moved past the Mary Alice-ness of it all and is now focusing on Zach, Mike and Paul. Mary Alice seems to be around only to expose each episode's underlying theme, now. So here's an idea, how about spending less time explaning the show's lesson and more time getting these housewives in the same scenes together so that viewers can have that sense of friendship that was prevalent last season?

Discuss this reviews at Talk Desperate!