See Also: 'You'll Never Get Away From Me' Episode Guide

Synopsis

Bree and Phyllis arrive at the cemetary to find that Rex's body has been exhumed. Phyllis then relates that it might be due to the fact that the insurance investigator believes Rex was poisoned...a turn of events that she conveniently "forgot" to tell Bree.

Susan is waiting for Carl to bring Julie back as per the custody agreement. Susan knows they are at Edie's and so storms over there, where she finds Edie playing guitar and Julie singing. They are practicing for the church talent show. Lynette realizes that Parker is upset that she won't be taking him to his first day of school, so she promises to make arrangments to do so. Bree goes to see the insurance investigator where she realizes that she's a suspect in Rex's death.

Bree, finally understanding that Phyllis' forgetfulness was malicious, kicks her out. Gabrielle goes to visit Carlos and gives him an anniversary card. This spurs an argument in which Gabrielle insists John loved her. Susan and Julie are talking and Susan asks why Julie didn't ask for her accompaniment in the talent show. Apparently, Susan can play piano. Betty and Matthew are preparing a tray of food but when they open the door to the basement, a man lunges out at them. Betty finally subdues him by hitting him with the pistol. The doorbell rings and Betty answers it, finding Susan on the other side. Although she can play the piano, Susan hasn't played for a while and asks for lessons. Betty refuses her. When Lynette goes to speak with Nina, her boss, about getting the morning off to take Parker to school, she is also denied. However, Lynette gets the idea to accompany Parker through the computer via a video system. Meanwhile, Garbrielle has taken to spying on John as he gardens at a new house, but this time she sees him enter the house with a new housewife.

Mike goes to Mrs. Tillman's to find out if she has any info on where Zach might have gone. She then assumes that Mike killed Paul, but Mike tells her he didn't. She tells him he should have. At dinner, Bree informs her children that she is a suspect in Rex's death. She states her innocence but the children don't exactly believe her. At the urging of Matthew to be more friendly, and thus, less suspicious, Betty agrees to give Susan piano lessons.

Susan shows up at Edie's while Edie and Julie are practicing. She asks to join to make a trio but when Edie refuses Susan asks Julie to decide who she'll perform with. Julie chooses Susan. Gabrielle confronts John about his relationship with the other woman and when he reveals that he has feelings for this woman, Gabrielle realizes her mistake with the affair. Bree submits herself to a polygraph test in front of her children. Things are smooth until the questioner asks her about George. The graph shows a disturbance when she is asked is she loves him.

Lynette sets up the video system to talk to Parker but has to leave for a staff meeting. She tries to get out of the meeting but can't, so she bumps against the table, knocking coffee into Nina's lap and thus ending the meeting. Bree talks to George about the polygraph test and the fact that he's a suspect as well. She then convinces him to take the polygraph test and, when asked if he poisoned Rex, the graph shows no discrepancy. Susan and Julie step up to perform, but Susan takes a moment to apologize to Edie. Edie mentions that she can also play piano and Susan lets her perform in her place. However, Edie isn't that good, which pleases Susan. Gabrielle goes to visit Carlos again where she finally gives him a sincere apology.

Analysis

I think the writers want viewers to hate Susan. Although she apologizes to Edie at the end of this episode, it wasn't really a redeeming action. Especially since the person she really should have apologized to was Julie. What mother makes her daughter make such a ridiculous choice? It was disgustingly selfish of Susan. It's also making me wonder why Susan is still carrying this grudge against Edie. If I recall correctly, the main reason these two were not getting along was because of Edie's interest in Mike. Obviously Mike prefers Susan. And, given Susan's returned interest in Mike, it's a little farfetched to believe that Susan is jealous of Edie's relationship with Carl for any other reason than pure childishness on Susan's part. She's acting like a kid who wants all the toys in the toy box for herself, even if she doesn't intend to play with them. Grow up.

Another character that it's quite easy to be exasperated with due to her own childishness is Gabrielle. Although, to be fair, whereas Susan seemed quite remorseless and, indeed, unconcerned of whether or not she was doing anything wrong, at least Gabrielle seems to struggle with her conscience from time to time. This episode was definitely one of those times. Gabrielle finally seems to see reason when she's forced to be the mature one. John's admission of having feelings for his latest housewife conquest made it obvious to her that he's simply a boy; he's too young to actually know what these "feelings" are all about and thus comes off as fickle.

Interestingly enough, although John is a teenager and, consequently, viewers shouldn't have expected the realization of his capriciousness to be a shock, in a way it was. All through season one John's professions of love seemed to be sincere and, well, perhaps they were to an extent. However, it was so much easier to believe it of him and it's possibly because many viewers, like myself, were used to Jesse Metcalfe playing the the nice guy, Miguel, on the daytime soap, Passions. To find that John is actually something more of what some might call a stereotypical teenager was rather amusing.

In the end, it was nice to see that Gabrielle finally came to the realization of just what, exactly, was wrong with having the affair. However, I hold no hopes that this is a sign of a new and improved Gabrielle, as we've seen her remorseful before and then the next week she's right back to being selfish again.

At this point, Lynette's storyline seems to be headed nowhere fast. There are only so many times that Lynette can outsmart her anti-family life boss in order to care for her children before she either quits work and becomes a full-time housewife again or viewers get bored. Oh wait, I already am. Also, it gets a little irritating watching Lynette herself get outsmarted and manipulated by her children time and time again. Whatever happened to "Because I'm the mommy, that's why?"

The Applewhites. What is there to say about them? For all the hinting, there really hasn't been too much that's been revealed that's worth talking about. There's a guy in the basement and he's dangerous. The why of it all hasn't been fully exposed, although it's highly likely that the story Betty told the doctor in order to get the sleeping pills in the last episode had grains of truth in it. However, since it was obviously a story for the benefit of the doctor, which parts of it should the viewer trust? In the end, it has no effect on satisfying curiosity and if the arc continues at such a pace it, too, can get boring. Granted, it's understandable that the writers have to spread the story over the coming months...but hopefully they'll manage to come up with a happy medium between frustrating us and satisfying us.

I'm definitely enjoying how Bree's storyline is panning out. First of all, it was an enjoyable sight to see Phyllis go. In the first two episodes it was easy to understand that she'd just lost her son and was grieving, even if it was annoying. However, when she crossed the line and started being intentionally malicious to Bree was when any sympathy went out the window. Bravo to the writers for kicking her out so soon and let's hope she doesn't come back.

I have to say, I was a bit skeptical when the person giving Bree the polygraph test asked the "Are you in love with George?" question. I can't claim to be an expert, but I do know what pretty much everyone else knows...polygraph tests don't necessarily uncover when a person is lying but rather it uncovers the behavior that is common when someone lies. Questioning someone about love seems a surefire way to get a jump on the graph as most people have to take a moment to think about how they'd even define "love". Given that Bree then later believes that perhaps the test was able to root out something she didn't know makes her seem naive. I'm guessing this was on purpose, however, since later George is able to lie when asked about his involvement in Rex's death. If Bree unwaveringly believes the results of the test then it paves the way for what could be a very interesting story arc concerning the relationship between Bree and George.

Overall, I found this episode to be entertaining...yes, even during the irritating scenes of Susan and Lynette. This episode certainly had a firm grasp on comic timing with all the dry wit and one-liners that were spread through the hour, which was effective in keeping the episode perked up and the interest of the viewers peaked.

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