Desperate Housewives - Series Synopses and Episodes

Series Synopses and Episodes

See also: List of Desperate Housewives episodes

The first season premiered on October 3, 2004, and introduces the four central characters of the show: Susan Mayer, Lynette Scavo, Bree Van de Kamp and Gabrielle Solis, as well as their families and neighbors on Wisteria Lane. The main mystery of the season is the unexpected suicide of Mary Alice Young, and the involvement of her husband Paul Young (Mark Moses) and their son Zach (Cody Kasch) in the events leading up to it. Bree fights to save her marriage, Lynette struggles to cope with her demanding children, Susan fights Edie Britt (Nicollette Sheridan) for the affection of new neighbor Mike Delfino (James Denton), and Gabrielle tries to prevent her husband Carlos Solis (Ricardo Antonio Chavira) from discovering that she is having an affair with their gardener, John Rowland (Jesse Metcalfe). The end of the first season results in Bree's husband, Rex Van de Kamp (Steven Culp), dying while believing Bree has poisoned him, Carlos being informed of Gaby's affair by John himself before being sent to prison, a fired Tom Scavo (Doug Savant) allowing Lynette to take his place as the bread-winner of the household, and a cliffhanger which puts Mike in danger of being shot by his own son.

The second season premiered on September 25, 2005 and its central mystery is that of new neighbor Betty Applewhite (Alfre Woodard), who moved onto Wisteria Lane in the middle of the night. Throughout the season, Bree tries to cope with being a widow, unknowingly begins dating the man who poisoned her husband, fights alcoholism, and is unable to prevent the gap between her and her son Andrew Van de Kamp (Shawn Pyfrom) from growing to extremes. Susan’s love life becomes even more complicated as her ex-husband Karl Mayer (Richard Burgi) is engaged to Edie and is also started to incline towards Susan. Lynette goes back to her career in advertising and eventually becomes her husband's boss, and Gabrielle decides to be faithful to her husband, and begins preparations to have a child. In the closing moments of the season finale, Mike is run over by Susan's dentist friend Orson Hodge (Kyle MacLachlan), Bree saves her daughter from a killer, Gaby kicks out Carlos who had an affair of his own, and Lynette finds out Tom has a love child.

The third season premiered on September 24, 2006. In the third season, Bree marries Orson, whose past and involvement with a recently discovered dead body becomes the main mystery for half of the season. Meanwhile, Lynette has to adjust to the arrival of a previously unknown daughter of her husband to the home. The Scavos also experience tension as Tom, Lynette's husband, wants to start a pizzeria. Gabrielle goes through a rough divorce, but finally finds new love in Fairview’s new mayor. Edie sees her chance to make her move on Mike, who is suffering from amnesia following the run over, and her family relations are explored throughout the season. Susan loses hope that Mike's memory will return and in the process moves on to a handsome Englishman whose wife is also in a coma. Karen McCluskey (Kathryn Joosten) hides something in her freezer. A shooting at the local grocery store leaves two characters dead and changes everyone's lives forever.

The fourth season premiered on September 30, 2007, and its main mystery revolves around new neighbor Katherine Mayfair (Dana Delany) and her family, who return to Wisteria Lane after twelve years away. Her daughter remembers nothing about living on Wisteria Lane. Lynette battles cancer; the newlywed – but unhappy – Gabrielle starts an affair with her ex-husband Carlos; Susan and Mike enjoy life as a married couple and learn that they are expecting a child; Bree fakes a pregnancy and plans to raise her teenage daughter's illegitimate child as her own; and Edie schemes to hold on to her new love, Carlos. A gay couple from Chicago – Lee McDermott (Kevin Rahm) and Bob Hunter (Tuc Watkins) – become residents of Wisteria Lane. A tornado threatens to destroy everything, and everyone, that the housewives hold dear. In the closing minute the characters and their story have flashed forward by five years: Bree is a successful cookbook writer, her son works for her, Gabrielle has had children, Lynette's twins are old enough to drive cars, and Susan has a new lover.

The fifth season premiered on September 28, 2008, with the time period jumping five years after the previous season, with some flashbacks to events which happened between the two periods. The season mystery revolves around Edie's new husband, Dave Williams (Neal McDonough), who is looking for revenge on someone on Wisteria Lane (later revealed to be Mike). Susan deals with being a single mother and having a new romance with her painter, while Mike starts dating Katherine. Lynette and Tom learn that their son is having an affair with a married woman whose husband's nightclub burns down with all of Wisteria Lane's neighbors inside. Gabrielle struggles with their two daughters and with a financial crisis, as Carlos' sight returns. Bree and Orson have marriage problems, because Bree has become too focused on her career, and Orson begins to steal from neighbors as a coping mechanism. Edie dies of electrocution after a car crash, before she can expose Dave moments after she discovers his secret. It is later when Susan reveals to Dave that it was she, not Mike, who was driving the car that was involved in the accident in which Dave's previous wife and the daughter died. Dave plans to kill Susan and Mike's son in retaliation, but in the end has a change of heart.

The fifth season featured the show's one-hundredth episode, revolving around Eli Scruggs (Beau Bridges), a handyman who had an important role in all of the ladies' lives. This episode features flashbacks and returning characters, including Mary Alice, Rex, and Martha Huber (Christine Estabrook). The episode was broadcast on ABC on Sunday, January 18, 2009.

The sixth season premiered on Sunday, September 27, 2009 at 9pm. The main mystery of this season is surrounding new neighbor Angie Bolen (Drea de Matteo) and her family. The first half of the season consists of the conflict between Lynette and Gabrielle as Lynette attempts to sue Carlos, Susan's daughter Julie Mayer (Andrea Bowen) being strangled by an unknown person, Katherine's eventual breakdown at losing Mike to Susan, and Bree's affair with Karl, which ends tragically when Karl's hired plane crashes into a building with the two of them and Orson inside. The second half of the season focuses on Katherine experimenting with her sexuality, Lynette inviting the Fairview strangler to stay with them before discovering the truth, the conflict between Bree and a son of Rex whom he had before meeting Bree, and the solving of the Bolen mystery.

The seventh season premiered on September 26, 2010 and its main focus is the return of Paul Young to Wisteria Lane and his plans of seeking revenge on the residents for shunning him during his incarceration. This season also focuses on the mystery of Paul's new wife, and Felicia Tilman's (Harriet Sansom Harris) plans to avenge the death of her sister, Martha Huber. Lynette's best friend from college, Renee Perry (Vanessa Williams) moves to the Lane and stirs things up among the other housewives. Gabrielle and Carlos learn an unsettling fact about their daughter Juanita Solis (Madison De La Garza), which ultimately takes them back to Gabrielle's home town of Las Colinas. Orson leaves Bree, and so she starts dating her contractor. However, when it becomes apparent that their relationship cannot continue, Bree eventually begins seeing Detective Chuck Vance (Jonathan Cake). Due to financial problems, Susan and her family have moved off the lane, and Susan is forced to earn money by somewhat untraditional means. Following a major riot on the lane, Susan is put on the waiting list for a vital organ donation. Carlos learns the truth about his mother's death, consequently ending the friendship between the Solis family and Bree. Lynette persuades Tom to take an exciting new job, which leads to unprecedented problems in their marriage. The two-hour season finale aired on May 15, 2011, and ends the troubles between Paul and Felicia. An unexpected visitor arrives in the Solis family home, paving the way for the eighth season.

The eighth and final season premiered on Sunday, September 25, 2011. The final season picks up straight after the dinner party that featured in the previous season finale, in which Gabrielle's perverted stepfather Alejandro Perez (Tony Plana) is unintentionally killed by Carlos. Bree, Susan and Lynette walk in on this, and conspire to cover up what has happened. Due to her relationship with Chuck, Bree becomes the main affected by the cover-up of Alejandro's murder, and is eventually accused of killing Alejandro herself. A new neighbor, Ben Faulkner (Charles Mesure), moves into the lane, attracting Renee along the way. Ben is going through severe financial problems, and resorts to a dangerous and unruly loan shark to bail him out. Mike meddles in the business of Ben's loan shark in an attempt to protect Renee, but he pays the ultimate price. During the first half of the season, Susan struggles with the guilt of her involvement in the Alejandro case, and during the second half, she tries to deal with both Mike's death and Julie's unexpected pregnancy. Following the cover-up of Alejandro's murder, Carlos develops an alcohol problem, but Gabrielle persuades him to recover in rehab. Due to his guilty conscience, combined with recent events on the lane, Carlos decides to leave his highly paid career for a more charitable alternative, which forces Gabrielle to take a personal shopper position to bring in more money. Tom moves out of the family home, and Lynette struggles to come to terms with how quickly Tom seems to have moved on, until she accepts that she is still in love with him, and decides she will try to win him back. Mrs. McCluskey receives worrying news about her health and decides to end it all, but Bree manages to convince her otherwise.

The two-hour series finale which aired on Sunday, May 13, features the conclusion of Bree's court case. There is a wedding, a birth and a death, and the future of the four main housewives is revealed.