Desperate Housewives (Season 2)

infobox tvseason
season_name = Desperate Housewives Season 2


caption = Promotional poster for the second season.
dvd_release_date = August 29, 2006
dvd_format = Widescreen, Boxset
country = USA
network = ABC
first_aired = September 25, 2005
last_aired = May 21, 2006
num_episodes = 24
Prev = Desperate Housewives (season one)
Next = Desperate Housewives (season three)|

This article contains a summary of the second season of the American dramedy television series "Desperate Housewives".

The season first aired on September 25, 2005 and concluded on May 21, 2006. In addition to the twenty-three regular episodes in season two, two specials were aired; "All the Juicy Details", on January 1 2006, and "The More You Know, The Juicier It Gets", on April 23 2006.

The Second season began in Ireland on January 10 2006 and ended on June 6 2006. Ireland during the second season were 1 or 2 episodes ahead of the UK each week. The UK began airing the season on January 18 2006 and ended on June 21 2006.

As off 14 July 2008, the season is being repeated on Channel 4 (therefore making it's debut on timeshift channel, channel 4+1 which was launched after the end of season three) weekdays. At present 2 episodes are going out a day, and are airing after Will and Grace in the slot of 1.40pm-3.25pm. However, after episode 20, which will air on 25 July 2008, the episodes will switch to one per day, with an earlier timeslot of 12.00noon. Unlike the original airing of the season two finale, the story will be split over the 2 days of Wednesday 30 July 2008, and Thursday 31 July, 2008, with the season three premiere airing once more on Friday 1 August. Season Two is the first to be repeated on analogue in the UK, but not on cable television. It is therefore unknown why Season One has been repeated on E4 during the summer of 2007, but not re-aired on Channel 4.

Cast

With the exceptions of Rex Van de Kamp and John Rowland, the first season's main characters remain for a second year. New characters include Betty, Matthew and Caleb Applewhite, and several previously recurring roles is promoted to be included in the main cast: Tom Scavo, Karl Mayer, Andrew and Danielle Van de Kamp, George Williams, and Preston, Porter and Parker Scavo.

tarring

*Teri Hatcher as Susan Mayer
*Felicity Huffman as Lynette Scavo
*Marcia Cross as Bree Van de Kamp
*Eva Longoria as Gabrielle Solis
*Nicollette Sheridan as Edie Britt
*Alfre Woodard as Betty Applewhite
*Ricardo Antonio Chavira as Carlos Solis
*Mark Moses as Paul Young
*Andrea Bowen as Julie Mayer
*Doug Savant as Tom Scavo
*Cody Kasch as Zach Young
*Richard Burgi as Karl Mayer
*Brenda Strong as Mary Alice Young
*James Denton as Mike Delfino

Also Starring

*Shawn Pyfrom as Andrew Van de Kamp
*Joy Lauren as Danielle Van de Kamp
*Mehcad Brooks as Matthew Applewhite
*Brent Kinsman as Preston Scavo
*Shane Kinsman as Porter Scavo
*Zane Huett as Parker Scavo
*NaShawn Kearse as Caleb Applewhite (episodes 31-47)
*Page Kennedy as Caleb Applewhite (episodes 26-30)
*Roger Bart as George Williams (episodes 25-32)

Notable Guest Stars

*Pat Crawford Brown as Ida Greenberg
*Ryan Carnes as Justin
*Steven Culp as Rex Van de Kamp
*Bob Gunton as Noah Taylor
*Harriet Sansom Harris as Felicia Tilman
*Kathryn Joosten as Karen McCluskey
*Shirley Knight as Phyllis Van De Kamp
*Kyle MacLachlan as Orson Hodge
*Jesse Metcalfe as John Rowland
*Kiersten Warren as Nora Huntington
*Gwendoline Yeo as Xiao-Mei

Production

Season one executive producers Marc Cherry, Tom Spezialy and Michael Edelstein continued their work on the show during its second year, as did Kevin Murphy who was joined as a co-executive producer by George W. Perkins, Chris Black, Joey Murphy and John Pardee.

Marc Cherry, Tom Spezialy, Kevin Murpy, Chris Black, Joey Murphy and John Pardee all served as writers as well, together with Alexandra Cunningham, Jenna Bans, Kevin Etten, Josh Senter, all who had been on the show during its first season, as well as newcomers Bruce Zimmerman, Dahvi Waller, Alan Cross, Ellie Herman, Jim Lincoln and Scott Sanford Tobis.

Writers Jenna Bans and Josh Senter also were the show's story editors for the second season.

Nine directors worked with the show during the season: Larry Shaw, David Grossman and Arlene Sanford remained from the first season, and was joined with Wendey Stanzler, Robert Duncan McNeill, Pam Thomas, Randy Zisk, Stephen Cragg and Tom Cherones.

Plot summary

With the mystery of Mary Alice's suicide all but finished, the producers of the series cooked up a new stumper involving enigmatic neighbor Betty Applewhite. This season revolves around Betty as the housewives try to ascertain the truth about the mysterious sounds emerging from her basement...

usan's story

Susan found herself involved in a rather complicated and at times frustrating love-pentagon with ex-husband Karl, Mike, her newest love interest Dr. Ron McCready, and neighbor/nemesis Edie, that culminated in Edie burning down Susan's house after Karl rejected her for Susan. Susan ultimately rejected Karl in order to reconcile with Mike, only to have Mike be the victim of a hit-and-run at the hands of a new friend of both Bree and Susan, a dentist named Orson.

Lynette's story

Lynette struggled with her fast-track career in advertising and her husband Tom's growing resentment. Tom was upset that Lynette got him fired (she was upset that she was stuck at home while he had a career). Lynette reluctantly got her husband a job at her advertising agency but when her boss forced her to help him write sexually provocative instant messages to his wife, her boss blamed Tom for the messages when his wife refused to believe her husband had written them and demanded that he fire whoever was the real writer. When their boss threatened to reveal incriminating information about Tom, Tom punched the boss and was fired. Lynette was then informed by her boss that Tom had been making regular trips to Atlantic City. Lynette thought her husband was having an affair but then found out he was actually visiting his other child, whom he'd fathered during a one-night stand before he married Lynette. The child's mother demanded eleven years in back child support, which Lynette and Tom could not afford. To get her to go away, they decided to pay her a large sum of money in exchange for signing away all child support claims. The single mother instead used the money to put a deposit down on a home near Wisteria Lane, to be closer to Tom.

Bree's story

Bree struggled with being a widow and, after learning George had murdered her husband, stood back as George committed suicide in a desperate bid to guilt Bree into loving him. The revelation that George murdered Rex drove Bree to drink, which her son Andrew used to try to become emancipated from Bree (and coincidentally get access to the trust fund Bree's parents had set up for him). Bree countered by outing her son's homosexuality to her father and stepmother, resulting in them abolishing the trust fund. At the same time, Bree and Justin (Andrew's boyfriend) met and talked, leading to Bree realizing how wrong she was to condemn her son for his homosexuality. Bree sought to bridge the gap between mother and son with the help of her AA sponsor/boyfriend, who himself was a reformed sex-addict, and whom Andrew seduced into having sex in order to spite his mother. Andrew's actions made Bree think he was a sociopath and led her to abandon him outside of town. Andrew gloated that "he won" and that his evil actions towards his mother was all part of a plan to make Bree hate her son, since in Andrew's mind it was better to make Bree hate him for being evil and cruel towards her than being hated by his mother for simply being gay. Bree responded by telling Andrew that she never stopped loving him unconditionally until that moment, at which point Bree told her son that so long as he allowed himself to be consumed by hatred for himself and his mother, that she can't give him unconditional love.

Gabrielle's story

Gabrielle, the adulterous housewife, fired her lover/gardener and sought to salvage her marriage, after a run-in with Caleb Applewhite resulted in her losing her unborn child. Meanwhile her husband Carlos was convicted and paroled with help from a fairly attractive nun, who sought to seduce Carlos away from Gabrielle. In order to make peace with Carlos over her sleeping with another man, Gabrielle agreed to allow Carlos a one-time free pass to have an affair of his own. After making a clumsy pass at Lynette, Carlos ended up carrying on an affair with the couple's maid, Xiao-Mei, who the two had convinced to be artificially inseminated with the couple's child which ensured she would not be deported. At season's end, Gabrielle finally discovered the two were sleeping with each other and kicked Carlos out of their house while insisting the maid continue to work for her until the birth of Gabrielle's child.

Edie's story

Edie gets involved with Susan's ex-husband Karl. Her House is finally rebuilt after Susan accidentally burned it down. Edie and Susan continue to dislike each other and Susan is jealous when her daughter and Edie bond. Karl moves in with Edie but makes it clear he loves Susan and will end his relationship with Edie if Susan would take him back. Susan rejects Karl and he eventually proposes to Edie and she accepts. Karl has a change of heart and ends up breaking up with Edie but not till after he sleeps with Susan. When Edie finds out about Susan and Karl she returns the favor and burns down Susan's house. Susan tries to make Edie confess on the wire. Edie catches on and chases Susan and gets the tape but then she trips and falls under a beehive. Edie fights off the bees while Susan watches helplessly. Susan visits Edie at the hospital and tries to make a deal with her but Edie refuses and tells Susan that she's always helpless and that's why people help her, not because they love her.

Betty's story

Betty Applewhite (Alfre Woodard) moves to Wisteria Lane with her sons Matthew (Mehcad Brooks) and Caleb (NaShawn Kearse) and her very own secrets. The family had fled to Fairview when Caleb was accused of murdering Matthew's on-again/off-again girlfriend and held Caleb as a prisoner in the Applewhite family's basement. In spite of Betty's demands that the family not interact with the neighbors, this became hard when Caleb slipped out of the house and broke into Gabrielle's house, causing her to miscarry when he scared her and she fell down the stairs. Matthew began dating Bree's daughter Danielle. In the end, Betty discovered that it was Matthew, not Caleb, who had murdered Matthew's ex-girlfriend. But by the time she figured out the truth, Danielle had run off with Matthew and the bitter goodbye letter Danielle left Bree had caused Bree to check herself into a mental health facility. When Betty got hold of Bree and warned her that Danielle was in danger, she fled the facility and confronted the two. Bree told her daughter the truth about Matthew, but her daughter refused to believe her. When Bree tried to prevent the two from leaving, Matthew pulled out a gun and threatened to shoot her. Despite Danielle's shock, he attempted to but was shot by a SWAT sniper. Her murderous son dead, Betty took Caleb and left Wisteria Lane.

Mary Alice's story

Mary Alice's widowed husband Paul, meanwhile rode to Wisteria Lane to find his son Zach and deal with the possibility that Zach was Mike's biological son. Complicating things was the return of Felicia Tilman (Harriet Sansom Harris), Martha Huber's sister. Felicia alerted the frail Noah Taylor (Deirdre's father) of the existence of Zach and Noah decided to leave his entire empire to Zach. Felicia was angry that Mike had not murdered Paul and began a harassment campaign that culminated in her severing several of her fingers and draining enough blood from her body to create a bloody murder scene and frame Paul for "killing" Felicia. From jail, Paul asked Zach to ask Noah to provide money for Paul's defense. Noah refused, and chided Zach for being a weakling, saying he no longer thought Zach deserved his empire and planned to change his will. With Noah egging him on, Zach turned off the respirator which had been keeping Noah alive and inherited the entire estate. Realizing his newfound wealth, Zach ended the season by telling his increasingly agitated "father" (who had lied to Zach about murdering Mrs. Huber) that he wouldn't be able to visit him in jail for some time and coolly requesting Noah's assistant get him a new cell phone and number so his father could not contact him, apparently having adopted the requisite attitude for running the empire.

Ratings - United States:

Nielsen Ranking (2005-06 U.S. TV season; based on average total viewers per episode): #4 (22.2 million viewers) [cite news|url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/television/feature_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002576393|publisher=Hollywood Reporter|date=2006-05-26|title=2005-06 primetime wrap]

Ratings - United Kingdom:

BARB ratings are as follows (BARB ratings are the viewing figures of the Great British Public)

Ratings - Australia:

Aired Mondays at 8.30 on the Seven Network; season debuted Monday February 6th 2006, had a two week 'hiatus' during the Easter break (following ep: 2-09) and the finale aired July 31st 2006. The Houswives remained a top 10/20 fixture in most of the capital city markets, the exception being Brisbane where the show dropped into the 20-30 range.

References