Something's Coming (Desperate Housewives)

Infobox television episode
Title = Something’s Coming
Series = Desperate Housewives


Caption =
Season = 4
Episode = 9
Airdate = December 2, 2007
Production = 409
Writer = John Pardee & Joey Murphy
Director = David Grossman
Episode list = List of Desperate Housewives episodes
Prev = Distant Past
Next = Welcome to Kanagawa

“Something’s Coming” is the 79th episode of the ABC television series, "Desperate Housewives". It was written by John Pardee and Joey Murphy and directed by David Grossman. It is the ninth episode of the show’s fourth season and it aired on December 2, 2007 in the United States.

Guest starring

*Nathan Fillion as Adam Mayfair
*Kathryn Joosten as Mrs. McCluskey
*John Slattery as Victor Lang
*Pat Crawford Brown as Ida Greenberg
*Melora Walters as Sylvia Greene
*James Luca McBride as Al Kaminsky
*Barry Nolan as Male News Anchor
*Eva Simone Fisher as Mrs. Kowalsky
*Bob Rusch as Security Guard
*Billy Unger as Chad
*Christine Joaquin as Nurse
*Lynette Dupree as Nurse #2
*Eric Christie as Orderly
*Brandon Lombardi as Field Reporter
*Lee Oliver Boyd as Female News Anchor

Plot

Gabrielle stuns her friends by telling them she’s back together with Carlos and that they are leaving town to escape from her current husband Victor, since he knows about her affair and is being released from the hospital tomorrow. While they are saying their goodbyes, Karen McCluskey alerts them that a tornado is on its way. Mary Alice then makes an ominous prediction. "In just twenty four short hours, one of these women would lose a husband and all of them would lose a friend."

Lynette Scavo asks Karen if she, her husband and her five children can stay in her basement, and she reluctantly agrees. Bree Hodge stops by to lend Susan some hurricane supplies and Susan says maybe it’s time to tell Orson about Mike’s drug addiction problem. Bree admits she had already told Orson last week. Susan is upset, but does not let on why. Susan confronts Orson, even though he is with a dentist patient. She wants to know why he gave Mike the pills when he knew he had a drug problem. Orson claims he thought he was helping.

Mike finds a note from Susan that says “See me,” instead of the pills in his secret stash. As they argue, he pulls at her arm, causing her to fall down the stairs. He rushes her to the hospital, insisting she be seen immediately since she is pregnant with his kid, but the staff is swamped and tells them they have to wait. Mike gets impatient and punches out a hospital staffer. Security is called and Mike is restrained until after Susan is examined and released. The baby is fine and she has only suffered a mild sprain. Mike apologizes and Susan tells him she talked to the doctor about a rehab facility. Mike swears he can kick this by himself but he is tempted to have a dose of Susan’s medication for her sprained leg. She firmly tells him no, as she warns him that he will go to rehab now or she will leave him. Mike gives in to her wishes.

Katherine is alarmed to see Sylvia, her husband Adam’s stalker, outside her house. They argue and Sylvia insinuates that Adam was happy to see her when she stopped by yesterday: Didn’t Adam tell her? Katherine spits in Sylvia’s face in full view of Bree, who invites Sylvia in for tea.

Sylvia tells Bree that Adam is in love with her, not Katherine. As proof they were lovers, she mentions Adam’s snake tattoo on his shoulder. Bree tries to get her to leave and Sylvia barricades herself in the bathroom where Bree planned to ride out the tornado.

Adam apologizes for not warning Katherine that Sylvia had shown up again. Bree asks for Adam to come help lure Sylvia out of their bathroom. She refuses when she hears that Katherine is also there. While Adam tries to reason with her, Katherine assures Bree that what Sylvia said is a lie: There was no affair, only one kiss Adam gave her out of pity, which led to an accusation of sexual assault. Katherine wanted to fight the claim but Adam did not want to lose his license. Bree says she would have spit in Sylvia’s face, too.

A neighborhood boy informs Edie Britt that Gabrielle and Carlos are moving. While she is on Gabrielle’s porch, a courier shows up with the paperwork for the Cayman Islands account that Carlos asked for. Mistaking her for Gabrielle, he hands Edie the papers, which gives her everything she needs to access the funds. Gabrielle sees Edie with the file and runs after her.

Gabrielle breaks a window to get into Edie’s place so she can get the file back. Edie says she will leave them be for 60 percent. Gabrielle tackles her and runs outside with the file. As they fight over it, the winds blow the papers out of their hands. Edie looks up in terror and sees the tornado approaching and hustles Gabrielle back into the house.

Lynette wants Karen to kick Ida Greenberg’s cat out of the basement because Tom is extremely allergic, but Karen takes Ida’s side. Tom is having trouble breathing so Lynette smuggles the cat upstairs. Karen catches her and Lynette wants to know how she can choose a cat over Tom, especially after all their years of friendship. Karen insists they are not friends since Lynette never asks her over unless she wants something. The door blows open and the cat runs out, so Karen runs after it and Lynette tries to get her back inside. Karen only agrees when she sees the ominous funnel cloud at the end of the street. They try to reenter Karen’s house, but a barbecue pit and other rubble blows in the way. They rush into Lynette’s house and into the bathroom to hide in the tub under a mattress.

Gabrielle reluctantly agrees to hide in Edie’s crawl space with her. She tells Edie she is sorry that Carlos and she lied to her. Edie says they are both going to get out of here okay and she is going to go on hating her for years to come. But then she admits she does not really hate Gabrielle, just that she fell hard for Carlos, which was stupid since she always knew that he would go back to Gabrielle. They hear a huge bang and hug each other tight.

Carlos rushes to Gabrielle’s house and finds Victor sitting in the living room with a gun. He tells him they are going to wait for Gabrielle, together. Carlos tries to convince him that he and Gaby had not planned to get back together and never meant to hurt him. Victor’s response is to start shooting. Carlos runs outside and Victor follows, gun in hand. They struggle for the gun and it falls into the street where an airborne car falls on it. Stray objects fly through the air as the two men fight. Carlos knocks Victor out and is trying to get inside the nearest building when Victor comes after him with a lead pipe. Suddenly Victor stops short -- he has been impaled by a flying fence post! Victor drops to the ground, dead. Then Carlos himself is knocked on the head, out cold.

Sylvia still refuses to come out so Orson hustles them all into a closet. Trapped in the small room, Katherine and Bree blame each other for their predicament. Katherine apologizes, saying she is tense because of Sylvia. Bree commiserates, relating Sylvia’s “insane” ramblings, including the detail about Adam’s snake tattoo. Katherine says that Adam used to have such a tattoo, but he had it removed. Katherine coldly asks Adam if that’s why they settled the lawsuit and lost everything. Adam tries to explain, but she won’t let him. Bree reaches out and squeezes her hand in sympathy. Finally, Sylvia comes out of the bathroom and gives Adam a last chance to run away with her. Then she opens the front door to leave, only to be swept up into the tornado, killing her instantly.

The tornado finally arrives on Wisteria Lane, and the sounds of things snapping, being crushed, and ripped apart can be heard by the residents seeking shelter from the storm’s rampage.

But soon all is quiet on Wisteria Lane. Bree, Orson, Benjamin, Katherine, Adam, Edie, Gabrielle, Mrs. McCluskey and Lynette come out from their hiding places and are shocked to see that their houses have been badly damaged, but still standing. Lynette, however, crawls through the mountains of debris in the street and screams in horror when she sees that Mrs. McCluskey’s house (that held Ida, Tom, Kayla, and all her children) is no longer standing and has been completely demolished.

The audience is then left to wonder: Who has lived and who (other than Victor and Sylvia) has died?

Quotes

::Gabrielle: Can I say something?::Edie: What?::Gabrielle: I'm sorry Carlos and I lied to you. I know we hurt you. I wish it didn't happen the way it did. And I just wanted you to know that.::Edie: Why are you talking like that?::Gabrielle: Well, I thought just in case we...::Edie: Oh, no you don't! You just shut the hell up. I'm not doing death bed confessions here. When we get through this, I'm gonna go on hating you for years to come.::Gabrielle: You really hate me?::Edie: Yes! (Then she realizes what happened) No. It's just that I really let myself fall for him, which was stupid, because I always knew that he'd go back to you.::(Edie and Gabrielle hear a bang and hug each other tightly)::Gabrielle: Well, I'm still sorry, though.::Edie (calmly and gently): I said shut the hell up.----::Carlos: Do you mind if I say something?::Victor: Please.::Carlos: Gabby and I never planned to get back together, Victor. We tried to keep away from each other. We really did. And...I don't know, it's like we're two halves of the same person, or something. And when we're apart, we...we just aren't happy, which is why we... We never set out to hurt you, Victor. And I'm sorry we did.::Victor: Are you done?::Carlos: Yeah.----::Katherine: How could you not have told me Sylvia was here?!::Adam: I was trying not to upset you.::Katherine: Well, you failed. At least if you had warned me. I wouldn't have been so blindsided when she showed up on our front lawn.::Adam: I'm sorry. Look, I'll call the police. I'll get a restraining order. I'll do whatever it takes to get this woman out of our lives.----::Susan: No. There's no tomorrow. It's now or never. You will quit this now. You will go to rehab or, so help me, I will leave you. I will take this baby and I will leave you.::Mike: You win. I'll go.----::Al: Gabrielle?::Edie: Excuse me?::Al: Sorry, I'm in a rush. My wife's alone with the kids, and I have to get home before the storm hits. This is the information Carlos asked for.::Edie: About what?::Al: About the Cayman Island accounts. Didn't he tell you I was coming?::Edie: Yeah, of course he did. He said that you'd be stopping by. Duh.::Al: This is everything you need to access the money. I washed my hands of this, so whatever you do, don't lose that folder. Got it?::Edie: Believe me, I won't let it out of my sight.::Al: All right. Nice to finally meet you, Gabrielle. You're just as pretty as Carlos said you were.::Edie: Oh, no. I'm prettier.

Notes

*This episode had 20.6 million viewers on its original air – the highest viewing figures in a year since the Season 3 Episode 10 – "The Miracle Song".

*A total of 15.8 Million viewers watched this episode in the UL and was the most watched broadcast that week

Awards Notes

*James Denton submitted this episode for consideration of his work in the category of "Outstanding Supporting Actor - Comedy Series" for the 2008 Emmy Awards.cite web|title = 2008 Emmys CONFIRMED Episode Submissions|url = http://goldderbyforums.latimes.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/1106078764/m/340102161/p/1|publisher = The Envelope Forum, Los Angeles Times|accessdate = 2007-06-13]

Trivia

*The episode title, “Something’s Coming” is a song taken from a Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim musical, "West Side Story".
*Although credited, Lyndsy Fonseca (Dylan Mayfair), Shawn Pyfrom (Andrew Van de Kamp), Joy Lauren (Danielle Van de Kamp) and Andrea Bowen (Julie Mayer) do not appear in this episode.
*This episode, was by far the most elaborate, expensive and time consuming episode in the series, with 30 hours of labour by the crew to form the destruction left behind by the tornado, including flattening Karen McCluskey's house.
*In one scene of the episode, a TV is seen turned on that includes a news anchor discussing the tornado watch increasing to the tri-county area, the county that the Toy Story 2 characters live in.
*Along with the TV scene, the news anchor says that funnel clouds have been spotted. Usually, in a real life situation, a tornado warning would have been issued.
*The episode mostly represents the right thing to do during a tornado watch or warning.

International Titles

*Spanish : "Algo se acerca" (Something's Coming)
*French : "Stupeur et tourbillons" (Madness and Tornado)
*Polish: "Tornado" (The Tornado)
*Italian: "Quando S'Alza Il Vento" (When The Wind's Raising)
*German: "Tornado"
*French (Canada) : "Tempête à l'horizon" (A Tornado's Coming)
*Hungarian: "Valami közeleg" (Something's Coming)

References