"One Wonderful Day"

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Written by John Pardee And Joey Murphy And Marc Cherry And Tom Spezialy

And Kevin Murphy

Directed by Larry Shaw

We watched, we’ve waited and my God, how we’ve all literally anticipated but it’s finally here, the moment in why Mary Alice, sorry Angela took her life on that fatal afternoon in the first episode, leading to a series of non-wonderful events for pretty much everyone here.

Wisely opening with a flashback, we see Angela as a nurse in Utah, working side by side with Felicia. Shot pure soap opera style, a drug addled and desperate Deirdre stops by the Forrest household and sells her baby Dana to feed her addiction. Upon being found by medical staff, the Young’s take off with a newly renamed Zach and move to Fairview, hoping to leave their past behind them and settle into their new lives.

However in the present day, a deranged Zach takes his frustration out on Felicia in a brutal fashion, breaks into Mike’s (he believes Paul is killed) and holds Susan at gunpoint while filling her in on a few things and now that he’s aware of his full origins he intends to make Mike pay for killing his "father". Except that Mike hasn’t killed Paul at all, though it was on the menu but the revelations we’ve all been waiting for all season long finally come spilling out, so are you ready?

Here goes then - three years after moving to Fairview, a newly clean Deirdre pays a visit to the Young’s after extensively trying to track them down. When she mentions wanting to take Dana/Zach back, a huge row between her and Angela erupts, resulting in one very stabbed to death Deirdre. Contrary to popular belief all year, it was in fact Mary Alice who ended Deirdre’s life and there are some truly killer exchanges between both women. Convinced Deirdre was high and still using drugs, Mary Alice could have easily justified her actions but the nasty sting in the tail is that Deirdre was telling the truth and was actually clean. Unfortunately any way the picture is painted, the end result is the same - Mary Alice is a killer. It may not have been pre meditated but it still was murder nonetheless.

And it doesn’t help her case that Deirdre’s reactions (including hitting Paul) were natural under the circumstances, making Mary Alice’s guilt all that more real and her suicide all the more complex too. While parts of the actual murder scenes felt a little rushed, it was still well played out by all concerned and the flashbacks, despite looking a little too soap opera-esque were beautifully shot. This revelation won’t please all viewers, doesn’t entirely justify the Young’s actions but it’s still a good way to tie up most of this loose end.

There’s still the issue of Paul being left in the desert, Felicia’s assault which was barely touched upon, Zach’s desperation to exact vengeance on Mike and the possibility of the two being blood related. To be honest, I’m not sure I believe that Zach is Mike’s. After all, there’s also that cop who Deirdre was blackmailed into having sex with as well as the possibility of it being someone else completely. The episode also ends on a standard cliffhanger but you can anything that there won’t be a bullet lodged in Susan anytime soon. However as compelling as all this is, there’s another plot that actually far more interesting which I will save until last.

We also had Gabrielle hilariously lying in court in order to get Carlos out of jail. Yes, he may be a lot of things your honour but rest assured he’s not a gay basher, although he’s had trouble apologising to the men he falsely beat up. Please spare me and while Gabby’s bullshitting skills are for once used to help someone other than herself, John made pretty damn sure Carlos got sent away anyway when he whispered about romping with his missus three times a week for the last year and so, resulting in Carlos the dimwit making himself look like’s attacking Justin. Whoever said that men can’t multi task should look into that theory again and even though John’s baiting was suitably hilarious, he totally took the coward’s way of telling Carlos and that I don’t respect. I seriously don’t doubt Carlos kicking his ass when he gets but at least Jesse Metcalfe’s three minutes in this finale aren’t wasted. And of course with one man banged up and the other signing his own death warrant, Gabrielle’s back to the same position she started in. Once again, everyone’s a loser.

And losers we have all round in the Scavo household. Thanks to his wife’s meddling, Tom’s lost his job and dignity in fell swoop and Lynette has put them on the road marked Oh Crap. Despite her protestations and pathetic attempts of apologising, Lynette doesn’t get much sympathy from me. Tom had every right to say what he did but even I was stunned which his determination to be a stay at home father. If this doesn’t prove that he’s willing to help out in the domestics, then nothing will and let’s face it, it didn’t take Lynette long to be reminded of the cutthroat lure of her advertising roots but like I said in my last review, I still would have preferred if both Scavo’s were working next season. That being said, I am very intrigued to see how the writers will play off tom’s new situation. Will he be hurling eggs at cranky neighbours? Dealing with the terror trio the next time they damage some little girl? Or participating in the girls Tuesday poker game? There could be some cool possibilities with this one.

For the interesting part of the finale, it was never really a contest. The Van De Kamp’s have been the most complex and truly messed up family out of the main housewives as well as being a complete joy to watch. We’ve had hits and runs, abstinence club discussions, S & M antics and sociopath stalkers and now a major death as Rex dies due to an increase of potassium in his blood stream. There’s so many great scenes leading up to, during and after his death, it’s almost impossible to list them all but the important ones are the other housewives support for Bree at the hospital, Bree and Rex’s last moments together and of course the shocker of Bree learning about her husband’s death via a phone call from the hospital. Taking an obvious leaf out of standard Six Feet Under and perhaps the Buffy episode "The Body", it’s incredibly fair to say Marcia Cross steals the show yet again.

Those pausing moments of disbelief and numbness, pedantically cleaning the silver ware before finally bursting into hysterical sobbing and picking out funeral clothing at the end, Cross expertly conveys all the right reactions with such nuance and plausible, it’s quite inspiring. That doesn’t take anything away from Steven Culp who impressed immensely during Rex’s final moments, but I’d hate to think he believes that Bree is actually responsible for him dying? Given what he wrote to her before dying, it did appear that way and his doctor practically accused Bree. Now I really, really hate George, possibly more than I’ve detested any other character on this show before.

It’s definitely hard to take but I believe Rex is dead but it isn’t too much of a stretch to say this isn’t the last we’ve seen of Steven Culp. There’ll always be the obligatory array of flashbacks and dream sequences next season and you can just imagine the strain his demise will cause in the Van De Kamp household and in the ever crumbling world of Bree.

Also in "One Wonderful Day"

Like I said before, the opening sequence are shot very soap opera style and the Young’s moved to Fairview in March 1990, another reason Zach could possibly not be Mike’s.

Keeping with the throwbacks and nods to the Pilot, there wasn’t any opening credits, bar the Desperate Housewives logo.

Gabrielle (to Bree): "We’re gonna talk about non-crisis things" Susan: "I know! I found Mrs Huber’s diary in Mike’s car and she was blackmailing Mary Alice and maybe she knows her secret" Lynette: "That’ll do it".

Edie (to Matthew): "Please call me Edie. Mam is for middle age women like her (points to Susan). You can call her mam any time".

Only appearing briefly the Applewhites do bugger all really, although it’s interesting that they bought the Mullins house without actually looking at it first off. Maybe that was on purpose mind. As for Betty, she seems more bitchy than creepy.

Matthew: "People are very friendly in this neighbourhood" Betty: "Yes, yes they are".

Gabrielle: "Carlos in some circles beating up people at all is frowned upon".

While Gabrielle’s series of ultimatums were funny and all, it was a bit silly for her not to realise that Carlos was going to jail anyway so she still would have to do some of the grunt work regarding her baby anyway.

John: "Just so you know, you beat up the wrong guy. Didn’t you think it was strange that your lawn was the only one that needed to be mowed three times a week?" Carlos: "I ... am going ... to kill you!"

Susan: "Now you be a good boy Bongo or you’ll ... go to bed hungry."

Yay the mystery dog returned but didn’t bark at a gun toting Zach. Worst guard dog ever award.

A lot was supposed to also happen in this episode that didn’t including a fight between Andrew/Justin, Lynette/Tom being brought to court by Annabel, a mystery moment for the Applewhites and a saucy snog between John/Gabrielle. Are they being saved for next season or DVD extras for Season One?

Lynette: "So did you have a fun day?" Tom: "As a matter of fact I did".

Deirdre (to Mary Alice): "You were always so high and mighty back at the clinic, looking down on us poor degenerates, pretending you wanted to help when all you really wanted was to feel superior. You self-righteous bitch".

Paul: "You ever actually kill someone for real before?" Mike: "Yeah" Paul: "Oh".

Bree:"And for the record you are gonna come through this operation just fine" Rex:"How can you be so sure" Bree:"Because I told you the best is yet to come".

Rex’s letter to Bree was - "I understand and I forgive you. I love you".

How come Andrew and Danielle didn’t feature here? Julie appeared but she had virtually nothing to do whereas if the Van De Kids appeared at least there would have been a purpose for them.

Was it me or did that desert Mike and Paul in look a little weird?

With a record of five people scribing this episode (impressive!), Cherry and company pen an ender that while it may not be an entire crowd pleaser for all who invested in this series all season, it definitely ticks all the correct boxes to make me want to tune into next year. "One Wonderful Day" is a reasonably satisfying way of ending Season One and I don’t know about you but my next televisual journey involves three strapping funeral directors but my 23 episode tour of Wisteria Lane has definitely been most interesting.

Rating: 9 out of 10.