Desperate Housewives S05 E11: Home Is The Place

Bree clashes with Alex's mother (guest star Joanna Cassidy) for their sons' affections. Gabrielle urges Carlos to take a six-figure job, even though it means spending more time away from home. Susan turns to Lee for company while Jackson is away. Lynette catches Preston talking to Porter on the phone. Mrs. McCluskey and her sister, Roberta (guest star Lily Tomlin), arrive at Dr. Heller's office in Boston to talk with him, unaware that he's recently deceased. Meanwhile, Edie grows weary of Dave, whose strange behaviour hasn't abated.


Costume

Most of the costumes in this program are typical of everyday life, but of course, the scandalous action is not typical of everyday life, so there are exceptions.


The Hodge Family

The episode starts with Bree and her son's mother-in-law to be, and they have tension between them. This is reflected in the costume. Bree is wearing a sleeveless high-necked white top with a white scarf built in, a black pencil skirt, and silver jewellery. Very classy. This is a contrast to Lena, the mother-in-law, who, despite having very similar hair colour, dresses very differently. She is wearing a red coat, a red velvet shirt, a black skirt (similar to Bree's), black patterned tights, red suede boots, and gold jewellery. The black and white look shows Bree is classic and tasteful, whereas Lena's red-dominant look suggests she is naughty (manipulative) and a bit promiscuous. She is manipulative and bitchy, which is reflected in this choice of costume. The contrast in jewellery colour is also apparent, Bree with classy silver, and Lena with cheap gold. Later in the episode, Bree wears a blue long-sleeved satin shirt and a floral apron, portraying the "perfect housewife" image. Her husband, Orson, is wearing a suit, pink shirt, and red tie; smart and the "perfect husband". Towards the end of the episode, Bree has changed again for her dinner, and is now wearing a modest dark teal dress with a black waist belt. This colour complements her red hair, which she is wearing down, and fits her age. Orson wears a yellow jumper, cream shirt and black trousers; smart-casual, perfect dinner attire. Lena wears a low-cut bright blue dress that would be more suited on a teenager than her. This further shows their personalities and how they differ. Bree's son Andrew wears a khaki shirt, similarly coloured to his mother, and his fiancee wears a purple striped shirt, both of which are recognisably gay.



The Williams Family

Edie works as a realtor, and for this she wears a white fitted jacket, with a clingy black dress with white piping, bare legs and black heels. This shows that she is a professional business woman but also reflects her promiscuous personality. Her husband Dave, who is getting more and more insane, wears a white shirt, black waistcoat, a loosened pink tie accompanied by stubble and ruffled hair. This shows he is feeling rough, yet trying to look respectable. Later in the episode, very early in the morning, Edie is woken by Dave talking to himself, and she is wearing a white night-dress and a blue fluffy dressing gown, obviously showing she was sleeping. Dave was wearing a black dressing gown, which creepily ressembled the Grim Reaper. The next morning, Edie is still in the same costume, showing she has not moved on from the night's events, and Dave has tried to clean himself up and is now wearing a grey suit, blue shirt and blue tie; trying to be normal and fit in with society. Edie also wears a red satin dressing gown when she is kicking Dave out, and this shows her old sexy ways have come back.



The Mayer Family

Susan starts the episode wearing a white jacket, red top, black trousers and silver funky arty earrings, showing she can be smart, but also has a kooky side. Later, she is wearing a black satin dressing gown with pink edges, which is quite sexy, showing another side to her personality. This is after she spent a drunken night with Lee, her gay neighbour (but nothing happened). The day before, he was wearing a beige striped shirt with beige trousers, and his partner Bob, a lawyer, wears suits as he is a professional. The rest of the episode, Susan wears a variety of big cardigans (grey, wheat-coloured) coupled with neutral coloured tops (green, grey) and jeans. This shows she is a casual yet well-dressed housewife who looks after herself and dresses her age.



The Scavo Family

Lynette doesn't take much care of her appearance, so most of the time she wears casual clothes; starts off in a blue short-sleeved shirt and black trousers, and progresses to a turquoise top, turquoise jacket, jeans, and a brown handbag. Tom is also casual, he wears a long-sleeved red t-shirt, with shows his young personality (playing in a band) and brown trousers. Their son Preston, who is covering for his twin Porter, wears a yellow polo-shirt with blue and pink stripes, and jeans, showing his age (18?) and it is casual because he is just at home. He wears colours because he has a colourful personality, similar to his parents, as they all seem to be wearing primary colours (blue, red, yellow), making a bold statement.



The Soulis Family

Gabrielle is an ex-model and used to take fashion very seriously, but since they have come into financial hardship due to Carlos being blind for 5 years, she has had to downgrade and sell all her expensive and fashionable clothes and shoes. She wears a yellow hoodie over a white t-shirt and white tracksuit bottoms, showing she is a full-time mother of two young girls. Carlos is wearing a blue tracksuit jumper over a pale blue t-shirt and jeans. showing he is casual playing with his children. These clothes indicate their financial situation also. Later, when Gaby goes out to buy clothes (from a discount store) she is wearing a turquoise t-shirt, turquoise headband, cropped pale blue trousers, hoop earrings and a beige handbag, showing she is making an effort because she is in public. She buys gold shoes because she thinks Carlos is getting a well-paid job. Carlos, at home, is wearing a light blue t-shirt, and later, a brown shirt (for dinner with Bradley the businessman who is in a suit. His wife is wearing a blue satin dress, but they are very unhappy. They reflect how Gaby and Carlos used to be). Gaby wears bold colours, such as a red top, to show her firey personality. For dinner, Gaby makes a big effort, and wears a blue dress, but with a white top underneath so that she is more modest (a bit contrast to how she used to dress).



These are the costumes from the main families and the people they interact with. Most of the costumes are casual and naturalistic, but obviously some are smarter, those who have professioal jobs. The costumes change depending on the characters' mood, financial situation, and the occasion. Lots of the women in Desperate Housewives are well-dressed and aspirational (Gabrielle used to be, Bree is very well-dressed, Susan is simple but stylish) and I think it is well-styled.

Desperate Housewives S05 E10 : A Vision's Just A Vision

Desperate Housewives came back on Wednesday with a great episode that moved me to tears at one point. Lynette takes extreme measures to protect her son from going to prison for allegedly burning down a restaurant, however he flees the town and so his twin brother takes his place in court. Carlos realizes the extent of Gaby's sacrifices for their family when he gets his sight back. Bree wants to prove to Andrew that she has accepted him for being gay, and approves of his new fiancee who is her doctor. Katherine finds happiness, as Susan and Mike recognize the fate of their relationship. Meanwhile, Dave starts to lose his grip, and it starts to become clearer why he came to Fairview in the first place.



Representation

A major representation in Desperate Housewives is housewives (obviously). Some people think rich housewives do nothing all day, but this TV drama shows how busy and complicated their lives are, and how much they go through trying to keep their families together.

Gabrielle represents shallow women and gives hope that they can change. She protected her family financially by selling her much-loved clothes, and it showed the love she has for Carlos.

Susan represents single mothers; two children from two different ex-husbands. She has a good relationship with Julie, and relies on her a lot. She is very emotional, which is a stereotypical womanly trait.

Lynette represents the women who "wear the trousers" in relationships and business. She has 5 kids, has suffered with cancer, and has endured a tornado. She represents working mum's, and her fashion and maintenance is a little less than the other women. She is blonde, but not stereotypical because she is smart and not flirty.

Bree represents the "perfect housewife" image, and from the outside she seems to run a perfect household. However, thanks to Mary Alice's narration and us being able to see behind closed doors, we find that her life is one of the most messed up (and that's saying something..)

Edie is a husband-stealing tease. She represents the more risque women, blonde, who wear seductive clothes and thrive on gossip. This is shown by the string of men she's had, including some of the women's husbands.

Teenagers are represented here by Porter Scavo being falsely accused of burning down his girlfriend's husband's restaurant. Dave lies and says he saw Porter come out of the stock cupboard, where the fire originated, just before the fire broke out, and since he had a motive, the police believed him.

Many older people think of youths as being unruly and troublesome, and here is the same. Porter didn't commit that crime, but he had intended to shoot his girlfriend's husband because he beat her up. So he was being bad.

This situation also represents fraternity among the twins, since Preston was willing to go to court in place of his brother. And family solidarity; Lynette is willing to lie to the courts to protect her son Porter from the husband of his girlfriend (who threatened to kill him).

Divorce is represented by Susan and Mike. The awkward moments when they get new partners, and when the partners meet the kid. Susan is lingering on the fate of their relationship, wondering if they should really give up.

Homosexuality is represented in this episode, and people's reactions to gay marriage. Bree is surprisingly tolerant, however is shocked by the fact that her gay son is engaged to her doctor who once starred in a gay porno. Bree is very old-fashioned, and the fact that even she accepted her son, shows that people today are more accepting of homosexuality, and this is represented by Bree.

New chosen TV drama

I've now had to choose another TV drama, so I decided to do Desperate Housewives because I love it and it is coming back on TV tomorrow!


In the near future I'm going to be analysing episodes for the following things:

• Representation
• Sound/Music
• Camera Work - movement/ shot types
• Costume
• Lighting
• Body Language
• Location
• Hair and Make-up
  
• Degree of Realism
  
• Narrative
  

What is it about?

Looking down on her friends and family isn't a way of life for Mary Alice Young. It's a way of death. One day, in her perfect house, in the loveliest of suburbs, Mary Alice ended it all. Now she's taking us into the lives of her family, friends and neighbors, commenting from her elevated POV. Her husband's acting suspicious, the neighbors are talking, and her girlfriends are wondering why one of their own would do something so rash… and so messy. From her unique vantage point, Mary Alice sees more now than she ever did alive and she's planning to share all the delicious secrets that hide behind every neighbor's closed door in this seemingly perfect American suburb. In the end of the episode, the girls find a threatening note written to Mary Alice, while a ghost of Mary Alice is standing in her yard looking at them.

Mary Alice narrates each episode, opening and closing each episode with some kind of message/moral/observation.

These are the main characters:

Susan Mayer (Teri Hatcher)

Karl Mayer - first husband. Divorced now.

Mike Delfino - second husband. Divorced now.

Julie Mayer - daughter (20s). Daughter of Karl.

Jackson Braddock - boyfriend.

Maynard "MJ" Delfino - son (6yrs?). Son of Mike.

Currently living at 4353 Wisteria Lane, Fairview, Eagle State, with Jackson and MJ. Susan's occupation is a teacher's assitant at her son's school and a former children's book illustrator. She is a huge klutz (clumsy).

Lynette Scavo (Felicity Huffman)

Tom Scavo - husband.

Preston & Porter Scavo - eldest twin sons, currently 18ish

Parker Scavo - younger son, currently 14ish

Penny Lynne Scavo - daughter, currently 10ish

Kayla Huntington-Scavo - Tom's daughter from another woman, who has been sent away, so is no longer living with Lynette.

Currently living at 4355 Wisteria Lane, Fairview, Eagle State, with her family (not Kayla). Lynette used to work in advertising, but now co-owns a pizzeria with her husband. She is a bit of a ball-breaker.

Bree Hodge (Marcia Cross)

Orson Hodge - second and current husband.

Rex Van de Kamp - first husband, died of a heart attack a few seasons ago.

Andrew Van de Kamp - son, gay, 25ish.

Danielle Katz - daugher, married to Jewish lawyer Leo Katz.

Benjamin Tyson Katz - grandson, but she was posing as his mother to save face because Danielle was only a teenager.

Bree lives at 4354 Wisteria Lane, Fairview, Eagle State, with Orson. She is a famous chef. She is recognized for her perfectionist attitude and work ethic, which at times borders on neurosis and obsessive compulsion.

Gabrielle Solis (Eva Longoria Parker)

Carlos Solis - first and third husband.

Victor Lang - second husband. Politician. Killed by Carlos in self-defence.

Juanita Solis - eldest daugher. 7ish.

Celia Solis - youngest daughter. 4ish.

Gabrielle lives at 4349 Wisteria Lane, Fairview, Eagle State, with her husband Carlos and their two children. She has always been the shallow, money-grabbing, model who had affairs. She got back together with her first husband (cheated on her second husband with him) and now she is a mother and Carlos was blind for 5 years, so she's shed all her expensive clothes and is a full-time mother and wife who made many sacrifices. Her character has deepened, and her and Carlos really love each other.

Edie Britt (Nicolette Sheridan)

Dave Williams - current husband.

Edie lives at 4362 Wisteria Lane, Fairview, Eagle State with Dave. Edie is a realtor and is a serial divorcée who has had many relationships throughout the show's duration, most notably with Karl Mayer Mike Delfino and Carlos Solis, the ex-husbands of lead characters Susan Mayer and Gabrielle Solis respectively.

Katherine Mayfair (Dana Delany)

Adam Mayfair - ex-husband.

Dylan Mayfair/Davis - daughter, accidentally killed, so adopted another child as Dylan. Married to Bradley with a baby.

Katherine lives at 4356 Wisteria Lane, Fairview, Eagle State, alone for now, but plans to move in with Mike Delfino. She has a very sarcastic personality but frequently gets serious. She is also very secretive. After her secret is revealed (about accidentally killing and replacing her daughter), she is much more calm and relaxed.

Those are the MAIN characters and their immediate family. There's LOADS, but 5 main women, with Katherine kind of making her way into the main group.