“Desperate Housewives” Finale: A Wedding, a Birth, a Death and the Future
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ABC(LOS ANGELES) — It was all flashbacks, feelings and fond farewells on Sunday night, as ABC’s Desperate Housewives finally reached the end of the lane. In a two-part special, the show ended its eighth season with story lines that included a murder trial, a wedding, a birth and a death. It’s the stuff that the comedy-drama has been dishing up since the women of Wisteria Lane first hit our screens in 2004.
The finale featured Marcia Cross’ Bree on trial for the murder of Gabrielle’s (Eva Longoria) perverted stepfather, Alejandro. Poor Mrs. McCluskey, played by Kathryn Joosten, succumbed to her cancer, but not before taking the stand at Bree’s trial to make the claim that she was the one who killed Alejandro, taking the heat off Gabrielle and Bree. Fans of the show had already seen Gabrielle’s husband, Carlos, Ricardo Chavira’s character, unintentionally kill Alejandro at the start of this season. Bree ended up romantically involved with her lawyer, Trip, portrayed by Scott Bakula.
Renee — Vanessa Williams’ character — got married to Ben, but on the way, pregnant Julie’s water broke, forcing her mother, Teri Hatcher’s Susan, to comically take the wheel of the limo to get them to the hospital. Felicity Huffman’s Lynette reconciled with her estranged husband, Tom, when she made a moving speech at the wedding telling the happy couple and watching friends, “Always remember how much you wanted to be loved, and how much you are loved.”
We also got to see, in a flashback, Mary Alice Young, who is usually only heard as the show’s narrator, plus the return of Dana Delaney’s Katherine to Fairview.
Near the end of the show, the four principal housewives were seen sitting around a table playing poker and talking. They promised each other that they would meet to play cards again – but that was not to be. We were shown that the future would see Lynette and Tom moving to New York, Gabrielle leaving the lane with Carlos to become a home shopping TV celebrity in Hollywood, and Bree moving to Louisville and entering into a political career.
Susan and her family were the last to move out, but not before we were introduced a new young housewife with her own secrets. As Susan took one last drive down Wisteria Lane, we saw that she was being watched over by the ghosts of all who had lived and died there, including her dead lover Mike, played by James Denton, and, of course, Mrs. McCluskey. In the final voiceover, we were reminded that most of us try in vain to keep secrets that will never stay hidden.
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio