Desperate Housewives-The End

Well...it took me a few months, but I am finally done with Desperate Housewives.

My overall impression is that it is definitely worth watching. The plots get a little silly from time to time with murders and extensive cover-ups, but I am chalking this up to lazy writing and bringing too many troubled characters on the show that they didn't know what to do with. Plus, we all know that when ratings drop, writers do stupid, attention getting things to try to bring them back up. I remember hearing the commercials claim that there was a killer on Wisteria Lane. Yeah, like every season. So each season, Desperate Housewives got...well, even more desperate. Especially during the years that Parenthood, The Good Wife, and Army Wives were created, becoming possible competition. I'm not condoning the ridiculous, but I do understand it. And honestly, it was easy for me to stick with it because what was central to the show never changed: the friendships between the women.

Taking it to the grave.

If you look past the episodes of riot on Wisteria Lane and the (too) occasional hit and run, I think you will enjoy what you see. The show comes full circle which I love. But what I really love is the writing of the relationships. The marriages and the friendships are deep and multi-faceted. They echo the real life ups and downs that happen for different reasons, struggles to forgive, struggles to trust, and just struggles.

In the end, I definitely like the Bree and Lynette story lines the best. Lynette's story stays the most true to life and I found myself being able to relate to her character the most, even though our lives are nothing alike.  Bree's character is intriguing, but her story is one of the more bogus. Even so, she manages to evolve in a believable way. A lot of what works in this show is the narration, which is where the "wisdom" and frame story gets delivered each episode. I remember that Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives started around the same time and both of them had the narrations, which made them different from dramas before them. I love dramas with narration. They are like books. Think about it...if you read Hunger Games it's all told through what Katniss is thinking. So it stands to reason that the movie (which had no narration or the inner thoughts of Katniss) couldn't be as good. We miss out on too much. But back to Desperate Housewives....

All in.

The show didn't really do anything groundbreaking, but it did remain a solid, relationship driven drama that maintained most of the main characters for 8 seasons. It started well, it ended well. The middle got messy at times, but in some ways, I guess that's true to life too. If there is any lesson to really to be had from the show, it's to value your friendships. Do you have any who would among other things..."move a body" for you? More on that in a few days...

Did you watch Desperate Housewives? What did you think?

Poll: Should I start Gilmore Girls or How I Met Your Mother?