- Everything that begins must eventually end, as the beginnings and endings walk us both forwards and backwards, taking our final stroll down Wistera Lane.
- "Desperate Housewives" - "Finishing the Hat" - May 13, 2012
And tonight, it's all over.
The first hour dispenses with Bree's murder trial.
But before we get into it we are informed that McCluskey is on her last legs. She has arranged for hospice care but the girls won't hear of it, saying they will take shifts to take care of her and she overcome with emotion at the outpouring of love since she was never sure how she was perceived and now realizes the women think of her as a friend.
As it has progressed Bree's trial has gotten more sensational, Carlos has wanted to step up, and Gaby has begun freaking out even more.
When it comes time for Ben to testify about the incriminating phone call he had with Bree in which she talked about "putting a body in the ground" he refuses to say anything. The judge tosses him in jail for contempt. In the pokey he explains partially what happend to Renee who is still angry about being kept in the dark and that her fiance is in jail. She recalls the night of the murder and that she saw Bree return home in muddy clothes with a shovel. After her meeting with Ben the prosecutor corners her and tells her she will deport Ben unless Renee testifes.
She testifies. The other women get angry with her and she explains the DA was going to have Ben deported and she picked the man she loved over the "friends" who kept her in the dark.
Bree's lawyer Trip is worried that the jury doesn't believe her now. He says it's time to tell the truth, not only to save her but because he has feelings for her. He kisses her and she immediately tells him it was Carlos and finally comes clean but makes him promise not to use the info against her friends. Trip calls Gaby to stand and gets her to admit Alejandro was her stepfather but then Bree fakes a fainting spell to get a recess. She is livid with Trip.
While doing her shift taking care of McCluskey Gaby reiterates the whole story to Carlos and says she's going to take the fall for him because, as a victim of sexual abuse the jury will understand her killing him and that even though she's small adrenaline could explain her dragging his body to the woods and burying it. Because it would be Carlos' third strike she can't let him fess up, to the point where she plants a knife in his coat on the way to the courthouse so he will be stopped and she can rush ahead and testify.
McCluskey, having overhead Gaby, goes to Trip at the courthouse and demands he put her on the stand because she can testify that Renee was drunk the night of the party and can't be trusted. Instead she gets on the stand and confesses to the murder, introducing the fact that Alejandro had sexually abused Gaby as a child and that when she saw him sniffing around went to Gaby's house and saw him she grabbed the candlestick and killed him, saying adrenaline allowed her to drag the body to the woods and bury it. The prosecutor drops the charges against Bree and, because of her age and declining health, doesn't charge McCluskey.
All is well on Wisteria Lane with the ladies thanking McCluskey and celebrating with Bree. Renee comes to apologize and is forgiven. But Bree is harder on Trip, saying she can't trust him since she feels he manipulated her into telling him the whole story and then went against her wishes by putting Gaby on the stand.
The second hour wraps up everyone's storylines.
Penny informs Lynette that Jane is gone and Tom calls saying he wants to talk. She's excited, not realizing he thinks she has a new boyfriend. He arrives and says he's filing the divorce papers and it's time for them to move on. She is crestfallen. Gaby wonders why she doesn't go after him and Lynette says that now she realizes that it's not Jane it's her. But after a long chat with Roy, who was able to tell McCluskey everything he wanted to now that she's dying and tells Tom to say the important things now, Tom decides to declare his love for Lynette. When he says he knows she's moved on because his boss told him Lynette dumped him because she was in love with someone else Lynette says yes and that someone else is Tom. They kiss and reconcile.
Katherine Mayfair returns to town and meets the four ladies. She's claims that she is no longer a lesbian for she and Robin apparently broke up three months after arriving in Paris. Katherine also reveals that she's a French frozen food magnate whose made millions and wants Lynette to run her U.S.operation in New York. When Lynette talks about this with Tom, he is crestfallen saying he now realizes Lynette will never be happy no matter what happens because of her unhappy upbringing. At Renee's wedding, Lynette realizes that she is in fact happy and gives a lovely toast that is as much for the happy couple as it is for Tom when she advises them to never forget how great they feel at this moment to know that someone loves them and that that is enough to keep you happy. When Tom hears that Lynette is truly happy he says maybe she should take that job in New York after all.
Gaby gets a huge promotion at work and is nervous and excited about all the new hours and responsibilities. Carlos cheerleads for her until she starts missing dinners and trying to buy him off with fancy gifts like he used to do with her. He says he wants her time and for her to be present. He then scares her into realizing what she's neglecting by hiring a hot female gardener as a reminder of what she did with John Rowland all those years ago. She is angry about this since it is not funny to her to mock the most shameful thing she's ever done. At Renee's wedding they make up and compliment each other on how much they've grown and how their relationship works now and vow to keep it great.
Susan is seeing Julie through the last weeks of her pregnancy trying to set her up on a date with her OB and dreading telling the girls that she is moving. She and Julie talk about men and Susan says she may or may not have another torrid romance in her but she has her memories of Mike and her life on the Lane to keep her warm.
Julie, Gaby, and Susan are all helping insane and egostical "bridezilla" Renee on her big day to Ben. In the limo on the way to the wedding Julie's water breaks... all over Renee's dress. They make a quick stop at Gaby's department store to get a new wedding dress. While they're busy stealing/borrowing the dress, Susan jumps into the driver's seat of the limo and takes Julie to the hospital.
Gaby and Renee emerge and when the limo is gone they hotfoot it to the wedding. Renee arrives disheveled and distraught but Ben says all the right things and the wedding goes off without a hitch and includes Lynette's lovely toast and Carlos and Gaby's reconciliation.
Meanwhile, in her turns helping McCluskey she is tasked with getting a specific hard to get 45 and a turntable to play it on for the dying woman. At the same time Roy and McCluskey notice Trip constantly calling Bree and her giving him the brush off and this gives McCluskey an idea. On the day of the wedding Bree stops in and sees that McCluskey has the record and turntable and Roy says Trip got it for them. Trip then crashes the wedding and finally convinces Bree that he truly cares for her. She says she couldn't trust that he really liked her because he learned about all of her ugly secrets-- the drinking, promiscuity, lying. He says he doesn't want to love an ideal, but a person. They kiss.
On her deathbed McCluskey listens to her record "Wonderful, Wonderful" and we see a montage: Ben and Renee dance at their reception, Julie giving birth, Tom and Lynette kissing and dancing at the reception and then Porter running in and telling them about Julie and rushing off to the hospital. Just as the baby is born, McCluskey dies. Bree gets a call and she and Trip run to McCluskey's house and comfort Roy and grieve. Gaby and Carlos dance with their girls.
Then we cut to one last poker game. The four ladies reminisce and talk about how they hope this won't be their last game and how much they love each other. But, according to Mary Alice's final voice over, it is.
She informs us, and we see, what happens to everyone:
Lynette and Tom left Fairview four weeks later. She became a successful CEO, they loved New York and had six grandchildren thanks to Porter, Preston, and Penny getting married and having unruly kids of their own.
Gaby and Carlos left the following year. Gaby started a personal shopping website that led to her own show on the Home Shopping Network that led them to a mansion in southern California while Carlos apparently remained as a social services counselor.
Two years later Bree and Trip got married. They moved to Louisville, Kentucky where Trip took a job at a law firm, and Bree became a member of the Kentucky state legislature where she also joined a women's club for ultra-conservative women and partakes in weekly bridge games and bakery sales.
Susan moved first but before she did, she introduced herself to the woman moving in and wished her well. The woman worries it will be boring in the suburbs. Susan assures her it won't be. Before she leaves Susan takes one last spin around the block with MJ and Julie. As she drives away she is benevolently looked upon by many of the people who passed through the lane before passing on including Mike, Karen McCluskey, Carlos's mother, her ex-husband and Julie's dad Karl, Rex Van de Camp, Chuck Vance, Beth Young, Martha Huber and Mary Alice herself. Who says finally that even the most desperate life is oh so wonderful?
We watch the new woman move into Susan's house. Wearing an acutely desperate look on her face, she carries a mysterious-looking locked box into the garage and stores it behind a locked door.
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