Desperate Housewives - discussion guide

Note: This study guide is based on the first four episodes of Desperate Housewives.

 

Summary

Desperate Housewives takes a darkly comic look at suburbia, where secrets abound and life isn’t quite what it seems. Wisteria Lane appears to be a wealthy American suburb like any other, with perfectly manicured lawns, the smell of home baking and smiling residents who are completely content with their suburban lives. This façade is a myth, however, which is shattered a few minutes into episode one. Everyone assumes that Mary Alice Young (Brenda Strong) lives a happy and fulfilled life, until one day after ‘quietly polishing the routine of my life until it gleamed with perfection’ she takes out a revolver and commits suicide. From beyond the grave she offers us an enlightened narration on the lives of her friends, and is to be our guide for the rest of the series.

Susan Mayer (Teri Hatcher) is a divorcée whose husband left her for his secretary. She is desperately searching for love, and when Mike Delfino (James Denton), a handsome widower, moves to Wisteria Lane she decides to try to attract his attention. However, despite the best efforts of her teenage daughter Julie (Andrea Bowen), things don’t seem to go smoothly. Susan has to fight off Edie (Nicolette Sheridan), a ‘predatory’ divorcée who seems determined to devour every eligible bachelor in the neighbourhood.

When Lynette Scavo (Felicity Huffman) became pregnant, her husband Tom (Doug Savant) suggested that she give up her high-powered career to look after her children full-time because it would be ‘much less stressful’. She soon discovered that being a full-time Mum is not an easy option, and looking after four disruptive children under the age of six means that her life is so hectic she hardly has time to think.

Bree Van De Camp (Marcia Cross) is a domestic goddess. Everyone in Wisteria Lane regards her as the perfect wife and mother, except for her own family. Her husband is fed up with ‘living in a detergent commercial’ where everything is perfect and where Bree acts like she is ‘always running for the mayor of Stepford’. When Rex (Steven Culp) asks for a divorce, Bree obsesses about what the neighbours might think and refuses to address their marital problems.

Finally, Gabrielle (Eva Longoria) is married to Carlos (Ricardo Chavira), a successful and massively rich businessman. A former model, Gabrielle was promised by Carlos when they got engaged that he would provide her ‘with everything she wanted’. However, Gabrielle has discovered that money can’t buy happiness. In her loneliness, she seduces her seventeen-year-old gardener John (Jesse Metcalfe) and becomes an expert in deceit.

The writer of the show – Marc Cherry – has described Desperate Housewives as the story of ‘four women in the suburbs going slowly mad’. Each of the women are desperate in their own way, and we are sure to discover more about their despair as the show progresses.

Background

Desperate Housewives has been dubbed the new Sex and the City and has taken both America and the UK by storm. The first episode shown in the US pulled in 22 million viewers, and the show has helped turn around the struggling ABC network on which it is shown. In the UK, the first episode drew 5 million viewers, beating the rating figures for the premiere of both Friends and Sex and the City.  It won the Best Television Series (Musical or Comedy) Golden Globe Award 2005, and Teri Hatcher (who plays Susan Mayer) won the Golden Globe Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series Golden Globe.

Desperate Housewives has been described by Nicolette Sheridan (who plays Edie) as ‘Sex and the City meets Twin Peaks meets American Beauty.’ Because it pokes fun at typical American family values, it has not been well received by some of the American right. Several big advertisers puller out of the show after pressure from family values pressure groups. However, writer Mark Cherry has said of the show, ‘I’m not judging this world. I embrace the world, I love it,’ and has found it hard to see what the fuss is about. Despite this controversy, it is clear that Desperate Housewives is a show that is here to stay.

Questions for Discussion

1. What do you think of Desperate Housewives? Why do you think it has been so popular both in the UK and the US?
    
2. How would describe the show to a friend who hasn’t seen it? What do you think the underlying themes of the show are?
    
3. What do you think of the opening sequence? Why are Adam, Eve and the forbidden fruit from the Garden of Eden used in this sequence?
    
4. Which character do you most identify with and why?
    
5. What do each of the central female characters have in common, and how are their struggles similar? How are the characters and the struggles they face different?
    
6. What does Desperate Housewives have to say about marriage?
    
7. Why is Bree so obsessed with appearances and being the perfect housewife? Has she achieved the perfection she longs for? What has been the cost of her search for perfection?
    
8. How does Lynette feel about her job as a full time mother? How does she compare this to her previous job as a high-flying career woman?
    
9. What does Desperate Housewives have to say about being a full-time mother? Do you think that it undermines or undervalues this role? Do you think our society undermines that role and why?
    
10. Why do Susan and Edie engage in a childish fight to win Mike’s attention? Why is it so important to Susan that she gets a date with Mike?
     
11. Why is Susan initially unable to forgive Carl for what he has done to her? What effect does this lack of forgiveness have on Susan, Carl and Julie? What helps her to finally forgive and move on? How important do you think our society thinks forgiveness is?
     
12. Why did Gabrielle marry Carlos, and what impact has this decision had on her life? Is she happy?
     
13. Why is Gabrielle having an affair with John? What do you think about the affair and the morality of it? How do you think our society regards infidelity?
     
14. What do you make of Carlos and the way he treats Gabrielle? What drives him? How do you feel about him?
     
15. How would you describe Paul Young’s reaction to his wife Mary Alice’s death? How does Paul treat his son Zach, and why does he treat him in this way?
     
16. How do you think the rest of the series will develop?
     
17. To what extent do you think Desperate Housewives poses a threat to family values?
     
18. Mary Alice tells us in episode three that she lived in fear, but that ‘to live in fear is not to live at all’. She believes that her friends are all living in fear. What are they each afraid of? How would the biblical teaching that God is in control of everything and longs for us to enter into a personal relationship with him impact this fear?
     
19. What do you think the desperate housewives are searching for? How would an understanding of Jesus’ invitation ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest’ (Matthew 11:28 – NIV) help these characters? How will you let this teaching help you in your struggles?

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