On what’s virtually the last episode of Desperate Housewives before its finale, since the last two episodes will air together, Desperate Housewives continues on its attempts to put the remains of the plot together in order to create what one can only expect will be a satisfying ending. Thus the episode spends most of its time dealing with Bree’s trial for murder and the events surrounding it, adding more information on Lynnette’s storyline along the way.

From a general point of view, it works fine enough – It certainly isn’t a waste of time and the drama surrounding the possible outcome to Bree’s trial is good, though it is hard to shake off the idea that the finale might end up being a clichéd “And they all lived happily ever after”. Though well handled so far, many storylines seem to be starting to move toward happy, meaningless endings that throw away any hints of reality for the sake of a storyline that might be more liked or involve more drama. Such is the case with Bree’s trial, the main storyline of the season, where half the evidences now being used against her are ridiculous because they are either inadmissible (The bunch of men she slept with – All of which she slept with well over two months after Alejandro’s disappearance) or impossible to obtain due to different reasons (Considering Alejandro’s body was found some six months after his death, it would’ve been impossible for the coroner to determine the exact date of his death, let alone the time of decease. The suicide note also poses an issue because it’d imply the hotel owner went looking through the trash of a room, something that’s illegal in many states, and then found a suicide note in a room where nobody had killed themselves AND held on to it for fun).

The storyline, though nothing impressive this time around, at least manages to keep it all together. Bree’s trial starts going well, with her lawyer being pretty sure she’ll be declared innocent even when the public in general seem to believe she’s guilty due to the campaign the prosecutor has had regarding Bree keeping quite a lot of secrets to herself. However, two things happen that put Bree’s case in jeopardy. First, she goes on a jealous fit with a girl her lawyer’s been seeing and, when Bree meets up with her and she tells her that Trip sometimes hires her but that her job requires lots of discretion. This leads Bree to believe the woman to be a prostitute, an idea that makes her feel offended –Since she’s actually a private investigator – And quits Bree’s case.

After learning that the woman wasn’t a prostitute but a help in her case, Bree asks her to forgive her and she agrees to go back to the case. However, problems arise later on when the prosecutor finds a final piece of evidence previously undisclosed – Bree’s suicide letter from when she stayed at the hotel with the idea of killing herself the night Chuck was killed. This is pretty much the final piece of evidence to make the jury believe Bree killed Alejandro, though at the very moment when Trip seems to be out of ideas the private investigator rushes in with something for him.

Outside the courtroom Trip tells Bree the investigator learned that Alejandro was Gaby’s stepfather, making him realize Bree is covering up for Gaby and then making him suggest that she stops it since he has serious doubts she’ll be acquitted due to all the evidence that has made the jury believe she has something to hide.

Lynnette tries to deal with Tom’s boss wanting to send him to India, and after he tells her he’s going to miss her she asks Tom’s boss not to send him there, to which he agrees. However, she then refuses his advances by saying she has a crush on someone else, sending the guy on a rage. The following day when he’s talking to Tom he begins to diss Lynnette over and over, making Tom hit him in the face and giving him a reason to fire him – Clearly the reason why he’d started talking about Lynnette to begin with. When Tom explains to Jane what happened, she asks once again why caring so much about Lynnette, making Tom admit he’s still in love with her in some way, thus breaking up his relationship with Jane. However, as Tom goes back to Lynnette’s to talk to her he finds her with another guy who’s undressing her (Who just happens to be Lee helping her get off the dress for Renee), making him turn back.

Susan’s storyline has her trying to help her daughter Julie get through her pregnancy as Porter seems to be getting away from her, generally missing appointments, making Julie believe he’s no longer interested in being a father. Susan being Susan, she goes to have a chat with Porter and finds out that he’s trying to raise all the money he can and that he believes he won’t be able to be much more in life than he currently is due to his commitment to the baby. Susan then tells Julie she will sell the house in the lane and move in with her to help her raise her baby while she graduates and that, though Porter will always be the girl’s father and allowed to be with her, she considers that he currently needs to find himself more than he needs to take care of a baby.

Gaby has probably the most shallow of the storylines, mainly dealing with her not being at all worried over Bree even when Bree is taking the fall for her mainly. After the other housewives reprimand her for that, noting that she doesn’t feel any worry or guilt while the rest of them are actually considering telling the judge the truth, she snaps after she finds herself scolding Juanita for having Celia taking the blame for something she did, noticing that’s pretty much what she’s doing with Bree. However, rather than deciding to go with the truth, she simply gives Bree a scarf and thanks her for what she’s doing – The episode ending as them both hug and Bree tries to face the fact that she might get a life sentence just to keep Gaby from taking the fall.

Final review rating: 4/5