After a good though not great second season, "Desperate Housewives" got back to full form for its third season. Even though season three wasn't as good as the first season, it was definitely better than the second season. Teri Hatcher (Susan), Felicity Huffman (Lynette), Marcia Cross (Bree), Eva Longoria (Gaby), and Nicollette Sheridan (Edie) all return for more hijinks on Wisteria Lane (located in the fictional town of Fairview), which saw plenty of the usual ingredients (romance, sex, murder, secrets, etc.) mixed in with its share of sharp comedy, serious drama, and intriguing mysteries that have been frequently featured in its first two seasons. Other series' regulars who came back for season three include James Denton (Mike), Ricardo Chivara (Carlos), Doug Savant (Tom), Andrea Bowen (Julie), and narrator Brenda Strong (Mary Alice).
After the disappointing storyline involving the Applewhites of season two, creator Marc Cherry and his staff of writers came up with a storyline for season three that was far more intriguing. This starts with a new character for the third season: Orson Hodge (well played by Kyle MacLachlan). As most fans of this show know, Orson was first introduced late in season two, and played a major role in the last episode of the second season, which led to a bigger role in season three. As we began to sense in the season two finale, Orson was someone with a troubled past. This led to him hitting Mike with his car (Mike was suspicious of Orson), and then in the final scene starts having a relationship with Bree (who met Orson at the psychiatric hospital that she checked herself into after thinking she was about to have a nervous breakdown after dumping her son Andrew (Shawn Pyfrom) along the side of a road in the middle of nowhere and daughter Danielle (Joy Lauren) running away from home). In the first episode of season three (which begins 6 months after the end of season two), we start to know some of Orson's past, and it's not pretty. But his relationship with Bree brings some joy into his life, and they marry in the second episode. But the journey into marriage turns incredibly bumpy when Bree starts to sense some of the things that have haunted Orson's past, and some of those elements come back, most notably in the form of his crazy mother, the return of a previous wife (who everyone thought was missing and presumed dead), and the mystery involving a dead woman who Orson had an affair with. All these situations are put to good use and in the end the payoff delivers. Though the end of this storyline comes sooner than anticipated, thanks in part to Marcia Cross' real-life pregnancy. Shortly after production began on the third season, Cross announced that she was pregnant, which kind of put a little bump in the road for what Cherry was planning for the season. He didn't want to make Bree pregnant, so he and his crew devised ways so that we don't notice Cross' pregnancy in the episodes by having constant close-up shots of her face or putting items in front of her in many scenes. If there was a scene where Bree had to perform a minor stunt, a body double was used (such as a moment where Bree walks up a ladder). And when Cross was ordered to stay on bed rest for the remainder of her pregnancy (with twins), she invited the crew to come to her home to shoot some scenes. As a result the storyline ended two-thirds of the way into the season, which allowed Cross to go on maternity leave from the show. But no need to fear, Bree makes a triumphant return in the final episode. Thank goodness, because of all these desperate housewives she has become my personal favorite. "Desperate Housewives" slightly lagged a bit without her perfectionist attitude.
Besides MacLachlan, there were other interesting new characters that get introduced. Dougray Scott was superb as Ian, an Englishman who strikes up a relationship with Susan; Josh Henderson is excellent as Edie's bad boy hunky nephew Austin, who starts a sweet romance with Susan's daughter Julie; Valerie Mahaffey is terrific as Orson's previous wife Alma, who appears in the first episode, then disappears for a while before reappearing at the mid-point of the season (much to Bree's shock); John Lafferty is very good as Gaby's new beau (and Fairview mayoral candidate) Victor Lang; Kiersten Warren is obnoxiously hilarious as Nora, (first introduced in the season two finale) an incredibly annoying woman who Tom had a one night stand with years ago and got pregnant with his child before he married Lynette, and tried to wreck havoc on the Scavo household by trying to get Tom back; Rachel Fox is cute as a button as Nora's daughter Kayla, who also happens to be Tom's daughter; Laurie Metcalf (from TV's "Roseanne") is memorably menacing as Carolyn, a friend of Alma's who suspects Orson murdered her; and the great Dixie Carter (from TV's "Designing Women") is a hoot as Orson's evil mother Gloria.
While new characters popped up in season three, there were some old characters from the previous two seasons that turned up as well. Mark Moses and Cody Kasch returned for a couple of episodes as Paul Young and his troubled son Zack (who actually was Mike's son); Jesse Metcalfe shows up in an early episode as Gaby's former gardener (and lover) John; Richard Burgi turns up briefly as Susan's ex-husband Karl; and Steven Culp returns to narrate an episode as Bree's late husband Rex (Mary Alice got the day off on that episode).
While there have been so many memorable characters on "Desperate Housewives", there is a reoccurring character who's so funny on the show that it would be a shame if I did not mention her. And that character is the old cranky Wisteria Lane neighbor Mrs. McClusky, played to the hilt by Kathryn Joosten. First introduced back in season one, Mrs. McClusky was at complete odds with just about everyone, especially Lynette. But since then she has started to show a softer side that is wonderfully touching. She's now good friends with Lynette, and helps out the Scavo family by babysitting their kids while Lynette and Tom are at work. The character even had a minor storyline late in season three that involved her late husband. This character has become one of the best things on "Desperate Housewives", and Joosten is perfect in the role. She's already won an Emmy for the role (as Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for season one). This character doesn't appear in every episode of the show, but for the episodes that she does turn up in (whether its one scene or five scenes) brings a smile to my face, which is usually followed by laughter. This character provides some of the biggest laughs on the show.
During its first three seasons, there have been many great episodes of "Desperate Housewives". But the very best episode of the show so far (in my opinion) comes in season three. Episode 7, titled "Bang", is the bone-chilling, on-the-edge-of-your-seat episode about that supermarket hostage crisis that affects the residents of Wisteria Lane. This episode has all the elements: some big laughs, high drama, and suspenseful thrills. Plus, Laurie Metcalf gives a great performance in this episode as Carolyn, the crazed woman who literally snaps after hearing some very disturbing news and proceeds to go off the deep end by taking some residents of Wisteria Lane hostage at the supermarket. This episode is an absolute must-see.
"Desperate Housewives" - The Complete Third Season should be out on DVD before the start of the fourth season, and I encourage anyone who bailed out on the show after season two to go out and get it the moment it becomes available. Until then, you'll have to catch reruns of season three throughout the summer. Or you can view seasons one and two, already out on DVD as well as reruns airing on Lifetime. But one way or another, the third season of "Desperate Housewives" is a winner. And the season ends with another stunning cliffhanger, which will lead into season four.
*** ADDITIONAL COMMENTS ***
Since this review I watched these episodes again on DVD, and I need to bump my original rating of 5 stars down to 4 1/2 stars. Don't get me wrong, this is still an excellent season of "Desperate Housewives", but I had a few annoying quibbles about it while watching the episodes on DVD. And all of this takes place in the second half of the season. First off, the character of Ian started to get on my nerves in the later episodes. If you recall, Susan started dating Ian while Mike was in a coma from his accident at the end of season two. Susan fell in love with Ian, but not long after Mike woke up for his coma he wanted Susan back. And every time there was a scene where Mike and Susan shared a moment together and Ian either saw it or heard about it, Ian would constantly complain about it over and over again. I started to get really tired of hearing him complaining about Mike. It's like you just want to shout out at the character: "quit your whining!" Another setback was the behavior of Lynette's husband Tom. This (which also takes place during the last part of the season) deals with Tom's job as the owner of his new pizza parlor. After hiring wife Lynette to be the manager, they start disagreeing on certain things, but this storyline takes a slight detour when a new character is introduced. After Tom suffers a major back spasm that requires bed rest, Lynette hires Rick (played by Jason Gedrick), who's a master chef. During the course of these later episodes, it seems that Lynette and Rick are attrached to each other, and that drives Tom into a jealous rage. Plus while Tom is at home recuperating from his back problems, he starts having angry fits that I found to be kind of unpleasant. I only wish that the writers could have found a better way to handle these situations. But in the end all the resolutions turn out to be good, and the show moves on.
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