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"After the sorrow and heartbreak of the last two episodes, it was a given that Desperate Housewives would this week go overboard on the comedy.  But there were still some touching moments, particularly with Susan and MJ, whose grief was thankfully not swept under the rug in an attempt to give viewers a much-needed pick-me-up.  MJ has been acting out in the wake of Mike&amp;#039;s death, demanding strawberry ice cream for breakfast and playing video games until 2am. Susan is content to let him get on with it, despite Julie&amp;#039;s protests that turning a blind eye is not healthy, until she gets a call from Ms Butters.    MJ deliberately threw a stapler at her head and, understandably ticked off, she reminds Susan that he needs to be kept under control. The suggestion doesn&amp;#039;t sit well with Susan who, for the first time since Mike&amp;#039;s death really, gets angry and trashes the teacher&amp;#039;s office, leaving her with an injured foot. Back at home, Susan tells MJ that she has realised they both need an outlet for their aggression and so the two take turns smashing jars of jam sent over by concerned neighbours against a wall, until they seek comfort in each other&amp;#039;s arms.  Credit where credit&amp;#039;s due; it&amp;#039;s a wonderfully balanced segment - not as out-and-out downcast as the moments that have come before (there&amp;#039;s laughs to be had in MJ&amp;#039;s orders and the confrontation with Ms Butters), but still tinged with grief. It&amp;#039;s a story that was needed, I think, as MJ has been completely overlooked until now and Susan was due the opportunity to let out her bitterness. It seems like a step in the right track for them to eventually (whether by the end of the series or in the distant future) accept Mike&amp;#039;s passing.  Other than Susan, the only other housewife to get a real meaty plot this episode is Lynette. Having decided last episode that she wants to win Tom back, she concocts a plan with Penny to keep Jane busy for the night and invites him over on the pretence that her power is out - hence the many atmospheric candles.    With a little help from Tom&amp;#039;s favourite meal and strategically placed photo albums, the two end up painstakingly close together - only for the moment to be interrupted when Tom gets a little too close to a candle and sets his sleeve on fire. Lynette&amp;#039;s plot is exposed when she absent-mindedly switches on a light to see his wound and Tom storms out, hurt at having been tricked. I think that&amp;#039;s fair enough. Maybe if she had just asked him to get back together...  Still it&amp;#039;s strongly suggested that Lynette&amp;#039;s plan has succeeded, as Tom later lies to Jane about how he got the burn and turns down her romantic advances. How many episodes have we got left? Seven? That seems like a realistic amount of time for a big reunion in the finale, doesn&amp;#039;t it? You know, I can&amp;#039;t believe they have stretched the whole Lynette/Tom split out to an entire season and still made it this tense. Really fine work.  Elsewhere, Gabrielle decides to get a job in preparation for Carlos quitting his, but is deemed &amp;quot;unemployable&amp;quot; by a suitably spunky career advisor. She combats her frustration with a bit of sales therapy, leaving all the staff at the store literally applauding her shopping abilities (no, really). Realising that the family can no longer afford such luxuries, she agrees to take her purchases back - only to be awarded the role of &amp;quot;sales savant&amp;quot; (again, not making this up). See this is where I think Housewives went overboard trying to lift the mood. The show has always had plenty of light and fluffy stories, but this one ends up tasting a little too sickly. But I am intrigued to see whether Gabby will excel in the workplace.  Bree, meanwhile, gets a visit from her gay son Andrew, who wants to introduce her to his fiancee - flakey, former member of Overeaters Anonymous Mary Beth. This storyline is actually quite fun, especially with how Bree reacts to Andrew&amp;#039;s reverse-coming out with the same horror and scepticism as when he first told her he was gay.    Eventually, she realises that Andrew is only using the frozen custard heiress to help with his financial troubles and invites her son&amp;#039;s gay friends along to a surprise engagement party in an attempt to sabotage him. She&amp;#039;s shocked to discover though that Mary Beth is aware of Andrew&amp;#039;s sexuality, but has chosen to settle with him rather than be alone. With complete sincerity, Bree urges her to break up with Andrew and continue searching for her dream man.  This causes tension between mother and son, as Andrew reveals for the first time the full extent of his money worries. Bree tells him that he should never feel reluctant to come to her for help and invites him to move back in until he can get back on his feet.  But Andrew isn&amp;#039;t the only person to be getting engaged. Renee finally convinces Ben to propose, though the romantic moment is interrupted when the police arrive to question him about Alejandro&amp;#039;s body. Ben is eventually cleared and when Bree finds out, she calls to thank him for covering up the murder. Unfortunately for her, the cops have been listening to the entire conversation in a surveillance truck outside.  So it seems that next week the housewives&amp;#039; body saga will return to the fore. Hopefully it won&amp;#039;t completely bury the goings-on of the Delfino household, as this week really highlighted the need for the effects of Mike&amp;#039;s death to be fully explored. But to be honest, we won&amp;#039;t mind if some of the more sugary stuff that populated this episode gets cut.  Desperate Discussions   I don&amp;#039;t care what Renee said, that souffle looked delicious!  On a similar note, slapping away a sausage like that should be a criminal offence. Uncalled for, Gabby!  Also, congrats to Lynette for the sexiest pronunciation of &amp;quot;beef bourguignon&amp;quot; ever. This was a very food-centric episode, wasn&amp;#039;t it?  Was not a fan of Taylor Swift being a major plot point/source of dialogue this week. Blurgh!  I&amp;#039;m not convinced that anything on Ms Butters&amp;#039;s desk landed near her foot. But that scene did contain my favourite line of the whole episode - &amp;quot;He said, and I quote, bullseye&amp;quot;  Lynette describing Jane as &amp;quot;a tall, bitchy hawk&amp;quot; - I can so see it now.  &amp;quot;What do I know about getting a man? Oh wait, a lot.&amp;quot; - Renee was delightfully egotistical this series.  &amp;quot;No lady likes to see anything under four inches&amp;quot; - Don&amp;#039;t I know it... What did you think of the episode? Leave your comments below! "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/desperate-housewives/review/a373158/desperate-housewives-any-moment-recap/>