The Last Five Minutes of ‘Desperate Housewives’ Ruins the Show

Desperate Housewives changed the scope of television when we were welcomed into the neighborhood of Wisteria Lane in 2004. Created by Marc Cherry, the series followed a group of women, “housewives”, who consistently found themselves elbow-deep in dirty laundry — and not the machine-washable kind. The series started off with a bang — literally, when Mary Alice Young (Brenda Strong) committed suicide for unknown reasons. She’s our narrator for the series and through her, we follow her friends, Gabrielle (Eva Longoria), Susan (Teri Hatcher), Bree (Marcia Cross), and Lynette (Felicity Huffman) as they try to uncover the reason behind her suicide, all the while balancing their own messy dramas. Every season brought a new mystery to the lane, and there was no predicting what would happen next. Everything from tornadoes, to a plane crashing in the middle of the street, and illegitimate children — there was never a shortage of drama on Desperate Housewives.

So when it came time for us to bid adieu to the housewives, we waited on the edge of our seats for Season 8 to come along. After all, Season 7 left on a major cliffhanger that left a lot in limbo, so we couldn’t wait to see how things wrapped up. And for the most part, the season did well at tying things up. We got closure, unexpected shocks, and more. It was shaping up to be a successful final season. And then the series finale came, and all it took was five minutes for the show to crumble down around itself.

Desperate Housewives

Secrets and truths unfold through the lives of female friends in one suburban neighborhood after the mysterious suicide of a neighbor. 

Release Date

October 3, 2004

Main Genre

Comedy

Seasons

8

Studio

ABC

‘Desperate Housewives’ Final Season Wasn’t All Bad

The Season 7 finale saw the women face one of their biggest scandals yet. All season, Gaby’s abusive stepfather Alejandro (Tony Plana) had been stalking her, and we knew something was going to happen that got him out of the picture, but no one could have predicted the way everything went down. After targeting Gaby alone, she gets him to his knees while holding him at gunpoint, but ultimately can’t bring herself to pull the trigger. That’s when her husband Carlos (Ricardo Antonio Chavira) steps in, thwacking Alejandro over the head with a candleholder. The hit wasn’t intended to kill, but it did just that. Lynette, Susan, and Bree rush inside and find the dead man, and immediately agree to help cover up the murder. But given that this is all happening during a block-wide dinner party, with guests arriving any minute, they stuff Alejandro in a chest for safekeeping until the party is over.

Season 8 picks up where Season 7 left off, and we follow the friends as they cover up the murder of Alejandro. This is the big mystery of the season, of course, but the background moments are what really stick out. Firstly, Lynette and Tom (Doug Savant) have separated, and Tom is dating again. For the entire series, they were the strongest couple, the pinnacle if you will. They most definitely had their issues, but they always managed to work things out, so to see them fall apart was devastating. Susan is pulling away from everyone around her due to her overwhelming guilt of covering up Alejandro’s murder. She even paints the crime scene for crying out loud! Mike (James Denton) dies in perhaps one of the most unnecessary deaths ever. Gaby and Carlos struggle through the aftermath of the murder. Karen McCluskey (Kathryn Joosten) discovers she has cancer again. And Bree, always the leader, is abandoned by her friends and becomes the prime suspect in the police investigation.

But because it’s the final season, things do get resolved for the most part. Tom and Lynette get back together, and Susan manages to pick up the pieces after Mike’s death. And in what is perhaps the greatest moment in the entire series, Mrs. McCluskey falsely takes the blame for the murder. She faces no consequences for the confession due to her rapidly declining health, and she gets the ladies off the hook, so it’s an all-around cheer-worthy moment. So yes, Season 8 had its share of great moments, and was certainly not short of drama, but the finale somehow managed to turn everything on its head. Not just for the season, but for the series as a whole.

‘Desperate Housewives’ Series Finale Started Off Strong

The series finale of Desperate Housewives follows Renee’s (Vanessa Williams) wedding to Ben (Charles Mesure). It’s the big event of the episode, but bigger moments happen outside of it. Julie (Andrea Bowen) gives birth, making Susan and Lynette grandmothers. And we also bid a fond farewell to Karen McCluskey. As hard as it is to say goodbye to her, her death is done beautifully. She’s surrounded by her husband Roy (Orson Bean) and Bree, and they play the song “Wonderful, Wonderful” on a loop as she peacefully passes away. It’s a gut-wrenching scene, but if there’s any character in the show who deserves such a poignant send-off, it’s Mrs. McCluskey.

But then we get to the final five minutes of the episode, and this is where things go south. Susan decides to move off the lane and start fresh after the death of Mike, and really, who can blame her? So the ladies all play poker one last time before she leaves, a staple throughout the show, and they make a promise that it won’t be the last time they meet to play poker together. They promise not to lose touch, but Mary Alice soon reveals in a voice-over that it was in fact their final game and they never reconnect afterward. Susan leaves the lane with MJ (Mason Vale Cotton) for a fresh start, which is the kick-off of everything, and soon everyone else follows suit. Earlier in the episode, Katherine (Dana Delaney) returned to the lane and offered Lynette a job in New York. She is at first apprehensive to take it but eventually accepts after Susan moves away. She and Tom move to New York where they live next to Central Park and seem to live a very happy and successful life. Gaby starts up a shopping website, and lands her own TV show, and she and Carlos move to a mansion in California. Bree finally gives Trip (Scott Bakula) a proper chance (which was a wish of McCluskey’s) and the pair eventually marry and move to Kentucky, where Bree pursues a career in politics. And the once tight-knit group just never speak to each other again.

‘Desperate Housewives’ Ruined Itself In the Final Five Minutes

While the final minutes of the finale are meant to be bittersweet, it’s never quite sat right. Yes, everyone got their happy ending, which is a high point of the series, but the fact that the women just ceased to be friends after was an unexpected blow. We only see about 12 years of their lives (though some of it is lost to the time-skip in Season 5) but we know that they had been living on Wisteria Lane, and had been friends far longer than that. For all they went through throughout the show, from countless tragedies to hundreds of triumphs, and every dramatic moment in between, it’s baffling that they would just not speak ever again. And I’m just going to say it; it’s unrealistic. These women covered up a murder together. You’re telling me they didn’t even try and keep tabs on one another afterward? For all the things they’ve been there for each other for, like when Bree’s husband died, when Lynette had cancer, when Carlos was blind and he and Gaby had no money, that’s not just little things. These are huge moments that they were constantly there to support each other through. You don’t just give up on friendships like that. Yes, they sometimes argued and had some blowouts, but all friendships do, and they always made up. With how successful they all turned out to be, how come they never made the time to meet up again, just to check in and say hi? Or how about a phone call every once in a while? Also, Susan and Lynette share a grandchild. How do they just not see one another anymore?

It’s just a kick in the gut after eight seasons to see that every moment you witnessed of these women’s friendship has kinda been forgotten by they themselves. It was so empowering to see strong female leads on TV, especially strong female friendships. To just throw that away in the final five minutes without any real explanation or closure was an odd choice, and one that still doesn’t sit well all these years later. There are some good moments within those five minutes, like when Susan leaves the lane and sees the ghosts of every character we’ve seen on the show. Everyone from Mrs. McCluskey, Mike, and of course, Mary Alice. It’s a really great scene and goes to show how every person has played a pivotal role in these characters’ lives. It may not be all bad in the Desperate Housewives series finale, but it really is hard to ignore how brutally the show muddled its final minutes. It’s still a lovable show, but perhaps it’s best to just turn off the episode as the girls sit down for their last game of poker and pretend that’s how it ends. It certainly would have been a more fitting conclusion to the show.

Desperate Housewives is available to stream on Hulu in the U.S.

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