A surprise 70th birthday party for Mrs. McCluskey on Desperate Housewives causes everyone to think about the past. In other words, it's time for a flashback episode! Desperate Housewives is rolling back the calendar to fill in those missing five years the show fast forwarded through.

As fun as it is to fill in exactly what we suspected, the true genius of the episode is Mrs. McCluskey, who arrives at her surprise party with a baseball bat ready to knock some people down. It really makes me wonder why Kathryn Joosten isn't the star of this show.

Gabi
Gabi (Eva Longoria Parker) thinks she's pregnant again, causing her to flash back to when she found out she was pregnant the first two times. When the doctor told her, she slapped him. The second time, she ordered Carlos (Ricardo Antonio Chavira) to get a vasectomy, which she learns in the present he never got.

Susan
Jackson the house painter wants to move in with Susan (Teri Hatcher), causing her to flash back to when she first met him. She, of course, acted crazy, and for some stupid reason, he fell for it. Then Susan wanted to back out of her divorce with Mike (James Denton), but he still signed the papers. Before the ink even dry on the divorce papers, Susan got drunk and slept with Jackson. In the present, Susan denies Jackson's cohabitation request, upsetting him because he's in love with her.

Lynette
Penny asks if daddy is dying, which causes Lytnette (Felicity Huffman) to flash back to when Tom (Doug Savant) had a near-death experience. Of course, almost dying was the catalyst for Tom's mid-life crisis car purchase. In the present, Lynette is even more worried when Tom comes home with a crazy idea about buying an RV and traveling around the country for a year with the kids. Furthering Lynette's worry is the revelation that Tom agreed to sell the pizzeria. No wonder she's such a terrible mother, she spends all her time putting up with Tom's crap.

Bree
Bree (Marcia Cross) has second thoughts about letting Orson become a partner in her business, causing her to flash back to the day Orson (Kyle MacLachlan) went off to prison. Orson is surprisingly OK with it as Andrew (Shawn Pyfrom), Bob and Lee make a series of jokes about Orson being sexually violated in prison. Bree copes by drinking, which Katherine (Dana Delany) notices. Katherine helps out by moving in with Bree to get her through it.

Dave
The week before the party, Dave (Neal McDonough) comes up with the idea to have a surprise party for Mrs. McCluskey. The night of the party, Edie (Nicollette Sheridan) agrees to take Mrs. McCluskey out for drinks to keep the surprise. Karen still wants nothing to do with Dave, so he breaks into her house and moves things around to confuse her. Karen grabs the baseball bat and heads to the party.


Back at the party, Lynette and Tom fight over selling the pizza place, Orson wants a divorce if Bree won't let him join her business, Gabi threatens to kill Carlos if she's pregnant again, and Jackson kisses Katherine to make Susan jealous and let him move in. Karen busts in with a baseball bat and threatens Dave, rambling about how he moved all her stuff around and stole her cat. His plan worked, and everyone thinks she's crazy. Gabi isn't worried, however, because she got her period.

The paramedics take Karen away, and in the wake of tragedy, everyone faces their problems. Jackson walks away when Susan refuses to commit. Bree admits to her alcoholism during Orson's prison stint. Lynette pulls the "I had cancer" card to get Tom to stop being a big baby. Carlos explains that he didn't have a vasectomy because he wants another kid. Finally, Dave and Karen share a creepy scene where she knows he's up to something awful, and for some reason he needed her out of the way.


-John Kubicek, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image courtesy of ABC)