Everything's Different, Nothing's Changed

"Everything's Different, Nothing's Changed" is the 151st episode of the ABC television series, Desperate Housewives. It is the seventeenth episode of the show's seventh season and was broadcast on April 3, 2011.

Plot

Beth Young shot herself in the head and is on life support. Her last wish was to donate a kidney to her dear friend Susan Delfino. Beth and Susan weren't really friends. That's probably why a grieving Paul tells his former neighbor that there's no way she's going to strip his wife for spare parts. Mike wants to fight this thing. The law is on their side. But that doesn't matter to Susan. She barely acknowledged Beth in life, so why should she deserve anything from her in death?

Paul swings by the prison where Felicia tells him they need to stop hurling hatred at each other. She wants Beth taken off life support so she can rest. Later, Paul lets Susan know that he's alerted the transplant office to move forward with Beth's wishes. When he breaks down in tears, Susan gives him a hug. One can only suspect things will only get worse for Paul once he learns Felicia Tilman is being released from prison.

Tom gets a great new job offer, but declines the deal out of loyalty to Carlos. This has Lynette scheming for ways to get him to reconsider. She performs a little bedroom seduction that's typically reserved for corporate hotshots. As sexy as this scene is, Tom won't be swayed. He tells her he will ask Carlos to match the offer, which he doesn't.

Lynette swings by the local car dealership to borrow a $70,000 sports car. She parks that it in Carlos' driveway so that Tom can see that his boss certainly can afford to pay him better. The plan works. Tom accepts the new job, but wants to renege once he learns what his wife did. A test drive in the sports car has Tom reconsidering his position.

Bree receives a call from Karen McCluskey in the early hours of the morning, telling her that Andrew was on her couch, passed out. Bree goes over to the house with Alex and they collect Andrew. They take him home, and then she and Alex talk about Andrew's problem. Alex mentions that he is thinking of leaving Andrew because of the seriousness of the problem, but Bree pleads with him not to if she could help him.

Bree then secretly takes Andrew to an AA meeting (which he was not happy about). When it came to Andrew's turn to talk he instead started to criticize his mother and he mentions some of the bad things she has done throughout his life.

Later on at Andrew's house, Bree asks Andrew to come back to another meeting, but he insists that he doesn't have a problem and that he is fine. Bree accepts this at first and leaves but then remembers about Beth and her pain, so she goes back inside and begs Andrew to discuss his problems. Andrew gets emotional as he tells her that Alex had left him due to his addiction. Bree asks Andrew one last time to come to the AA meeting, but he still says no. However, they end up having their own private meeting; just the two of them.

Renee and Gaby have been planning a big party. Everyone is invited, but no one feels like going because of the Beth Young situation. That's not going to stop Renee from pressing forward with her fabulous spring fling.

The night of the big party arrives and Renee's place is packed with a bunch of strangers. Gaby realizes the reason Renee wouldn't cancel the party is because her mother also committed suicide. This party is her way of dealing with it. Gaby then adds her name to the guest list in a show of support.

Reception

On its original broadcast on ABC, the episode scored 9.047 million of viewers and achieved a 2.9 rating in the adults 18-49 demographic. This episode was aired against the Country Music Awards on CBS which was watched by 13.05 million viewers and received a 3.3 in the 18-49 demographic. The awards show topped the night both in total viewers and the demographic.^[1] With the DVR Rating, this episode is up 2.2 in million of viewers (rising to a total of 11.3 million of viewers) and it's up 0.8 in the adults 18-49 demographic (rising to a total of a 3.7 rating).^[2]

Notes

• Charlie Carver (Porter Scavo), Joshua Logan Moore (Parker Scavo), Darcy Rose Byrnes (Penny Scavo) and Madison De La Garza (Juanita Solis) do not appear and are not credited.
• The title of this episode comes from lyrics in the song "Sorry Grateful", taken from the Stephen Sondheim musical Company.

International titles

• Arabic: نفس (Same)
• Italiano: Cambiamenti (Changes)
• Македонски : Се е различно , ништо не е сменето (Everything's Different, Nothing's Changed)
• Български : Всичко е различно, нищо не се е променило (Everything's Different, Nothing's Changed)
• ελληνικα: ολα ειναι διαφορετικα,τιποτα ομως δεν αλλαζει (Greek :Everything's Different, Nothing's changed)
• Turkish: Her Şey Farklı, Hiçbir Şey Değişmedi (Everything's Different, Nothing's Changed)
• German: Alles hat sich verändert, nichts hat sich verändert (Everything's changed, Nothing's changed)
• French: Le jour du changement (The day of change)

References