Gossip (Desperate Housewives)

"Gossip" is the 67th episode of the ABC television series, Desperate Housewives. It was also the twentieth episode of the show's third season.

Plot

Edie announces to Gabrielle at her engagement party that she’s been dating Carlos, which doesn’t go down too well. Gabrielle puts a smile on for the rest of the night but continues to be bothered about it underneath. She then confronts Edie and tells her she’s not happy with it, but Edie refuses to stop seeing him. Gabrielle begins to put school girl tactics in motion to get back at her, and tells Lynette and Susan not to speak to her. Edie retaliates by inviting both Lynette and Susan to Travers’s birthday party. She convinces Lynette by ordering twenty pizzas and some pasta, making it good for business, while telling Susan the children will all want a copy of her book. Both think Gabrielle is out with Victor all day, so she won’t find out, but they panic when they see her car pulling up by the party. She says if they don’t leave the party their friendships are over, so Carlos takes action and carries Gabrielle out of the party. She tells him she’s in love with Victor, but he reveals to her he and Edie will never turn into anything serious. Gabrielle realizes he’s still in love with her.

Mrs. McCluskey is the talk of the town after the news spreads about her husband’s body being found in the freezer. She becomes hassled by local kids, who throw eggs at her door, and paint “Witch” on her door too. Lynette also changes baby sitters to avoid her from her children, but Parker continues to defend her and tells Mrs. McCluskey to just tell her motives to make it stop. She goes to Travers' birthday party when they’re cleaning up and reveals her actions. She came home at 2 AM from a weekend away to find Gilbert, her husband, had died. Waiting until morning to call the Funeral Home, she checked his pension plan to see he’d signed everything off to his first wife. Mrs. McCluskey in fear of losing everything, kept his body in the freezer and kept cashing the checks. Lynette then hires Mrs. McCluskey back as her babysitter.

Meanwhile, Lynette begins to have growing feelings for Rick and stays late at the restaurant every night. When asked why she’s not around at home so much by her stepdaughter Kayla, she tells her there’s a lot of work to be done. Kayla sees through it and tells her she knows she’s lying. Lynette agrees to go out with Rick to another restaurant but before they leave her husband Tom and her children come to the pizzeria to surprise her, where Kayla sees chemistry between Lynette and Rick. Kayla tells Tom she thinks Lynette likes Rick, and Tom suggests to Lynette he should come back to work and fire Rick, only to receive objections from Lynette.

Susan is still upset from learning Mike and Ian bet her in a poker game and continues to ignore both of their calls. When getting angry at a man for taking her parking space, a court order tells Susan she has to have therapy. When the therapist asks about her love life, Susan breaks down and tells all about Mike and Ian, and realises she has to make a choice. After thinking it over, she breaks it off with Mike and she resumes her relationship with Ian. However, when Ian sees Susan repeatedly listening to a message from Mike on the answering machine, he packs his bags and tells her he’s leaving to go back to England. He cannot continue their relationship wondering if she’s thinking about Mike. The next day when Ida visits Susan, she tells her that Mike has packed his bags and moved from Wisteria Lane.

Cast

Although credited, Bree Hodge (Marcia Cross), Orson Hodge (Kyle MacLachlan), Andrew Van De Kamp (Shawn Pyfrom), and Danielle Van De Kamp (Joy Lauren) do not appear in this episode.

Series continuity

This was the last episode to feature the full opening titles. They did not feature in the rest of season 3, as they were cut due to time constraints, and scrapped altogether for seasons 4, 5, 6, and 7.

This episode marks Dougray Scott’s last appearance as Ian Hainsworth. After a three-week absence, Andrea Bowen returns as Julie Mayer.

Title reference

• The episode title, Gossip is a song taken from the Stephen Sondheim musical, Sunday in the Park with George.

International titles

• Croatian: Ogovaranje (Gossip)
• French: Commérages (Gossip)
• French (Canada): Commérages (Gossip)
• German: Klatsch (Gossip)
• Hebrew: רכילות (Rechilut; Gossip)
• Hungarian: Pletyka (Gossip)
• Italian: Gossip
• Polish: Potęga plotki (The Power Of Gossip)
• Spanish: Rumores (Gossip)