Back in Business (Desperate Housewives)
"Back in Business" is the 91st episode of the ABC television series Desperate Housewives. It is the fourth episode of the show's fifth season and aired on October 19, 2008. The title of the episode is taken from a Stephen Sondheim song from the movie version of Dick Tracy.
| "Back in Business" | |
|---|---|
| Desperate Housewives episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 5 Episode 4 |
| Directed by | Scott Ellis |
| Written by | John Pardee & Joey Murphy |
| Production code | 504 |
| Original air date | October 19, 2008 |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
| |
Plot
Susan and Mike attend the Meet The Teacher night at M.J.'s school and come across his drawing of the family. Mike is hurt to learn that M.J. has drawn Jackson in the picture with Susan, drawing Mike very small, claiming it's because he is so far away. To try to establish his presence, Mike buys M.J. a bike and tries to be there to teach him to ride it. Susan discovers Jackson has already taught M.J. and to save Mike from being hurt by it, she tells M.J. to try to pretend to learn again and encourages him to fall on purpose, so she puts extra padding on him. M.J. does as Susan suggests but suffers a sprain when he falls, and Mike learns the truth. To guarantee he can see his son more, Mike moves back to Wisteria Lane to where Paul and Mary Alice Young once lived.
Gabrielle is desperate to rekindle her sex life with Carlos so tries to arrange play dates with Juanita's friend, Bethany. While away, Gaby is curious to know what blind sex is like for Carlos, so she blindfolds herself when they have sex. To their horror, Juanita has come home early and is standing at the end of the bed when Gaby takes the blindfold off. They make up a story that they were wrestling but later explain the truth to Juanita, who passes it onto Bethany, whose parents find out. Carlos and Gaby explain the truth to Bethany's parents who understand, but Carlos accidentally lets slip about the fact Santa Claus isn't real, not realizing Bethany has walked into the room. Their play dates remain unsuccessful and Gabrielle stays dissatisfied with her love life.
Bree distributes advanced copies of her books to the women on the lane, who worry she's going to become a huge success and forget about her friends. Bree reassures them she is no more fabulous than the rest of them but then receives a call from Andrew who tells her she's been awarded Business Woman of the Year. Orson also feels the burden of Bree's success as he's struggling to find a job due to his criminal record, and has been pretending to go off to work every day. Orson confesses how he feels embarrassed that Bree is now the breadwinner of the household. Orson suggests the idea of working for Bree but this isn't well received by Katherine, who overheard their conversation and feels she will be pushed out. In the conclusion, Bree finally accepts Orson as partners whereas Katherine has dumped her copy of Bree’s cookbook, signifying that she has resigned herself from the partnership with Bree.
Lynette reminisces her days of advertising when looking at Bree's advertisement campaign and offers to suggest some ideas to help her. Bree is surprised when Lynette pitches an entire idea to her, but Bree refuses claiming she believes her own advertising agency to be sufficient. At the dinner at which Bree is given the Business Woman of the Year award, Lynette learns that the secretary, Stu, at her old company Partcher and Murphy, is now owning his own company and in charge of the advertising campaign for Bree. Upset at the thought Stu is now such a huge success, Lynette becomes drunk at the ceremony and accuses Bree of looking down on her, before leaving through the emergency exit setting off the fire alarm. Lynette later apologizes for her behavior and confides in Bree that she looks down on herself and feels jealous at Bree's success. Bree claims there is nothing successful about her as her friends think she's going to drop them, her partner resents her and Orson is now sleeping in the guest room. Lynette expresses her support to Bree’s career and she assures Bree that she will resolve her problems.
Tom continues his search to put the garage band together by holding an audition and is impressed by a guitarist, but Dave isn't keen on him. Dave is then very insistent on trying to get Mike to join despite the fact that Tom has informed him that Mike is very busy, which leaves Tom feeling puzzled. More insight is given into Dave when he becomes angry, starts shaking and shouts at Edie when she suggests buying the Young house and renting it out to make some money. Surprised himself by his reaction, he goes upstairs, opens a case full of bottles of pills, and takes some to calm him down. His obsession with Mike seems to continue when he purposefully bursts a water pipe out front so he can call Mike to fix it. While there, he tries again to convince him to join the garage band, but Mike refuses because he lives too far away. Thinking about Edie's suggestion, Dave then buys the Young house from Mrs. Hudson and rents it out to Mike, but tells Edie he doesn't want Mike to know that they are his landlords.
International titles
- French: La jalousie (The jealousy)
- German: Neid (Envy)
- Hebrew: שוב בעניינים (Shuv BaInyanim; Back in the Business)
- Hungarian: Újra a pályán (At Work Again)
- Italian: Verde d'invidia (Greenly Jealous)
- Polish: Sukces i zazdrość (Success and Envy)
- Greek: Πίσω στη δουλειά (Back in Business)
Notes
- This episode averaged 15.49 million viewers, rating of 10.0 and share of 15. It was #3 for the week of October 13–19.
- Although credited, Porter Scavo (Charlie Carver), Preston Scavo (Max Carver), Parker Scavo (Joshua Logan Moore) and Penny Scavo (Kendall Applegate) do not appear in this episode.
- The episode went out in the UK on Channel 4 on Wednesday November 12, 2008
- The UK cable transmission was on E4 on Sunday November 9, 2008
- The episode went out in Ireland on RTÉ2 on Tuesday November 4, 2008.
- The episode went out in Poland on FOXlife on Thursday February 26, 2009.
- The episode went out in Austria on ORF1 on Monday February 2, 2009.
- The episode went out in Germany on Pro7 on Wednesday February 4, 2009.
- The title of this episode is taken from a song from the 1990 film Dick Tracy.