Would I Think of Suicide?
"Would I Think of Suicide?" is the 120th episode of the ABC television series, Desperate Housewives. It is the ninth episode of the show's sixth season and aired on November 29, 2009.
| "Would I Think of Suicide?" | |
|---|---|
| Desperate Housewives episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 6 Episode 9 |
| Directed by | Ken Whittingham |
| Written by | Jason Ganzel |
| Production code | 609 |
| Original air date | November 29, 2009 |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
| |
Plot
News of the murder of Emily, a waitress at a local Coffee Shop, shakes up the town. At the beginning of the episode Mary Alice narrates that Emily was very popular, and that everyone was shocked to learn that she was murdered. Then it is shown that everyone is gathered at the scene of the crime at "The Coffee Cup" were Emily was killed, then a mystery guy whose face is not shown is seen walking and unwrapping a chewing gum and throwing the chewing gum wrapper on the floor, as this scene plays out, Mary Alice narrates: "Yes, everyone in fairview now knew a killer was walking among them, and they would soon learn he wasn't finished", confirming that the killer is a male.
Upon hearing the news of Emily's death, several women rally together and consider taking up defense classes as a means of personal protection. Julie, shaken at the idea that a second strangulation victim is now dead while she remains alive, expresses her concern in that even with self-defense training, there is no true guarantee that one will remain truly protected from the supposed serial killer should he strike again. In sympathy, Julie's father Karl decides to let his daughter borrow his car in exchange for hers as an extra safety precaution. This leads to Susan eventually finding Julie's car, without her knowledge of the vehicle exchange between her ex-husband and her daughter, at a local motel. This observation leads Susan to initially believe that Julie is secretly continuing her relationship with a married man but instead discovers something far more shocking: Bree's affair with Karl.
At the first defense class with the ladies of Wisteria Lane, Susan confronts Bree and tells her that she knows about the affair. After a comical tussle sparks between the pair, Bree leaves the class early out of frustration against Susan's insistent claims of betrayal towards both Orson as well as their friendship, all while defending her reasons for continuing her affair with Karl. Later that evening, Susan invites Karl and Bree over to discuss their relationship. Despite Susan's arguments towards Karl's shortcomings as an inconsiderate husband during their marriage, Bree blurts out she in fact does love Karl and truly believes that he can change into someone even better than the man that he once was. Susan, sensing Bree's sincerity towards her confession, ultimately yet awkwardly gives her blessing to hers and Karl's relationship.
Lynette arrives at work in the morning to a surprise farewell party from all of her co-workers with all of them believing that she is to depart sometime soon for her promotion in Florida. Lynette confronts Carlos about the celebration and defends her position by expressing her desire to continue her role as Senior Executive VP of the company and refusing to relocate. Carlos, knowing that he cannot legally fire Lynette due to her pregnancy, continues to offer her the option of quitting her job willingly with no strings attached despite her violation against company policy by lying about her condition in order to obtain a higher paying corporate role. Lynette's continued refusal to meet Carlos' demands prompts him to relocate Lynette's former office into a heavily cramped storage unit, with her junior associate claiming ownership of her former work area. Later that evening, both the Solises and the Scavos come up to opposing sides of the entire Lynette/Carlos confrontation: Gaby and Carlos wish to mend the growing rift in their 15-year-long relationship between the Scavos, while Lynette expresses her desire Tom about hitting Carlos with a lawsuit for his continued harassment against her in the workplace. Both couples eventually decide to sleep on their respective ideas and confront the other about them in the morning. The following day, Gaby shows up at the Scavo's doorstep with a few gifts and a genuine apology for Carlos's recent behavior on her behalf. This of course, occurs right when Carlos is given the papers from the Scavo's lawyer indicating that he is being sued. This unexpected action angers Gaby which causes the already fragile bond of friendship between the two couples to rip apart even further. The next day, Carlos assigns Lynette a large stack of paper work that is to be completed and submitted to his desk at 9:00AM the next day. Seeing as how Carlos expects her to essentially perform a 2-day task in only one night, Lynette argues that she would have to miss her daughter's School Christmas Pageant and stay up all night in order to accomplish the job. Carlos, with the advice and physical presence of a company legal representative, ignores her excuse and explains to her that since she believes that she is fit to maintain her position, she needs to complete her assignment in a "timely fashion" if she wants to keep her job; to which Lynette begrudgingly accepts. Later that night, Lynette abandons her work out of rebellion in order to attend Penny's Christmas Pageant. The following morning, Lynette's insubordination and inability to complete her assigned task prompts Carlos to now legally terminate her employment with the company as the verbal agreement that she had made between herself, Carlos and a legal representative had now been violated due to her actions.
During a small, informal gathering at the Coffee Shop, the site of Emily's murder, with some of the younger residents of Wisteria Lane, Danny tries another attempt at asking Julie to go out on a date with him. Julie declines his offer by claiming that it wouldn't really work out between the two of them. Danny then reveals to Julie that he knows about the affair that she had with his father Nick and that even though the secret is now out in the open between the pair, he doesn't care about the entire matter and simply states that he just really likes her. Julie then infers to Danny that the entire situation of her dating her ex-lover's son with both of them being aware of the former relationship would be just too weird, which then causes Julie to stand by her decision of refusing to date Danny. A heartbroken Danny returns home to find his parents caught up in a heated argument. Angie reveals during this fight that she had previously killed a man and that the family is on the run ever since because of it. As the argument intensifies, Danny retreats up to the sanctity of his room. Later in the evening Angie finds her son passed out on his bed, believing him to be simply taking a nap. She then horrifyingly discovers an empty bottle of pills by his hands and shouts for the presence of her husband. After sometime in the hospital, Danny wakes up in the care of his designated nurse, Mona Clark, a neighbor on Wisteria Lane. She kindly greets him by name and offers him some refreshments, but Danny, while in a state of semi-consciousness, reveals to Mona that his real name is actually "Tyler."
M.J. finds Katherine crying on her porch which causes him to innocently voice his concern for her sadness. Later that day, a slightly morose M.J. tells his father Mike that despite being invited to an upcoming birthday party for one of his friends, he is actually somewhat sad because of his encounter with Katherine. This news causes M.J. to reveal that Katherine told him that she was crying because his mother Susan was a "bad person." Mike, realizing that Katherine had now resorted to babbling about her infidelity delusions to his 6 year old son, confronts her about it and threatens her to never to talk to M.J. again. However, in spite of Mike's warning, Katherine picks up M.J. from his friend's birthday party the next day without his father's consent which prompts Mike to rush over Katherine's in an instant. Upon his arrival, he finds Katherine harmlessly feeding M.J. some freshly cooked lasagna to which Mike angrily tells M.J. to immediately go home without question. With his son out of sight, Mike finally puts his foot down and commands Katherine to put a stop to her outrageous behavior. Katherine defends herself by claiming that on top of loving M.J., the love that she had, and continues to still have for Mike is real. Mike then coldly responds by claiming that he had never truly loved her and that even though he was with Katherine in body during their entire relationship, all he ever thought about was Susan. In her despair, Katherine then takes a nearby kitchen knife, directs it towards her chest and disturbingly pleads for him to kill her, reasoning that her death would be a less painful matter than her heartbreak. Instead of agreeing, Mike refuses to comply with Katherine's death wish by stating that he doesn't care about her enough to kill her. Following Mike's leave from her house, Katherine then calls 911, shakily telling the operators that she requires immediate medical attention from blood loss. After hanging up, it is only then when the now emotionally fragile Katherine proceeds with the act of her desperation: by stabbing herself with the same knife that she had previously offered to Mike.
Notes
- The title is a reference to a lyric from the song "Could I Leave You?", from the musical Follies.
- Although credited, Madison De La Garza (Juanita Solis) does not appear in this episode
- "Would I Think of Suicide?" received 12.65 million viewers, with a 10 18-49 share, and a 4.4 18-49 rating. Like most other programs, it was affected by the clash with NBC's football coverage, and failed to beat the previous episode, which aired two weeks ago and hit a season high of 14.35m.
- When Angie recalls the Bolen family's history, she references the date of "18 years ago: November 10th, 1991". However, due to the show's five-year jump at the end of season 4, that dates the show sometime in 2014. Eighteen years from that date would be 1996, not 1991.
- When Gabrielle and Carlos have a conversation about Lynette, she mentions they have known each other for 15 years. Since the show takes place in 2014 during Season 6, Gabrielle would have met Lynette in 1999. This is not the case. In episode Remember (2006), Gabrielle met the housewives three years earlier (2003). Gabrielle has known Lynette for 11 years.
- It is in this episode that we discover that the attacker of Julie and Emily is a male.
International titles
- German: Selbstverteidigung (Self-defense)
- Italian: Un mondo pericoloso (A dangerous world)
- French: Ceux qui nous veulent du mal (People who want to hurt us)
- Arabic: الانتحار أو الانتحار؟ (Suicide or Suicide?)
- Hungarian: Önvédelem (Self-defense)