See, I strongly disagree on the accusation of the characters being shallow in exchange for jokes. If anything, it’s backed off those kinds of jokes and gone some pretty dark and depressing places. I think the perfect example is Susan running out in the wedding dress to get Mike to stay. Usually, it would be seem like another one of those hilariously embarassing moments for her but instead it’s gut-wrenching. It’s almost like they’re daring us to laugh in spite of her circumstance and we can see that despite the heightened reality of a soap opera world, these characters are continuing to grow and the reason Mary Alice continues to narrate is because she used to be one of them. She can never grow and change like them so it’s her blessing and curse to tell their story now that her’s is over.
As for character development, this season again goes places I didn’t expect. I didn’t expect Mike and Susan to be split apart so soon and I don’t know where that storyline will go. The reason characters usually split up is that writers have this idiotic fear of the Sam-and-Diane scenario where if they put two characters together, then the sexual tension between them becomes boring and their relationship becomes boring and I think that’s just lazy, uncreative writing. Anyone who’s ever been in a romantic relationship can tell you that drama tends to abound where ever love is concerned. So if these two characters are apart, then the writers did it in an attempt to either A) break the “relationship boredom” and/or B) needed them apart for something greater they have planned. Furthermore, it was a good breakup because it lives in the grey area. Susan lied to Mike and sent Zach away but only because she was trying to protect Julie. There’s no real “bad guy” between them (other than Zach. Zach’s a bad guy) .
As for the other storylines, well if you’re not as intrigued and disturbed by Bree’s storyline as I am then you’re kinda disturbing yourself. George is such a great villain because his actions (up until the killing of Dr. Goldfine…that was surreal) are motivated by his own pathetic nature. And Bree doesn’t see it because she’s too polite. I do think it was a mistake to send Andrew away (again, great villain although not as realistic as George), Bree’s in a dark place and she doesn’t even know it. She was date raped by the man who killed her husband! Does this not strike anyone else as incredibly fucked-up?
And contrary to what that writer is saying, Gabby has developed and you can slowly see it with her getting back with Carlos and refusing the advances of the lawyer. She didn’t want to become pregnant and she didn’t want to change even though she recognized her current life was unintended. This plays perfectly to her getting something unintended and her getting something she never knew she wanted. While the dress-fitting scene may have been played for cheap laughs, I enjoyed the use of symbolism.
Finally, I will say that Lynette is kind of stuck in rut when she doesn’t need to be. I think her boss is an amusing character but a non-sensical one because Lynette had an offer to come back and work for her old firm (the only explanation for why she didn’t is, I assume, that perhaps the job would require them to move back to where they came from before Wisteria Lane and they didn’t want to uproot the family. Again, this is just assumption and it’s never been explained why Lynette didn’t go back to her old company). But Tom’s got a secret and it’s just sitting there unused. Also, I don’t think the other family with twins was some grand opportunity as it only solved a simple project of Lynette finding downtime for herself. It was a comedic subplot and nothing more and it’s silly to think that it was just brimming with potential. Also, speaking of the Scavos, I want to say kudos to the make-up department for making Tom look completely haggard this season. It’s a small but necessary detail to his new life as a stay-at-home dad.
This just seems to be the no-win world of television story arcs coming to life and why shows without them (CSI, Law & Order, ER) succeed. If you have a story arc, then you’re either like Lost and people will complain that you’re not giving them enough answers and if you come to a satisfying conclusion to a mystery like they did last season, then you’re boring. Personally, I think they should drop the whole mystery angle altogether and find more time to have these women interact with each other.