Creator:
Marc Cherry
Cast:
Teri Hatcher ………. Susan Mayer
Marcia Cross ………. Bree Van De Kamp
Felicity Huffman ………. Lynette Scavo
Eva Longoria ………. Gabrielle Solis
James Denton ………. Mike Delfino
Doug Savant ………. Tom Scavo
Nicollette Sheridan ………. Edie Britt
Ricardo Chivara ………. Carlos Solis
Andrea Bowen ………. Julie Mayer
Alfre Woodard ………. Betty Applewhite
Roger Bart ………. George Williams
The Show:
The first season of Desperate Housewives focused primarily on mystery and satire and the second season basically did the same thing and introduced us to the Applewhite family, who fit right into Wysteria Lane with all of their secrets.
The second season picks up on the dramatic finale of the first. The second season primarily follows the twists and turns in Susan (Teri Hatcher) and Mike’s (James Denton) relationship. Susan cannot really deal with the fact that Zach is Mike’s son (given Zach’s psychotic fascination with Susan’s daughter Julie (Andrea Bowen) and Susan is determined to eliminate her problem, not realizing that she might be eliminating the love of her life at the same time.
After her husband’s death in the first season, there are many plot developments for Bree Van De Kamp (Marcia Cross). She has a gay son who despises the ground that she walks on and an alcohol problem. She is also is attracted to her pharmacist, George Williams (Roger Bart), who is completely obsessed with her, to the point where she kills In one particularly amusing scene, the audience finds out that he had a mannequin of her in his room during the entire time of the courtship. After she “deals” with George, her drinking problem only exacerbates and she meets another man, who has just as many problems, if not more.
Gabrielle Solis (Eva Longoria) goes from being a cheating wife to being a supportive one (at least as much of that she can be). The primary Solis storyline is Carlos’ (Ricardo Chivara) need for a child and Gabby’s reluctance to commit.
For the Scavo’s, it’s more of the same. Lynette (Felicity Huffman) and Tom (Doug Savant) eventually move their chaotic lives into the workplace and the results are both hilarious and hard-to-watch. While their relationship is the primary comedy of the show, a dark secret from Tom’s past serves to potentially ruin their marriage later in the season.
Clearly it is Betty Applewhite (Alfre Woodard) that serves as the center of the new season. Her two sons are both irrational, and it’s interesting to see which one is which. While logic would dictate that the son that she has locked up in her basement is the insane one, it’s clear that Matthew (Mehcad Brooks) also has his fair share of problems. Seriously, what can you expect from somebody dating Bree Van De Kamp’s daughter? The Applewhite characters received a lot of criticism from fans of the show because many felt that there were not fully developed as always were on the periphery, even though their storyline was one of the main focuses of the second season.
The DVD:
Video:
The DVD is presented in a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.78:1. The display is very clear and very sharp as this is one of the cleanest transfers that you can get. There is no evidence of edge enhancement and the colors are clean. There is not even a hint of grain anywhere on the discs.
Audio:
The sound is presented as English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround. English subtitles are available. Not much to say here as once again, there aren’t any deficiencies whatsoever and everything can be heard better than adequately.
Special Features:
Some of the best extras that you can ask for. The box set advertises itself as being extra juicy and that really is an appropriate way to describe the goodies.
Almost immediately, there is a remarkable improvement from the first season’s release as all of the special features are found on Disc 6, whereas last season they were interspersed throughout all the discs. This makes the bonus features much easier to watch all at once.
The features include:
Marc & Mom: An interview with show’s creator, Marc Cherry, and his mother. The featurette examines Marc’s childhood and real-life experiences that helped serve as motivation for some of the storylines on the show. Marc’s mother also shares some of his most embarrassing moments. Not the greatest feature, especially for those who don’t care about his childhood.
Directing Desperate Housewives: This offers a look into the filming of the show and shows aspecting of pre and post-production. This is handled well as the featurette focuses specifically on just one episode (#13) and interviews are conducted with the director and main cast members.
Desperate Role Models: Another phenomenal featurette, as this offers interviews with some of the most famous women in television history and how the Desperate Housewives compare. The participants include Marion Ross from Happy Days, Joanna Kerns from Growing Pains, and Shirley Jones from The Partridge Family. It is featurettes like these that make buying the box set worth it, as this is something that was clearly done just for fans of the show who buy the set.
Cherry-Picked: Creator Marc Cherry’s Favorite Scenes
Cherry picks 11 of his favorite scenes and you can watch his picks with his commentary. Pretty self-explanatory, but still interesting to watch as the viewer can compare their picks with the creator’s choices.
Unaired Story Lines: Unquestionably the best extra on the set, the unaired storylines allow a glimpse into what could have happened on the show but didn’t primarily because of time. The best part is that these are not deleted scenes, but actually collections of scenes that would have actually formed an entire story arc in particular episodes. They include: Susan’s Drama (from episode “Color and Light”) and Lynette’s Return Flight (from episode “No One Is Alone”). Optional commentary from Cherry is also available.
Deleted Scenes: An additional 11 deleted scenes are offered, once again with or without commentary from creator Marc Cherry.
Fashion and Couture: This offers an interview with the show’s primary costume designer, Catherine Adair and she talks about the impact that fashion has on the show and how she dresses each character in their own unique style and to differentiate them all.
Juicy Bites: The main castmembers discuss their favorite or juiciest moments from the second season.
The Whole Story: This really serves as a fast forward recap of the first season in warp speed. It is meant to catch you up, but also is tongue-in-cheek in the sense that it would be impossible to actually follow this and totally know what happened last season. It’s classic Desperate Housewives humor.
Trailers for the upcoming Desperate Housewives game are also included in the set.
| InsidePulse’s Ratings for Desperate Housewives – Season 2 | |
