One Wonderful Day

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“One Wonderful Day”
Paul, Mary Alice and baby Zach move to Fairview in 1990.
Episode No.	Season 1 (2004-2005) Episode 23, 1-23
Writer(s)	Marc Cherry John Pardee & Joey Murphy Tom Spezialy and Kevin Murphy
Director	Larry Shaw
Original Airdate	May 22, 2005 (ABC)
Episode chronology
← Previous	Next →
“Goodbye for Now”	“Next”

"One Wonderful Day" is the 23rd episode of the ABC television series, Desperate Housewives. This episode was the season finale for the show's first season. The episode was written by Marc Cherry, John Pardee, Joey Murphy, Tom Spezialy and Kevin Murphy and was directed by Larry Shaw. It originally aired on Sunday May 22, 2005. The episode originally aired 1 hour later than the normal 10pm slot in the UK as two episodes were airing back-to-back that night. The episode originally aired on Wednesday June 1, 2005.

1 Guest stars
- 1.1 Special guest star
2 Episode recap
3 Opening credits
4 Quotes
5 Notes
6 Title reference
7 International Titles

[edit] Special guest star

Alfre Woodard as Betty Applewhite

[edit] Episode recap

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

At 5 am on Wisteria Lane, each of the women receives a phone call that Rex Van De Kamp had been admitted to the hospital courtesy of Danielle. Each of the wives leaves for the hospital to support Bree in her time of need but quickly return home when Bree needs some "alone time". While there Susan slips out that it looks as if Mrs. Huber was blackmailing Mary Alice leading to her suicide.

Meanwhile, Zach Young is curious of his father's whereabouts after he hears an obviously bogus story from Felicia who is trying to protect him from the truth. Zach soon leaves to go back home but Felicia runs after him begging him to come back to her house. Zach then picks up a nearby hockey stick and beats Felicia with it until she provides him with answers. Felicia is later hospitalized and her fate is left unknown for the remainder of the episode.

Susan continues to prepare for her move-in with Mike. However, when she cannot get in contact with him, she worries. After three phone calls to his cell phone, Mike finally returns her calls informing her that he is okay and that he has business to take care of. He then asks Susan to go over to his house to feed his dog Bongo. When she arrives at Mike's home, she is surprisingly held at gunpoint by Zach. Zach explains that Felicia told him that Mike killed Paul and when he arrived home, he would return the favor by killing him. Susan tries to escape but Zach insists that she stay. The ordeal would last for several hours until Mike arrives home.

Rex's doctor informs Bree that Rex must undergo surgery or the end result would be fatal. When the doctor notices Rex's high potassium intake, he questions Rex on who prepares his and the family's meals. He tells the doctor that Bree prepares the meals. Dr. Craig then asks Rex if they are still having marital problems. Rex immediately assumes that Bree has poisoned him and soon after dies leaving Bree a note of forgiveness.

Gabrielle testifies at Carlos' hate crime hearing in order to save him from eight long years of prison. She tells the jury that her husband is a very jealous man and that whenever she would go out, he would worry. Gabrielle then tells the jury that because of Carlos' ongoing jealousy she made him think that she was having an affair when in reality she was not. The judge then decides that the case is simply a misunderstanding and not a hate crime as the court had originally thought. However, when John shows up in court, he whispers in Carlos' ear that he was the man Gabrielle was cheating with. Several seconds later, Carlos jumps out of his chair and onto Justin, who was the man he attacked. The judge calls for order and Carlos is restrained by court officers, screaming "I am going to kill you!" to John.

Lynette discovers that Tom has quit his job after catching him in an arcade playing with children. Later, Tom confronts Lynette on convincing the boss' wife to pass on his promotion. Lynette tries to reason with him by telling him that he would be away from home more than he already is. Tom then delivers his ultimatum: that Lynette will return to work and that he will be the stay-at-home dad. Lynette objects for the moment but decides that maybe it is the best decision.

In the desert where Mike takes Paul Young, he asks Paul (at gunpoint) why he murdered Dierdre. Paul then goes on to tell his account of what happened. In March of 1990, Dierdre arrived on Angela and Paul Forrest's door for money for drugs and food. Angela, being the good woman she was offered to help support Dierdre since she had a very young child. Dierdre then offered Angela her baby, Dana, for money. Angela ponders the offer but soon after Dierdre is admitted to the clinic after an overdose. Angela sees this as a way to take the baby and soon after she, Paul and baby Dana move to Fairview (an idea brought to her by Felicia's calendar stating she had "family" there). With quick name changes for Angela and Dana, the 3 become the Young family and move to quiet, suburban Wisteria Lane. Three years later in 1993, Mary Alice is visited once again by Dierdre who asks for her son Dana back. Mary Alice objects and soon after a fight ensues. Dierdre fights Paul off by swinging a chimney stick at him, knocking him down. Dierdre makes a run for the stairs to grab Zach. However, Mary Alice quickly picks up a knife and stabs Dierdre in the chest. Dierdre dies soon after. Mary Alice then runs to Zach's room where she takes his toy chest which she and Paul will later use to place Dierdre's body in. Shortly after, Zach wakes up and sees his two parents dismember Dierdre's body. Mary Alice and Paul bury Dierdre's body in the backyard and the following day have the yard filled with cement where the pool will soon go. Paul ends his story by telling Mike that this was the reason that Mary Alice killed herself. The guilt had truly gotten to her after all those years.

Mike prepares to kill him but backs out at the last minute and decides to let Paul go. Mike then comes the conclusion that Zach Young is actually his son since Dierdre had gotten pregnant before Mike had gone to prison. When he returns on Wisteria Lane, he parks his car and slowly walks into his home only to find out there is a surprise behind the door.

[edit] Opening credits

The opening credits were cut for time as seen in a similar fashion to the Pilot.

[edit] Quotes

Bree: (after answering the phone) Hello?
Lee Craig: Hi Bree, this is Dr. Craig. I'm at the hospital and I'm afraid I have some bad news.
Bree: Oh?
Lee Craig: Rex passed away about 10 minutes ago.
Bree: But his operation, its not until tomorrow.
Lee Craig: I know, he just didn't make it. I'm very sorry. We did everything we could.
(pause)
Lee Craig: Bree?
Bree: (smiling and acting normal) Of course you did. Thank you so much for calling.
(Betty just moved in and Edie's her realtor)
Edie: Why don't we take a short walk through the house?
Betty Applewhite: (firmly) Edie, the house is fine.
Paul: Oh Mary Alice, what did you do?
(Mary Alice just stabbed Deirdre to death)
Paul: What should we do with her?
Mary Alice: You said they're putting concrete in the pool tomorrow.
Paul: You can't be serious.
Mary Alice: They'll never find her. Let's put her in this toy chest.
Paul: She won't fit.
Mary Alice: Then we'll have to make her fit.
(Mary Alice examines Deirdre's arm)
Paul: What are you doing?
Mary Alice: Checking for track marks.
Carlos: Thanks for testifying for me, Gaby. Beating up a second gay guy. It doesn't look so good.
Gabrielle: Actually Carlos, in some circles, beating people up at all is frowned upon.
Carlos: Gaby? Aren't we breastfeeding?
Gabrielle: Oh, honey, if you can swing that one, more power to ya.

[edit] Notes

Brenda Strong (Mary Alice Young) is seen in this episode.
This is the last episode featuring Rex Van De Kamp (Steven Culp) and John Rowland (Jesse Metcalfe) with regular roles on the show. They will only be seen as guest stars hereafter.
Rex Van De Kamp is not shown on camera again (with the exception of in Next, a plastic model of him is shown in the casket) until the season 2 finale, Remember.