Putting It Together (Desperate Housewives)

"Putting It Together" is the 166th episode of the ABC television series Desperate Housewives. It is the ninth episode of the show's eighth season and was broadcast on December 4, 2011.

Plot

Chuck calls Gabrielle, Susan and Lynette individually for questioning about the disappearance - and possible murder - of Alejandro, inciting panic, and Bree's life begins to spiral into despair when her friends abandon her after they blame her for scorning Chuck and causing him to take out his revenge on them.

Susan begins to panic and tells Mike she is worried she will crack under the pressure and wants to go away for a while. He tries to explain that leaving would look suspicious and that they don't have the money to simply go away. Following this she goes to see Felix and ask for the money from the paintings she sold. He tells her it will take a few weeks to get the cheque but she begs him for it explaining she needs to leave town. Felix then visits her house with a cheque as well as a job offer for her in New York so she can continue painting. Susan relays this to Mike explaining how she doesn't love Wisteria Lane like she used to but he becomes angry and tells her that she is running from her problems and would not go with her.

During her interrogation Chuck reveals that he knows about Carlos having checked into rehab leading Gaby to admit she is happy they managed to catch his problem early. This prompts Chuck to ask what could have happened recently to trigger his drinking and under pressure Gaby tells him that Carlos had an affair to which he replies that he would follow this up with her husband. Knowing she needs to get to Carlos before Chuck does, Gaby tries to see him in rehab but is told that he is not allowed visitors until the next week. After breaking in and finding him Gaby explains the situation to him. Later when Chuck visits Gaby to reveal he knows that Alejandro was her stepfather, he tells her he would be opening an official case. Gaby then tries to call the rehab center only to learn that Carlos has checked himself out, so she goes out to find him.

Lynette begins to worry about what would happen to her children should she be arrested and so decides she needs to tell Tom about her involvement in the murder. Tom is about to leave on a trip to Paris with Jane so Lynette runs to the airport to ask him not to go and admits her secret. He decides to stay which upsets Jane who decides to get on the plane without him.

Bree tries to make amends with each of the women all of whom tell her they are no longer friends as she has managed to make a mess of all their lives causing her to continue drinking. Bree goes out to a bar and blacks out, leading Ben to visit her the morning after to remind her that she came to his house drunk the night before. Bree admits how unhappy she is and Ben advises her to try and make it up to her friends. Renee sees Ben come out of Bree's house and confronts him to which he explains he was simply being a shoulder for her to cry on as she's going through a rough time. Following this Bree tries once again to talk to Gaby who tells her that Chuck is only targeting them to punish her for breaking up with him and so she goes to see him an offer a deal; she will confess to whatever he wants if he promises to leave her friends alone. Chuck, however, refuses this deal as what he wants is for her to be in pain. He then goes to see Ben to tell him he is shutting down his construction site to investigate and purposely makes Renee doubt him with regards to Bree again. Renee goes to see Ben later that night and sees Bree drunkenly drive off in her car. Bree heads to a motel and, after admitting to a hallucination of Mary Alice that she is depressed having lost her perfect life, she picks up a gun.

Chuck is hit by a car and left for dead. The identity of the driver is left unknown.

Reception

According to Nielsen ratings, "Putting It Together" was watched by 8.20  million viewers and held 2.7 rating between 18 and 49 years of age.^[1] The episode was competing against Sunday Night Football on NBC, which averaged 18.90 million viewers and an 11.5 rating/18 share, The Good Wife on CBS, which was watched by 9.94 million viewers and held a 1.9 rating, and Family Guy on Fox which was watched by 7.14 million viewers and held 3.6/8 rating in the 18-49 demographic. The episode gained an additional 2.2 million viewers and 0.9 rating in the week following the original broadcast due to DVR recordings.^[2]

Notes

• Brenda Strong (Mary Alice Young) is seen in this episode.
• This episode marks the last time that Jonathan Cake is credited as a series regular.
• In the first season episode "Anything You Can Do", Gabrielle's mother-in-law, Juanita "Mama" Solis, was accidentally hit by a car driven by Andrew Van de Kamp.
• In the two-hour season finale episode "Remember", Mike Delfino was hit by a car driven by Orson Hodge.
• In the sixth season episode "A Little Night Music", Nick Bolen was hit by a car driven by Patrick Logan.
• Bree was at her parents' house when her daughter got pregnant. Not in her own home, as they showed in this episode. This information can be compared with episode "My Husband, the Pig".
• According to James Denton in an interview, Chuck is the 52nd character to die over all 8 seasons.
• This episode is the last episode of Miguel Ferrer as Andre Zeller. He does not appear after this episode because of unknown causes.

International titles

• Italian: Ricomponendo il quadro (Putting the painting back together)
• German: Puzzleteile (Pieces of a Puzzle)
• Polish: Poskładać razem (To piece together)

References