Opening Doors (''Desperate Housewives'')

For the Stephen Sondheim musical revue see Sondheim on Sondheim.

"Opening Doors" is the 84th episode of the ABC television series, Desperate Housewives. It is the fourteenth episode of the show's fourth season and aired on May 4, 2008, in the United States.^[1] The title comes from a Stephen Sondheim song from his musical Merrily We Roll Along.

Plot

Bree gives Orson an ultimatum in the beginning of the episode, where she suggests to him that he surrender himself to the police. Orson regrets his actions and asks her for forgiveness, but tells Bree that he can't go to jail, and Bree asks him to leave. Orson waits on the front lawn drunk one night, and tells Bree he can turn himself in to the police and explains that he was sleepwalking when he ran over Mike. Bree is more upset about this idea. When Edie drives by and sees Orson and Bree, Bree tells Edie to send him back to the apartment. Orson refuses to go back to the apartment and she allows him to stay overnight at her house. Bree confronts Edie because she is uncomfortable about Orson staying overnight with Edie and is concerned that she might start an affair with Orson (a valid concern, given her past adulterous liaisons with Karl, Mike and Carlos). Edie told Bree that she is not interested in Orson, and she will allow Orson to stay as long as he wants. Bree begs Edie to consider their friendship. Fearing that her relationship with Orson might be jeopardized, Edie slams the door on Bree. Edie then convinces Orson to stay longer as she gets herself drunk on Orson's martinis. She talks about Bree being too perfect and people occasionally making mistakes. Orson and Edie kiss (they both think it was inappropriate), and Bree catches them in the act when she finds Ida's cat, Toby, in front of Edie's house (Karen McCluskey was looking for the cat throughout the episode).

Susan reconnects with ex-husband Karl (Richard Burgi) while she is in Lamaze class. She and Julie met Karl and his present wife Marissa at the class. Karl says some offensive things to Susan, telling her she has aged, gained weight and so on and brags about Marissa being a professor of law. Furious, Susan brings Mike to the next class dressed in a suit. Mike lies about him now hiring people to do plumbing and having a great social life, but then he goes on and tells Karl and Marissa the reason he missed the previous class: He was getting the 30-day chip which signifies he has successfully been through 30 days without drugs. Susan is unhappy that Mike told them about his drug addiction, but Mike tells her that he should be honest about who he is and he does not care what Karl thinks. The next class Karl tells her that Mike tries to be honest because he loves her, unlike Karl who was always dishonest to her.

Gabrielle rents out her guest room to earn some money, and an art student named Ellie responds to the classified and moves in with the Solis's. When Gabrielle wants to borrow a nail file from Ellie, she sees a man in Ellie's room (a different man than the one she saw earlier in the day), which makes Gabrielle feel awkward. She then notices Ellie counting some money after the man left, and comes to the conclusion that Ellie is a prostitute. Gabrielle then asks Bob to act as someone who wants to have sex with Ellie to catch her in the act. Bob seems reluctant about the plan, but his partner Lee volunteers to play the role. However, the plan turns sour when Ellie slaps and kicks Lee. When Gabrielle apologizes and confesses her intentions, Ellie tells Gabrielle that she is running a tattoo parlor from her room so that she can earn some money to open her own shop. Ellie apologizes for keeping this information from Gabrielle, and tells her she will be out by the morning. Gabrielle tells her she doesn't have to leave; she says letting her stay is the least she can do for Ellie after accusing her of being a whore. Ellie forgives Gabrielle and agrees to stay longer. It turns out that Ellie is actually a drug dealer and there are significant amounts of drugs in her drawer.

The twins, Preston and Porter are made to do chores as punishment for setting fire to Rick's restaurant. Tom suggests they take the boys to therapy, which Lynette is against. One morning, Lynette overhears the twin's conversation. They hinted that it was actually someone else's idea that they set the fire, and then at Lynette's command confess that this "someone else" was Kayla. She then confronts Kayla about the incident. Kayla says that the boys wanted to hurt Rick with dynamite. Kayla tells Lynette that she was merely joking when she told them that matches are much more readily available than dynamite. Lynette is shocked that Kayla is calm and shows no remorse, so she takes Kayla to the therapist without Tom's knowledge. In the waiting room, Kayla suggests that if she has to talk to the therapist, she should probably talk to the police as well. In this way she "persuades" Lynette to take her home without making her talk to the therapist. Tom subsequently argues with Lynette over the fact that she took his daughter to a shrink without telling him. Meanwhile, Kayla creeps outside with an umbrella. She manages to convince the twins that she has just jumped off from the roof (in reality she jumped off from the porch), and Preston breaks his arm when he attempts to do the same (at Kayla's suggestion). Lynette notices Kayla's cold stares as she and Tom rush to get Preston to the hospital.

Dylan claims that she is dating a boy in school, whom Katherine has only heard about but has not yet seen, when in reality she is meeting her father, Wayne for dinner every night. One night, Katherine discovers their secret meeting when she decides to spy on Dylan to find out who this boy is. Dylan and her father have already decided to come clean with Katherine, so when she gets home, Dylan admits that she is lying about the boy. Katherine is overly calm, and very distant, but she tells Dylan to invite Wayne into the house, then sends her upstairs so they can talk. Wayne tells Katherine that he has changed over the past 13 years, and she tells him she is no longer afraid of him. When Wayne leaves the house, Katherine sighs with relief. When she goes to shut the drawer next to her, we see that there is a revolver in it.^[1]

Notes

• The episode's title is from a song by Stephen Sondheim from the musical "Merrily We Roll Along"
• This episode got 16.8 million viewers in its original US airing.
• Although credited, Joy Lauren (Danielle Van de Kamp) does not appear in this episode

International titles

• Czech: Vítejte u nás (Welcome to Us)
• French: Influence néfaste (Nasty influence)
• French Canadian: Villains Secrets (Bad secrets)
• German: Willkommen (Welcome)
• Hebrew: דלתות פתוחות (Dlatot Ptuchot; Open Doors)
• Hungarian: Nyíló ajtók (Opening Doors)
• Italian: Le porte che si aprono (The Opening Doors)
• Spanish: Puertas Abiertas (Open Doors)
• Greek: Ανοιχτές Πόρτες (Opening Doors)

Awards notes

• Nicollette Sheridan submitted this episode for consideration of her work for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards.^[2]

References