The Little Things You Do Together

"The Little Things You Do Together" is the 15th episode of the third season of the ABC television series Desperate Housewives. It was written by Marc Cherry and Joe Keenan and directed by David Grossman. It aired on February 18, 2007.

Plot[]

Just as Orson Hodge is falling off the hospital roof, due to Mike Delfino pushing him off the parking-lot border at the end of the last episode, he starts to flash back about what happened the night when Monique Polier died. Orson returns home to find Monique on the floor surrounded in blood, with his mother Gloria Hodge standing right next to her with Mike's wrench. The doorbell rings. Mike is at the door waiting for Monique to answer before he walks in the house to find Orson in a rather suspicious position, Orson and Gloria quickly hide Monique's body behind the kitchen counter and Gloria goes into hiding. In order to stop Mike from seeing anything, he quickly tips Mike off and says he can carry on the plumbing job from there. Mike leaves, and soon after Gloria and Orson are at the country club digging a hole, Orson gets into a row with his mother, as his mother is trying to remove Monique's teeth (so she can't be identified by dental records, which Orson regards as disrespectful to the corpse) and instead of burying Monique, he pushes Gloria into the ditch, causing her to break her hip (which explains why she walks with the aid of a stick). It cuts back to Orson just as he's about to meet his death, but he's in luck. A tree breaks his fall and paramedics standing by call for help. The narrator Mary Alice Young states that Orson's departure into the “white light” was not scheduled for this day.

It's opening day at the Scavos’ pizzeria, but Lynette ends up getting into some big trouble with Tom. A contract man shows up with some baby seats but brings more than what's required. However, there aren't enough normal seats, so Lynette has to borrow some from the neighbors, including a hungover Gabrielle Marquez who ended up spending the night with Zach Young.

Gabrielle's a little taken back when her ex-husband Carlos confesses to her that he's still not yet over her, but is stunned to learn that Zach spent the night with her – That is until he takes a trip to the bathroom and can't help noticing the size of Zach’s penis. Carlos informs Gabrielle of what he saw in the bathroom reassuring her nothing happened between her and Zach, because even if she was under the influence of alcohol, she would've remembered. Gabrielle though using Carlos' feelings for her tries to persuade him to scare Zach off – but this fails to work.

Susan Mayer meanwhile takes her relationship with Ian to the next level, but while on her way to collect Ian’s dead wife Jane’s things with him, Andrew Van de Kamp informs her of his mother Bree’s fall from a ladder. Bree's delighted that Susan's willing to be her friend again after telling Susan she knows Mike Delfino wasn't to blame but doesn't let on to Susan who really did it.

Later on that night, the residents of Wisteria Lane, all except Bree, Orson, his ex-wife Alma and his mother Gloria turn up at the opening of Pizzeria Scavo where some bizarre things occur. After Tom and Lynette say their thank yous, Ian and Zach both have some propositions of their own. Ian proposes to Susan in a typical “Susan Mayer moment” and she agrees to marry him. Meanwhile, Ian's proposal encourages Zach to propose marriage to Gabrielle. She's absolutely horrified and takes Zach outside and tells him she doesn't want to be his friend anymore because she knows he'd always be wanting more than a friendship from her.

Back at the Hodge house, Gloria arrives to take care of Bree while she's in bed. Gloria gives Bree's daughter Danielle some of her homemade soup to give Bree – unbeknown to Bree and Danielle, Gloria put sleeping pills in it. Danielle then goes to the pizzeria. On her way out, Alma tries to escape from the attic Gloria locked her in. While Alma's on her roof, she tries to get Danielle's attention, but accidentally loses her balance and falls off the roof shortly after realizing that Orson didn't love her, and that she was going to move on with her life, much to the disapproval of Gloria. Danielle fails to notice Alma's fall and goes to the pizzeria.

When Bree falls asleep, after being sedated by the spiked soup, Gloria admits that it was easy to kill Monique as she was a “slut” and that she'll feel remorse after killing Bree, remarking that she's "a good Christian woman" who got caught up in the affairs of the Hodge family. She believes, the vows Orson made to Alma under the eyes of God are still sacred, and that Orson's divorce from Alma meant nothing, making Bree Orson's mistress. Gloria goes to run Bree a bath, and stages it with photographs of Orson and Bree together, as well as candles. Gloria's idea is that she'll get Bree into the bath, and cut her wrists, making it look like a suicide.

Andrew is stunned when Danielle turns up at the pizzeria and shouts at her for leaving Bree when she is most in need, Danielle tells him to calm himself, as she left Bree with Gloria. Suspicious of Gloria, Andrew heads for the house. Orson, meanwhile has escaped from the hospital and is intent on getting home, to rescue Bree from Gloria. Gloria hears Andrew come through the door and he runs up the stairs to try and rescue Bree. Gloria hits him with her walking stick and he takes a fall, rendering him unconscious. Orson comes to Andrew's rescue and confronts Gloria as she's about to slit Bree's wrists. It strikes him as to the fact that Bree's staged suicide resembles his own father's. He then realizes that his mother was responsible for that death also. Gloria used Orson's father's alleged suicide as something against him, as she told him that he could have saved his father's life. He fights Gloria and pushes her away from Bree. Gloria begins to have a stroke, leaving Orson free to rescue Bree. Bree wakes up and tells Orson that Gloria tried to kill her. Orson fills her in on what happened. He left Gloria (who is unconscious after the stroke) next to Alma's body as well as the fake suicide note, which she wrote when trying to attract Orson's attention, and the bag of teeth belonging to Monique, removed by Gloria.

In the morning they're found. The police believe Alma committed suicide because she felt guilty for killing Monique and that Gloria found her and had a stroke. The doctors tell Orson that his mother, though completely paralyzed physically, still has the same mental capacity. Orson feels relief that the fact that he was an accomplice in Monique's burial will remain secret and with his mother. He tilts her head so that she can see him walk out of her life for the last time. On leaving the hospital he imagines his future life with Bree.

Cast[]

Although credited, Preston Scavo (Brent Kinsman), Porter Scavo (Shane Kinsman), and Parker Scavo (Zane Huett) do not appear in this episode. This is the last appearance from Zach Young until season seven. This is also the last appearance of Marcia Cross as Bree Hodge until the season finale, Bree appears in the beginning of the next episode, however she is portrayed by a body double.

Arc significance[]

Usually the season's big mystery is solved by the season finale. However, due to Marcia Cross' (Bree) pregnancy, it had to be resolved earlier.

This episode marks the final appearance of Dixie Carter as Gloria Hodge, who died on April 10, 2010.

Title reference[]

• The episode title, The Little Things You Do Together is a song taken from the Stephen Sondheim musical, Company.

International titles[]

• Español: Las cosas que hacemos (The Things That We Do)
• French: Une vie sans secret (A life without secrets)
• French Canadian: Un hôte indésirable (An Undesirable Host)
• German: Teuflisch (Devilish)
• Hebrew: הדברים הקטנים שאנחנו עושים יחד (HaDvarim HaKtanim SheAnachnu Osim Yachad; The Little Things We Do Together)
• Hungarian: Az utolsó pillanatban (In the Last Moment)
• Italian: Le piccole cose che si fanno insieme (The Little Things You Do Together)

Awards notes[]

• Shawn Pyfrom and Kyle MacLachlan both submitted this episode for consideration in the category of “Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series” on their behalf for the 2007 Emmy Awards.^[1]

References[]