Throwback Thursday - Desperate Housewives - The Disaster Episodes - Review

Throwback Thursday, a weekly article in which we look back at our favorite TV episodes from over the years.

Usually for Throwback Thursdays, our team at SpoilerTV look back on a cancelled show for our favourite episode. Just one (with the exception of Dahne comparing a Buffy and Supernatural episode). I have already done a Charmed episode and a Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode for my Throwback Thursdays, and I knew that I had to pick a Desperate Housewives episode for my third article. Those are my three favourite shows right there.

The hard part was picking an episode because I couldn't decide between a lot of episodes - Pilot, Guilty, One Wonderful Day, Remember, Bang, etc. Then I realised I could cheat and do multiple episodes for my TBT if I focus on all the disaster episodes. It's allowed considering they are all categorised with a recurring theme.

Desperate Housewives began the 'disaster' tradition with season 3's hostage episode, Bang. They probably didn't intend to start a trend but when season 4's tornado episode, Something's Coming, blew onto televisions in December 2007 with very high ratings, a new tradition was born. We lead into the fire episode of season 5, City on Fire, which definitely wasn't to the scope of the previous two disaster episodes, leading to the plane crash of season 6, Boom Crunch, which sounded more epic than it actually was. We go to the final disaster episode; ending the streak was season 7's Down the Block There's a Riot which returned disaster episodes to top form, but alas, the final season declined to feature a disaster.

SEASON 3 - "BANG"

Original airdate: November 5, 2006

Written by: Joe Keenan

"It was supposed to be an ordinary day for Carolyn Bigsby."

Bang has to be among Desperate Housewives' most beautifully shot and written episodes. Every single time this damn episode plays (by my own fault as I own all episodes of Desperate Housewives on DVD and in High-Definition) I always, without doubt, get so emotionally invested from the beginning that by the end, I'm a weeping mess. The main genius of this episode has to be the structure. We begin the episode as Carolyn walks into the supermarket, passing Susan, and taking a shot at her husband. We have no idea what exactly happened beforehand to lead to this moment, but we quickly find out. The episode unravels the mystery - Orson informs Bree about Carolyn's cheating husband Harvey, Bree tells Carolyn and thus, Carolyn pays Harvey a little visit at the supermarket he works at. That's not all, we also see how several characters end up at the supermarket - Julie goes for toothpaste for Susan who is going on a trip with Ian, who is joined by Austin, and when both get in trouble for shoplifting, Susan and Edie are called down. Lynette goes for hamburgers for Tom and when Nora sees Lynette's car in the car park, she enters to confront her about custody for Kayla. Also, new neighbour Art is around. I feel a little winded writing all that down but boy, it was a pretty clever set-up.

"Attention shoppers. We're having a special today on not getting shot! But it's only available at the back of the store!"

The entire hostage part of the episode was thrilling, not just for the audience but apparently for the characters who are not in the supermarket themselves as Bree hosts a little viewing part of the coverage on television complete with drinks and food. Sometimes, in an episode like Bang, it's easy to forget the show is still part comedy, so the dark humour manages to balance the dire parts of the episode's subject matter. The interactions with Bree and her guests were funny and only led to a more devastating blow when Bree realises the shooter is Carolyn, meaning some blame weighs heavily on Bree's shoulders. The devastation is made all the more real when Tom drops Lynette's kids off at Bree's, completely unaware that his wife has been taken hostage. You can see on everybody's face in Bree's living room just how sorry they feel for Tom and the kids. The show may be comedic but damn, the show writers knew how to write and the actors did a very fine job of portaying that. The other comedic element to the episode, before the hostage crisis really kicks in, is Gabby's and Carlos's division of assets saga. They start at an office where Gabby is dragged out kicking and screaming - "give me one clean shot at him, I'm willing to do the time!" - to a huge fight in the Solis household that includes smashing vases, hammering through walls and chainsaws. Again, these comedic moments had a purpose as Gabby and Carlos realise, through seeing the hostage coverage on television, that their problems don't amount to much in comparison.

The most brilliant part of the episode comes inside a frantic five minutes (34 mins in to 39 mins in) from the moment Nora starts arguing with Lynette to the climax of the hostage crisis. Literally, that entire five minutes was an adrenaline-inducing moment that highlighted the exact reason why this episode is considered the best disaster episode of the show. Lynette really had no control over what came out of her mouth nor did she expect what she said to cause Carolyn to spontaneously shoot Nora in the chest. The first time I ever watched this episode, shooting Nora was the most shocking moment I had seen on television yet. "Well why didn't you say so?" BANG! Nora soon dies but not before an emotional exchange between her and Lynette which brings tears to everybody's eyes. Then begins the argument between Lynette and Carolyn that had me rooting for Lynette but secretly telling her to shut up because she's shouting at a woman with a loaded gun!

"Who cares? Who cares? We all have pain. Every one of us in here has pain. But we deal with it. We swallow it and get going with our lives. What we don't do is go around shooting strangers!"

"She deserved it!"

"Well maybe you deserved to be cheated on!"

Mouth, meet floor. Felicity Huffman definitely deserved her Emmy Award nomination for this scene alone. Intense does not begin to cover it. "I'm sorry, I-I shouldn't have-have said that." Carolyn: "You're right, you shouldn't have." BANG! But not before Art lobs a can of soup off Carolyn's head, causing Carolyn to only shoot Lynette in the arm. A struggle between Austin and Carolyn ensues which leads to a woman shooting and killing Carolyn, ending the hostage once and for all. It was a very fast, quick ending to Carolyn and the crisis but one that was so marvellously done, it doesn't bother me in the slightest. In fact, it really emphasises the frutility of life and the end narration Mary Alice gives. I guess when ranking the top moment of Desperate Housewives ever, you'd have to put Lynette shouting at Carolyn after Nora's death somewhere near the top. It was just... marvellous.

"You can enjoy this beautiful day because we get so few of them."

The dream sequences with Mary Alice were a beautiful addition to this episode, perfectly reflecting the events of the Pilot within Lynette's dream when Mary Alice opened that fateful letter. The talk Mary Alice has with Lynette is poignant, including a line I never forget - "we can't prevent what we can't predict." That happens to be a theme for this episode as we can point fingers of blame to various people for the events that happened. Had Bree not told Carolyn about Harvey cheating on her, the hostage never would have happened. Had Lynette not told Carolyn about Nora seducing her husband, Nora wouldn't have got shot. Had Austin never placed that bottle of whiskey in Julie's bag, they would have never been kept back to draw Susan and Edie to the supermarket in time for the hostage. You just have to imagine the cast breaking out into "Your Fault" from Into the Woods.

SEASON 4 - "SOMETHING'S COMING"

Original airdate: December 2, 2007

Written by: Joey Murphy and John Pardee

"It was supposed to be a beautiful day."

Notice that parallel to the opening line of Bang? When you look at Something's Coming as whole, it's easy to see that while Bang was perhaps a more beautifully-written episode, Something's Coming delivered to a catastrophic scale exactly what a disaster episode means. I mean, it's a freakin' tornado for crying out loud. And again, like Bang, this has an intense opening that has to go down in Housewives' history. We get a little taster of the tornado before we are shown events before the tornado poses a threat, wonderfully setting up this omniprescent suspense that we, as an audience, know what's going to hit and how tragic it will be while the housewives are blissfully unaware.

"In four short hours, one of them would lose a husband, and all of them would lose a friend."

The tornado doesn't just happen, like the hostage. It's built to. We have Mrs. McCluskey warn the girls as they each go off into their own troubles (funnily enough, when Lynette knocks on Mrs. McCluskey's door later asking for shelter, she starts by saying 'did you hear there's a tornado watch?' Wasn't that exactly what Mrs. McCluskey told you tenminutes ago?). Susan is actually removed from the tornado of this episode as she and Mike argue in their home before she falls down the stairs - pregnant with MJ. Mike had been abusing drugs with his drug problem kicking in and causing him to act irrationally, including punching a doctor. Not the best part of the episode though Susan falling down the stairs was dramatic and at least gave her some material to work with. I loved Lynette going to McCluskey's. "What's that noise? Is it the tornado?" "Worse, it's the Scavos!" Bree witnesses Katherine Mayfair spitting in someone's face, Sylvia, who we find out had an affair with Adam, Katherine's husband. Bree invites Sylvia to her house for tea but instantly regrets it when Sylvia locks herself in their bathroom that they were to use as their shelter from the tornado. Gabby and Carlos are going on the run from Victor Lang and are packing when Edie hears about their skipping Wisteria Lane.

"Get in the house! Now!"

The sky is dark. The wind is picking up. The score is intense (and what a beautiful score Housewives had, right?) and we know the tornado is about to hit. The fight Edie and Gabby have in Edie's house leads to them running outside. Upon losing the papers for the offshore account, Gabby pushes Edie, yelling "what did you do?! What did you do?!" But Edie is looking in the distance. She turns Gabby around and shouts at her to get in the house. We don't see the tornado yet, but we see Karen trying to get Ida's cat from under a car and Lynette pulling her up. Now we see the tornado. The suspense and anticipation of actually seeing the funnel cloud only intesifies with the big reveal. Lynette and Karen can't return to McCluskey's home so they find shelter in Lynette's home while Edie and Gabby go into the crawl space at Edie's house. "Move your ass!" I love the scenes between Gabby and Edie here as they forgive each other, and cling to each other frantically. The walls of Bree's home are shaking as Katherine discovers Adam's betrayal in front of Bree, who comforts her, and Carlos comes home to find Victor waiting for him. Victor pulls a gun out and chases Carlos outside, leading to a chaotic fight between the two as cars fall from the sky and picket fences are ripped apart. The fight ends with Victor being impaled and Carlos knocked in the head - leading to his subsequent blindness. I loved this fight! On a related note, Sylvia decides to leave Bree's house. "Here I go!" And there she went. I felt sorry for Sylvia in a way, but her blowing away was hilarious.

With minutes of the episode to spare, the storm dies down. Hoping it's over, the characters begin to discover exactly what devastation has been brought to Wisteria Lane. Bree, Orson, Katherine and Adam see Bree's home is a mess with a gaping hole in the ceiling, such a shame since Bree is a bit of a neat freak (her intense obsession had decreased somewhat since her season one days, but still, a hole in the ceiling is something I wouldn't be very happy about). Lynette sees how badly her home was affected by the debris, but of course, the housewives' homes pale in comparion to the true devastation of the event. Lynette and Karen leave the house to discover Wisteria Lane in ruins - cars in trees, debris covering the road, trees ripped out from their roots - but the chilling climax soon arrives. Karen McCluskey's house, containing Tom, the kids and Ida Greenberg, is reduced to rubble. Lynette, upon seeing that there is no house where her entire family were, screams. If you didn't feel anything at this moment, you most likely can't feel at all because the screaming and the rushing to the house cuts down to the bone. It's horrifying. The camera pans out upon the entire Lane - just where will we go next?

Something's Coming delivered more intensity than its previous disaster episode and a huge part of me struggles between picking a favourite between them. There is a lot more action in Something's Coming, that's for sure, and the recurring disposal of the housewives' problems in a very convenient way continues here.

SEASON 5 - "CITY ON FIRE"

Original airdate: November 16, 2008

Written by: Bob Daily

"Once a year, the owner of The White Horse bar would host a competition known as the Battle of the Bands."

From the very first opening line, we already know this disaster will not live up to the previous two, and of course that's a little unfair but having such big expectations for season five's disaster is natural considering the epicness of the first two. The setting is a bar where a Battle of the Bands competition is being held, and Blue Odyssey (consisting of Mike, Tom, Orson, Carlos and Dave Williams) come up to perform. James Denton has a fantastic singing voice, man I'd love to hear him sing more, but the fire breaks out. In true disaster tradition, this is just a glimpse of what's to come, including a quick snapshot of the morning after when arson is suspected and someone unknown is arrested.

"It's a lifeline from me to those other women 'cause I want them to know there's always a chance to get something right."

Snapshots of the stories before the fire. Julie's home, yay! So glad to have Julie back, even for an episode, and she brings a middle-aged man home (with a very funny mistaken identity by Susan who thinks the cute cab driver is her boyfriend, and to be honest, we all thought that). Of course Susan is not happy about this, especially when the middle-aged boyfriend wants to propose to Julie! Virginia, one of Carlos's clients, writes Carlos, Gabby and the kids in her will as she's desperate for human companionship. They're the sole heirs of her entire fortune! "Virginia! Why can't I stay mad at you?" Bree is worried about an interview for her cookbook as the reporter is prying for some juicy gossip, suspecting Bree's perfect little family can't be perfect all the time and it's pretty funny to watch it all unravel. Preston tells Lynette that Porter got Anne Schilling pregnant and that they plan to run away together. Anne Schilling's husband happens to be the owner of the bar, putting Tom in a predicament. The main mystery concerning Dave Williams takes a leap forward as his former doctor, Dr. Heller, pays him a visit.

"I hit back!"

Before the fire, one of the highlights is the Lynette and Anne storyline. Lynette confronts Anne at her home about her being pregnant, and falling in love, with Porter - and her husband overhears. Warren asks Lynette to leave and Anne whispers for her not to go, but Lynette does. However, she instantly feels guilty and returns to see Warren kicking his wife on the floor. Lynette stops him, but she can't call the police because of the statutory rape charge Anne would get. Lynette worries Porter will go after Warren for beating his wife, who comes to the club during the Husbands' performance on stage and attacks Warren, leading to Lynette breaking them up and getting Porter to go home. The entire Anne Schilling storyline was a mixed bag for the show but I liked how they handled the domestic violence issue, especially with Lynette saying she hits back - showing women are strong enough to handle abusive men.

The fire fiasco begins the moment Dave kills Dr. Heller, the only person who knows his secret and threatens to expose him. Dave sets fire to the storage closet they were in as Jackson goes to use the employee bathroom, seeing Dave on his way in but not realising what Dave has done. Dave locks Jackson in the bathroom to make sure he can't tell and goes back to the bar. The guys go on to perform as they do at the beginning with the ladies cheering them on from the dancefloor. Edie sees the fire and it causes mass panic - people running screaming, Carlos falling from the stage, Orson being knocked into sound equipment, Virginia is slammed into the wall... it's a mess. The emergency exit is locked so Dave, acting the hero, smashes a window and starts helping people out. Susan tries to go back for Jackson but Mike goes to get him, passing out from smoke inhilation in the bathroom.

"Hang in there. I'm not done with you yet."

Dave saves Mike, delivering a chilling line that promises a more gratifying revenge for Dave by the close of season five. Despite being the one to start the fire, Dave is now hailed a hero. It's definitely a good episode, but perhaps not the scope of Bang and Something's Coming. The fire was great, don't get me wrong, and there's excitement to be had here, but I thought the wife-beating storyline earlier in the episode was much more ground-breaking. The fire was brief and, to be honest, didn't pose a very great danger to the lives of the characters, and the whole chaos that breaks out is done much better and to a bigger scale in season seven's disaster episode, Down the Block There's a Riot, an episode I much prefer. I won't count City On Fire out though, it's still strong in its delivery, it just doesn't shout as loud as other disasters.

SEASON 6 - "BOOM CRUNCH"

Original airdate: December 6, 2009

Written by: Joey Murphy and John Pardee

"Daphne Bicks was an unhappy woman and no one knew this better than her husband."

To me, Boom Crunch starts off much better than City On Fire did. We have a bickering couple, teetering on the edge of divorce as they argue in a small plane heading over Wisteria Lane, only the pilot passes out and needs his wife to land the plane. But of course, this teaser was just a flash-forward, we go back three days to before. It's Christmas-time (my favourite time of year, and I love christmas-themed episodes of TV shows when they're not involving death and destruction) and the women of Wisteria Lane are working hard on making Wisteria Lane so, so festive - including a huge tree and a workshop. If I didn't want to live on Wisteria Lane before (which I did), I most certainly definitely HAVE to live on Wisteria Lane now. Gabby is being very frosty towards Lynette since she is suing Carlos for firing her but Bree wants them to be on their best behaviour for Saturday - Lee wants in, but Karen tells him...

"We're the Jingle Belles, not the Jingle Balls!"

Little rundown of the episode's events before all hell breaks loose. Katherine has stabbed herself when Mike told her he doesn't love her and she makes it look like Mike did it. Katherine really did go off the deep end in season six. (Side note: Susan's British accent on the phone to Dylan was amazing.) Mona, the nurse tending to Danny, finds out the Bolens are 'terrorists'. Bree draws up divorce papers for Orson and threatens him to sign since she has been having an affair with Karl. Lynette and Tom face financial crisis since Lynette is out of work while Gabby refuses to talk to her, or when she does, it's to make a snide remark. Dylan returns to see her mother (yay, so nice to see Dylan, I do wish she was around more) but Katherine has told her so many lies, it's easy to see that Katherine finally needs help. Dana Delany played her breakdown beautifully.

"I asked you not to come."

We see why the plane was flying over Wisteria Lane - Karl hired it to pull out a banner saying 'Will You Marry Me, Bree? Love, Karl'. The ladies of the Lane begin their 12-year-tradition of carolling (something I wish we could have seen earlier) where Gabby and Lynette get in a fight with Bree trying to soothe them with "all is calm, all is calm!" but it leads to them knocking Bree over. I almost died laughing. To be fair, Lynette has a very big point and Gabby really doesn't seem to care. After all they had been through, I expected more from Gabby when Lynette told her about what losing her job has done to her family.

Now we're getting to the disaster. The plane is on its way with Daphne Bicks trying to land the plane but doesn't know how to fly. Karl and Orson head into the workshop to talk about Bree, leading to a fight with Bree going inside. Mona talks to Angie as the plane descends. This whole sequence happens in the final 2 minutes of the episode, making it the shortest disaster in the show. The plane touches down, taking out Mona (10 points to Gryffindor!) and heading straight for everyone sitting down. The plane heads straight for Celia but Lynette runs and saves her while Gabby screams for her daughter. The plane keeps moving, taking down the workshop that had Bree, Karl and Orson inside. It grinds to a halt with the entire Lane looking at the remainder of a horrific event. The episode ends with Bree's bloody hand hanging out the workshop window.

"For those who survived, it would be a day they would try to forget. For those who didn't, this Christmas would simply be their last."

I enjoyed this episode though the plane crash really only occured at the very end. It was a flash event but it definitely made an impact. I mean, they couldn't have made the plane crash last longer could they? Unless they had the plane screech down the lane slowly, but then everybody could have got out the way and safe in time. This event probably is the most devastating as we lose a key character - Karl, who had been in the show since the beginning, and it also meant Lynette lost one of her unborn babies' lives by saving Celia. It was a heart-stopping moment when Lynette jumped to save Celia from the plane and when the plane brought the workshop tumbling with our Bree inside. It is about time Bree got some dramatic involvement with a disaster. Perhaps this episode was a little better than City On Fire. I've just watched all the disaster episodes recently in a row and found I preferred the Christmas theme of this episode as well as some of the drama. The fire didn't seem all that dire as everybody quickly got out, yet this plane crash happened so fast it was hard for people to get out the way. I don't know, Boom Crunch just seemed more intense in the moment.

SEASON 7 - "DOWN THE BLOCK THERE'S A RIOT"

Original airdate: December 12, 2010

Written by: Bob Daily

"We know what they look like. We know how they dress. And we know how they behave. Yes, we can all recognise the wrong kind of people and when we see them coming, we do what we have to to protect ourselves."

After two not-amazingly-fantastic disaster episodes, I think a lot of people came into season seven's not expecting much. I know I didn't, and that probably helped. I absolutely loved this one, it's my favourite episode of the seventh season. We already kind of had a riot-scenario in City On Fire when people tried to run out of the club screaming, knocking people over and not caring who got hurt. We have a similar situation here except it's set on Wisteria Lane and the intensity and size magnified a hundred times over from the fire. There is an actual sense of danger here which I thought lacked in the fire episode so you genuinely do feel terrified for these characters.

"I liked you better when you were crying."

In the events leading up to the riot, we had Paul work his mystery-arc by revealing he's been snatching up the houses on Wisteria Lane in order to create half-way houses for ex-criminals to give them a fresh start, but of course the idea that criminals will be around their children drives the women of Wisteria Lane to protest. Paul is a piece of work though as he gets the Mayer present under false pretences that the entire neighbourhood were happy about the development. Lynette was approached by Brent who helps with the home owners' association in another neighbourhood who offers to help Lynette's situation, but he seems to be more devious than he lets on. Juanita notices Gabby's sadness due to Grace (Gabby's biological daughter) leaving and discovers the truth, leading her to push Gabby over and run away. Lee gets grief for unknowingly helping Paul buy all the houses required on the street, though Paul manipulates him into thinking Mitzy sold her house, so Lee sells him his house. Keith proposes to Bree but she offers to let him move in with her instead, something Keith's father, Richard, feels strongly against. Susan finds out about a fling Tom and Renee had twenty years ago which puts Susan in a difficult position. Paul announces during the meeting for the votes that he'd love his friends to attend the Mayor coming to award him on the Friday, something Karen comically responds with: "if you'd invite your enemies, you'd get a bigger crowd." Leave it to Karen to still deliver the funny in a bad situation. Of course, it starts kicking off when Paul reveals Lee and Bob sold their house, not Mitzy, leading to a heated confrontation on the street (one we don't get to see unfortunately, but it reminded me of Edie Britt's banishment in Mother Said).

"Honestly, this is all happening because of what I think of them."

The riot starts by a number of factors. Lynette ends up going to Brent for help who brings a swarm of people around to protest, only he doesn't have the best intentions. Gabby is out looking for Juanita while Lee and Bob try to drive away. Renee looks for Susan who suggests to Tom that Renee should leave the street. We have a really scary scene when an ex-criminal wanders into Bree's home and initially won't leave, leading Richard to comfort Bree by kissing her which leads to a fight between Keith and Richard. People think Keith is a criminal and start beating him up which results in Bree getting her gun to break them up and BOOM! Bree accidentally points the gun at everyone which causes them to frantically run away. It's pretty hilarious to begin with as it's such a typical misunderstanding but things escalate uncontrollably.

"He's my neighbour!"

The running around, shouting, screaming - it's so exciting. Paul watches in amusement at the chaos as Gabby is forced to roll under a car for safety. Susan and Renee are forced apart while Susan falls in the crowd, people trampling all over her. Picket fences break apart as people fall through them. Lee and Bob can't drive away but find Juanita in the back seat. Lynette tries to stop Brent from causing more violence but he pushes her aside. Mitzy rats Lee and Bob out and people swarm their car, rocking and smashing it. Gabby notices Juanita in the back of Lee and Bob's car and goes to save her, and like a momma cheetah, she grabs the leg of a guy on top of the car and pulls him off. Go Gabby! Go Gabby! Lynette looks around at the mess she helped cause and sees somebody smash a bottle off Lee's head. She shouts to get them to stop. It's actually a really touching moment, one that gets me every single time. The music starts and the police arrive, scattering everybody as they run away. You can now see the road, and on it, Susan, lying helplessly still. At the end, in the scoured remains of the riot, Paul is shot by an unknown assailant.

"It was just before sunrise on Wisteria Lane. You could no longer hear the screams of frightened bystanders, or the angry chanting of protesters, or the cries of help from the injured. There were just the footsteps of a man who had finally punished those who had betrayed him. The silence was broken by something the neighbours would later say sounded like a gunshot. But Paul knew it was the sound of revenge."

The entire riot, from beginning to end, was wonderfully choreographed and scripted. The fear, the emotions seething from the characters as they are engulfed in a series of events beyond their control was electrifying to watch. This was the kind of excitement that I felt was lacking in City On Fire and Boom Crunch. Just so much yes to this episode. Gabby pulling that guy off the car was fantastic and really showed her desperation to save her child. Lynette saving Lee was a very touching moment too. Renee trying to find Susan, also touching. This riot was just full of touching moments. We see the neighbours try to act against the riot, find their loved ones and we see the raw humanity within.

TYING THE DISASTERS TOGETHER

The disasters served a purpose. Mainly, it was to kill off characters that posed a problem to the housewives - Nora in Bang, Victor and Sylvia in Something's Coming, Dr. Heller in City On Fire and Mona in Boom Crunch. I have a theory the Housewives were actually witches since a lot of these deaths were very convenient. Notice how Down the Block There's a Riot did not include a death, but the injury Susan gets from it leads to Beth killing herself to give Susan her kidney. The disasters also brought characters together - Lynette and Nora (for a brief time), Edie and Gabby, Lynette and Gabby, etc. Also, long-lasting injuries, like Carlos's blindness (though an event in City On Fire gave him his sight back) and Orson's ability to walk.

Fun fact, if you look at them as who is to blame for each of the disasters, Bree ended up having a hand in three out of five of them as she was a cause in some way: she told Carolyn about her husband's affair which led to her holding the hostage, she had an affair with Karl who ended up falling in love with her and hired the plane as a way to propose to her, and she set off the riot by breaking up a fight with a gunshot. Of course, the plane was not her fault since she didn't know about Karl doing that, but she was an influencing factor. The tornado was, of course, nobody's fault, and the fire was Dave's fault.

When picking a favourite, I swear I am always torn between Bang and Something's Coming. They both offer excitement and edgy drama that both deliver in bundles. I have to admit, the tornado definitely reaches a more intense scale than the hostage does, but how can it not when it literally destroyed Wisteria Lane from its foundations. It's always between those two episodes though. Down the Block There's a Riot comes in a close third as I do love the riot, followed by Boom Crunch and City On Fire in an order I usually swap around from time to time as I find myself a little neutral on both. At least they're all in my top five disaster episodes.

The recurring disaster episode theme was something I looked forward to when Housewives was on the air. A couple of them were underwhelming but the build-up to them was always exciting. I remember hearing that there's going to be a plane crash on the street when season six started in 2009 and thought that would be very exciting. That was before it turned out to be a very small plane and the disaster would only happen in the space of the last 2 minutes of the episode, but it was still an exciting prospect. Either way, the disasters helped rejuvenate some interest in the show as ratings typically went up for the disasters. But by the time season seven's aired, it was clear the disaster routine was unnecessary for ratings and season eight was disaster-free.

But when looking back on Desperate Housewives, whether the disasters were a desperate ploy for ratings attention or not, I look at those episodes fondly as a whole and I'm very glad they happened.

Would you have liked to have seen more disaster episodes on Desperate Housewives and what more could they have done? Which disaster episode was your favourite? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

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Award-winning author of 'Abyssal Sanctuary: Remnants of the Damned'. Gavin joined SpoilerTV on August 9, 2014 and will be reviewing 2 Broke Girls, Mistresses, Orange is the New Black, Pretty Little Liars, Salem and Sleepy Hollow in the 2014-15 season. Gavin's favourite shows include Charmed, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Desperate Housewives, The Walking Dead, Once Upon a Time, Revenge, Scandal and much more. You can contact him at gavin@spoilertv.com.

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