Who's That Woman? (Desperate Housewives)

"Who's That Woman?" is the fourth episode of the ABC television series, Desperate Housewives. The episode was the fourth episode for the show's first season. The episode was written by Tom Spezialy and Marc Cherry and was directed by Jeff Melman. It originally aired on Sunday October 24, 2004.

Plot

As Lynette cleans up her house one afternoon, she receives a phone call from the twins' school asking her to come in to talk to the teacher. When Lynette arrives at the school, she is told by Porter and Preston's teacher that they had painted a girl blue during art class. The teacher tells Lynette that this isn't the first time that the twins have misbehaved and that the school may no longer be able to accommodate the boys, if they continue to act as they are. The teacher recommends that the twins go on ritalin since they show signs of ADD. Lynette objects to this and ask that the twins be separated. This attempt fails and Lynette may have to think of an alternative. She tries to give the boys their medication but when she then thinks they might not be the same (since they also have good qualities), Lynette decides not to give the twins their ritalin and she watches them playing while having a glass of wine ("her own medicine").

When Susan sees that Edie is trying to flirt with Mike by washing her car, she decides to interrupt it by bringing Mike a piece of junk mail that Julie had saved in case of such an "emergency". Edie quickly becomes angered and goes back into Mrs. Huber's kitchen where she tells Martha how angered she is that she is competing with Susan over Mike Delfino. Mrs. Huber decides to use this to her advantage, since she is broke, knowing that Susan was involved in Edie's house fire. Shortly after, Mrs. Huber visits Susan and offers her a piece of mincemeat pie and warns her that she knows what happened and that she won't say anything, if Susan agrees to help her. The next day at the supermarket, Mrs. Huber casually puts her items next to Susan and tells her to be nice since her secret is no easy burden to carry. That evening, Mrs. Huber leaves a message on her answering machine stating she needs plumbing done at her home but can't afford it. Susan then wakes up Julie and tells her that she thinks she is being blackmailed. They both quickly decide what to do before Mrs. Huber goes to the police or worse—tells Edie. The following afternoon while Mrs. Huber is away, Julie and Susan play frisbee which flies into Martha's yard. Julie then puts gloves on, slips through the doggy door and grabs the measuring cup. As this is happening, Susan is playing look out and Mike comes over inviting her to see a show with him. Edie then pulls up causing Susan to panic. She manages to stall them by suggesting that Mike take Edie to the show since she is busy. Edie happily agrees and at that moment Julie walks up behind causing Susan to regret what she just said.

Since Rex and Bree separated, the children have become even more curious on his whereabouts since Bree has not told them about the separation. Bree is finding it increasingly difficult to relate to her son Andrew since he is angered over the fact that "she has sent his father away". When Andrew goes out once again and decides not to tell Bree, she forces Danielle to call him which causes Bree to search through Andrew's room for anything suspicious. In a wooden box, she finds a match book which has the address and number of a local strip club. As Andrew and his two friends become aroused with the strippers, they become terrified when they realize that Bree is standing behind them as she catches a piece of lingerie. The two friends are embarrassed and quickly leave, leaving Andrew to deal with his mother. She sits down next to him and tells him that she will be cleaning his room tomorrow and how he is being irresponsible. Bree manages to ruin expectations for the other men present after she gives Andrew a long lecture on how strippers are people as well. Bree and Andrew then leave. The next morning, Bree cleans Andrew's room which leads him to ask when he will be getting his door back.

Gabrielle has a relaxing bath with John but must end it when the cable guy arrives. This causes John to hurry and he leaves a piece of evidence, his gym socks underneath the bed. Later, as the cable guy finishes his work, he slips on soap suds in the bathroom and is rushed to an ambulance. Carlos becomes suspicious on why the cable guy had been there so late. After finding the socks, he asks Gabrielle where they came from and she manages to lie by telling him they belong to Yao Lin, the maid. To make sure Gabrielle isn't lying, he asks John who tells him that the cable guy came at his assigned time and that he doesn't want to get in the middle. Carlos then visits the cable guy, Jonathan, at his house, and begins to beat him, yelling "DO YOU THINK YOU CAN SLEEP WITH ANYONE YOU WANT?" At that moment, Carlos discovers that Jonathan is gay. Jonathan than asks if this is why he beat him. Carlos says "yes" and quickly leaves. Later, as Carlos and Gabrielle sit in the tub, they watch a news report about Jonathan's beating and show a police sketch of the suspect. Gabrielle looks back at Carlos who says nothing.

As all of this is going on, the wives manage to give Paul, Mary Alice's blackmail note, in the hopes that it will help find her blackmailer. Paul cries and later makes up an excuse to Lynette and Gabrielle that Mary Alice was mentally ill and got worse as the years went on; claiming that she was the author of her own blackmail note. Gabrielle and Lynette don't believe it and think something else was going on. Paul then gives the note to a local hitman/private eye, Jerry Shaw who tells him that he may be able to help him.

Note

• Although credited, Rex Van de Kamp (Steven Culp) and Zach Young (Cody Kasch) do not appear in this episode.
• The song playing as Edie seductively washes her car in order to arouse Mike, is "Do It (Let Me See You Shake)" by The Barkays.
• In this episode, in the place where in later seasons there is a kitchen door in the Solis house, there was a wardrobe.

Title reference

The episode title Who's That Woman? comes from the Stephen Sondheim musical, Follies.

International titles

• Finnish: Kuka on tuo nainen (Who's That Woman)
• French: Amante, Epouse et Victime (Lover, Wife and Victim)
• German: Mit allen Mitteln (By All Means)
• Hungarian: Ki ez a nő? (Who's that woman?)
• Italian: Conoscevamo quella donna? (Did we know that woman?)
• Spanish: ¿Quién es esa mujer? (Who's that woman?)