The Game (Desperate Housewives)
Encyclopedia
"The Game" is the 73rd episode of the ABC
dramedy series Desperate Housewives
. It was written by Joey Murphy
and John Pardee
and directed by Bethany Rooney
. It is the third episode of the show’s fourth season and aired on October 14, 2007.
.) They decide to try to get Katherine very drunk at the party to see if they can coax any kind of information out of her. Then they call Susan to accept the invitation and insist that she invite the new neighbors.
Susan sees Bree across the street and runs over to her so she can get the name of Bree’s gynecologist. Bree is hesitant and pretends not to remember the name of her gynecologist. As Susan remains persistent, Bree walks into the house, opens the telephone book and blindly picks a doctor’s name and gives it to Susan. When Susan goes to her appointment the day of her party, she discovers that the doctor’s office is not only in a terrible neighborhood, but also the office itself is filthy. One prostitute even openly admits to being there to get "clean urine”. Later she confronts Bree about it at the party, and while Bree is horrified and incredibly apologetic, she can not give Susan an explanation.
Earlier in the episode, Adam is washing his car when a random young blonde woman jogs by and asks to drink from his garden hose. They flirt with each other and she jogs away. Katherine then bitterly confronts him, alluding to the fact that this might be a recurring character trait with Adam.
Lynette’s mom, fed up with seeing her daughter too sick to eat from her chemotherapy, decides to sneak off and buy weed from Andrew, bakes it into brownies, and has Lynette’s son Parker tell her he made them in order to get Lynette to eat them. Lynette, originally too weak and sick to make it to Susan’s party, suddenly feels great – unknowingly thanks to the brownies – and shows up to the charades party stoned and acting goofy.
Carlos begs Gabrielle to give him just two more weeks to dump Edie, and she reluctantly agrees. However, when getting ready for Susan’s party, Edie tells Carlos that she plans on announcing their engagement. Carlos is completely against this and asks Edie to not tell anyone yet. Edie agrees, but has secretly purchased an engagement ring for herself to wear. She pulls it out at the party and pretends to have her contact lens slip so everyone can look at her hand.
Gabrielle sees the ring, and angrily pulls Carlos aside. He explains that it will be taken care of, and he needs more time. Gabrielle is not satisfied with this, so she goes into the house and decides to flirt with Adam to make Carlos jealous. Carlos breaks a glass in his fury and walks away. Gabrielle keeps this act up with Adam, not realizing how mad Katherine is getting. Edie sees that Katherine is not happy about this, and pulls her aside to explain Gabrielle’s “reputation” around Wisteria Lane, and tells her about Gabrielle’s secret affair with her teenage gardener, John Rowland, a few years ago.
Later in the party, Gabrielle accidentally spills her drink all over Adam. As she’s cleaning it off of him, Katherine finally has enough and confronts Gabrielle in front of everyone, citing her reputation. Gabrielle is indignant and demands that she explain herself, and Katherine tells her in front of everyone at the party that she knows about her affair with her teenage gardener. Gabrielle, in her blind fury, spills the secret that Bree saw her slap Dylan when she asked about her father. Katherine keeps her already cool composure and admits that while she did lose her temper with Dylan, Dylan’s father had done the most horrible thing a father could possibly do to his daughter.
Gabrielle sees Victor in a bedroom at Susan's house crunching poll numbers. She tries to console him and attempts to reassure him that her affair with John was a long time ago and not a big deal. Victor says that he's not jealous at all, he just wants to figure out how it will affect his poll numbers when he's running for Governor. After that, Gabrielle catches Carlos in Susan's bathroom and kisses him, then hits him over the head. Carlos, needless to say, is pretty confused. Gabrielle explains that the slap in the head was for letting Edie think that they were engaged, and that she not only loves him, but she loves the way that he loves her. She cites that when Carlos saw her with another man, he broke a glass in a jealous rage, whereas Victor just crunched poll numbers when he found out about her affair with John.
Just before Gabrielle and Victor leave the party, Victor has a moment alone with Carlos, asking how he could have not killed John for sleeping with his wife. Carlos says that as much as he wanted to, it wasn't worth going to jail over. Victor chuckles and states that, if you're rich, you can make anybody disappear. Gabrielle then comes down the stairs, and she and Victor leave together.
Meanwhile, while the adults are at the party, Dylan and Julie are studying together at the Mayfair house. Dylan tells Julie about her mother freaking out at her over asking about her father, and says that there is a lot of old stuff stored in the bedroom upstairs, but it’s locked. Julie picks the lock and the girls start going through the boxes. Julie informs Dylan that this was, in fact, her old bedroom not the one she is in now like her mother said. Katherine then walks in and catches them, and sends Julie home.
Orson gets a call from the convent where Danielle is staying. She tried to rollerblade and fell, causing possible complications with her pregnancy. Bree and Orson are ready to rush out the door to see Danielle when the doctor calls and says the pregnancy is fine.
Adam and Katherine are in the third floor bedroom getting it ready for Dylan to move in, in order to “stifle” her curiosity. Adam asks why Katherine had described Dylan’s father to everyone as doing "the worst possible thing a father could do to a child". Katherine said that it made people feel uncomfortable, and uncomfortable people don't ask questions. At the end, Katherine lifts up the rug, kneels down to touch a dent in the hardwood floor, and starts to cry.
") 11.2/17.
14.09 million viewers watched this episode in the UL coming 4th in weekley ratings.
In the UK, the terrestrial outing on April 9 had achieved 5th place with an audience number of 2.83 million. This is the first time this season, viewing figures have risen on a terrestrial episode from the one before. The number may only have increased by 6,000 (0.3% rise) but had dipped in position. The cable airing on April 6 was given the position of somewhere below the top 10. This is the first time, that a sneak peek episode of Desperate Housewives
hasn't charted in the top 5 also.
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
dramedy series Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producer Cherry serves as Showrunner. Other executive producers since the fourth season include Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W...
. It was written by Joey Murphy
Joey Murphy
Joey Murphy is screenwriter and television producer, currently working as executive producer for Desperate Housewives.Murphy has written episodes of the cartoon, Doug, The Crew, and Cybill Shepherd's sitcom, Cybill, the last two for which he also served as producer...
and John Pardee
John Pardee
John Pardee is an American screenwriter and television producer, currently working as executive producer for Desperate Housewives.During the 1990s, Pardee wrote episodes of several television series, including the cartoon Doug, the short lived sitcoms Charlie Hoover, Thunder Alley and The Crew and...
and directed by Bethany Rooney
Bethany Rooney
Bethany Rooney is an American television director and producer who has worked on over three dozen television series and made-for-television films....
. It is the third episode of the show’s fourth season and aired on October 14, 2007.
Plot
Susan plans a charades get-together for her neighbors. Her girlfriends Bree, Lynette and Gabrielle are not too thrilled to attend, and make up excuses to get out of the evening. Bree later changes her friends’ minds when she informs them about the fight she overheard in the Mayfair home. (see Smiles of a Summer NightSmiles of a Summer Night (Desperate Housewives)
“Smiles of a Summer Night” is the 72nd episode of the ABC dramedy series Desperate Housewives. It was written by Bob Daily and Matt Berry and directed by David Grossman. It is the second episode of the show’s fourth season and aired on October 7, 2007....
.) They decide to try to get Katherine very drunk at the party to see if they can coax any kind of information out of her. Then they call Susan to accept the invitation and insist that she invite the new neighbors.
Susan sees Bree across the street and runs over to her so she can get the name of Bree’s gynecologist. Bree is hesitant and pretends not to remember the name of her gynecologist. As Susan remains persistent, Bree walks into the house, opens the telephone book and blindly picks a doctor’s name and gives it to Susan. When Susan goes to her appointment the day of her party, she discovers that the doctor’s office is not only in a terrible neighborhood, but also the office itself is filthy. One prostitute even openly admits to being there to get "clean urine”. Later she confronts Bree about it at the party, and while Bree is horrified and incredibly apologetic, she can not give Susan an explanation.
Earlier in the episode, Adam is washing his car when a random young blonde woman jogs by and asks to drink from his garden hose. They flirt with each other and she jogs away. Katherine then bitterly confronts him, alluding to the fact that this might be a recurring character trait with Adam.
Lynette’s mom, fed up with seeing her daughter too sick to eat from her chemotherapy, decides to sneak off and buy weed from Andrew, bakes it into brownies, and has Lynette’s son Parker tell her he made them in order to get Lynette to eat them. Lynette, originally too weak and sick to make it to Susan’s party, suddenly feels great – unknowingly thanks to the brownies – and shows up to the charades party stoned and acting goofy.
Carlos begs Gabrielle to give him just two more weeks to dump Edie, and she reluctantly agrees. However, when getting ready for Susan’s party, Edie tells Carlos that she plans on announcing their engagement. Carlos is completely against this and asks Edie to not tell anyone yet. Edie agrees, but has secretly purchased an engagement ring for herself to wear. She pulls it out at the party and pretends to have her contact lens slip so everyone can look at her hand.
Gabrielle sees the ring, and angrily pulls Carlos aside. He explains that it will be taken care of, and he needs more time. Gabrielle is not satisfied with this, so she goes into the house and decides to flirt with Adam to make Carlos jealous. Carlos breaks a glass in his fury and walks away. Gabrielle keeps this act up with Adam, not realizing how mad Katherine is getting. Edie sees that Katherine is not happy about this, and pulls her aside to explain Gabrielle’s “reputation” around Wisteria Lane, and tells her about Gabrielle’s secret affair with her teenage gardener, John Rowland, a few years ago.
Later in the party, Gabrielle accidentally spills her drink all over Adam. As she’s cleaning it off of him, Katherine finally has enough and confronts Gabrielle in front of everyone, citing her reputation. Gabrielle is indignant and demands that she explain herself, and Katherine tells her in front of everyone at the party that she knows about her affair with her teenage gardener. Gabrielle, in her blind fury, spills the secret that Bree saw her slap Dylan when she asked about her father. Katherine keeps her already cool composure and admits that while she did lose her temper with Dylan, Dylan’s father had done the most horrible thing a father could possibly do to his daughter.
Gabrielle sees Victor in a bedroom at Susan's house crunching poll numbers. She tries to console him and attempts to reassure him that her affair with John was a long time ago and not a big deal. Victor says that he's not jealous at all, he just wants to figure out how it will affect his poll numbers when he's running for Governor. After that, Gabrielle catches Carlos in Susan's bathroom and kisses him, then hits him over the head. Carlos, needless to say, is pretty confused. Gabrielle explains that the slap in the head was for letting Edie think that they were engaged, and that she not only loves him, but she loves the way that he loves her. She cites that when Carlos saw her with another man, he broke a glass in a jealous rage, whereas Victor just crunched poll numbers when he found out about her affair with John.
Just before Gabrielle and Victor leave the party, Victor has a moment alone with Carlos, asking how he could have not killed John for sleeping with his wife. Carlos says that as much as he wanted to, it wasn't worth going to jail over. Victor chuckles and states that, if you're rich, you can make anybody disappear. Gabrielle then comes down the stairs, and she and Victor leave together.
Meanwhile, while the adults are at the party, Dylan and Julie are studying together at the Mayfair house. Dylan tells Julie about her mother freaking out at her over asking about her father, and says that there is a lot of old stuff stored in the bedroom upstairs, but it’s locked. Julie picks the lock and the girls start going through the boxes. Julie informs Dylan that this was, in fact, her old bedroom not the one she is in now like her mother said. Katherine then walks in and catches them, and sends Julie home.
Orson gets a call from the convent where Danielle is staying. She tried to rollerblade and fell, causing possible complications with her pregnancy. Bree and Orson are ready to rush out the door to see Danielle when the doctor calls and says the pregnancy is fine.
Adam and Katherine are in the third floor bedroom getting it ready for Dylan to move in, in order to “stifle” her curiosity. Adam asks why Katherine had described Dylan’s father to everyone as doing "the worst possible thing a father could do to a child". Katherine said that it made people feel uncomfortable, and uncomfortable people don't ask questions. At the end, Katherine lifts up the rug, kneels down to touch a dent in the hardwood floor, and starts to cry.
Title reference
- The title of the episode, “The Game”, comes from the Stephen SondheimStephen SondheimStephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...
musical BounceBounce (musical)Road Show is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by John Weidman...
, while also being the title of a song from the musical Damn YankeesDamn YankeesDamn Yankees is a musical comedy with a book by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop and music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. The story is a modern retelling of the Faust legend set during the 1950s in Washington, D.C., during a time when the New York Yankees dominated Major League...
, with lyrics by Richard AdlerRichard AdlerRichard Adler is an American lyricist, composer and producer of several Broadway shows.-Biography:Born in New York City, Adler had a musical upbringing, his father being a concert pianist. After serving in the Navy he began his career as a lyricist, teaming up with Jerry Ross in 1950...
and music by Jerry RossJerry Ross (composer)Jerry Ross was an American lyricist and composer whose works with Richard Adler for the musical theater include The Pajama Game and Damn Yankees, winners of Tony Awards in 1955 and 1956 respectively in both the "Best Musical" and "Best Composer and Lyricist" categories.-Biography:Ross was born...
.
International titles
- Czech: Hry (Games)
- French: Jouer pour Gagner (Play to Win)
- French Canadian: Jouer pour Gagner (Play to Win)
- German: Scharade (CharadesCharadesCharades or charade is a word guessing game. In the form most played today, it is an acting game in which one player acts out a word or phrase, often by pantomiming similar-sounding words, and the other players guess the word or phrase. The idea is to use physical rather than verbal language to...
) - Hebrew: המשחק (HaMis'hak; The Game)
- Hungarian: Most mutasd meg! (Charades (figuratively); Show It Now! (literally))
- Italian: Il Gioco (The Game)
- Polish: Kalambury (The game)
- Spanish: El juego (The Game)
Reception and ratings
The Game scored an 11.8/18 in overnight Nielsen ratings with a total of 18.892m viewers, slightly up from the previous episode's ("Smiles of a Summer NightSmiles of a Summer Night (Desperate Housewives)
“Smiles of a Summer Night” is the 72nd episode of the ABC dramedy series Desperate Housewives. It was written by Bob Daily and Matt Berry and directed by David Grossman. It is the second episode of the show’s fourth season and aired on October 7, 2007....
") 11.2/17.
14.09 million viewers watched this episode in the UL coming 4th in weekley ratings.
In the UK, the terrestrial outing on April 9 had achieved 5th place with an audience number of 2.83 million. This is the first time this season, viewing figures have risen on a terrestrial episode from the one before. The number may only have increased by 6,000 (0.3% rise) but had dipped in position. The cable airing on April 6 was given the position of somewhere below the top 10. This is the first time, that a sneak peek episode of Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producer Cherry serves as Showrunner. Other executive producers since the fourth season include Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W...
hasn't charted in the top 5 also.