Housewives no longer desperate.

 
 
We watched the final two episodes of Desperate Housewives on Wednesday, a show which has been part of our mental hinterland since 2005. Like most long-running series it had gradually run out of steam, shedding viewers on the way. On a superficial level the ending was ludicrous: I know little about the American legal system but find it hard to believe that any system would have credited Mrs McCluskey's confession or ignored the mass of evidence of Bree's involvement.
However, like the equally improbable myths of the world's great religions, the ending did contain two profound truths: the redemptive power of love and the fact that, as Christ put it, 'Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it'. Mrs McCluskey's redemptive gesture was a direct result of the housewives offering her terminal nursing care - not that it was much in evidence! Their act of love brought them salvation. And it was only when the housewives leave the comfort zone of their life in Wisteria Lane that they are able to achieve their full potential: Lynette as CEO of the American branch of a multinational company, Gabrielle with her own company and television show. In a nicely judged satirical touch, the alcoholic and promiscuous Bree - who against all the evidence believes herself to be the embodiment of traditional American values - is elected to the Kentucky State Legislature as a conservative Republican Representative.
As no one reads this blog, there is no danger of my appearing in Private Eye's 'Pseuds' Corner' leaving me free to share this final flight of fancy:
Just as Christ had his Last Supper with his disciples the day before he left this earthly life so the housewives met for a final game of poker. Re-enacted as the Mass, the Last Supper symbolises the bond between christians; similarly, their card game had a quasi-sacramental role for the housewives.
As with Lost, the programme's producer gave it a closure which, whilst not entirely convincing or stemming naturally from the hodgepodge of material which had proceeded it, did articulate:
 
'Our almost instinct almost true
What will survive of us is love.'

Philip Larkin and the translators of the Authorised Version may have put the idea more elegantly but, to adapt the Heineken beer slogan, I guess Desperate Housewives refreshes the hearts the others cannot reach.