TVSquad

(S05E05) "A night full of surprises." - Mary Alice about McCluskey's surprise birthday party

Mirror, Mirror on the wall, please tell me who's the most secretive of them all! The answer to this, when Desperate Housewives is concerned, is more than likely: it's a tie. Every character has a bunch of skeletons in the closet as well as tons of secrets. But based on this week's episode and, let's face it, since episode 5.01, Dave wins it all. The episode may not have focused much on Dave's mystery (more about the flashbacks later) but it did give us another glimpse at what the person is capable of and gave us a clue as to who is his target.

We know Dave is an evil and powerful man who has a way with words in order to make everybody and anybody do what he, Dave, wants. We saw him change Edie into a nicer person, persuade Tom to start a garage band and get Mike to play guitar even if a more capable guitarist offered to join, convince Lynette that she should be supportive of Tom because he is going through a midlife crisis, etc.

The man has resources and is a great strategist. "Mirror, Mirror" proved just that. The man not only convinced the Wisteria Lane residents to throw and attend a surprise birthday party for McCluskey, he also set the scene at McCluskey's house to have her target Dave in front of everyone and push his "she's going senile" theory to everyone, including the paramedics. Oh and what a scene between McCluskey and Dave in the ambulance! I had goose bumps as both discussed, in a civil way, how Dave orchestrated the whole thing because she was on to him and that he's sorry it had to be her. For a second or two there, Dave actually sounded truly sorry for having done this to McCluskey but his game face resurfaced in an instant when he went back in mission mode: get revenge on a man.

Knowing that fact throws out the window one of the most popular theory that Dave was George Williams's brother and that he wanted revenge on Bree for George's death. Another popular theory is that the target is none other than Mike. Some people say the woman and child who died in the car accident that ultimately broke Mike and Susan up are tied to Dave (maybe wife and kid?). Others think that something we haven't seen yet from Mike's past is what made Dave go after him.

Why Mike? Well, Dave is not interested in Carlos and Orson at all (did he even really interact with both characters?) and he got interested in Tom mostly because of the band idea. Dave not only pushed Tom to form a band but he shoved the idea of Mike as the guitarist down Tom's throat. Add to that the fact that Dave broke a pipe at his home to get Mike closer and bought a house for Mike to rent and you've got your prime victim in the person of Mike Delfino.

"Mirror, Mirror" ended up being a very entertaining and revealing episode filled with surprise, as Mary Alice teased in the opening, thanks to the flashbacks set in the five-year jump. We learned that miracles can happen when the Solises' reproductive system is concerned, how Susan and Jackson came about, how Mike is the one who ultimately called it quits after signing the divorce papers, why Tom is going through a midlife crisis, and why Bree is putting Katherine before her husband. What was missing from the series of flashbacks though were scenes of Edie meeting Dave. Then again, maybe the writers are keeping those for when they are ready to give us more hints as to why Dave really married Edie...