Come Back to Me (Desperate Housewives)

"Come Back to Me" is the 10th episode of the ABC television series, Desperate Housewives. The episode was the tenth episode for the show's first season. The episode was written by Patty Lin and was directed by Fred Gerber. It originally aired on Sunday December 19, 2004.

Plot

Maisy Gibbons, first met as the perfectionist dictator running the school play in the episode Running to Stand Still, is receiving gentlemen callers for money. Having felt snubbed by Bree a few years earlier when her husband had lost his job and they could no longer afford the country club, she gloats that one of her customers is Bree’s husband Rex. While performing as a dominatrix for Rex he admits to her that he still loves Bree and she advises him to just tell Bree what he needs which he says he won’t do because she would refuse. Minutes later he has a heart attack at the peak of his excitement. When Bree is called to the hospital she sees that Maisy signed the admission form and goes to confront her. Maisy tells Bree that Rex still loves her and that he has sexual needs that he is afraid to discuss with her. Maisy silently gloats when Bree asks her if she fulfilled those needs for him, echoing Bree’s earlier perceived snub in regard to Maisy’s reduced circumstances. Bree is not to be outdone, however, and leaves Maisy with the knowledge that Bree still thinks Maisy is someone to be pitied, not reviled. When Rex wakes following his operation, Bree is waiting with concern. He apologizes and she tells him she knows he still loves her, that Maisy told her, and she is glad that he didn’t die, because she wants him to know that she is going to find the most vindictive lawyer she can and eviscerate him, taking his money, his family, and his dignity. She leaves hurt and gloating and files for divorce.

Unless his passport, which Gabrielle cannot find, is turned in, Carlos is refused bail for importing goods made by slave labor. Gabrielle’s car is impounded and she learns that the government is about to seize all of her personal property which it believes Carlos acquired by illegal means. She imposes on Bree and hides her stuff in Bree’s garage. Bree promptly starts snooping through it. In prison, Carlos tells Gabrielle that his passport is in a secret wall compartment along with some papers, he tells her to bring him the passport and burn the papers. Gabrielle, no longer trusting him, reads the papers, and then instead keeps them and tosses the passport into the fire.

Julie interferes with her mom’s plan for a romantic weekend with Mike while continuing to harbor Zach. Susan and Mike are repeatedly thwarted in their heated attempts to consummate their passion. Susan hits Mike on the head with a thighmaster when she is freaked-out by the noises Zach makes sneaking around the house. Zach shows himself and is returned to his father by Mike who tells him to call him if he ever needs anything. Susan is mad at Julie for lying but Julie is even more furious with her mother for betraying Zach, and also for leaning too heavily on her. Zach’s father tells him to suppress his troubling memories and re-imposes his enigmatic domination. Mike tells Susan she can lean on him from now on.

Lynette, worried about leaving her kids with the new nanny, Claire, is inspired by Bree to install a nanny cam. Lynette finds nothing to worry about while spying on her new nanny, except perhaps that Claire is better than she is at mothering, and she begins to feel threatened and jealous.

Edie, still looking for Mrs. Huber, thinks about breaking into her house. Edie asks Lynette if she has a key to Mrs. Huber’s house, saying that she left her laptop there with personal information she doesn’t want others to see. Lynette doesn’t help her. Commenting on Lynette’s new nanny, Edie says she herself had a nanny when she was young, a social worker while her mother was in jail for shoplifting. She was glad when she got her mom, the lesser of two evils, back. Edie gets the police to look for Mrs. Huber.

Title reference

The episode title Come Back to Me comes from the musical, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever.

International titles

• Finnish: Palaa luokseni (Come Back to Me)
• French: Confiance perdue (Lost Trust)
• German: Versteckspiele (Hide and Seek)
• Hungarian: Jöjj vissza hozzám! (Come back to me)
• Italian: Torna da me (Come back to me)
• Spanish: Regresa a mí (Come back to me)