Connect! Connect!

"Connect! Connect!" is the 99th episode of the ABC television series, Desperate Housewives. It is the twelfth episode of the show's fifth season and aired on January 11, 2009.

Plot

The episode begins the morning after Edie kicked Dave out of the house, and the housewives drop by after she told them what happened. When the housewives are comforting Edie, Susan announces that she is moving in with Jackson in Riverton, causing the housewives to be excited and happy for her, leaving Edie upset. When Edie is clearing out the basement of Andrew and Alex's new house, Susan comes over with her mail and accidentally locks them in. Edie reveals her anger at Susan, accusing Susan of stealing her thunder by announcing her move. They later enter a discussion about men and Edie tells Susan how she's always had to depend upon a man. By drawing up a timeline, Susan discovers she's never been without a man for a significant amount of time. Meanwhile, Edie realizes she's only ever had meaningless conquests of men, including Carlos Solis, Mike Delfino and Karl Mayer, due to Edie's father's behavior. Edie told Susan that her parents separated when she was 16 as her father left her to another woman. He also took away her horse collection as a gift for her younger stepsister, saying that Edie is too old for toys. As a result, each woman decides to make a change. Edie lets Dave move back in, stating she's ready to settle down, and Susan decides not to move away with Jackson and learns to enjoy for the first time in her life, what it's like to be alone.

Lynette has a visitor from her mother's retirement home, who has come to complain about the noise that Porter is making during his stay. As soon as she finds out where he is, she goes to the home to try to find him. Stella is hostile towards Lynette, acting as though she doesn't recognize her and blaming her for putting her in the home. Stella tells Lynette she knew someone had complained about Porter so she made sure he had left before she arrived to take him. Lynette leaves the home, upset at her mother's anger, and is on the phone to Tom when an accident occurs. Two vehicles in front of Lynette collide, and that gives her the idea to pretend she's in a car accident. This lures Stella and Porter to the hospital and to Stella's shock Lynette appears perfectly fine from around the corner. Tom and Lynette convince Porter to go to the hearing, and the case is eventually thrown out due a lack of evidence. Lynette returns to the home to an angry Stella and explains her reasons for putting her in the home and why visiting her isn't a pleasant experience. Stella reveals her fear of dying and says she stays angry because it's all she has left. Lynette agrees that if Stella changes she will visit at least twice a week and sometimes bring the children along with her.

Gabrielle suffers with two disobeying daughters, who miss Carlos when he has to leave for his work. When it is time for Juanita's bath, Juanita refuses to go, forcing Gabrielle to drag her across the floor to get to the bathroom, which ultimately fails. Gaby then phones Carlos to ask for help when the girls made a mess in the living room. However, he's unable to do so as he is in a meeting. When she finally confronts Juanita, Gabrielle learns that the girls love Carlos more than her, devastating her. Gabrielle then seeks advice from a man doing work on her house who raises his voice to the girls to get them to behave. Gabrielle tells the girls Carlos sent him to shout at them. When Carlos returns, Gabrielle says she would like Carlos to affirm his status for the first fifteen minutes when he gets back to help them obey their mother.

Bree is surprised at Alex's behaviour when he openly asks Bree not to criticize Orson in front of him because of how his own mother drove his father away by doing that. The thought of emasculating Orson preys on Bree's mind who asks for comfort from Orson, but he cannot deny that she can be harsh at times. When Orson cooks for a BBQ party, Bree refuses to give an opinion on his cooking in the fear of receiving criticism from Alex again. Bree stresses that Alex should be polite in her house, especially after she's bought him a house. Realizing that there are strings attached to the gift they received, Alex denies her gesture of buying the house. Bree goes to Andrew later, he tells her that not everyone has to listen to Bree and does as she says. Bree opens her eyes to how her behavior has changed since her business took off and she talks to Alex, giving him back the house keys and asking that he may criticize her when she crosses the line in future.

As Dave is leaving his house after Edie kicked him out, he meets Mike, who then asks him to stay over temporarily. Katherine attempts to find out where her and Mike's relationship is going, asks for his opinion about her moving away to live with Dylan. To her disappointment, he doesn't express much on the matter, and Dave tries to intervene and find out whether Mike's still attached to Susan or not, in order to carefully plan his revenge. Mike reveals he thinks he's falling in love with Katherine, and leaves flowers on the steps with a note telling her not to leave. Katherine and Mike share a kiss, while Dave overlooks them.

International titles

• French: Un long voyage (A long trip)
• German: Ungehorsam (Disobedient)
• Hebrew: ‏קשר! קשר!‏ (Kesher! Kesher!; Connect! Connect!)
• Hungarian: Újra együtt (Back Together)
• Italian: Connessioni (Connections)
• Japanese: モンスター操縦法 (How to operate monster)
• Greek: Επικοινώνησε, Επικοινώνησε (Connect! Connect!)

Notes

• "Connect! Connect!" is an often-muttered phrase by the character George in the Stephen Sondheim musical "Sunday in the Park with George".
• "Connect! Connect!" is also a reference to the Stephen Sondheim musical "Assassins". The phrase is pronounced by Lee Harvey Oswald and the chorus of assassins in the play.