Who Can Say What's True?

"Who Can Say What's True?" is the 168th episode of the ABC television series, Desperate Housewives. It is the eleventh episode of the show's eighth season and was broadcast on January 15, 2012.

Plot

Immediately following the events of the previous episode, Bree makes her way to Gabrielle's house to talk with her and Lynette about the second letter she just received. After a tense discussion about the issue Gabrielle and Lynette come to the conclusion that since Bree is the only one who has received any letters, then maybe who ever this person is only wants her. A disgusted Bree marches off while Gabrielle and Lynette decide to reconcile and continue to be mad at Bree. As Bree walks home a person is seen in a car, watching her.

Susan heads to Oklahoma to visit Alejandro's family. Once she gets there she sees that the house is for sale and is invited in by the Realtor who shares private information about the family. Alejandro's wife, Claudia, comes home and is disgusted to hear the conversation taking place. The Realtor excuses herself and Susan offers to buy many of Claudia's nick-nacks, pretending to be an Americana collector and writes her a check. Claudia says that Alejandro leaves for extended periods of time often, but always comes back, and that he is a good husband and a good man. While she says this her daughter looks on with fear in her eyes and face, something Susan can't help but notice.

Lynette makes dinner at her house for herself and her kids, and all of them notice that the light is flickering. The kids mention that Lynette should call their father, as he will know what to do, but Lynette abruptly refuses. Saying that she should be more independent she attempts to fix the problem herself but the next day she ends up putting holes in the kid's walls, much to their dismay. After Parker and Penny say to call their father or at least a repairman Lynette becomes angry with her kids saying that she will do it herself and that if she had known that their father would eventually leave she would have had him teach her how to do things like that. Upset that she yelled at her kids, Lynette goes to make dinner.

When Mike's paycheck bounces he goes to Ben who tells him that he just switched banks and there must have been a misunderstanding. At work Mike sees that things are being taken away and goes to talk Ben who is obviously taking money from a loan shark to pay loans. Mike says that Ben will never be able to pay him back and will always be at his mercy and tells the loan shark and his assistances to leave. Later Mike makes the comment that Renee got $12 million from her divorce, something that Ben hadn't realized.

Gabrielle agrees to go to a business meeting for Carlos and asks Lynette to teach her everything she knows in one day. After a tense study session Lynette remarks that Gabrielle can't just float on by on her looks anymore and Gabrielle says that Lynette always has to be right. Both women are upset but after Gabrielle's meeting ends in disaster she realizes that Lynette is right, and after the ordeal with the light fixture at her house Lynette sees that Gabrielle is right in saying that she always has to be right and never wants to accept help. The two reconcile once more and Lynette calls a repair man to fix her light.

Bree and Renee go to a bar where Bree ends up meeting a man who seems to have the same taste as her. They end up going back to his place and have brief sex in his pool, but is interrupted when his boss comes storming out of the house - the house, the pool and even the suit he is wearing all belonged to his boss. Bree awkwardly leaves and tells the story to Renee who says that she thinks that Bree had a blast. After consideration Bree says that it was exhilarating.

Susan comes back to Alejandro's house and talks to his step-daughter Marisa. She asks if Alejandro ever did anything bad to her in any way and Marisa cries, implying that he did the same thing to her that he did to Gabrielle many years ago. Susan calmly and seriously says that Alejandro is never coming back and will never hurt her again. Susan goes home and no longer feels guilt about Alejandro's death, while Marisa tells her mother what Susan told her. The episode ends with Claudia taking the check that Susan gave her out of her pocket and looking at Susan's address.

Reception

According to Nielsen ratings, "Who Can Say What's True?" was watched by 7.91 million viewers and held 2.7 rating between 18 and 49 years of age.^[1] The episode was competing against The Golden Globe Awards on NBC, which averaged 16.85 million viewers and a 5.0/12 rating in the 18-49 demographic, The Good Wife on CBS, which was watched by 9.45 million viewers and held a 2.0 rating, the combination of Family Guy and Napoleon Dynamite on Fox which were watched by 8.31 million viewers and held 4.4/10 rating in the 18-49 demographic and by 6.88 million viewers and had a 3.3/8 rating. Although the episode came fourth in its time-slot, the competition from The Golden Globe Awards always brings Desperate Housewives down. Also, Fox's schedule had a huge boost from the NFL Football Post game. The show was still third in its time-slot in the 18-49 demographic. The episode gained an additional 2.2 million viewers and 0.9 rating in the week following the original broadcast due to DVR recordings.^[2]

Notes

• The title of this episode is taken from the song "No One Is Alone" from the Stephen Sondheim musical Into the Woods.
• As of this episode, Charles Mesure is upgraded from the "Also Starring" cast to the "Starring" cast.
• Although credited, Ricardo Antonio Chavira (Carlos Solis) and Doug Savant (Tom Scavo) do not appear in this episode.
• Madison de la Garza (Juanita Solis) does not appear in this episode and is not credited.
• In episode "Putting It Together" detective Chuck Vance said to Gaby, that Ramon has two daughters, not much older than her Juanita or Celia. But in this episode we can see only one 15-year-old daughter.

International titles

• German: Unangenehme Wahrheit (The Unpleasant Truth)
• Polish: Kto może sądzić co jest prawdą? (Who can think what is a truth?)

References