Then I Really Got Scared

"Then I Really Got Scared" is the 156th episode of Desperate Housewives.

Summary
Paul begins to suspect that Susan is responsible for his rapidly declining health, and Lynette and Tom butt heads over where to go on their family vacation, as well as which one of them will set it up. In the meantime, Gabrielle shows Juanita a horror movie and has to pay the price when her daughter becomes too scared to sleep in her own bed, whereas Bree runs into some trust issues when she goes out on a date with a detective.

Previously on Desperate Housewives
"There was flirtation. There was confrontation. There was a fight. And...there were consequences."

- Mary Alice Young


 * Bree and police detective Chuck Vance take an interest in each other. The pair flirt before exchanging numbers. ("I'll Swallow Poison on Sunday")
 * Tom and Lynette argue about the former's new career choice. ("I'll Swallow Poison on Sunday")
 * Paul banishes Susan from his home and orders her to leave him alone. He later seemingly suffers a heart-attack and collapses. ("I'll Swallow Poison on Sunday")

Teaser
"Susan Delfino was charitable to a fault. She just couldn't resist lending a hand. There wasn't a lost pet she could ignore, a girl in uniform she could refuse, or a struggling artist she could say "no" to. So when it came to a neighbor in need, Susan was only too eager to help."

Whilst walking through some hospital corridors, Susan opens a door for a man with crutches to help him get through. However, more people take this opportunity to go through the door, but Susan just stands by politely and holds the door as they all make their way. We then see flashes of times Susan has been helpful. We see her pick up a lost dog in Wisteria Park and she looks around for a possible owner nearby. We then see her at her apartment buying six boxes of cookies off a girl scout. And then we see Susan hand money to a busker in the street, who doesn't seem to have much money given to him. A nearby mime sees Susan's charitableness, so he approaches her and sticks his hand out, asking for money. She reluctantly reaches into her purse to get him some money.

Susan goes to visit Paul at the hospital. The latter explains that he passed out after chest pains and the doctors are currently running tests. He thanks her for coming to visit him even though he yelled at her and Susan apologises for asking for her house back, admitting that she sounded like a vulture. She leaves when the doctor arrives for Paul's test results. He explains that unless Paul has been poisoned or is pregnant, his symptoms point to stress. Paul is thrown by "poisoned" and the doctor explains that he once saw a man come in who was poisoned by antifreeze - his wife put it in his meals every day until it built up and he died. Paul is immediately suspicious of Susan. When he leaves, she is relieved that her neighbor is alright and offers to make him dinner, asking him what he'd like to have.

"...Yes, Susan Delfino just couldn't resist lending a hand to a neighbor in trouble..."

Paul says anything she cooked for him would be a "huge help". Susan smiles and walks off. Paul lingers for a while behind her and smiles eerily.

"...Which was about to cause her some trouble of her own."

- Mary Alice Young

Act I
"No matter how secure we are, we all experience moments of dread. It may just be before we open our credit card bill. Or hand over a note from our teacher. Or step on the scales after a week away from the gym. Yes, we all experience moments of dread. And sometimes we have no one to blame but ourselves."

- Mary Alice Young

We are shown flashes of times that the residents of Wisteria Lane have experienced moments of dread. We see Renee outside her house opening her mailbox. She pulls out her mail and notices a credit card bill. She looks at it with horror. We then see MJ in his apartment after school. He takes a note from a teacher out of his bag. He looks at it for a while, and then reluctantly decides to show his parents. And then we see Lee stepping towards some scales after weeks of not going to the gym. He steps onto them and looks down at his weight. He is horrified, and sighs sadly.

Gabrielle and Juanita are sitting on the sofa, sharing a bowl of popcorn, watching a horror movie. An axe-wielding mad-man appears on the screen and both mother and daughter let out terrified screams. Despite being petrified, they continue to watch. Carlos returns home from work and announces, "Daddy's home!" He tries to make a conversation but both Gaby and Juanita order him to be quiet. On the screen, the mad-man takes a swing at a young woman but misses and lodges an axe into a wall. Carlos picks up the DVD case of the movie the pair are watching - it's called "Bloody Stranger 2" - he doesn't think it is an appropriate movie for Juanita to be watching. Carlos takes the remote control and switches the movie off. "Daddy no!," Juanita exclaims. Carlos tells Gaby that a movie about 'a stranger who comes to town and murders slutty teenagers' is not appropriate. "Yeah, it's a good lesson for when she's older," Gaby says, "Don't be a slutty teenager." Gaby reassures Carlos that Juanita knows everything in the film isn't real. Gaby then switches the movie back on and almost immediately the two begin to scream in terror again.

Later that night, Juanita arrives in Gaby and Carlos' bedroom screaming that someone is outside. Carlos tells his daughter calm down and asks who is outside. Juanita informs him that the "bloody stranger" was standing on the lawn looking at their house. Carlos blames all this on Gaby as she let Juanita watch the movie. Gaby tries to persuade Juanita to go back to bed as she explained to her that everything in the movie was fake. However, Juanita asks if she can sleep with them tonight. Carlos tells her that she can sleep with Gaby and he'll sleep in Juanita's bed. As he gets out, Juanita tells him that Celia is in her bed. He says he'll sleep in Celia's bed then, but Juanita explains Celia wet her bed. Frustrated, Carlos decides to stay in his bed and then tells Juanita to get in. She crawls in between her parents, cuddling up cozily.

The next evening, Tom manages to get back home in time for dinner, to Lynette and his children's pleasure. Just as everyone begins to eat, Tom throws airplane tickets in front of their meals and announces that he has booked a family vacation to Hawaii. The Scavo kids all cheer and get excited. Lynette is less impressed. She is annoyed that Tom bought the tickets without first consulting her - as she has already planned this year's vacation, just as she's done for the last 16 years. Tom seemingly ignores his wife and continues to tell the kids about the attraction at the resort they'll be staying at. Lynette get's frustrated. She tells Tom she has already put down a deposit on an R.V for a road-trip and besides, she needs to visit her sister on the way. Tom comes up with a plan - he'll fly Lynette's sister out to see them in Hawaii. Lynette is still reluctant and she begins to sulk.

At The Oakridge Elementary School, Principal Hobson exits his office as Susan approaches him from a distance. She yells out his name to get his attention. However, knowing who she is and what she did, he pretends to not have heard her. Susan runs a little and shouts his name out again, so he gives in and turns to her, acting like he just heard her. He tells her it's great to see her. Susan asks if he received her emails, as she sent about ten of them, but he tells her he didn't; clearly lying. Susan tries to explain what they said, so to save himself from listening to her, he admits he got them. He tells Susan he'd be glad to give her the job back, but assures her it wouldn't ever happen. Disappointed, she asks why not, so he tells her there are certain consequences for appearing on the internet in nothing but underwear. Susan admits she made a mistake, but says she feels like she deserves a second chance. Hobson agrees, but tells her that the Parent's Council has all the power. She asks if she won the Parent's Council over, then she'd be able to come back, so he says it'd be a start. Susan thanks Hobson and then assures him there will no longer be any feather dusters or bras.

Bree leaves her house and begins to head for her car. She spots Chuck at the end of the drive-way and informs him that she is just popping out. Chuck hands Bree a card with his contact details on, as he believes Bree has lost the one he gave her previously. "What makes you think I've lost it?" Bree asks. Chuck tells her that after 2 days, she hasn't called, so he assumes she has lost it. Bree denies loosing the contact card. Bree continues to play hard-to-get before eventually agreeing on going on a date with the detective.

Production
"Then I Really Got Scared" was written by Valérie A. Brotski and directed by Larry Shaw.

Trivia

 * In this episode, the "Special Guest Star" credit Jonathan Cake (Chuck Vance) is billed under is written with capital letters, something which hadn't happened since season 4's "Art Isn't Easy", with Jesse Metcalfe (John Rowland).
 * Although credited, James Denton (Mike Delfino) is absent from this episode. Kathryn Joosten (Karen McCluskey) and Tuc Watkins (Bob Hunter) are too absent, and are therefore not credited.
 * The title of this episode is inspired by lyrics taken from the song "I Know Things Now", from the Stephen Sondheim musical Into the Woods.
 * Bree and Chuck discuss several events which occurred during season 2: when Orson ran over Mike in "Remember, Part 2", when her boyfriend, George Williams, committed suicide during "That's Good, That's Bad", and her subsequent alcohol addiction.