Desperate Housewives Episode 1.01 Pilot

Mary Alice Young seemingly has the perfect suburban life, she tells us in voiceover, which is why it's so surprising when she decides to shoot herself in the head.

Mary Alice's wake draws the other residents of Wisteria Lane, including her closest friends: former high-powered businesswoman Lynette Scavo, who is unable to manage her four unruly children, klutzy single mom Susan, model-turned-trophy-wife Gabrielle, and perfectionist homemaker Bree Van de Kamp, none of whom have a clue why Mary Alice committed suicide.

At the wake, Susan meets hunky new neighbor, plumber Mike Delfino. Her daughter, Julie, urges her to make the first move, so Susan brings Mike a housewarming gift. But she's not the only one interested in Mike; Edie Britt, the most predatory divorcee on the block, stops by too, with an invitation for him to come by and "take a look at her pipes." When Susan goes back to invite Mike over to dinner, she is alarmed to see Edie there already. So she lies and she says she has a clog Mike needs to look at. She scurries home to create a clog -- stuffing Julie's school project down the drain.

Nosy neighbor Martha Huber tells Susan that Edie is having a man over that night, and Susan assumes it's Mike. She goes over, measuring cup in hand, to "borrow a cup of sugar," and sneaks in the back door. Edie is obviously busy with her gentleman caller, and Susan accidentally knocks over one of the many candles burning. As the room goes up in flames, she runs out, leaving her measuring cup behind. Gathering with the rest of the neighbors to watch the fire, Susan is relieved to see Mike stroll by -- he wasn't the one with Edie after all.

Lynette is mortified when her three sons jump into the pool at the wake and she has to wade in, fully dressed, to get them to come out. When she runs into an old work colleague at the grocery store who asks her if she loves being a stay-at-home mom, a frazzled Lynette lies and says she does. Her husband, Tom, arrives home from his business trip early, much to her relief. But when he insists they have unprotected sex -- and risk getting her pregnant again -- she socks him in the jaw.

Gabrielle protests having to attend a party thrown by Carlos' boss, Tanaka, who is always trying to grope her. Carlos tells her since Tanaka is his boss, she'll have to let him. As soon as Carlos is gone, Gabrielle falls into the arms of her teenage gardener, John, with whom she's been carrying on a secret affair. Heading out for Tanaka's party, Carlos gets suspicious when he notices the yard hasn't been mowed. Rather than risk having John fired, Gabrielle sneaks away from the party and mows the yard -- in her long dress and high heels!

Bree's children bemoan her stuffy, formal dinners, so they go out to the Saddle Ranch Chop House, where Rex shocks Bree by telling her he wants a divorce. Instead of answering him, she gets up to fix him a salad from the salad bar, where she accidentally piles on onions, which Rex is deathly allergic to. At the hospital, Rex tells her he's sick of her being so perfect all the time. Her response is to disappear into the bathroom to water his flowers, where she wipes away the tears before coming back out.

Mary Alice's teenage son, Zach, wakes up in the middle of the night to find his father, Paul, excavating something buried underneath the pool.

As her friends clear out her clothes, they find a handwritten note that reads, "I know what you did. It makes me sick. I'm going to tell," that arrived the day she killed herself. "Oh, Mary Alice, what did you do?" Susan asks.