Now You Know

Desperate Housewives
Season 4, Episode 1
File:NowYouKnow496.jpg
Air date	September 30, 2007
Written by	Marc Cherry
Directed by	Larry Shaw
Episode Guide
previous "Getting Married Today"	next "Smiles of a Summer Night"

“Now You Know” is the 71st episode of the ABC dramedy series Desperate Housewives. It was the season premiere of the show’s fourth season. It was written by Marc Cherry and directed by Larry Shaw.It aired on September 30, 2007.

Cast

Guest Starring

• Nathan Fillion as Adam Mayfair
• Kathryn Joosten as Karen McCluskey
• Julia Campbell as Muriel
• Polly Bergen as Stella
• John Slattery as Victor Lang

Co-Starring

• Pat Crawford Brown as Ida Greenberg
• Darian Pinkerton as Penny
• Coley Sohn as Nurse
• Zachary Gordon as Little Boy
• Gil Glasgow as Man
• Pamela Kosh as Mrs. McKeever
• Jim Klock as Security Guard

Plot

Mary Alice reveals Edie never planned to hang herself; instead, she wanted to time her suicide so Carlos could walk in on her. Carlos saves her in the nick of time. Gabrielle’s packing up to go, as she flashes back to her and Carlos deciding to run away together, as he hides from Victor. But the suicide attempt squashes Carlos’ urge to flee, and Gabrielle would rather work it out with Victor then wait for Carlos. Gabrielle argues with Victor about selling her house. Carlos and Edie arrive back on Wisteria Lane, and Edie mistakenly believes the party’s for her. Carlos can’t leave Edie just yet but wants to start an affair with Gabrielle. After the affair begins, Edie confronts Carlos about what she found: he hid ten million dollars in off shore bank accounts, and she suggests she’ll reveal everything unless he stays with her.

Gabrielle, Lynette, Susan, and Bree watch the new neighbors move in. The neighbors turn out to be the Mayfairs; Katherine lived there years before with her daughter Dylan, and she’s brought her husband Adam with her. Susan knew Katherine but she’s new to the other women. Susan sees Dylan, who doesn’t remember her or Julie, even as she’s reminded Dylan and Julie were close friends as children. Katherine has a BBQ planned soon to meet up with old friends and new neighbors. Julie’s brought her former best friend Dylan a gift of licorice, her favorite food…or at least it was, years ago. Julie tells Susan that Dylan is a totally different girl than the one she knew twelve years ago. Adam finds Katherine in a room of their house; Katherine says she’s kept Dylan from getting into the room. Adam realizes the significance of the room, even as we don’t. He wonders if they made a mistake coming back. Katherine doesn’t think they had a choice but to return.

Susan and Mike celebrate their first month anniversary. But Susan’s convinced Mike’s not happy even as he claims he’s ectstatic. Later, when Susan’s ob-gyn is called away, she’s left with the new doctor for her checkup, and he turns out to be Katherine’s husband Adam. She’s uncomfortable but doesn’t speak up. Adam tells Susan she’s physically fine but he’s curious about her irregular periods and night sweats. Susan’s upset at the possibility she could have menopause, and insists she’s too young, but seeing the date on Adam’s college degree reminds her how old she is. Later, Susan admits to Mike she might be going through menopause, and he’s ok with it, as he reminds her they decided against having kids. But later Adam shows up and tells Susan and Mike she’s pregnant!

Andrew refuses to help his mother with her fake pregnancy, and reminds Bree they don’t live in the fifties, but Bree’s committed to maintaining the last bit of her family’s reputation by hiding her bastard grandchild. As Orson and Bree shop, an elderly friend of the family approaches and tries to touch Bree’s belly. Bree insists she doesn’t want to be touched, and even gets physical with the woman, grabbing tightly to her wrist.. At the BBQ, Bree accidentally gets a BBQ fork stabbed in her belly, but doesn’t notice it because of the padding. The neighbors do, though, and Adam’s called to help her. Orson and Bree claim it was a trick BBQ fork for a magic trick, and their lie seems to work. Orson wants to end the deception now, but agrees to keep the fake pregnancy going when Bree says she wants to do this to make up for her previous failures as a parent.

When Parker knocks at her bedroom door, a bald Lynette frantically looks for her wig, as she hasn’t told her friends and family about her cancer. Later, Lynette and her mom are at Parker’s play, despite her being tired from chemo. Muriel reminds Lynette she has to be in charge of a fundraiser, and Lynette reluctantly agrees. When Lynette becomes ill, she grabs a purse and vomits in it, then learns it’s not her mom’s but Muriel’s. Muriel corners Lynette at the BBQ to confront her over not starting work for the fundraiser. Lynette takes off her wig and admits to having cancer, as her frriends look on. Afterwards, the women are upset she didn’t tell them, even as they make it obvious they care for her very much. The women pledge to share everything from now on, and Bree’s the last one to agree to this.

Narration

At the beginning

The first thing you should know is that Edie Britt never actually intended to die. But someone she loved was trying to leave her. So she planned every detail, from the silk scarf she'd hang by to the suicide note detailing her despair. Now all Edie had to do was wait for her beloved to come home. You see, to hold on to her man Edie knew she had to find the perfect moment to let go. Sadly for Edie her timing was fatally flawed. And this is now Carlos Solis arrived just in the nick of time to save the life of Edie. Of course had he known what she was about to do to his life he would have let her hang there.

There is a certain time of night when children have been put to bed and husbands have begun snoring, that women lie awake and think of the secrets they’ve been keeping from their friends. It might be an impromptu wedding... or a recently diagnosed tumor... or a make believe pregnancy. Regardless, it’s all they will think of until something comes along to remind them that other people have secrets too.

At the end

There is a certain time of morning. It occurs after kids have left for school. And husbands have headed off for work. It’s a time when women think of the secrets they’ve been keeping from their friends. And how shocked they would be if the truth were discovered. And how they would do everything in their power to keep that from happening. But what of those lucky women who have no secrets left to keep. What do they think about every morning? These women think of their neighbors and the secrets they may be keeping.

Reception and ratings

On its premiere night in the United States, “Now You Know” scored a 12.2/18 in the household Nielsen Ratings, with a total of 19.317 million viewers.

Notes

• Joy Lauren (Danielle Van de Kamp) and Rachel Fox (Kayla Huntington) do not appear in this episode, therefore their names are excluded in the opening credits.

Critical reviews

Entertainment Weekly television critic Tim Stack gave Now You Know a slightly negative review. He lauded both Marcia Cross and Felicity Huffman's portrayals of Bree and Lynette, respectively, but was indifferent to Edie’s feigned suicide and Susan’s pregnancy while noting a significant absence of Gabrielle from the episode. On the other hand, Blogcritic’s Chris Evans was quite pleased with the premiere, stating that he felt that Marc Cherry had brought back the original “dark dramedy” that was Desperate Housewives’ mainstay as a television programme. Along with Stack, Evans was also impressed by Cross’ acting, citing it as one of the highlights of the episode.

Philipino controversy

The episode was chided by Filipinos, especially those in the medical community, both in the United States and at their home country, including the Philippine government, for an alleged racial slur uttered by Susan. In the episode, when Dr. Mayfair says that Susan may be going through menopause, she asks if she can check the validity of Adam’s diplomas because she wants to make sure that they’re not from “some med school in the Philippines”. The Philippines demanded an apology from ABC and everyone involved in the show. ABC responded by offering its apologies, saying, “There was no intent to disparage the integrity of any aspect of the medical community in the Philippines.” Some Philippine legislators and other viewers, however, did not find the apology satisfactory, asking for a more substantial gesture. Protests against the entire program continue even as producers deleted the line for future airings of the episode.

Title reference

• The title of the episode, “Now You Know”, comes from a song in the Stephen Sondheim musical, Merrily We Roll Along.