Kids These Days
::SPOILER WARNING::
As Bree van de Kamp's relationship with her son Andrew on Desperate Housewives gets more, well, desperate, the gay sex has kicked it up a notch. Last night's episode featured a big wet sidewalk kiss which Shawn Pyfrom attacked with gusto. Bree's reaction was characteristically uptight:
BREE: I saw what you did with your friend.ANDREW: Oh. And you didn't turn into a pillar of salt. Good for you.
BREE: This is not a joke, Andrew. What if the neighbors had seen you?
ANDREW: Well I'd hope they'd think that I landed a hottie.
BREE: I may not be able to control what you do outside of this home but while you are under this roof you will not mock my values. If you so much as smile at that boy, so help me I will ship you off to Camp Hennessey and I will not pick you up again till you are 18. Do I make myself clear?
So is Bree homophobic? Or do her "values" simply concern underage sex (values that an innocent kiss shouldn't violate)? Clearly, she's got some discomfort with her gay son because I doubt she'd be reacting the same way if Andrew's "friend" was a girl. At the same time, Andrew pretty much throws it all back in her face, as we see in the next scene (see screencap below).
Anyway, as I'd just about had enough of DH, I'm glad this storyline is back. It tends to shine a light on the complex (and often uncomfortable) relationships between mothers and their gay sons, even if executed in the wildly unrealistic relief of a soap opera. We've all experienced that awkward moment when mom tries to serve you fresh OJ and croissants in bed, and instead catches you naked with your lab partner, right?
Posted Jan. 9,2006 at 5:20 PM EST by Andy Towle in Film and TV | Permalink
DH WAS getting a little 'samey', storylines going round in circles, so it's good to hear about this storyline making a comeback, just as the UK is about to start in on Season 2 next week.
Posted by: Darren | Jan 9, 2006 5:26:29 PM
I wanna see your lab partner!
Posted by: Mitch | Jan 9, 2006 5:34:11 PM
As much as I like seeing M2M romance on the small screen, the inexplicable part, given Mary Cherry's own open sexuality, is that Andrew, however cute and getting cuter, is one of the bad guys of the series. His reaction to his CLEARLY homophobic mother is one thing, but have we forgotten that he killed a woman by hit and run and took it no more seriously than if he'd forgotten to throw his sticky sheets in the laundry? Until a larger number and wider variety [Saintly—Just Human—Boring—Shady—etc.] of gay characters are on screen, I'd prefer to see none to the only one [not counting his boyfriend with minimal screen time] in a series with such a relatively large regular cast be an immoral jerk. Come on, Cherry. Isn't it about time a mature gay couple moved to Wisteria Lane?
Posted by: Leland | Jan 9, 2006 5:51:39 PM
True, bad egg Andrew is hardly a sympathetic character.
Posted by: andy | Jan 9, 2006 5:53:41 PM
Oh, is there anyone who is really sympathetic on DH? The homophobic mother who watched while someone committed suicide? The sexual predator wife who cheated with the underage gardener? The career woman who brought a rat into her house to get her husband to clean up? Only Teri Hatcher's character hasn't done something morally atrocious (lately) and she's so dim witted and self centered I can only sympathize with her daughter for having to put up with mom's bratittude.
Posted by: chrisafer | Jan 9, 2006 6:16:27 PM
they couldnt have done it any better.
Posted by: Michael | Jan 9, 2006 6:21:59 PM
I think Bree would be reacting more or less the same way even if Andrew's friend were a girl, remembering how anxious she got after she found a condom in Andrew's room (at this point, she hadn't found out that her son was gay yet) in season one. However, I do believe the fact that Andrew's "friend" is a boy gets her more upset.
I've been waiting this story of Andrew with Justin to show up in the series more, and I must say it was worth waiting for. They both are really hot, but I like Justin (Ryan Carnes) better.
Posted by: kevin | Jan 9, 2006 6:22:10 PM
Having Mom walk in on you and your lab partner? I can top that: How about walking in on Mom and your lab partner? I'm still in therapy over that one...
Posted by: zinc alloy | Jan 9, 2006 6:59:32 PM
Andrew had some pretty entertaining lines this episode.
Posted by: Chad Hanging | Jan 9, 2006 7:02:36 PM
Ironic that the shows creator Marc Cherry is a cock fag and he chooses to portray homosexuality in such a deviant, unflattering way. Making Bree's son a passive agressive, spiteful man-pussy makes me glad I was respectful enough to my parents to wait and come out until once I was in college--so I could tell them to go fuck themselves if they didn't approve.
I hate everything about this show, except Jesse Metcalfe...wait he's gone...that's right, I hate all of it.
The best gay role model on televison is...wait, there isn't one.
Posted by: Joe | Jan 9, 2006 8:33:51 PM
"I can top that: How about walking in on Mom and your lab partner? I'm still in therapy over that one..."
Hope you joined in and made it a threesome?
Posted by: HisHolynessDPope | Jan 9, 2006 9:31:55 PM
I love that the gay character is just as nasty and just as scheming as the rest of the characters on "Deperate Housewives!! Aren't their enough boring "nice guy" gay characters around??
It reminds me of when Christopher Reeve expressed such delight that he was able to play a homicidal maniac in a wheelchair on "The Practice." He was so tired of boring, near saintly representations of people in wheelchairs.
Posted by: cafegogo | Jan 9, 2006 10:17:57 PM
We all know that the character of Bree is a very conservative Republican, we also know that's she's deeply religious and traditional, so why are people surprised that her character is homophobic? And as far as all of you whining little girls out there who are upset that the gay character isn't more of a "positive role model", thank God you people aren't the writers of this show... how boring. I saw the movie The Family Stone last night-- an okay movie, but of course the gay son had to be the perfect, sweet, hearing-impaired sympathetic character with the perfect loving partner and no relationship problems. I commend Marc Cherry for not taking this easy way out.
Posted by: Robert | Jan 9, 2006 11:23:34 PM
We all know that the character of Bree is a very conservative Republican, we also know that's she's deeply religious and traditional, so why are people surprised that her character is homophobic? And as far as all of you whining little girls out there who are upset that the gay character isn't more of a "positive role model", thank God you people aren't the writers of this show... how boring. I saw the movie The Family Stone last night-- an okay movie, but of course the gay son had to be the perfect, sweet, hearing-impaired sympathetic character with the perfect loving partner and no relationship problems. I commend Marc Cherry for not taking this easy way out.
Posted by: Robert | Jan 9, 2006 11:23:56 PM
"We've all experienced that awkward moment when mom tries to serve you fresh OJ and croissants in bed, and instead catches you naked with your lab partner, right?"
LOL! That's one of the best hypothetical questions I've heard in a long time!
Towleroad is an incredible blog, btw. :)
Posted by: jde549 | Jan 9, 2006 11:49:09 PM
I love it! I love it! I love it!
Posted by: VINCENT | Jan 10, 2006 12:17:09 AM
I never particularly liked DH but I have to say that the character of Andrew seemed like a breath of fresh air as far as gays on TV. Yes he is punk but I would rather see that than yet another sissy pixey drama queen like the kid from My Soo Called Life or the disturbingly asexual homosexuals Jack from Dawson's Creek and Will from Will and Grace. His personality makes perfect sense to me seeing what kind of time warped crack job mom he has!
Posted by: Jake | Jan 10, 2006 12:19:02 AM
I'm just sick of the whole gay boys thing on Wisteria Lane.
When are the power lesbians with the baby going to move into the neighborhood to replace the void that is Nicollette Sheridan!!! Ouch!
Posted by: Mr. GuyTVBlog | Jan 10, 2006 2:22:46 AM
"breath of fresh air"? "punk"?--at least "not boring"?--Andrew is a killer. Involuntary manslaughter, but A KILLER! I suppose you can't wait for "John Wayne Gacy, The Miniseries--A Story of A Clown Who Just Liked To Bury Little Boys Under His House." Or how about, "The Jeffrey Dahmer Cook Book--Next Week On The Food Channel"? Dump the Tina, girls--it's destroying your memory and your judgment.
Posted by: Leland | Jan 10, 2006 2:27:43 AM
Um, none of the characters on Desperate Housewives are likeable, why should Andrew be any different?
Andy (Towle), however, now there's a likeable character!
Posted by: Erik | Jan 10, 2006 3:11:41 AM
DH. Ugh. Why not have the gay boy hook up with the blatantly gay - and evidently psycho - pharmacist who was dating Bree and killing her husband?
Guys - how can you look to see ANY semblance of solid character portrayal, gay or otherwise, in a show where: one 'housewife' sneaks out of a party to mow the lawn so her husband won't fire the lawnboy she's fucking, and SHE DOESN'T LIFT AND TIE UP THE TRAIN OF HER LONG, LONG GOWN? Did Peter Jackson have Kong recite Byron to Naomi Watts? A little realism, even in dumbass fantasy, is necessary.
Posted by: Jacko | Jan 10, 2006 3:37:28 AM
Leland is bordering on hyperventilation as ususal. Quick, someone get him a paper bag.
Posted by: jon | Jan 10, 2006 9:20:34 AM
Leland is bordering on hyperventilation as usual. Quick, someone get him a paper bag.
Posted by: jon | Jan 10, 2006 9:21:51 AM
The show has hinted all along that Andy's hitting on the Carnes character only to piss off his mom.
That was even more in evidence in the last scene of this episode when Andy lost interest in Ryan because Andy could no longer blackmail his mother.
My problem is with the Carnes character. Why isn't he pissed that Andy's using him like that?
Okay, Andy is a bi or straight sociopath, but Ryan is a gay doormat.
Posted by: Marc | Jan 10, 2006 9:58:06 AM
I thought the show was back to it's first year form. I was getting bored but this was a great episode all the way around. And the boy flesh did not hurt. I love it again, it is one shark jumping scene after another.
I want to be entertained and I am. For those who expect more give it up. It's TV for pete's sake just sit back and enjoy or turn it off.
Posted by: Donald | Jan 10, 2006 10:00:56 AM