Now that’s a ‘Desperate’ housewife

In the first season of "Desperate Housewives," Wisteria Lane revealed that its residents hold plenty of ugly secrets behind their pristine facade.

Some of them were personal, the kind of problems that lurk behind the doors of many American homes. Gabrielle was having an affair. Lynette hated her life as a stay-at-home mom. Susan was desperate for love. Bree's preppy image hid a marriage that was cracking apart.

Others had larger problems. Mary Alice killed herself because of a confusing tangle of problems that involved her raising a child who wasn't legally hers and eventually murdering her son's mother and hiding the body. Say what you will about Bree's husband's penchant for handcuffs and stiletto heels, but there was no way her complicated life woes rose to the level of murder.

Perhaps the overwhelming success of the first season of "Desperate Housewives" led its writers to believe they'd hit upon a winning formula. Give one housewife a truly major, disturbing, criminal secret, let the others have smaller problems, and tangle the whole shebang together in the end.

The formula worked with Mary Alice (whose secret is still sending out reverberations -- where is son Zach, anyway?). And "Housewives" got off to a fast, and creepy, start in its second season, with a new housewife and a new horrible secret.

Cellar dweller
New housewife Betty Applewhite (Alfre Woodard) brought a spark of diversity when she moved onto Wisteria Lane -- she's the first African-American main character. Her appearance on the first season's finale was brief but promising. When nosy neighbor Edie tried to welcome the family to town, Betty and son Matthew were less than thrilled about the Wisteria Lane Welcome Wagon. They'd purchased their house sight unseen but were already guarding it carefully. Edie wanted to be asked inside, but the Applewhites carefully kept her outside.

It was in the final scene of the second-season premiere that viewers learned why.Earlier in the episode, Matthew was scolded by his mother for lying to new widow Bree and her daughter Danielle, telling them he had also lost his dad. He apologized, saying that he only wanted to continue to support their "cover story."

It's not clear yet what exactly the cover story is, but that final scene took Wisteria Lane into another dark direction. Matthew was seen preparing a dinner tray that would be suitable at a fancy restaurant, complete with rosebud in a vase. His mother took the tray, ordering him to "take the gun." And so he did, tucking the weapon in the back of his pants and following his mother down into a suitably creepy cellar. The two deposited the tray and went back upstairs, after which viewers saw a well-bound and cuffed hand reach out for the food.

Forget Lynette's career stress, Gabrielle's baby daddy drama, and even Bree's new widowhood: This story has legs, and apparently arms. Who is the person in the Applewhite basement? An obvious answer would be Matthew's father, the one he earlier lied about. But could it be that simple? An earlier scene showed Betty caressing her "son" with a lingering hand that shouldn't belong to any mother touching her son outside of a V.C. Andrews book.

The touch, as well as an odd remark about Matthew being "raised right," will surely lead many viewers to speculate that Betty and Matthew are not really mother and son. With all the secrets on this block, a couple pretending to be mother and child is strange, but perhaps slightly less strange than an incest storyline.

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