Now that’s a ‘Desperate’ housewife

If the prisoner isn't Betty's husband/Matthew's father, the options are almost endless. Many are assuming the arm was male, but that can't be ascertained yet. It could be another adult child, a relative, a boss who somehow ran afoul of the family. Viewers learned that Betty is a concert pianist, perhaps the prisoner is another musician who dared challenge her for a job.

Whoever the mystery person is, the revelation has made it clear that "Housewives" remains willing to push the envelope, to not rest on its one murder story. The show's stellar ratings last season made it clear that it had a broad appeal. The writers have to know that introducing such a creepy storyline is bound to turn some viewers off. The fact that they're willing to take that chance bodes well for the show's willingness to keep things fresh, if a little freaky.

Changes for the Fab Four
Betty Applewhite has yet to establish herself as a true denizen of Wisteria Lane, but the Fab Four who make up the main "Housewives" storylines are facing their own new demons. (Try as she might, Edie just hasn't been developed as thoroughly as the others have.)

Of the four main women, Bree's storyline has changed the most, as she found herself a widow. She had an agonizing breakdown in the season finale, but in season two's premiere, she was all business. The only scene that came close to showing her raw emotions was when she sat, cordless phone at hand, waiting carefully for the clock to tick over to 9 o'clock, which apparently she considered an acceptable time to begin calling friends and sharing her bad news.

Most of the rest of Bree's scenes were spent sparring with Rex's blowsy mother, Phyllis, over such Bree-centric issues as the choice of Rex's burial tie. Her children, too, seemed to have responded to the loss of their father with almost no emotion. Perhaps the family is still in shock, or perhaps the writers mean to demonstrate that there truly was no love lost between Bree and Rex. Upcoming episodes might make that more clear.

Gabrielle and Lynette seem to be filling the comic roles among the Fab Four. Gabrielle didn't want to be pregnant, but now that she is, she seems almost indifferent. She's back to her old ways, ordering lover John around, chiding convicted husband Carlos, and playing most of the world for fools.

Lynette represents a character with whom many women can identify. Torn between her children and her career, trying to juggle family roles with her husband, her problems are fairly universal. Yet she too is often played for laughs, as a bit of a career woman as buffoon, her children screamers straight out of Dennis the Menace. In the premiere, she butted up against a lingerie-clad businesswoman who had chosen career over children and seemed willing to torment Lynette for making the opposite choice.

Klutzy Susan, so often saddled with the comic relief of the show, had a sad and serious premiere. Although both she and Mike escaped Zach's gun without injury, Susan especially seemed mentally changed by the experience. In a plotline that viewers figured out midway through last season, Mike now believes he is Zach's father. And since Susan and her daughter Julie have both had disturbing experiences with Zach, she's now willing to give up her relationship with the plumber and let him move on -- or so she says.

Unlike ABC counterpart "Lost," "Desperate Housewives" has shown it is a show willing to tie up some loose ends and move on. Zach's parentage seems explained, as does Mary Alice's suicide and the mystery of the body in the toy chest. Even minor secrets that, on true soap operas, would be drawn out for months are explained: Gabrielle didn't take long to figure out that Carlos had tampered with her birth control.

Yet some secrets live on -- will pharmacist George be exposed for switching Rex's meds? Will Lynette learn about husband Tom's own questionable past? If the show can manage to artfully blend those continuing secrets with new secrets both small and large, viewers will keep coming back, to learn both what skeletons are in the closets and who the prisoner is in the basement.

Gael Fashingbauer Cooper is MSNBC.com's Television Editor.

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