All episodes Season 5 S05E13 2009-01-18 60 min 2000s ABC

Desperate Housewives

The Best Thing That Could Have Happened

TV Flash files “The Best Thing That Could Have Happened” as hour 100 of 180 in the TV Flash guide — Desperate Housewives (2004–2012) on ABC, season 5, episode 13, aired 2009-01-18, 60 min.

From the desk

How this hour is filed

This leaf is S05E13: listed hour 100 of 180 in the Desperate Housewives guide, hour 13 of 24 in season 5. It aired 2009-01-18 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Connect! Connect!” (S05E12). Next is “Mama Spent Money When She Had None” (S05E14).

Desperate Housewives — The Best Thing That Could Have Happened (S05E13)

Catalog log

Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.

When neighborhood handyman Eli Scruggs dies, the housewives realize just how much he affected their lives. Gaby recalls how Eli helped her make friends when she arrived; Lynette remembers how he came to her aid when she was overwhelmed and neglecting Penny; Susan reflects on how he lent her his shoulder to cry on each time a man walked out on her; Edie looks back on their special friendship; and Bree thinks fondly of his small gesture that had a big effect.

Viewer FAQ

Where does The Best Thing That Could Have Happened sit in the Desperate Housewives guide?

S05E13 is listed hour 100 of 180 — hour 13 of 24 in season 5, season 5 episode 13.

When did Desperate Housewives S05E13 air?

The Best Thing That Could Have Happened aired 2009-01-18 and is listed at 60 minutes.

Where should I start Desperate Housewives?

The pilot. Mary Alice is the first leak, the lawn is the rope line, and the four women are already not amicable. Starting mid-mystery is how you miss who owed whom.

In the series

Why this series still plays

Four women, one lane, a narrator who already knows the bodies. Watch it when you want soap that dresses like a mystery and gossips like a crime blotter. The lawns are the red carpet; the HOA is the publicist; nobody on Wisteria was ever amicable, including the dead.

Flash: a lawn so even it looks like a press kit, and a woman who is already dead enough to narrate. Desperate Housewives premiered on ABC in 2004 like a velvet-rope crime scene — Teri Hatcher’s Susan, Felicity Huffman’s Lynette, Marcia Cross’s Bree, Eva Longoria’s Gaby, Nicollette Sheridan’s Edie circling the wreckage while Brenda Strong’s Mary Alice told on everybody from the other side of the hedge. The museum desk wants “suburban satire.” Cute. The lane is an afterparty with an HOA. **They are not amicable.**…

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