Episode 20: "It Wasn't Meant to Happen"
The dialogue at the end of this episode is fantastic! Let's take a look at Mary Alice's comments and the actions that follow (transcript compliments of Ultimate Desperate Housewives at http://desperatehousewives.ahaava.com/ )
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Mary Alice: "There is a prayer intended to give strength to people faced with circumstances they don’t want to accept. The power of the prayer comes from it's insight into human nature."
Bree: "We ask God to grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change."
Outside Edie's house, the yard is covered with Karl’s clothes. Edie comes out the door and throws more clothes.
Mary Alice: "Because so many of us rage against the hand that life has dealt us."
Bree: "The courage to change the things we can."
Parcher and Murphy Advertising Agency, Ed is walking out of his office. He looks over at Lynette and he gets into the elevator.
Mary Alice: "Because so many of us are cowardly. And afraid to stand up for what is right."
Bree: "And the wisdom to know the difference."
Betty's House, Betty is standing at the counter, staring at the prescription bottle in her hand, crying.
Mary Alice: "Because so many of us give into despair..."
Betty puts the bottle in the kitchen drawer.
Mary Alice: "...when faced with an impossible choice."
A.A Meeting, Peter, sitting next to Bree, takes her hand. Bree smiles at him.
Mary Alice: "The good news for those who utter these words is that God will hear you and answer your prayer."
Gabrielle's House, Carlos is helping a crying Gabrielle back into the house.
Mary Alice: "The bad news is that sometimes..."
They go inside and close the door.
"...the answer is no."
____________________________________________________________________
For those who don't know, that prayer is called the Serenity Prayer. It reads in it's entirety: "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." It is usually the closing statement for any kind of AA or other addicts group, but it has a powerful message to everyone. That prayer assigns responsibility to humans, with the underlying statement that we are ultimately in God's hands. The prize is when we find the wisdom to know if a situation is God-given.
Most situations in this episode clearly fall into one of the categories above: something they can change, or something they can't change. Edie rages against the hand life has dealt her. Karl's departure isn't something she can change. Is that bad for her or good for her? Considering his actions with Susan the previous week, I'd say that's good for her. Both Lynette and Ed face consequences they can change. Lynette could quit her job and stand up for what's right, and Ed could suck it up and admit his fault. Here is where God gives people a chance to make life better for themselves without his intervention. Betty, clearly tortured by the thought that she has no other recourse than to poison her son, cannot decide which category her situation falls under. Can she change things or can she not? What is truly inevitable for Caleb - confinement or death? Since death is unnecessary, perhaps her letting go would do them all the greatest good. Bree is setting herself up for failure. Although she feels her courage will help change Peter, she may find that he is something that cannot be altogether changed by her alone.
The truly difficult situation is that of Carlos and Gabrielle (which by the way, I think Eva Longoria did a fabulous job in the final scene). We readily accept the other situations in the story as the way life goes. But when things like babies being taken away happen, we quickly begin to question God's goodness. If he hears our prayers and the answer is no, what then is left for us to believe? God must not love us. We must have done something to deserve it. God must be inherently evil. Or as Mary Alice said at the beginning of the episode, "God was in the mood to be entertained." The important thing to remember about God is that he is timeless, and he knows all things. Take Edie for instance, she's devastated. She might ask how God could let this happen to her just before she's getting married? Yet, we (the all-knowing, all-seeing omnipotent viewers) understand that it's in her best interest. I'll bet God sometimes wishes he could just whisper in our ears exactly why he lets things happen to us and why they are good for us. I'm happy that someday I will be able to aks him and he'll tell me everything. But in the meantime, I must accept that his ways are mysterious to me.
So why all the mystery? Why are there things that are still not revealed and understood by the time we're 85 years old? I recently heard a speaker say something phenomenal. He said, "We all want to be smart enough, healthy enough, have balanced enough families, and be rich enough to not need God anymore." That really struck me, as I am often saying things like, "If I just had...(fill in the blank)...then life would be easier." It occurs to me that all of us have a cross to bear in life. It's just that we all carry different kinds. Perhaps God withholds his understanding from us in order to keep us close. He wants to know us and he wants us to know him. It is through adversity that he reveals his character, his gentleness and love for us. And it is during pain that we are most willing to open our eyes to see him.
____________________________________________________________________
Mary Alice: "There is a prayer intended to give strength to people faced with circumstances they don’t want to accept. The power of the prayer comes from it's insight into human nature."
Bree: "We ask God to grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change."
Outside Edie's house, the yard is covered with Karl’s clothes. Edie comes out the door and throws more clothes.
Mary Alice: "Because so many of us rage against the hand that life has dealt us."
Bree: "The courage to change the things we can."
Parcher and Murphy Advertising Agency, Ed is walking out of his office. He looks over at Lynette and he gets into the elevator.
Mary Alice: "Because so many of us are cowardly. And afraid to stand up for what is right."
Bree: "And the wisdom to know the difference."
Betty's House, Betty is standing at the counter, staring at the prescription bottle in her hand, crying.
Mary Alice: "Because so many of us give into despair..."
Betty puts the bottle in the kitchen drawer.
Mary Alice: "...when faced with an impossible choice."
A.A Meeting, Peter, sitting next to Bree, takes her hand. Bree smiles at him.
Mary Alice: "The good news for those who utter these words is that God will hear you and answer your prayer."
Gabrielle's House, Carlos is helping a crying Gabrielle back into the house.
Mary Alice: "The bad news is that sometimes..."
They go inside and close the door.
"...the answer is no."
____________________________________________________________________
For those who don't know, that prayer is called the Serenity Prayer. It reads in it's entirety: "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." It is usually the closing statement for any kind of AA or other addicts group, but it has a powerful message to everyone. That prayer assigns responsibility to humans, with the underlying statement that we are ultimately in God's hands. The prize is when we find the wisdom to know if a situation is God-given.
Most situations in this episode clearly fall into one of the categories above: something they can change, or something they can't change. Edie rages against the hand life has dealt her. Karl's departure isn't something she can change. Is that bad for her or good for her? Considering his actions with Susan the previous week, I'd say that's good for her. Both Lynette and Ed face consequences they can change. Lynette could quit her job and stand up for what's right, and Ed could suck it up and admit his fault. Here is where God gives people a chance to make life better for themselves without his intervention. Betty, clearly tortured by the thought that she has no other recourse than to poison her son, cannot decide which category her situation falls under. Can she change things or can she not? What is truly inevitable for Caleb - confinement or death? Since death is unnecessary, perhaps her letting go would do them all the greatest good. Bree is setting herself up for failure. Although she feels her courage will help change Peter, she may find that he is something that cannot be altogether changed by her alone.
The truly difficult situation is that of Carlos and Gabrielle (which by the way, I think Eva Longoria did a fabulous job in the final scene). We readily accept the other situations in the story as the way life goes. But when things like babies being taken away happen, we quickly begin to question God's goodness. If he hears our prayers and the answer is no, what then is left for us to believe? God must not love us. We must have done something to deserve it. God must be inherently evil. Or as Mary Alice said at the beginning of the episode, "God was in the mood to be entertained." The important thing to remember about God is that he is timeless, and he knows all things. Take Edie for instance, she's devastated. She might ask how God could let this happen to her just before she's getting married? Yet, we (the all-knowing, all-seeing omnipotent viewers) understand that it's in her best interest. I'll bet God sometimes wishes he could just whisper in our ears exactly why he lets things happen to us and why they are good for us. I'm happy that someday I will be able to aks him and he'll tell me everything. But in the meantime, I must accept that his ways are mysterious to me.
So why all the mystery? Why are there things that are still not revealed and understood by the time we're 85 years old? I recently heard a speaker say something phenomenal. He said, "We all want to be smart enough, healthy enough, have balanced enough families, and be rich enough to not need God anymore." That really struck me, as I am often saying things like, "If I just had...(fill in the blank)...then life would be easier." It occurs to me that all of us have a cross to bear in life. It's just that we all carry different kinds. Perhaps God withholds his understanding from us in order to keep us close. He wants to know us and he wants us to know him. It is through adversity that he reveals his character, his gentleness and love for us. And it is during pain that we are most willing to open our eyes to see him.
2 Comments:
Hi Mel!
Cindy Allen here ... I'm out-of-town, car hunting (or rather my husband's out hunting right now while I stay at the hotel). I like this - will it be your last blog of the season, or do you keep writing?
Is this similar to how you want to do our book? Except that we will focus on characters, not episodes? I was thinking ... if we focus on characters (people) and not episodes, the book will not date itself and take on more of a timeless quality. Episodes tend to date themselves to the last season. We can weave episodes into the character's profiles and evaluations.
What do you think?
I'll try to write more when I get home. Have a fun holiday! Cindy
I hope to get the last three episodes complete. I'm not going to go back further than that, but life kinda got in the way these last three weeks.
And yes, as a general rule the book will deal with personality trends. We can use the sections to work with particularly good episodes, or draw from several episodes to prove a point about thier POV. I'm not sure about the legality/copyright laws of copying actual quotes from the series. I suppose if it's used as a reference, it will be fine (cited in the bibliography). We can check that out, though.
Anyone else reading this blog? Would you be interested in reading a whole book on the spiritual lives of the DH women? Let me know...
I'll try to post my season finale review before the end of this week. :)
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