Welcome to Kanagawa

“Welcome to Kanagawa” is the 80th episode of the ABC television series, Desperate Housewives. It is the tenth episode of the show’s fourth season and aired on January 6, 2008,[1] in the United States. This was the last episode written before the 2007-08 Writers' Strike. Its title is taken from a song in Sondheim's Pacific Overtures. This particular episode does not feature the main theme composed by Danny Elfman, due to the dramatic content in the cold open scene.

"Welcome to Kanagawa"
Desperate Housewives episode
Lynette waits nervously with her friends.
Episode no.Season 4
Episode 10
Directed byLarry Shaw
Written byJamie Gorenberg and Jordon Nardino
Production code410
Original air dateJanuary 6, 2008
Guest appearance(s)

Plot

The episode begins on the evening that the tornado struck. Residents of Fairview and the housewives gather as the emergency services search for Lynette's family and Ida underneath the rubble of Mrs. McCluskey's home. One by one, Lynette's children are pulled out of the rubble followed by Tom. Mrs. McCluskey asks where Ida is, to which Tom shakes his head silently, confirming that she is dead.

Kayla Scavo discovers her music box among the wreckage, as well as a dead body in the tree. This is identified by Adam and Katherine in the morgue to be Sylvia Greene, with whom Adam had the affair. While at the morgue, Katherine tells Adam she wants him out of the house and out of her life.

As Mrs. McCluskey and Lynette pack up Ida's belongings, Lynette uncovers part of Ida's past and learns she was an amazing baseball player for the All American Girl's league during World War II. While packing, Parker comes over to offer help. He reveals how Ida saved all of their lives. As the house was shaking, and Tom passed out from his allergies, Ida made sure all the children were safely underneath the stairs while she sat in the corner, because there was no room for her under there. With the realization that Ida saved the lives of Lynette's family at the cost of her own, she begins to feel guilty for barely getting to know Ida. While they continue packing, Ida's niece and nephew stop by to pick up all that was valuable, including the pearls which were promised to Mrs. McCluskey. Lynette learns that her relatives are not going to fulfill their aunt's wishes of spreading her ashes at Granville Field, so she replaces Ida's ashes with dust from the vacuum cleaner so she can spread them herself. Later on, she and Mrs. McCluskey spread them at the field, only to be caught by the police. They manage to successfully spread her ashes, however, fulfilling Ida's wishes. Lynette's feelings of guilt continue as she wonders why she never took the time to get to know such an amazing woman. Lynette learns to appreciate the people that are still there, as her friendship with Mrs. McCluskey grows.

As Carlos lies wounded in the hospital, Gabrielle attends the funeral of her husband, Victor Lang. Milton, Victor's father, tells her his awareness of Gabrielle's affair, and reveals everything that Victor had was in his name, leaving Gabrielle with nothing in the will. Milton then demands that Gabrielle leave the church, threatening to reveal to everyone of her adultery if she doesn't, in the eulogy he will give. Gaby leaves the church, crying.

Susan regrets inviting Bree, Orson and Benjamin, to live at her house while theirs is being fixed, as Susan and Julie share worries about Bree's compulsive personality affecting the way they live. They are pleasantly surprised, however, to find that Bree is the perfect guest and has done all of the house chores and cooking for them. Bree consults Bob and Lee who put her onto a good contractor, Walter, who's agreed to fix their roof. He backs out of the job, however, when he hears the bad news that his ex-life partner Todd has moved in with somebody else. Bree then finds the perk of having a gay son in the form of Andrew Van de Kamp and attempts to set him up with Walter in order for their house to get fixed quickly. Hearing this news, Susan attempts to ruin Bree's plan as she's appreciated having her around and doesn't want her to leave. She interrupts dinner and does everything she can to stop Andrew from pursuing Walter. When Walter leaves, Bree questions Susan's actions, and she reveals to Bree how she's been great to her since Mike has been away, as she feels as though she's about to fall apart. Bree, not realizing the impact of her presence, agrees to stay.

Gabrielle tells Carlos the news of being left with nothing in the will, and reveals the hitch in the exchange of the Cayman Islands accounts file from his accountant, Al Kaminsky. She tells him how the file was lost in the wind, but Carlos asks her to find Al to get a copy of the file. Gabrielle visits Al's house, only to find a funeral taking place - Al died in the tornado. Learning his office files are in the garage, Gabrielle searches frantically in an attempt to find the file to access the $10 million. When she accidentally opens the garage to find a crowd outside, she comes clean to Al's wife and learns she has shredded all of Al's offshore account files in order to protect him. While Gaby and Carlos are left broke, Carlos is hiding from her that he's lost his sight.

As Adam packs up to leave, he discovers the note left by the late Lillian Simms, Katherine's aunt, in the guest bedroom. He confronts Katherine, telling her he would be leaving her, because of her betrayal. She blamed whatever happened to Dylan on her ex-husband, but had been hiding from Adam the fact that it was really all her fault. As Adam leaves, Katherine tears up the note and throws it in the fire. The next morning, having apparently overheard her mother's fight and seeing her mother toss the note in the fire, Dylan retrieves the pieces of paper from the fireplace ash, fits them together, and discovers the truth, only to wish she hadn't.

Statistics
  • This episode received 20.3 million viewers on its original airing.
  • In the UL this episode had 15.55 million viewers, finishing at #4 in the week it was aired.

Allusions

Awards Notes

International titles
  • Czech: Vítejte v Kanagawě (Welcome to Kanagawa)
  • French: De petites attentions (Little Aids)
  • French Canadian: Une grande catastrophe (A Big Catastrophe)
  • German: Nach der Katastrophe (After the Catastrophe)
  • Hebrew: עם חלוף הטורנדו (Im Halof HaTornado; With the Passage of the Tornado)
  • Hungarian: Késő bánat! (Late Grief)
  • Italian: Benvenuti A Kanagawa (Welcome to Kanagawa)
  • Polish: Witamy w Kanagawa (Welcome to Kanagawa)
  • Spanish Bienvenidos a Kanagawa (Welcome to Kanagawa)
  • Greek: Καλώς Ήρθατε στην Καναγκάουα (Welcome to Kanagawa)

References
  1. "Housewives" Back Next Month, New York Post, December 19, 2007,
  2. "Official 2008 EMMYS Episode Submissions". The Envelope Forum, Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 8, 2008.
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