After the second-season Desperate Housewives took the misguided direction of splitting apart its five principals, the third season was a comeback for the ladies of Wisteria Lane with some sparkling moments and a more engaging mystery. Following the previous season's cliffhanger, Mike (James Denton) was not written out of the cast after all, but left in a coma. Susan (Teri Hatcher) keeps a vigil at his bedside and meets Ian (Dougray Scott), a handsome and rich British man keeping a similar vigil for his wife. Newly single Gabriella (Eva Longoria) meets an unexpected admirer, while Edie (Nicolette Sheridan) finds unexpected family--and an unexpected beau. The season's primary mystery revolves around Bree's (Marcia Cross) new husband, Orson (Kyle McLachlan), who turns out to have some skeletons in his closet--including one he shares with Mike--and some women in his past that he wishes had stayed there (Valerie Mahaffey and Dixie Carter). We no longer see Lynette (Felicity Huffman) in her office; rather, the emphasis is on Tom's (Doug Savant) new "dream job" of opening a pizza parlor and the financial and personal conflicts that arise from it. The mystery is resolved unusually early, leaving the rest of the season to weddings and a shock ending. Even if a few scenarios were a little too obvious going for the emotional hot buttons (a hostage situation at a supermarket, a forest encounter), the writing and the cast were so good that we didn't mind being taken along for the ride and still found the moments moving. Huffman was the season's standout and accordingly scored the cast's only Emmy nomination, but everyone was in top form (including Cross, who was sorely missed when her real-life pregnancy knocked her out of a number of late-season episodes). Bonus features include featurettes on Eva Longoria and the season's weddings; clips from Amas de Casa Desesperadas, the Spanish-language version of the show with a different cast; a season recap; Marc Cherry's favorite scenes; eight deleted scenes with commentary by Cherry; and a blooper reel. --David Horiuchi

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