Devious Maids - She Done Him Wrong - Review: "Did She Though?"

If anyone has learned to embrace the evening soap opera, television exec or otherwise, it’s Marc Cherry. He had a famously difficult time selling the pilot of the eventual smash hit Desperate Housewives to several networks, framing it as a “drama” the whole time before it dawned on him to whole-heartedly pitch the thing as a prime time soap in the vein of Dallas or Melrose Place. At its core, Devious Maids is a spiritual successor to Desperate Housewives, doing its best American translation of a Mexican telanovela.

When the former show was strongest it bordered on satire, with a wink to the soap genre or a refreshing honesty in dealing with its core characters. Desperate Housewives also had a tendency to completely lose sight of all this and just pitch back and forth, a roller-coaster running the same track as countless prime time soaps before it. Lots of fun, stuck in a loop. Devious Maids seems to be mirroring Desperate Housewives that way, toeing the line of clever satire but more often resting comfortably as an actual novela, minus the subtitles. Lack of focus aside, it does novela really well, bright and funny and wickedly entertaining.

“She Done Him Wrong” opens with more frivolous S&M, Adrian Powell’s latest kink du jour. Since Evelyn is not digging the bullwhip/leather chaps scene for some reason (I actually think she could find some real satisfaction in the unmitigated domination of her husband, but that is a discussion for another time), Adrian has turned to Carmen to get his jigglies off. Despite the yuck, the whole thing had been played very lightly, until Adrian blackmails Carmen into acting out what I can only imagine is some kind of half-baked 50 Shades fanfic involving chains and, like, a car battery. Things escalate quickly and Carmen electrocutes him into a seizure. Calling on Sebastien for help, the two drag an unconscious Adrian into another room and put his SFW clothes back on in time for the paramedics to rush him to a hospital.

The bulk of this episode was Rosie’s utter mess of a love life. Her feelings for her undead ex-husband Ernesto (she thought he was dead and he’s not. I prefer to think of him as a ruggedly handsome zombie of some kind) are justifiably unresolved, but she did commit to Spence and intend to live a happy lifetime with him. She even says as much to Zoila, that when it comes down to it she chooses Spence, but her devout Catholicism is only muddying an already impossible situation. Her religious beliefs are largely played for laughs – stringent Catholicism aka comedy gold! – epitomized by Rosie very sweetly thinking GOD HIMSELF will strike her down if she cheats on her former husband with her current husband. Things get more serious later when Rosie realizes how truly conflicted she is and decides to leave both men and figure things out for herself.

Over in Genevieve’s mansion, Zoila is treated to an unplanned visit from her flaky sister Reina. Their cheeky bickering doesn’t amount to much more than sibling rivalry and a small mountain of pistachio shells until Zoila discovers Reina had slept with the dear-ishly departed Pablo years early. This monumental violation of the girl code evolves rapidly into a soap classic twofer: the screaming catfight and the pregnant lady staircase tumble. Zoila is okay, but the scare was enough to force those two to level with each other and put the past behind them, somewhat begrudgingly, like a true family.

Series lead Marisol’s transition from an undercover maid in the first season to running an employment agency for housekeepers is an interesting way to keep her at the center of the show. Last season’s decision to put her at the heart of the main mystery was fun but obvious: if the series has only two things it’s maids and mysteries, so if she’s too wealthy to be a maid anymore apparently she must marry some sinister widower and inherit the requisite baggage. This employment service keeps her in the middle of everybody’s business, allowing her to interact with housewives and housekeepers alike, and positions her as an in-universe lead among the maids without having to get her hands dirty.

Marisol’s personal runner this week was the escalation of flirting and signal-crossing with her new maid Jesse (he’s a BOY maid, everyone is scandalized). They make a charming pair, though nothing more than a fling at this point. Jesse is a super likeable character, which means he’ll either become a series regular or eventually reveal himself to be the mastermind behind a season’s worth of evil somehow, or maybe just vanish into the sunset if the writers tire of him. Who knows, maybe some combination of the three. For now, he’s serving Marisol subtextual lasagna and giving the ladies something to gossip about, so no complaints.

Marisol was also helpful in resolving Carmen’s dilemma with the Powells. The criminally underused Evelyn Powell was back this episode and quickly deduced the true cause of Adrian’s hospitalization. She is quick to fire Carmen, too quick, in fact, as Marisol points out by detailing all the ways Carmen could sue the Powell’s for their shenanigans. This is all reversed quickly (much to Carmen’s chagrin, amusingly), and it’s a visit from runaway Katy that finally gives Evelyn some purpose. She bonds, however briefly, with the girl, and returns her to Michael. They have an idle conversation about the difficulties of parenting, and here Evelyn mentions her long-dead son. Her tone is one of deep sadness, but also a bittersweet acceptance that hasn’t been present before. This is the first time the series has touch this plot thread without hitting extremes the likes of catatonia or manic baby-snatching; Evelyn referred to her child in a fairly casual conversation like a normal human with years between herself and her greatest trauma. She'll always be grieving in part but is more or less accepting of it. She finds clarity in this, and redirects her anger at Carmen back to Adrian where it belongs. Adrian’s body cannot handle anymore stress, but Evelyn knows he will always find a way back to one destructive proclivity or another, so she dishes out an ultimatum: Adrian can do what he likes regardless of their marriage and his life, but Evelyn wants a baby in return.

Also at the hospital (Are they all at the same hospital? They could’ve done lunch!), Taylor’s accident last week is understandably looking like a suicide attempt. She’s still alive but in critical condition, and Michael is wracked with guilt over how things have been between them lately, that is, until Katy confesses to accidentally (“accidentally”?) poisoning her adoptive mommy. She does seem genuinely attached to Taylor, but up until now hasn’t had much to do besides creep out the neighbors, creep on her parentals, and otherwise build suspense creepily, so it could go either way. Taylor’s shift into villainy this season has been enjoyable though, with Brianna Brown admirably holding down the core of this season’s central mystery in the Stappord home. Of course, this is a season-long arc, so we’ll have to be patient with such baby steps toward any serious revelations.

The fun of Devious Maids, tonally so like its big sis Desperate Housewives, is that it treats us to all the staples of a good soap opera. Not unlike a campy morality play, characters push each other’s buttons, for laughs or tears, all at the greater service of telling an entertaining story. Yes, everything is heightened and slightly absurd, but the characters are allowed identity and a range of emotions beyond fiery lust and raging jealousy. Devious Maids can become weighed down by those standard soap opera tropes, though, only sometimes finding a way to channel reality through the broader theatrics. This week’s episode was generally successful in that respect, but it’s been hit or miss thus far. Overall, this is a charming night time novela that is naggingly close to being something more.


Post Script:

What do you think of this Rosie business? Spence or Ernesto, and why?

“Sorry, Zoila no work heeere!!”

Zoila’s sister ate sooo many pistachios. Can you OD on pistachios?

I get why Evelyn wants a child, but... they're going to adopt, right? I shudder to think of Adrian procreating.

Rosie working for the Stappords = Murdersville? Probably not, but they do not have a great track record so far.

About the Author - Lindsey Salazar

Lindsey is an unabashed TV, film, and book nerd who lives and works in Los Angeles. Watch this space!

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