Handlung

Bree enjoys helping Ben prepare for his social real estate development building project, until she discovers it's on the very spot where the gang buried Gaby's stepfather. The bulldozers are ordered for the next day, so the trio must dig Alejandro up on Halloween night. Painting teacher intended to use 'TA' Susan as free babysitter when he has custody of utterly neglected pre-teen son Jasper, but she won't stand by shameless parental failure. Lynette's dirty tricks to rival pointlessly with Tom's classy girlfriend over a Halloween costume for Penny backfire.—KGF Vissers

Bree discovers Ben's social real estate development building project is on the very spot where the ladies buried Alejandro, and are forced to dig him up on Halloween night; Lynette's dirty tricks to rival pointlessly with Jane over a Halloween costume for Penny backfires.

As Halloween approaches, Gaby, Bree and Lynette must attempt to exhume and move the body of Gaby's murdered stepfather after learning that Ben's real estate development excavation is taking place on that very spot. Meanwhile, Susan discovers that being art teacher Andre's intern involves tending to matters that don't involve art; not to be outdone by Tom's new girlfriend, Lynette tries to construct a homemade Halloween costume for Penny; and Renee uses a little enticement to help spice up her first night of romance with Ben.—ABC Publicity

"Desperate Housewives" - "Witch's Lament" - Oct. 30, 2011

The ladies all have problems tonight but it's nothing compared to the problem they're about to have.

Susan's problem is Andre. At first she thinks he's picked her for a prestigious internship helping with an installation he has coming up soon. But it turns out that he really just wanted her to babysit his mistreated son Jasper while he concentrates on his painting. He only has Jasper once a month and they are not close even though it's clear that Jasper, who looks to be about 9 or 10 years old, longs for more. It's Halloween and when Jasper seems MJ's robot costume he throws a fit and finally opens up to Susan and tells her that his dad thinks Halloween is for kids. So, Susan decides to kidnap Andre's painting to force him to go trick or treating with his son, her, and MJ. He does and over the course of the evening she realizes she's been workting so hard to get him to like her only to realize she doesn't like him and thinks he's a bad parent. He says his art consumes him and that's just too bad for his son. He says all good artists are this way; putting their art before everything else. Susan says she would never let this happen to her. He says it might not be a choice. At the end of the evening, he does concede he will try to be a better father... even though he thinks it will hurt his art.

Gaby's problem is Carlos' drinking and wants him to go to AA after the PTA incident. He goes to one meeting, or the end of one meeting, and meets Alan who tries to reach out to him. Carlos explains he's not normally a blackout drunknut but his drinking has ramped up over the last couple of months. Alan wonders if there was an incident which triggered Carlos' drinking. Carlos says there wasn't and quickly realizes he needs to leave... aware that Alan might figure out his secret of killing Gaby's stepfather. Alan gives him his card and Carlos promptly dumps it. Later, on Halloween, when Gaby claims the girls are going out to cheer up Lynette, Carlos hallucinates a trick-or-treater zombie as Alejandro and quickly hits the bottle again. He is clearly losing his sanity and his control over the situation.

Lynette's problem is Tom's new girlfriend Jane. Jane wants to help make Penny's Halloween costume. Lynette naturally feels encroachment and says she always makes the costumes and it's a mother-daughter tradition. Of course, she's not a seamstress and can't come up with anything so she takes Renee up on her offer to let a costume designer friend do it for her and claim it as her own work. When it finally shows up it's a kitten with a whip costume that is far too sexy. Tom is appalled. He and Jane have come by to help her trick-or-treat and Jane saves the day by saying she can help whip up a skirt to go with it. As she sews she and Lynette bond. Jane says she won't tell Tom about what Lynette has done, and knows how she feels for Jane is a divorcee herself. Lynette says this is new for her. Jane understands Lynette's situation by saying that when her husband left her for their teenage Swedish au pair seven years ago, she suffered an emotional breakdown and responded by buying her daughter Chloe a car... despite that Chloe was 13 at the time. She praises Lynette's ability to have a career and raise five kids and maintain her sanity. Jane says she knows it's weird but Lynette's the kind of person she could be friends with and that she's happy to help her deal with everything. Lynette says she'd like to ask for help with something else then and tells Jane to stop seeing Tom and trying to take him away from her. Jane says this isn't fair, that she's not going to give up on him just because Lynette refuses to accept that her marriage is over. Lynette says that she has five kids to raise and isn't giving up Tom without a fight. Jane says that from what she's heard from Tom, Lynette is always picking a fight with everyone because of her warped desperation of not being in control and that Jane's own ex-husband was like that and she's glad to have found someone in Tom who doesn't want that anymore.

Over at Renee's it's finally time for she and Ben to have sex. He's been AWOL lately, focused on his real estate development so he offers her a romantic night for two on Halloween. Renee has decided she is going to take "Chinese Love Fluid" to enhance her evening. Unfortunately, she over eagerly takes a little too much of it and it causes her to break out in horrible boils all over her face that frighten the children who come trick-or-treating. Ben takes her to the hospital where she is successfully treated. He tells her she admitted to what she did during her incapacitation and he wonders why. From the safety of under the covers, she admits to him that she hasn't had sex since her divorce and she really likes him. He really likes her too he says and gets under the covers with her.

Now that Bree has discovered about Ben's real estate development she is trying to figure out ways to stop it. She eggs Ben's house and blames miscreants who she says she overheard complainig about his development, claiming opposition. He says he won't consider relocating because he already had to once when the environmental endangerment study on frogs in the original spot stopped in his tracks. He mentions he's having his study done on the new site the next day. Bree and Gaby go to look for endangered frogs to dump in his new location. They manage to catch some but they get away in the car ride home. Bree continues to rack her brain for a plan and comes up with this: they will dig up the body, weight it down and dump it in the lake before Ben's bulldozers arrive.

So, on Halloween Lynette, Bree, and Gaby-- Carlos and Susan are left out-- go to the site. At first they are chased by an unseen security guard but after they ditch him, they discover a bigger problem: Alejandro's grave is empty. Someone has apparently dug up his body. Someone knows their secret...