I’m sure it was hard for the writers to sit down and hammer out Sunday’s episode. How could you follow up one of the show’s best episodes—the supermarket takeover—with something that shows that last week wasn’t a fluke?

Sunday’s episode wasn’t very good, but I didn’t hold it against anyone. How do you continue the stories that were established last week? In some cases, those stories were jettisoned altogether, especially in the case of the reconciliation between Gaby and Carlos. Instead of showing her and Carlos trying to live in the house one week later, Gaby went to New York to try to pick up her modeling career. Instead, she found herself wearing frumpy outfits while the hot young thing took the magazine cover and the photographer. So the attempt to return to the modeling lasted one episode. Looking at her house upon her return, it’s clear that whoever is in charge of th Gabrielle storyline might hit a dead end. What is she going to do now that she doesn’t have Carlos’ money to spend?

One of the two storylines that picked up after last week was the newfound friendship between Julie and Austin. Well, I wouldn’t call it friendship, unless teenage friends these days grope each other on their parents’ couches. Instead of letting her daughter experience her first rebellion, Julie called in ex-husband Carl (to no avail, though it was good to see Richard Burgi again) and found out that she had no leverage on Julie when the Ian issue came up. I’m sure Julie wasn’t going to show her boobs—or undo a couple of buttons, as she called it—to anyone she thought would be in it just for the sex. But she is 16, after all. God knows what’s going on in her brain.

The most interesting that happened this week was not the introduction of Orson’s manipulative (and utterly fantastic) mother, but the shocking, saddening and heartbreaking revelation that Art is a pedophile. It really made me give up on humanity.

To see those Polaroids of young boys in Art’s basement was deflating. First of all, can we have a season where we see something happy in a Wisteria Lane basement? Second, I had hoped that Art would be the cool adult on the block for the kids. God knows the Scavo kids don’t have any adult they can trust. Now, there’s one more to watch out for.

But didn’t you know that something wasn’t going to be right in the house once Parker knocked and the door opened? If you’ve seen enough TV shows and movies, you know that any door that is supposed to be locked but opens on a slight touch won’t reveal good news on the other side. There are too many examples to point out.

I didn’t watch this episode live this week, so I didn’t get to see next week’s previews because my DVR cut off before then. But that’s good, because sometimes they give away the best part. They do it all the time on “Lost.”

“Desperate Housewives” airs at 8 Sundays on ABC.