It was a decisive night for George the pharmacist on ABC’s “Desperate Housewives.”
Stop reading now if you’ve got Sunday’s episode TiVoed and waiting to be viewed.
Otherwise, say good night to the psychopathic suitor of Bree Van De Kamp, dead from (fittingly enough) a self-prescribed overdose of pills. He faded away as Bree looked on.
Played by Roger Bart, George established himself last season as the delightfully creepy boyfriend of Bree (Marcia Cross), who had welcomed his attentions when her marriage to Rex hit a rough patch.
Then on the season finale, Rex, being treated for a heart condition, died suddenly. The hidden cause: George, in love with Bree, had been tampering with Rex’s prescriptions.
With Rex out of the way, the relationship between George and Bree continued to flower, even as Bree had doubts about jumping into a new relationship, particularly when he proposed they marry.
As he felt Bree slipping away, George last week began to come visibly unhinged. For the first time, Bree suspected his madness.
Then, on Sunday’s episode, she discovered it was George who had tried to kill her therapist in retaliation for cautioning against a sudden re-marriage. As police investigated that crime, they found evidence tying George to Rex’s murder. Bree was horrified.
She was summoned to George’s hotel room, where, on the lam, he had overdosed on drugs.
“If you’d stay my friend,” he told her while denying the attack on her therapist, “then I’d have something to live for.”
She promised to try to forgive him for killing Rex, if he’d only confess to that crime.
“We need to call someone,” he said in a fading voice, realizing the drugs were taking effect.
“Not until you admit what you’ve done.”
“I thought you wanted me to,” he whispered. “You know you did.”
Seated beside his bed, Bree made her decision. She lied that she had already called the ambulance.
“They’re already on their way,” she said.
Imagining himself saved, George died with a faint smile on his face, as Wisteria Lane lost its most colorful villain.