When Desperate Housewives premiered on ABC in 2004, it was an immediate hit with audiences and critics alike. Fun and mischievous, Desperate Housewives was never a terrible way to spend an hour of your time each week throughout its eight season run. Though the show occasionally lost its way, it always remained a gossipy world of fun, determined never to take itself too seriously. Goodness knows the women of Wisteria Lane have had their ups and downs—finishing with a final season that ends on a surprisingly dreary note.

As the series eighth and final season begins, the ladies are reeling after Carlos (Ricardo Chavira) protects Gaby (Eva Longoria) by killing her perverted former step-father Alejandro Perez (Tony Plana). Being the good friends that they are, Susan (Teri Hatcher), Bree (Marcia Cross), and Lynette (Felicity Huffman) help to bury the body; the girls are worried though, because Bree is dating Detective Chuck Vance (Jonathan Cake) and their afraid he’ll uncover the truth. When she breaks it off with Chuck, their problems become even bigger.

Desperate Housewives: Season 8Each person involved in the crime/cover-up spends the season dealing with the guilt associated with it. While Carlos and Bree turn to alcohol, Susan becomes an art fanatic. Meanwhile, Lynette is too busy dealing with her difficult separation from Tom (Doug Savant) to worry about it all that much.

While there are a few other storylines woven into the season such as—Renee’s (Vanessa Williams) budding relationship with new neighbor Ben (Charles Mesure), Susan’s daughter, Julie (Andrea Bowen), is faced with an unplanned pregnancy—most of the season revolves around the main character’s shared and unresolved guilt. If they had taken Lynette’s advice and called the police, all of this could’ve been avoided.

In the midst of all this marital strife and alcoholism, Karen Simonds (Kathryn Joosten) gets difficult news concerning her health and decides to commit suicide. Fortunately, Bree manages to convince her not to go through with it.

While there’s little doubt that Desperate Housewives had more lows than highs in the last season or two, it still had moments of the of the cleverness that made fans fall in love with the show all those years ago. In the end, the show closes with an emotional episode that does a fine job wrapping up the story of Susan, Lynette, Gaby, and Bree.

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, this transfer is a solid one. Colors are vivid and bright. There are no digital anomalies to speak of.

The audio included is in English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound. There are subtitles available in English, Spanish, and French. Dialogue and music is crystal clear throughout.

The five-disc DVD release comes with just a handful of rather ordinary special features. We get a blooper reel, deleted scenes and series creator Marc Cherry’s audio commentary on the series finale. In the featurette, “I Guess This Is Goodbye” the cast and crew discuss the show and the impact that it’s had on their lives.