'Desperate Housewives': Lost and Found?

Image credit: Ron Tom/ABC

EXIT STRATEGY Not even Bree could help Gaby make a graceful exit from a party to which she wasn't invited

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The theme of last night's episode of Desperate Housewives seemed focused on loss. Of course, the ladies (and their hubbies) of Wisteria Lane are always losing something — their best friend to suicide, babies to their rightful mothers, etc. — but the idea of passing seemed ratcheted up in the latest installment. Gaby lost her social standing (and Carlos, well, he's already lost his eyesight). Karen McCluskey lost (and then ''found'') her cat. No surprise, Edie lost even more of her dignity at the hand of Mrs. M. Susan lost the separation she had between her old flame Mike and her new flame Jackson. Lynette lost any sort of rapport she had with Parker. And this is by no means a complaint, but Gale Harold once again lost his shirt. (Yowza, he's, um, good looking!)

On the subject of loss, let's talk Lynette first. Because in these first two episodes I've been wondering quite a bit about something else she seems to have lost: her other children. Of course, thus far the story line has been focused on bad-boy duo Preston and Porter, but what is going on with Penny and Parker? And — dare I say it? — Kayla? Is she still locked away with Grandma or whatever?

Granted, we did see Parker tonight — he helped Lynette with her plan to squeeze some juice out of Porter about his drug-dealing friend. I rather enjoyed this story line. It felt very real and contemporary for Lynette to not understand what Silver Fizz — Fairview's version of Facebook — was and then use the newfangled computer program to find out the deets about what's really going on least-chatty child. I know that, as an avid Facebook user myself, I've wondered whether my parents were logging on and checking out my profile. Or even my employer? (Um, making a mental note to tidy up my profile when I'm done writing.)

And sure, Lynette took it to the next level by creating a fake person who Porter fell in love with, but it made what she was doing all the more interesting. I honestly felt bad for Porter — how embarrassing would it be to find out that your new Facebook honey was actually your mom? Yikes! The story line did produce one of my favorite lines of the night, courtesy of Tom, who freaked out after he found out that Lynette was continuing her online charade: ''You told a teenage boy that you liked his poetry?'' he said. ''Geez, Lynette, why not just flash him a boob!'' And Tom zinged again by mocking Lynette's ''breakup letter'' with his own version: ''Dear Porter, I'm really liking you, but I wanna see other offspring.'' Hilarious! Funny award of the night just might go to Tom.

NEXT: They call him Mr. Hodge