Okay, that episode totally reinforced the hair-brained theory I confessed to in this thread from last month – (ie; that the skeleton in the closet is that Zach was an intersexual baby and is Dana.)
After the carefully-revealed chat that Mr. Young had with Zach in the car after the dance, and Zach’s reaction, I really think they’re going to go there, now.
Dana’s still alive, says Dad. She was in the passenger seat. I’d bet the farm on it, folks.
Interesting theory; not sure I’m entirely on board with it. I did think that Dana is pretty much a unisex name, so we’re not supposed to know yet whether Dana was a boy or girl. Unless I’m mistaken, no one has used any pronouns in reference to Dana.
If Zach’s gender was “assigned,” why would that be fodder for blackmail, and why would his mother kill herself over it? I could see it being a source of shame if Zach had been born a boy and an “accident” prompted them to raise him as a girl, but if the baby was hermaphroditic they would have had to choose one sex or the other. They wouldn’t have had to change his/her name in any case.
I think Zach’s father was lying about Dana’s being alive to get Zach to back off the whole matter. He’s leading everyone in wrong directions; what he told Teri Hatcher was probably a lie – and it’s pretty scummy to make his own son out to be a murderer in order to cover his own butt.
There’s also the matter of what was buried in the back yard. Was it ever “officially” identifed as a body?
Sorry, I’m not going to buy that. Zach would have been completely freaked out if he learned that he used to be Dana. He took things calmly, and proceeded to blackmail his father into staying. Doesn’t he have vague memories of a little sister? I would submit that Zach hurt Dana, maybe causing permanent brain damage, and she is in a home somewhere.
Does anyone see Zach potentially abusing Julie? He lost his temper in front of Susan, and I can see him hurting Julie if she crosses him.
I also thought that when Lynette told her husband that she would pack up the kids and leave if he ever cheated on her that he got this, “Hmmm, that may not be so bad” look on his face. If he meant to portray guilt the actor didn’t do a very good job of it.
And, John, please. Go back to Danielle. Proposing to your lover and calling her “Mrs. Solis?” Ick, dude.
Anyone think Pharmacist George gave Rex the wrong heart medicine? And Bree, not being stupid, will figure it out and go after him with guns blazing? Only she can mess with Rex. No one else can.
I agree that Zach=Dana but I don’t think the intersexed thing is going to play out. It’s way too complicated for the average viewer to get ahold of. I think it’s more likely that the refinement of the theory that I suggested is how it’s going to play out. Zach was stolen from his bio-mom my Mary Alice (which is why she changed her name) but they were tracked down by bio-mom. Who was then killed and buried under the pool. Baby Zach heard them all arguing about “Dana” and saw the murder or the aftermath of it and invented “memories” to fit what he saw. Note the hostility with which Zach called dad “Dad” after getting out of the car. It seems obvious that part of the revelation was that they aren’t related.
The body in the box was identified as an “adult female”.
I like Otto’s theory.
So the woman Mike is looking for could be Dana-Zach’s real mom?
Sounds good to me. Unless it’s a new prescription, Bree will notice that the pills are different.
But George is right. Rex is not a good person.
I can’t believe I forgot to watch it again. :smack:
I seem to have developed a mental block over it. I don’t think I even watched anything after 8:30. They should just air it after Lost so I only have one day a week to remember to watch TV.
Oh, and very clever of the writers that the baby blanket with Dana’s name on it wasn’t pink or blue.
Not only that, but it was heavily implied that Mike was married or at least in love with this woman, named Dierdre. So if the above theory is true, Dana-Zach could be Mike’s son.
I agree. I actually liked Rex, infidelity notwithstanding, until he got haughty and used the fact that he’s a doctor as weapon to put George down, as if doctors are the only worthwhile people in society.
Damn, I was going to mention that. I also caught the sarcastic “Dad.”
Zach is starting to frighten me. I think he could really hurt someone, and the fact that he looks like an inoffensive nerd is even more scary. Still waters run deep.
I laughed out loud watching that scene, because I really thought he was going to say “Now, you’ll take ALL the kids, right?”. 
God, no shit, the real threat would be to take off and leave the kids behind.
I didn’t mention one of the other things from last night’s episode that seems like an “A-ha!” to me: Zach’s necktie.
When Zach confesses that he’s told Julie what he “knows” about Dana, Paul is giving him instruction on how to properly tie his necktie. He does it for him, and clearly makes it too tight, still holding on to it as he asks Zach to tell him everything he told Julie.
I’m inclined to view this as a bit of symbolism – a necktie is about as basic of a male signifier as you can get, and the Freudian view (which is more valuable as a literary device than a therapeutic one) is that it’s a phallic symbol. Zach is passive while Paul puts this very constricting thing on him. Also, as he ties the knots he keeps saying “You want to” make it such-and-such. Paul is telling Zach what Zach wants.
Of course, the most obvious effect of this scene is the implication that Paul is posing a mortal threat to Zach and would kill him in a heartbeat, and I would take it at face value if they didn’t come back to the tie again, after Paul makes the undisclosed revelation to Zach. When they’re walking back to the house, the knot is a bit looser – and Zach very deliberately loosens it to the point where the knot is hanging very casually a few inches down when he tells Paul that he doesn’t intend to reveal “his” secret – with conditions.
Also, Zach comes to the dance prepared with a corsage to give to Julie, which just seems a bit awkward, but additionally reinforces the idea that his parents’ ideas about gender roles have been hammered into him. Doesn’t his assurance that he’d understand if she didn’t want to wear it provide us with a perfect contrast to Paul’s controlling?
I don’t know that Mrs. Huber intended to blackmail Mary Alice. She just wrote “I know what you did. I think it’s disgusting. I’m going to tell.” I don’t think Mary Alice killed herself over that alone – there’s still the dead woman, and I’m inclined to agree with Otto that she’s probably Zach’s biological mother. I think Paul has always been the one calling the shots about how Zach is raised, and what extremes have to be gone to keep the truth from him [I’m really hating this pronoun trouble] and everybody else. I think she saw an inevitability of her child being totally emotionally devastated in the near future, felt terrible guilt for her part in things, (including a murder) and just couldn’t deal with it any more.
I thought you were going to mention the first thing I noticed about Zach’s necktie: the knot changed. In the scene with his father, his father ties a four-in-hand. When Zach shows up at the dance, it’s a Windsor knot.
This probably falls more into the category of “continuity error” than “symbolism”, though.
Did anyone notice that Lynnete’s father in law is named Rodney and his wife’s name is Allison?
Anyone?
Okay. Ryan O’Neal (the father in law) played Rodney Harrington to Mia Farrow’s Allison MacKenzie – star-crossed lovers in the original nighttime soap, Peyton Place. I thought it was a cute little homage, or inside joke, whatever the writers were thinking.
I didn’t notice – cool pick-up. I was too stunned by Ryan’s waistline, I guess. I haven’t seen him in anything since he was a slim youth.
dana has been mentioned as a sister. zach says younger sister, paul says sister.
dana = dierdre, dierdre is a woman in her 20’s, dana as younger sister would be 12 to 13. if we believe zach who said he was 4 during the incident and the incident was 10 years ago. also the picture that had mike in it made it look like she was just a year or 2 younger not 10 or more years younger.
the body in the box was an adult female, that usually means someone 18ish and up not 12-13 ish. the adult female was “made” to fit in the kiddie trunk.
dierdre was last seen in the “round up” a place it seems from the bull riding is an adult bar not a pub you would take a kid to. a kid would have to be somewhat believable adult looking person with fake id.
dana= zach, i’m just not believing it. yes, dana can go either way as far as names go (means pride of denmark) i have a male cousin named dana. why would zach remember dana as a sister, who had a rather bloody incident; not himself being in pain with blood all over and going to hospital?
I agree with Otto that the victim that night was Zach’s birth mother. Zach doesn’t really remember a sister, he’s made inferences about her existence. As Paul said – memory can lie. Zach’s memories of Dana are a sort of paramnesia.