Lynette Scavo

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Lynette Scavo
Felicity Huffman as Lynette Scavo
Desperate Housewives
Portrayed by	Felicity Huffman
First appearance	Pilot (episode 1.01)
Created by	Marc Cherry
Profile
Aliases	Lynette Lindquist (maiden name) Lynette Scavo (married name)
Occupation	Housewife former Corporate Senior Vice President Vice President, Accounts, Parcher & Murphy Advertising Pizzeria Co-owner/Manager Stay-at-Home Mom
Relationships Parents Mr. Lindquist (father; deceased) Stella Wingfield (mother) Glen Wingfield (ex-step-father; deceased) Sibling(s) Lucy Lindquist (sister) Lydia Lindquist (sister) Spouse(s) Tom Scavo (husband) Romances Rick Coletti (flirtation) Children Porter Scavo (son) Preston Scavo (son) Parker Scavo (son) Penny Scavo (daughter) Kayla Scavo (step-daughter) Currently Pregnant Other relatives Dave (ex-brother-in-law) Rodney Scavo (father-in-law) Allison Scavo (mother-in-law)

Lynette Scavo (née Lindquist) is a fictional character on the series Desperate Housewives. The character is played by actress Felicity Huffman, who won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for the role in 2005, and was nominated for Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy for 2005 to 2007.

While show creator Marc Cherry based Bree Van de Kamp's family on his teenage years, he based Lynette's on his childhood life.^[1] Other actresses who claim to have auditioned for the show include Alex Kingston, who was apparently turned down for being too curvy.^[2]

Overview

Lynette is the eldest of three daughters. After the death of their father, their mother Stella married Glenn Wigfield. After a short time, Glenn left his family. Lynette blamed her mother for driving him away for a long time.

She graduated from Northwestern University and met Tom when they worked together in the Advertising field. They married and moved to Wisteria Lane when they discovered she was expecting their eldest children, Porter & Preston. A year later, she had Parker and five years later, Penny. Lynette has the most children on Wisteria Lane and is always willing to do what is best for her family.

Throughout her tenure on the show, Lynette has driven 6 cars—2004 Chevrolet Venture (1x01-1x12), 2003 Buick Rendezvous (1x13-1x22), 2006 Nissan Maxima (2x01-4x18), 2006 Nissan Xterra (2x18), 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan (2x03-4x18), 2008 Nissan Altima and a 2009 Ford Flex (5x01-Present)

Season One

As the series begins, Lynette is near to breaking point - stuck at home alone with four kids. Her husband is always away on business trips or at work. Lynette struggled to cope with her four children until Preston and Porter were prescribed medication for ADD (attention defficiency disorder). Lynette decided not to medicate them and started taking the medication herself so she could make the costumes for a school play. Realising she was addicted, Lynette managed to stop taking the pills after she and Tom hired a nanny. Unfortunately she didn't stay long as she caught Tom's eye a little too much. Her problems got worse when Tom told her that he was offered a lucrative promotion that will take him away from home more often and he refuses to discuss it with her so she made sure that his boss didn't offer him the promotion. When Tom found out what Lynette had done, he quit his job, and in the season finale informs her that she will be going back to work.

Season Two

Lynette got a job at an advertising agency and much of the season, Lynette dealt with obstacles at work and dealing with her colleagues. Stu is a bumbling secretary at the agency and is kind to Lynette, often doing her favours or helping her in tough situations. Nina is the co-worker from hell; bitchy, self-centered, and neurotic. She causes Lynette many problems and stresses her out with work. Ed, the boss is the seemingly cool guy, but his faults lead Lynette to have to fire Tom when he gets hired at the agency.

Lynette also testifies for Bree when she is accused of child abuse but made Bree realise that she has a problem with alcohol. At the end of the season, Lynette thinks Tom is cheating on her but discovers Tom has just met his daughter, Kayla Huntington. She is the result of a one night stand Tom had with her mother, Nora Huntington. Nora uses the back child support from Tom to move her and Kayla to Fairview so Kayla can get to know her father, stepmother and half-siblings.

In the flashback from the 2nd season finale after Lynette gave birth to Penny, Tom said that he would pick the name for their next child.

Season Three

Lynette has trouble adjusting to having Nora and Kayla around her and her family but does her best. Lynette learns that Nora wants Tom back so she warns her to keep her distance. Nora decides to move away and take Kayla so Lynette and Tom go for custody. However, plans changed when Nora and Lynette were held at gunpoint by Carolyn Bigsby. Learning that Nora had made a pass at Lynette's husband, Carolyn killed her. Lynette promised her, before she died, that she would look after Kayla. Mad that Kayla had lost her mother, she told Carolyn that she deserved to be cheated on. Carolyn went on to shoot Lynette, hitting her in the arm. Lynette and Kayla struggle to get on as Kayla blamed Lynette for her mother's death.

Tom, jobless, followed his life-long dream to open a pizzeria and Lynette went to work with him but their relationship hit a problem when Tom was confined to bed with a back injury. Lynette struggled to cope with Tom, five children and the pizzeria so she hired a manager, Rick. Soon, Lynette realised she had feelings for Rick and spent time alone with him after the restaurant closed every night. Tom thought Rick and Lynette were having an affair and demanded Rick quit his job but he refused to go. Rick told Lynette he had feelings for her so she fired him. Following a row with Tom when he accidentally knocked Lynette onto the floor from their bed, they went to hospital where a CAT scan revealed swollen lymph nodes. In the season finale, Lynette told her sister Lucy that she has been diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma and asks if Lucy can lend them some money. Lucy is sympathetic but unable to help as her husband has just lost his job. Tom borrows the money from Lynette's mother, Stella Wingfield - much to her chagrin. Stella then told Lynette that she is moving in so she can help while Lynette fights the cancer.

Season Four

Thanks to the cancer, Lynette now wears wigs but has kept her illness a secret. She didn't want people feeling sorry for her but eventually confesses. Her friends are shocked that she felt unable to confide in them but eventually she gets the all clear. Lynette asks Stella to leave after she gave her brownies laced with marijuana. She asked her sisters to take Stella but they refused. Upset at their attitude, Lynette asks Stella to stay with her, but Stella refused and left. Lynette later discovered that Glen left because he was gay. Upon discovering this, Lynette reveals that she would have forgiven her mother and that she appreciates all the time they've spent together. Stella, not wanting to ruin that, decides not to return and moves in with Glen.

A short time later, a tornado warning was declared for Fairview, and Lynette persuaded her neighbor, Mrs. McCluskey, to let her family shelter in her basement. Ida Greenberg is riding out the storm with them in the basement, too. Lynette and Karen went out into the storm to find Ida's cat, but are caught in it and hide in Lynette's bathtub. After the tornado, Lynette and Mrs. McCluskey find Mrs. McCluskey's house in ruins. Lynette's family is safe, though. Ida died, giving her life in fact, so Lynette's family would survive. Lynette, is touched by Ida's selflessness.

Kayla then begins to act out towards Lynette, to the point where Lynette slaps her for threatening Penny. Kayla's evil streak continues and she burns herself with a curling iron. She blamed Lynette, who is later arrested. While in prison, she told Tom what Kayla was doing so he confronted Kayla, placing his cell phone on the table, with the doctor on the other end. Kayla confesses to them that she lied so Tom sends her to live with her grandparents. Tom is upset that he had to send her away, but, in time, he and Lynette reconcile.

In the five year time leap, it is revealed that the Scavo boys are still as mischievous as ever.

Season Five

Tom and Lynette are still running the pizzeria and having trouble raising the twins, now teenagers. Tom is having a mid-life crisis and often sides with his sons, frustrating Lynette. Tom starts an all guy band with Dave, Orson, Carlos and Mike, much to Lynette's annoyance. Lynette and Tom discover that Porter is having an affair with Anne Shilling, a much older married woman. Anne tells Porter that she is having his baby and they plan to run away together. Lynette confronts Anne about her affair with Porter and her abusive husband, Warren, overhears them. He asks Lynette to leave and is beating Anne up but Lynette returns.

Later that day, Tom and his band have a gig at Warren's nightclub. Porter confronts Warren and Warren punches him but Lynette intervenes again. She sends Porter home and confronts Warren herself about "hitting women and children". Warren locks the door and as the band play, a fire starts. Everyone's trapped but they escape through a window and Warren blames Porter for the fire. He is later arrested but released on bail and Lynette pays Anne to leave town alone. Lynette tells Anne to contact her or Tom when the baby is born and Anne reveals that there is no baby.

After Warren threatens to kill him, Porter jumps bail. Tom and Lynette plan for Preston to pose as Porter in court. After it is discovered that he is hiding out at his grandmother's nursing home, Porter returns and the charges are dropped. Unfortunately lawyer bills, and the money used to pay Anne has left the Scavos broke, forcing Tom to sell the pizzeria.

Lynette returns to the workforce, working for Carlos Solis at his investment firm. In the finale, Lynette starts feeling ill and fears that the cancer has returned. She learns however that she's pregnant with (another) set of twins.

Season Six

In her first trimester, Lynette is depressed about the prospect of having twins so late in life. She admits to her husband Tom that she doesn't love her unborn children in the way she loved her other kids at this stage. Lynette talks to an upset Susan, who says that she would give up everything to get just one more day as Julie's mom. This convinces Lynette to keep going on with her pregnancy, and so she announces it to her children in the third episode. Problems arise at work when she must keep her pregnancy secret from her boss Carlos in order to protect a promotion. This entails explaining away her increased bust by leading Carlos to believe she has had breast implants. Gabrielle soon discovers the truth and tells Carlos, who's angered at how Lynette kept this secret. He offers her a "promotion" to a new office in Florida which she refuses. She sues Carlos, angering both him and Gabrielle. Carlos gives Lynette a huge amount of work to do in one night and Lynette chooses to attend her daughter's Christmas pageant. She shows up at work still unfinished and Carlos uses the inability to complete a task as grounds to fire her.

References