The character is played by actor Mark Moses, and is the widower of Mary Alice Young, the show's narrator.

After his character is imprisoned in the second-season finale, Moses left the main cast, but still made some guest appearances in the third season.

"[4] After his character's mystery ended in episode "And Lots of Security...", Moses left again the main cast and only made one last guest appearance in the eighth and final season of the series.

In 1993 (as mentioned in Season 1, Episode 14 "Love is in the Air"), Paul helps Mary Alice dispose of Deirdre Taylor's body after she accidentally killed her.

She worked with Mary Alice in Utah and knows they snatched Deirdre's son, Dana Taylor, now known as Zach Young.

Felicia moves back to Wisteria Lane and begins terrorizing Paul, using various antics like greasing his front steps with shortening and replacing the lighter fluid for his grill with gasoline.

Paul makes a brief appearance when Mike encounters him in prison after being arrested on suspicion of involvement in the death of Monique Pollier.

Zach agrees to visit Paul but refuses to help him locate Felicia, who has gone into hiding in a remote mountain cabin under Martha's name.

In the episode "I Guess This Is Goodbye" Paul returns to Wisteria Lane in the final moments of season six in a black Lincoln Town Car, renting Susan and Mike's house.

Mary Alice's narration states that Paul's plan is to turn the residents of Wisteria Lane on each other and "it would work."

However, Beth appears unsure of being with Paul now that he is free, admitting she doesn't want to share their bed as she's a virgin.

In the episode "Pleasant Little Kingdom", the residents of Wisteria Lane see a sign announcing that a halfway house for former prisoners will locate in the neighborhood.

Mike locates Zach at a run-down motel where the boy is strung out on drugs, confessing to shooting Paul.

In the episode "Farewell Letter", Paul, upset by his encounter with Zach, confronts Beth as to why she brought a gun into his house.

At the drug rehab facility, Zach blames Paul for all of his problems in life, including Mary Alice's suicide.

At the end of the episode, Beth commits suicide at the hospital, the same way Mary Alice did twelve years ago.

Felicia kidnaps Paul and hooks him up to a drip full of antifreeze and has a syringe of potassium chloride threatening to kill him instantly if he screams when she takes the duct tape off.

Susan, who is moving back home and wants to surprise M.J. Delfino by putting his favorite things in his room, walks in on Felicia and tricks her into leaving after calling the cops.

In the second episode of season 8,"Making the Connection", Bree Van de Kamp visits Paul in prison, prompted by a threatening note she received which is identical to the one sent to Mary Alice Young in the pilot that led to her suicide.

He then advises her not keep it to herself, suggesting that if Mary Alice had told her friends her secret like she had originally intended, she may not have killed herself.

Later, Paul phones Bree when he remembers the name of the cop who he confessed the story about Mary Alice and Martha's letter to on the night he was arrested: Chuck Vance.