Bree Van de Kamp
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (May 2008) |
| Bree Van de Kamp Hodge | |||||||||||||||
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| Desperate Housewives character | |||||||||||||||
| File:Bree Hodge.jpg Marcia Cross as Bree Hodge | |||||||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Marcia Cross | ||||||||||||||
| First appearance | Pilot (episode 1.01) | ||||||||||||||
| Created by | Marc Cherry | ||||||||||||||
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Bree Van de Kamp Hodge (née Mason, previously and professionally Van de Kamp) is a fictional character on the ABC television series Desperate Housewives, played by Marcia Cross. She is professionally known as Bree Van de Kamp. Actress Marcia Cross was nominated from 2005 to 2007 for the Golden Globes in the category Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy and the Emmy Awards in 2005 for Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.
Character profile
Born in December of 1962 as Bree Mason, she is a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (she is Presbyterian), the conservative Republican widow of Rex Van de Kamp, current wife of Orson Hodge and one of the five main characters in the series Desperate Housewives.
Bree is recognized for her perfectionist attitude and work ethic, which at times borders on neurosis and Obsessive–compulsive disorder. While the writers have shied away from officially diagnosing the character as suffering from Obsessive–compulsive personality disorder, the character herself refers to her “quirks” in terms of anal retentiveness and not obsessive-compulsiveness.
Bree is known for her homemaking skills on the level of Martha Stewart. She is also known for making gourmet meals and breakfast treats, including her pineapple bran muffins. She also is well-versed in regards to firearm training: she owns four guns and is a card-carrying member of the National Rifle Association.
Overview
Season One
Bree Van de Kamp is introduced in season one as the perfect wife and mother,[1] however, it becomes apparent that her emotional coldness and obsession with appearance causes the rest of her family to resent her.[2] She is forced to take part in marriage counselling when her husband Rex asks for a divorce,[3][4] and her son Andrew's rebellious behaviour leads her to cover up a hit-and-run accident to protect him. Bree eventually discovers that Rex is regularly visiting a prostitute,[5] and leaves him, seeking companionship with local pharmacist George Williams. Hoping to restore her marriage, Bree reluctantly takes part in S&M scenarios with Rex in an attempt to satisfy him sexually.[6] As she and Rex begin to reconcile, the conservative Bree is horrified when Andrew comes out of the closet,[7] and her attempts to correct her son's homosexuality only succeed in alienating him further. Bree continues to confide in George about her family problems, and unknown to Bree, he begins plotting to murder Rex by replacing his heart medication. When Rex has a heart attack and the doctors discover his medication was tampered with, Rex believes Bree was the one trying to kill him and writes a note, forgiving her. He then dies of a heart attack, leaving Bree devastated.
Season Two
In Season 2, Bree's mother-in-law, Phyllis, visits for her son's funeral. She annoys Bree so much with her constant sniping, weeping and wailing (understandable to a point), that Bree threatens not to let her come to Rex's funeral but is persuaded to let her by Andrew. The final straw is when she discovers that Phyllis has reported her friendship with George Williams to the company who are handling Rex's life insurance policy. Bree sends Phyllis home but faces questioning by the police about whether she was responsible for meddling with Rex's medication. She is eventually cleared and gets engaged to George. He then tries to rush her into marrying him as soon as possible and even starts talking about having children. After George loses his temper with an old school friend of Bree's, she ends their relationship. He tries to blackmail her into getting back with him by telling her that he has taken a lot of pills and confesses that he killed Rex. Devastated, Bree tells him that she has called an ambulance and it will be there soon but hasn't. She sits there and watches him die but later tells Andrew this, who uses it to try and blackmail her.
Events with Rex, George and Andrew take their toll on Bree and she starts drinking heavily, only realizing she has developed a problem when she accidentally loses Lynette's children while babysitting. In denial, but wanting to stop Andrew getting his trust fund from his father early, Bree joins AA but only takes it seriously after drinking too much and passing out in a shop dressing-room. She doesn't wake up until after the shop has closed for the night and has to get her sponsor, Peter, and a security guard to let her out. She has a brief relationship with Peter but that ends when she discovers that he and Andrew have slept together in her bed. Unable to take any more, she packs Andrew's belongings and leaves them and him by the side of the road, miles from home.
Danielle, meanwhile, gets involved with Matthew Applewhite and leaves home to be with him. Unfortunately Matthew's mother, Betty Applewhite, and Bree realize that Matthew murdered an ex-girlfriend, Melanie Foster, after she started calling his brother, Caleb Applewhite names. Bree had signed herself into a psychiatric unit because she felt she needed help but they wouldn't let her leave voluntarily so she had to break out. She arrived home to find Matthew and Danielle there, wanting money, but Bree confronted him about Melanie and refused to let him leave with Danielle. He threatened to shoot her if she didn't move, but the police shot him first. Betty had called them, leaving Bree with Danielle.
Season Three
Season three sees Bree Van de Kamp marry Orson Hodge after a six-month relationship, but their marriage is plagued by the belief that Orson physically abused his first wife, Alma, and murdered her. Shortly after the wedding, Andrew returns home due to Orson's intervention, and he and his mother reconcile. However, the arrival of Orson's mother, Gloria, and Alma's return, cause a rift in the family once more. When the two women successfully drug Orson for the purpose of allowing Alma to rape him, Bree intervenes and learns that Gloria was responsible for murdering Orson's mistress, Monique Poulier, in order to keep him trapped in a loveless marriage to Alma. Gloria then tries to murder Bree in the bathtub and make it look like suicide, but Orson intervenes and in defense of Bree, causes his mother to suffer a severe stroke. Bree is not in the episodes 3.16 to 3.22 as she is on her honeymoon with Orson. This is because of the real life pregnancy of Marcia Cross. Bree returns in 3.23 in time for Gabrielle and Victor's wedding, pregnant, it would seem.
Season Four
In season four, Bree and Orson struggle to keep her fake pregnancy a secret. Phyllis, Rex’s mother, discovers Bree’s pregnancy is a hoax and tries to convince Danielle to raise the child herself to spite Bree. In the end, Danielle gives birth to a boy named Benjamin Tyson Hodge (Surname eventually changed to Katz) and agrees that Bree and Orson will raise him as their own. Bree develops a rivalry with new neighbour, Katherine Mayfair. Bree and Katherine, who share many of the same interests and personality traits, have a series of small feuds before ultimately becoming friends. After a tornado destroys Bree’s house, she, Orson and Benjamin move in temporarily with Susan Mayer. During this time, Orson inadvertently reveals that he was responsible for putting Mike in a coma. Unable to forgive Orson, Bree kicks him out and during their separation, Edie Britt comes onto Orson, beginning a feud between Edie and Bree. When Edie discovers the truth about Benjamin, she uses it to blackmail Bree. This leads to Bree telling the other housewives the truth. Towards the end of the season, Bree Van de Kamp and Katherine Mayfair begin a small catering business together. In the season finale, Katherine saves Bree’s life by telling her ex-husband Wayne her secrets. When Katherine kills Wayne, Bree rallies the other housewives around Katherine to prevent her from going to prison. When the events of the series shift ahead by five years in the fourth season finale, it is revealed that Bree has become a famous cookbook author, with her son Andrew working as her assistant. Bree and Orson have evidently worked out their problems and are still married.
Season Five
The fifth season opens with Bree just having published her own cookbook, and successfully running the catering business. Bree has reconciled with Orson after he spent time in prison for running over Mike. A flashback sequence revealed that while Bree awaited Orson's release, Danielle returned and took Benjamin back, leaving her completely alone once again. Devastated, Bree relapsed into alcoholism but was able to overcome it once again thanks to Katherine's intervention. Bree almost always puts her career before anything else, at times alienating her friends, and irrevocably causing a rift in her marriage with Orson. There is continued hypocrisy on Bree's part throughout the series - the idea behind her book is old-fashioned values, where women cooked exceptional meals for their husbands, however the work that went into the book ironically led Orson to eat mediocre takeaways alone. Orson later begins to steal to "hurt" Bree. Orson agrees to stop his compulsive stealing, but when Bree learns that he attempted to rob an old woman (which led to Edie Britt's death), she decides she has had enough. She secretly hires Karl Mayer as her divorce lawyer. Orson discovers her plan to divorce him, and threatens to send her to prison like she did to him over a staged crime she committed. Bree agrees not to divorce him, but meanwhile shares a passionate kiss with Karl.
Season Six
At the beginning of season six, Bree is unwilling to sleep with Karl. Meanwhile, her marriage to Orson is strained, and they are sleeping separately. Orson is determined to salvage their relationship however. He comments that guilt is sometimes necessary for happiness, defending his decision to blackmail her to stop her divorcing him, though Bree takes this motto as her own and consummates her affair with Karl.
When Karl's daughter Julie is attacked and hospitalized, Bree is concerned about the ethics of her affair when Susan comments that she would hypothetically no longer talk to friend who started up a relationship with her cheating ex-husband Karl. However, Karl's fragility at this time convinces Bree he needs her. She soon begins to fall for him. Her jealousy is peaked when at a later date he purposefully shows up at an event with a younger woman, causing Bree to acknowledge deeper affections. Her involvement with him distracts her from her catering company, and she only becomes belatedly aware of co-worker Katherine's instability when she ruins an event, provoking Bree into dismissing her. After striking up an unexpected understanding with new neighbor and polar-opposite Angie Bolen, Bree hires her as Katherine's replacement. Meanwhile, Karl's romantic gestures make the affair harder to conceal. A brooch he gives her sparks Orson's suspicion, and he entreats Angie to spy on Bree for him. Angie soon discovers the tryst. She protects Orson from finding out, yet confronts Bree. Bree explains her dilemma: she and Orson connect intellectually, whereas she and Karl connect sexually. She is anxious she will not get anything more from Karl, despite his proposal, and vow to become a new man for her.
Bree's early fears are realised when Susan also finds out about the affair. The two fight during a self-defense course. Susan is eventually more understanding than expected; Bree's earnestness persuades Susan to give them her blessing. Karl's renewed efforts to get Bree a divorce with the idea of a counter-blackmail scheme against Orson offer the clandestine couple a breakthrough. Bree presents Orson with evidence of him breaking his parole, and demands a divorce. Orson's flabberghasted response is that his own threats to send Bree to prison for fraud were merely bluffs. He says he will grant her a divorce. Before he leaves, his suspicions of her adultery are evidenced, and he identifies Karl as her lover. The two have a fistfight inside a gingerbread house at the neighbourhood Christmas party. Bree tries to intervene, and all three are inside when an airplane crashes into the house, leaving Karl dead and Orson paralyzed. After the crash Bree realizes how much Orson truly means to her and attempts to reconcile with him and even takes care of him as he recovers. However, he is disgusted that she had an affair with Karl and begins to take advantage of her.
Orson then begins to plan on killing himself. However, his plans are halted when Bree discovers his plans and goes above and beyond to stop him. He reveals that he wants to kill himself because no one loves him, claiming Bree only stays out of obligation and guilt. When he asks Bree if she loves him, she can not bring herself to say the words, which seemingly proves Orson right. This leads to a final confrontation at a friend's anniversary party, Bree leaves Orson alone near a pool as she goes to hear the toast. When she sees how happy the elderly couple are as they dance, she looks over to see Orson heading for the pool to drown himself. She rushes to stop him and then professes her un-dying love for him. They then share a passionate kiss and finally reconcile.
A young man named Sam comes to see Bree, offering his services as a new assistant. Bree is impressed by how skilled Sam is and soon promotes him as vice-president, much to the anger of Andrew. While visiting Sam's very organized trailer-park home, Bree is stunned to see a photo of a younger Rex with Sam as a boy. Sam confesses that Rex was his father, having met Sam's waitress mother before Rex met Bree. Sam had spent years watching Bree's family, wondering why Rex chose them over his son and after his mother's death, he came to see Bree. While jarred by all this, Bree decides to welcome Sam into her life.
Cultural influences and impact
Bree is spoofed in MADtv's Desperate Housewives parody,[8] in which they mock the character's plastic exterior and demeanor. In a 2006 interview with Charmed Magazine, Michelle Stafford admitted that her character Mandi in Charmed episode "Desperate Housewitches" was almost entirely modeled on Marcia Cross as Bree. Looking at pictures and episodes of Bree to gain a sense of her posture and body language, she laughed, "I'm just mimicking her. I'm just ripping her off."
Trivia
 | This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. (November 2008) |
- Bree is based on creator Marc Cherry's own mother, as the entire Van de Kamp family is based on the family in which he grew up. Bree's family was based on Marc Cherry's teen years, while Lynette Scavo's family is based on Marc Cherry's childhood years.[9]
- Bree has been warned thrice not to get married. The first time, she was warned not to marry George Williams by his ex-girlfriend, the second time she was warned by Carolyn Bigsby not to marry Orson Hodge and the third time she was warned by Susan not to marry Karl Mayer.
- Marcia Cross originally auditioned for the role of Edie Britt, but Marc Cherry thought she was Bree the minute she walked in.
- Dana Delany, who eventually was cast as Katherine Mayfair, was originally chosen for the role but turned it down.
- Bree and her first husband Rex were both named after the overtly vain characters on two of Marc Cherry's previous failed sitcoms, The 5 Mrs. Buchanans (Bree) and The Crew (Rex).
- Bree is the only character, from the leading four females, not to appear in every episode because of Marcia Cross' maternity leave during Season 3.
- Bree drives a 2003 Saturn LW300 until Rex dies, when she begins to drive his 2005 silver Chrysler 300C. In season five Bree is seen driving a Lexus RX400h. Bree also later begins to drive a 2008 Lexus LS 600h, which she buys to celebrate the success of her new cookbook.
- Both Bree and Orson have been accused of murdering their previous spouses.
- Bree is the only housewife not to have been pregnant throughout the series - although, she did fake a pregnancy to raise her grandson - Benjamin.
- Bree was the first housewife to become a grandmother, followed by Katherine.
- There is a running gag where Bree delivers a basket of homemade muffins to someone, often to new neighbors, but concludes her gesture with informing the recipient that she will need the basket back.
- Bree has a veneer which she has cracked on several occasions according to Orson.
- Bree has almost gotten a divorce once per season. She almost divorced Rex in Season 1. Bree was not married in Season 2. In Season 3, she almost divorced Orson for thinking he killed Monique Pollier. In Season 4, she wanted to divorce Orson because he ran over Mike Delfino. In Season 5, Orson wanted a divorce because of her catering business. In Season 6, Bree almost left Orson for Karl Mayer.
References
- ^ Season 1, "Pilot" approximately 5:43
- ^ Season 1, "Pilot" approximately 21:10
- ^ Season 1, "Pilot" approximately 27:26
- ^ Season 1, "Ah, But Underneath" approximately 13:41
- ^ Season 1, "Come Back to Me" approximately 8:59
- ^ Season 1, "Love is in the Air approximately 34:35
- ^ Season 1, "Children Will Listen" approximately 36:23
- ^ YouTube - MADtv Desperate Housewives Spoof
- ^ "Mother of Desperate Housewives creator featured in season two extras". The Virginian Pilot. September 1, 2006. Retrieved 2009-09-27.