Bree Van de Kamp

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Bree Hodge
Marcia Cross as Bree Hodge
Desperate Housewives
Portrayed by	Marcia Cross
First appearance	Pilot (episode 1.01)
Created by	Marc Cherry
Profile
Aliases	Bree Mason (maiden name) Bree Van de Kamp (first married name/professional name) Bree Hodge (current married name)
Occupation	Entrepreneur
Residence	4354 Wisteria Lane Fairview, Eagle State
Relationships Parents Henry Mason (father) Mrs. Mason (mother; deceased) Eleanor Mason (step-mother) Spouse(s) Rex Van de Kamp (husband; deceased) Orson Hodge (husband; filed for divorce) Romances Ty Grant (ex-fiancé) George Williams(ex-fiancé; deceased) Peter McMillan (ex-boyfriend) Karl Mayer (lover) Children Andrew Van de Kamp (son) Danielle Katz (daughter)

Bree Hodge (née Mason, previously 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, Bree Hodge is a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (she is Presbyterian), the conservative Republican widow of Rex Van de Kamp, 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 succeeds 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 Pollier, 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. 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 starts an affair 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 comments that guilt is sometimes necessary for happiness, defending his decision to blackmail her to stop her divorcing him. However, Bree takes this motto as her own and consummates her affair with Karl.

Bree never wants Susan to discover her affair with Karl especially after Susan said if any friend of hers had a relationship with him, knowing what he did to her is no longer a friend of hers. Alone in Julie's hospital room, she and Karl kissed when Julie woke up confused, saying "Dad?". Bree is worried about her remembering it. Karl and Bree were at a hotel and talking about going away together when Bree said that would be something she would do with a man she loved. Bree went to an event with Orson and Karl showed up with this woman named Candice, who talks about going home with Karl, making Bree jealous. She spills oil on the floor while Orson is dancing with Candice, making them fall and Candice broke her nose. Bree realizes that she is falling for Karl and agrees to go to Las Vegas for the weekend with him. Karl has since proposed, vowing that he will change. Bree has not given Karl an answer to the proposal as she would rather see if Karl is capable and part of their arrangement is leaving their sex lives on hiatus.

More recently, Bree has hired Angie Bolen making her the newest member of Mrs. Van de Kamp's Catering, Bree started to feel the pressures of running a company alone since dismissing Katherine. She also feels she has lost a confidante and friend and later confides in Angie about how miserable she is in her marriage. Bree has become even more distant with her husband, pleading with him about how she "wants out". She then hires Angie as a caterer, giving her Katherine's old job. However, Orson is determined to work on their marriage. Orson then begins to suspect that Bree is cheating and when Angie Bolen is aksed to spy on her, she finds the accusation to be silly. However, she discovers Bree's affair with Karl and before Orson can discover the two she manages to alert Bree to hide Karl. Bree later thanks Angie, who tells Bree she didn't do it for her but, for Orson. Angie's confrontation with Bree seems to prove that though Bree wants a divorce she is seemingly trying to understand who she truly loves, Karl or Orson.

Susan notices Julie's car outside a motel, not realizing that Karl switched cars with Julie and is shocked to see Bree and Karl in bed together. Susan and Bree nearly choke each other while they are taking a self-defense course. Later, Susan confronts Bree and Karl to let them know she is aware of their affair and tells Bree of all the misdeeds Karl committed while Susan was married to Karl. Bree insists she knows what Karl is like but thinks he has changed and admits that she loves him. Susan accepts this and agrees to keep their secret.

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

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (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 twice not to get married. The first time, she was warned not to marry George Williams by his ex-girlfriend and the second time she was warned by Carolyn Bigsby not to marry Orson Hodge.
• Marcia Cross originally auditioned for the role of Mary Alice Young, but Marc Cherry thought she was Bree the minute she walked in.
• Dana Delany, who plays Bree's business partner Katherine 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 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.

References

External links

• Bree Hodge at Wikia
• Bree Van de Kamp at IMDb
• Bree Van de Kamp at What's on TV