Bree Van De Camp Hodge played by Marcia Cross on Desperate Housewives has always been my favorite character.  Don’t get me wrong, I adore all of the ladies on Wisteria Lane from Susan Mayer and Edie Brit to Lynette and Gaby.

However, Bree has always been such a multi-dimensional character whose layers have been prefectly peeled off over the past five seasons exposing a completely different woman.

(Marcia Cross as Bree Van De Camp Hodge on Desperate Housewives – DailyCeleb.com – All Rights Reserved).

Remember Bree Van De Camp from Season One?  She was rigid, uptight, the ultimate control freak.  She had a horrible relationship with her entire family which was completely masked by her perfect exterior.  Bree was the perfect housewife who kept a spotless house, baked gourmet quality meals and was always prefectly coiffed and made-up.

After the death of her husband in Season One,  Bree spent Season Two trying to cope with being a widow all the while unknowingly dating the mentally unstable man who poisoned her husband.  Bree also fights alcoholism, and is unable to prevent the gap between her and her son from widening to extreme distances. 

In Season Three Bree has recovered from her battle with the bottle, left her crazed ex-boyfriend dead from his own hand in a hotel chair and became engaged to Orson Hodge whom she married at the beginning of the season.

Season Four finds Bree faking a pregnancy in order to cover for her daughter who is actually pregnant.  Bree also does battle with her former mother-in-law and continues to learn to get along with her son whose gay lifestyle she has come to accept.  She also lives through a deadly tornedo and tells her husband to be a man and go to jail for his crimes.

The current Season of Desperate Housewives finds Bree enjoying incredible success as Mrs. Van De Camp who has written a best selling cookbook.  She also has a wildly successful categoring business.  She has worked hard to re-build a relationship with her son and his future spouse.  Bree has remained sober and has weathered losing her daughter to a husband.  She also lost her grandchild when her daughter decided she wanted her natural child back.

The current challenge Bree Van De Camp Hodge faces is dealing with a passive/aggressive husband.  Since Orson was released from jail he has been at loose ends.  At first he asked for Bree to make him a partner in her successful company.  Bree resisted and instead made him a partner.  Then when Orson felt he was not getting his way with Bree he started stealing from friends and neighbors to hurt and embarrass Bree.

Orson’s latest demands?  If Bree wants him to stop stealing, she has to sell her business and retire.  At first the old Bree rears her ugly head and she agrees with Orson to sell out.  Then at the last minute the evolved Bree realizes she has worked hard to get where she is at.  She loves her career and her business and her success and yes, she earned it.  She defies Orson and refuses to sell her business.

What does this all mean for Orson?  It could mean that Bree with give him his walking papers or it could mean that Orson will accelerate his reign of terror.  Of course both plots make for great TV and Marc Cherry, the show’s creator, is always providing great storylines.

Regardless of the outcome of this storyline, the current battle of wills between Bree and Orson demonstrates how much the original Bree has grown into a strong, confident and independent woman.  She even decides to write another book, which is expected to be even more popular than the first.

Kudos to Bree for not selling out and becoming a strong and vibrant woman.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, April 2nd, 2009 at 10:41 pm and is filed under TV's Picks & Pans. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.