Bree Hodge

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Bree Hodge

Name

Bree Hodge

Age

52

Marital Status

Married

First seen

Pilot

Status

Alive

Occupation

Housewife, Entrepreneur, Socialite

Portrayed by

Marcia Cross

"I remember the easy confidence of her smile, the gentle elegance of her hands, the refined warmth of her voice. But what I remember most about Bree was the look of fear in her eyes. Bree had started to realize her world was unraveling. And for a woman who despised loose ends, that was unacceptable."

Bree Hodge (née Mason, previously Van de Kamp) is the perfect wife and mother, however, it becomes apparent that her emotional coldness and obsession with appearance causes the rest of her family to resent her. Known for her homemaking skills on the level of Martha Sewart, she is also well-versed in regards to fire-arm training: she owns four guns and is a card carrying member of the NRA.

Over the course of the seasons, Bree has suffered prehaps more than any other character, finding her idyllic, plastic existance challenged by a series of new domestic dramas.

[edit] Early Life

Born into the wealthy conservative family of a prosecuting attorney, Bree's life was forever changed when she was a child, when her mother died in her family's driveway, after being hit by a drunk driver. To deal with the trauma, Bree Mason closed herself off from the outside world, repressing her emotions and presenting the illusion of perfection to those who saw her. She also developed an anal retentiveness obsession with cleanliness, which began when she personally washed her dead mother's blood off the driveway, which according to Bree, made her feel happy in the wake of her mother's death.

Bree's father remarried shortly after his wife's death. Bree and her step-mother did not get along: her step-mother was extremely cold towards her step-daughter and very critical of everything she did. Bree reacted to this by repressing her anger and desperately working hard to garner what little praise and emotional support she could pry from her step-mother.

Bree Mason went on to attend college, where, in her freshman year, she met her future husband Rex Van de Kamp, while attending a campus Young Republican meeting. The two connected the moment they met, as after their meeting the two went to a diner, where they stayed up until 2:00 AM, talking about immigration and state government. At the time, Bree was involved in a serious relationship with another man but quickly ended her relationship with him in order to begin dating Rex.

Bree, the perfect wife and mother

This caused stress between Bree and her family, who did not approve of Rex as a suitor for their daughter. Shortly thereafter, the two married, with Bree Mason Van de Kamp quickly becoming pregnant with the first of her two children by Rex.

[edit] Season One

"Danielle, there is nothing abnormal about basil puree"

Bree is forced to take part in marriage counselling when her husband Rex asks for a divorce, 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,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.As she and Rex begin to reconcile, the conservative Bree is horrified when Andrew comes out of the closet,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.

[edit] Season Two

"I know you think I'm kidding myself, but I'm not. I'm nothing like you people. I just don't have a compulsive personality"

In Season Two, 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

Bree seeks companionship with local pharmacist, George Williams

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 Mathew Applewhite and leaves home to be with him. Unfortunately Matthew's mother, Betty, and Bree realize that Matthew murdered an ex-girlfriend, Melanie Foster, after she started calling his brother, Caleb 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.

[edit] Season Three

"Orson, I have caught you cheating, at least have the courtesy to wake up!"

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.

[edit] Season Four

"You don't even know what that means, you petulant sock puppet"

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. 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 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.

[edit] Five Year Jump

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.

[edit] Season Five

"Orson, we've been robbed!"

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 refuses to sell her company to make Orson happy

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.

[edit] 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 from 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 espiecally after Susan said if any friend of hers went into bed with him and knew what he did 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 any of 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 women named Candice. She talkes about going home with Karl and Bree gets jealous. She spills oil on the floor while Orson is dancing with Candice making them fall and Candice broke her nose. Bree then realizes that she is falling for Karl and agrees to go to Las Vegas for the weekend with him.

[edit] Trivia

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.
Marcia Cross originally auditioned for the role of Mary-Alice Young, but Marc Cherry thought she was Bree the minute she walked in.
Bree and her first husband Rex were both named after the overtly vain characters on two of Marc Cherry's previous failed sitcoms, The Five Mrs. Buchanans (Bree) and The Crew (Rex).
In the 3rd season episodes 16 and 17, Bree is played by Marcia Cross' stand in, Carolyn Howard, and in most scenes viewers will only see her backside. This is due to Marcia Cross' pregnancy. The character then proceeds to leave town to see her parents and go on to meet Orson for their honeymoon, which explains her departure.
Bree is the only character, from the leading four females, not to appear in every episode because of her maternity leave towards the end of Season 3.