Mary Alice Young
From Wiksteria Lane, the free Desperate Housewives encyclopedia!
President of the Homeowners Association (2001-2004)
Registered Nurse
"My name is Mary Alice Young. When you read this morning's paper, you may come across an article about the unusual day I had last week. Normally there's nothing news worthy about my life. But that all changed last Thursday. Of course, everything seemed quite normal at first. I preformed my chores. I completed my projects. I ran my errands. In truth, I spent the day as I spent every other day: quitely polishing the routine of my life until it gleamed with perfection. That's why it was so astonishing when I decided to go to my hallway closet and retrieve a revolver that had never been used..."
Mary Alice Young (formerly Angela Forrest) is the most mysterious of the housewives because only bits and pieces of her story are known. We first meet her moments before she shoots herself in the head. Not a very neighborly thing to do, Mary Alice. The friends you left behind on Wisteria Lane always thought of you as a happy, loving wife and mom. But there are so many secrets that need to be told about this little slice of suburban life. And only Mary Alice can tell them. Nobody around here seems to mind if she does so from beyond the grave.
We feel Mary Alice may be the greatest deceased narrator in TV history! She’s been waxing poetic on the not-so-perfect lives of all the Desperate Housewives since day one. No one on Wisteria Lane is safe from Mary Alice’s insightful observations and intimate knowledge. Some secrets need to be told. And nobody dishes the dirt in a more comforting, neighborly way than Mary Alice Young.
Although deceased since the first episode, Mary Alice continued to have a leading storyline throughout the first and second seasons of the show, with the story being led by her husband and son, Paul and Zach Young respectively.
Contents |
[edit] Season One
In the first scene of the pilot episode, Mary Alice introduces herself, then proceeds to go inside her house, reach for a gun, and shoot herself in the head.
After finding a blackmail note in Mary Alice's clothes, the leading women make a series of discoveries. She was being treated by Dr Goldfine; she once went by another name, Angela; and she may have had something to do with a baby that disappeared. Her son, Zach, begins to have flashbacks and is under the impression that he killed a baby named Dana, when he was younger. When Felicia Tilman comes to town and realizes she knew Mary Alice by her former identity, it's only a matter of time before the women learn just how much Mary Alice may have been hiding.
In the first season's finale, the mystery of Mary Alice's death is revealed. Years ago, Mary Alice (whose real name is Angela) couldn't conceive and bought a baby illegally from a heroin addict, Deirdre. She then moved to Wisteria Lane with her husband and the baby to start a new life. The Young family's beautiful, happy life on Wisteria Lane was nearly destroyed when the woman returned, seemingly sober, wanting her baby back. After a verbal fight, as Deirdre went to reclaim her baby, Mary Alice stabbed her and killed her, as the child, originally named Dana and renamed Zach, watched. Mary Alice and Paul chopped up the body and buried it under their pool. Zach's father turned out to be Mike Delfino. Years later, when Mrs Huber discovered Mary Alice's secret via her sister, Felicia, who worked with "Angela", she blackmailed Mary Alice. In desperation, Mary Alice committed suicide.
[edit] Season Two
Mary Alice was the first housewife to move to Wisteria Lane, fifteen years before the show's initial setting. In the second season finale, Mary Alice appeared in the episodes in various flash backs, describing her meeting with all the major housewives, the first character she met was Susan. Mary Alice rescued Susan after she locked herself in her moving van. The second character she encountered was Bree, who arrived at the Youngs house, with Andrew and Rex in tow, she was there to make Andrew apologize for stealing a garden ornamental frog. She met Lynette several years later, Lynette and Tom were arguing over how Lynette was pregnant with twins, and that it was completely okay for Lynette to punish Tom for neglecting to tell her that his family had eight sets of twins over three generations. Gabrielle was the final housewife to be greeted by the group, she was dressed in her underwear, after just having sex with Carlos, when Mary Alice, Susan, Lynette and Bree walked in.
[edit] Season Three
In Bang, episode 7 of the third season, Lynette Scavo has a series of dreams about the last time she talked to Mary Alice, which happened to be moments before she shot herself. Lynette tormented herself over not trying to save Mary Alice. After a hostage situation in which two people were killed and Lynette was injured, she had one final dream of Mary Alice. This time, however, Lynette tried to prevent something bad from happening by asking to help Mary Alice. To which Mary Alice replied that she couldn't, but she could do something. She could enjoy the lovely evening that was at hand. Mary Alice, as the narrator, says, "This was the last time Lynette would dream of me, and for her sake, I am grateful."
[edit] Season Four
Mary Alice was also seen in a flashback on the second episode of the fourth season called Smiles of a Summer Night in a flashback of Susan’s about the day on which Katherine Mayfair abrubtly left Wisteria Lane, former neighbor Mary Alice Young and Susan walk up to Katherine’s house questioning a younger looking Katherine as to why there is a moving van outside her house. Katherine tells them that she got a job in Chicago and she refuses to let Susan get Julie to say goodbye to Dylan. A crashing noise is heard upstairs and Katherine has been nervous and evasive. When Susan asks if everything is OK Katherine makes her excuses and tells them she is really going to miss them, shutting the door.
It was mentioned that Mary Alice held the position of President of Wisteria Lane's homeowners' association, a position actually left vacant for four years (after her death) until Katherine Mayfair returned and insisted a new one (herself) be elected.
Mary Alice makes her second and last onscreen fourth season appearance in the finale called Free in a flashback to the night before Katherine left Wisteria Lane. Whilst Katherine and Lillian had been out, Mary Alice had been babysitting Dylan and revealed that Katherine's ex-husband Wayne Davis had turned up and given Dylan a toy doll and a tri-cycle as gifts. Having no idea that Katherine had been running away from her abusive ex, Mary Alice apologizes for any wrong doing as Katherine rushes inside the house with her Aunt Lillian to check on Dylan.
[edit] Season Five
Mary Alice makes her first onscreen fifth season appearance in the 100th Episode of the series called The Best Thing That Ever Could Have Happened. She is introduced during Gabrielle's tale of her first time with the girls in a poker game. It is clear Gabrielle doesn't appear welcomed due to the amount of stares the girls give her. We see her again later when Gabrielle comes to apologize. Her final appearance in the episode revolves around her first time that she meets Eli Scruggs. She meets him his first time trying to find work and as a result gives him his first job. A few years later, the day of Mary Alice's death, Eli visits and sees how clearly distraught she is. She gives him a vase that he fixed when they first met, and then asks him to leave. She then tells the audience that following her death Eli promised to do everything he could to help people from then on.
[edit] Season Six
Marc Cherry stated in an episode of the online series Ask Desperate Housewives that the November sweeps episode of season six will jump back in time to when Mary Alice was alive, and she will physically appear in the whole episode. This follows the pattern of Desperate Housewives having a very special episode during November sweeps, Such as season three's "Bang", season four's "Something's Coming", and season five's "City on Fire". Obviously, those episodes involve a: hostage situation, tornado, and fire. The pattern of catastrophes will be broken by this episode. Following the Five Year Jump, Season 6 will be in 2014, this will be ten years since Mary Alice's suicide. However it now looks like the episode has been scrapped in favour of the upcoming plane crash, which obviously follows the pattern of calamity.
[edit] Other Appearances
During the first three seasons of the show, Mary Alice's voice has appeared as main narrator in every episode except two - Rex Van De Kamp (played by Steven Culp) narrated the sixteenth episode of season three, My Husband, the Pig and Edie Britt (played by Nicollette Sheridan) narrated the nineteenth episode of season five Look Into Their Eyes and You See What They Know.
In addition to this, she has appeared in person in ten episodes. Besides the pilot episode, where she commits suicide, she's appeared in flashbacks and dream sequences in episodes 1.03, 1.08, 1.16, 1.23, 2.16, 2.23, 3.07, 4.02, 4.17. and episode 5.13.
[edit] Family
[edit] Other Relatives
Husband: Paul Young (widower)
Son: Zach Young (adopted; with Paul) (Mike's son with Diedre)
