Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Art Imitates Life

I love all the Desperate Housewives, but my favorite has always been Bree.

Bree is very much a modern day Mary Bailey. She’s perfect in every way. Her house is always perfect, her meals are always perfect, her appearance is always perfect. When someone in her family has a crisis, Bree does whatever it takes to “fix” the problem. Of course Bree’s family crises are usually much more scandalous than Mary Bailey’s, but hey…it’s 2009.

Like all the characters on the show, Bree has had her share of drama, dysfunction, and even addiction. That, mixed with her strong need to be perfect makes for a delicious recipe of controlling, codependent behavior.

So how funny it was on Sunday night’s episode when Bree’s husband Orson explains his kleptomania to his therapist. For the past few episodes, Orson has been taking little odds and ends things from people’s homes. Bree found out about it and was livid. Of course she felt it was her responsibility to fix the problem by returning all of the stolen items to the proper owners. She then advised Orson this behavior must cease. Of course he agreed it would. Well, it didn’t. Orson got caught stealing something else from a neighbor so Bree carted him off to see a therapist.

When the session opened, Bree would not let Orson say a word to the therapist. She spoke for him every time, answering all questions. She then exited the session, instructing the therapist to “just fix him”!!!

After she left the room the therapist asked Orson why he was stealing. His response? (I said the first part out loud at the exact same time as Orson), “Because it’s the one thing she can’t control…and I LOVE it.”

Isn't it great when art imitates life?

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