Released over 20 years ago and taking place on Wisteria Lane,Desperate Housewivesfollows a group of housewives through their romantic ups-and-downs, career changes, health scares, and other dramatic moments. Sometimes a soap opera, sometimes a sitcom, each episode left viewers desperate for more. But whatever desperation these viewers felt, it was nothing compared to the characters' own.
Desperate Housewives
To celebratethe upcomingDesperate HousewivesrebootWisteria Lane, we’ve ranked the main housewives based on how central desperation was to their character. This includes how it drove their decisions, relationships, and sometimes, even their downfall.
Bree (portrayed by Marcia Cross) starts off the series as one of the most desperate housewives. Specifically, she’s desperate for her family to fit her idea of “perfection,” a goal that’s impossible given her daughter’s rebelliousness, her son’s sexuality, and numerous marital issues with her husband. However, as the series progresses, Bree evolves as a character, coming to accept her children and finding independence outside romantic relationships. She evenopens her own businessand begins a career in politics.
An Imperfect Ending
Toward the end of the series, Bree’s desperation reaches new heights, but this is due to several unique factors. Her friends blame her for a murder cover-up gone wrong, and she later nearly takes the fall for said murder. In response, she falls into alcoholism, promiscuity, and almost kills herself, all acts which stem from desperation. However, it feels unfair to rank her high on this list for these acts, as her desperation was directly related to her intense circumstances, as opposed to something core to her character and personality, as before.
Lynette’s (Felicity Huffman) journey throughout the series was an attempt to find balance, support, and empowerment. She was desperate for help at home, since she wanted to pursue her career, but once she had that career, she was desperate to return to her children. Compared to the other women on this list, Lynette’s struggles primarily stemmed from conflicting wants. However, there were also external forces fueling her later desperation.
A Reasonable Response
Lynette’sstruggle with cancerwas a huge source of stress for her and her family. At the same time, in many ways, it brought her closer to Tom, with whom she had previously been fighting over alleged infidelity. Similarly, Leanne’s issues with Tom’s daughter, Kayla, led her to take drastic, desperate action. However, like with Bree, we don’t consider these moments of desperation to be core to her character, but rather, reasonable responses to distressing situations.
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On the surface, it appears as if Gabby’s (Eva Longoria) initial desperation was largely rooted in wanting attention. She missed the modeling days of her youth, as well as her husband’s presence, which led her to pursue an affair with her much younger gardener. Over time, it became apparent that what Gabby really wanted wasn’t money, nice things, or even to be the center of everyone’s focus. Rather, what she wanted, what she needed, what she was desperate for was security: financial, romantic, etc.
A Traumatic Past
Gabby was tested multiple times throughout the series, such as when Carlos went blind and when she found out that her daughter, Juanita,wasn’t biologically hers. While she didn’t always handle these situations with grace, she proved that she was stronger and more resilient than her materialistic facade might suggest. At the same time, her previous trauma from her stepfather followed her wherever she went, leading her to feel desperate for the safety, status, and security that had been denied to her during childhood.
4Katherine
Katherine (Dana Delany) had previously lived on Wisteria Lane only to move under confusing, clouded circumstances. When she returned, previous neighbors Susan and Julie felt that something was off, and the closer Julie got to Katherine’s daughter, Dylan, the more certain she became. It was eventually revealed that Katherine had tried to escape her abusive ex-husband, only for her biological daughter todie in a tragic accident, at which point she adopted another daughter (current-Dylan). While this series of events might seem over-the-top and especially desperate, it contributed to Katherine reaching her lowest point, after which her true personality finally started to come to light.
An Incomplete Arc
As viewers learned more about Katherine, it became apparent that her desperation was rooted in a desire for family and normalcy. This was further seen when she became obsessed with Mike to the point that, after the two broke up, she tried on Susan’s wedding dress, told Susan to apologize to her in her vows, and later had a full-on breakdown where she falsely accused Mike of stabbing her. After being institutionalized, she begins dating a woman, Robin, and eventually moves to Paris with her. Toward the end of the series, the two have broken up, and she comes back to Fairview with a job offer for Lynette. Unfortunately, this ending was far from satisfactory, and while Katherine didn’t end the series in desperation, she did end it with an incomplete arc.
Susan (portrayed by Teri Hatcher) was by far the most emotional of the housewives, and her quest to find “the one” was central to her character arc, as well as her personality. After her husband, Karl, divorced her, Susan spiraled, which led to her daughter, Julie, taking on a more maternal role. Later, Susan would get engaged, married, and divorced several more times, seemingly jumping into these decisions based on an all-consuming need to feel loved. In this sense, she certainly seemed desperate for a romantic relationship, something which has landed herpretty low in popularity polls.
An Unromantic Outcome
Of course, Susan’s arc wasn’t solely about romance, but it did tie into most of the events concerning her. For instance, when she accidentally burns down Edie’s house, it’s a direct result of her trying to see if Mike is sleeping with Edie. Of course, some other traits can be tied to Susan, such as artist, or mom, or even klutz. However, at the core of this character is a desperation for romantic love, one which, sadly, was extinguished in the show’s final episode.
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2Mary Alice
Mary Alice Young (Brenda Strong), originally Angela Forrest, became the central mystery of Season 1 after shooting herself in the head. Throughout the season, viewers would learn that this act was done tocover up a horrific secret. Years earlier, Mary Alice had been given her son, Zach (then Dana), by his biological mother, Deirdre, who was suffering from substance abuse. After Deirdre went clean, she wanted Dana back, and she fought Mary Alice and her husband to get him. In the end, Mary Alice killed Deirdre to protect her family—or at least, she tried, but sadly, her desperate, final act couldn’t hide her secret forever.
A Deadly Secret
In some ways, it’s hard to rank Mary Alice on this list. Her story ended before the series really took off, and most of what viewers know about her stems from her suicide and the reasons behind it. However, it seems fair to say that Mary Alice’s desperation for a child later morphed into a desperation to hide her secret, putting her in a similar place as Katherine. The difference is that Mary Alice staked her life on hiding her secret, whereas Katherine’s secret was revealed sooner, and she survived.
Edie (played by Nicollette Sheridan) is the type of character who would have hated if anyone called her desperate. She was confident and knew what she wanted—on the surface, that is. In truth, she was desperately lonely, leaping from fling to fling because she couldn’t havewhat she really wanted: friendship. Sadly, the other women often treated her like a pariah, declining to help her spread the ashes of Martha (seemingly, her closest friend), calling her names, and more generally acting like they didn’t care about her. In turn, Edie pretended that she didn’t care, either, but several moments throughout the show made it clear that Edie did care, deeply.
A Momentary Bond
When Edie dies, she celebrates the moment, saying she’s dying the way she lived: as the center of attention. But we have to wonder whether she was really smiling due to the attention or due to the fact that, finally, the other women seemed to care about her. Sure, we could just assume that she was one-dimensional and simply wanted to be noticed—but being noticed isn’t so different from being seen, and in the end, we believe that’s what Edie was truly desperate for.
