(This review is written spontaneously without referring to Marcia’s other acting credit. It is based solely on her performance in desperate housewives and those scenes that I can recall. This is general and there might be additional reviews to come.)
Marcia Gross. Her red hair perfectly matched by her bright green eyes. Her facial expressions show a mixture of kindness and mischief, which make her more mysterious and an ideal candidate to play the role of Bree van de Kamp in desperate housewives. I think she has the stereotypic look as a perfect housewife (three cheers to the one who cast her) that increases the reality of the show, and her portrayal also makes her the most lovable character not only in desperate housewives, but a character among all that had ever been created.
Words do not have to be written here to prove, and people are well aware that, Marcia is a great, excellent actress. Honestly, her acting skills are beyond description (which I’ll still try my best to do that, mark my irony). I guess she chooses a simple, gentle but effective approach to convey the message of each scene, to tell the story of Bree and best of all, to be able to grasp audiences’ sympathy and emotions together with her throughout the whole journey – that ability of her is priceless, and us subconsciously to let our feelings be dragged along her family drama is even more priceless.
Ever from the beginning, we have been exposed to all the crazy things she does – the words she says, the way she behaves, and (according to Rex) the bizarre way her hair doesn’t move. The tough look she gives to her friends, giving her the impression that there’s nothing she can’t handle, but ironically, the slightest change in her life can make her lose them all. To be able to act like that must be difficult, but with Marcia and her acting talents, she just makes them all seemed so easy.
Let me recall some of the classic, or I would rather say, my favorite scenes. First, when she tried to seduce Rex in the motel, is just something we do not expect Bree would do (thumbs - up for the one who thinks of this great idea). She is truly, smashingly sexy and attractive in that scene, plus her fur coat and fiery, red lingerie, WOW! When she went to visit Maisy Gibbons to get her to erase Rex’s name from the ‘little black book’, and she was refused, that little action she did with her lips… adorable! When she got drunk in the department store, and her sponsor said he liked her just fine, she said, ‘because I don’t.’ That scene truly captures the hearts of all. However, nothing beats the scene from where she told Rex that the best is yet to come, all the way till the part where she was cleaning the silverware when she received the call from the hospital on Rex’s death. Only with her acting skills, Marcia is able to move us to tears by finished cleaning the wedding silver before breaking down, which I’m quite amazed she doesn’t win any awards based on her performance. Maybe in the 2nd year people will find the beauty in her acting and award her what she deserves.
I guess with such a powerful performance, we can only have one problem: what happens if she had already given her best, the maximum of her abilities? If she doesn’t perform better than, or even as good as how she is now, will the show go downside fast? Let us all hope, and pray that it will never happen, that we’ll have more to expect from her, and she will continue to shock and surprise us with her flexible skills. And with a star as talented as she is, I guess we’ll all be saved.
