Betty Applewhite Desperate Housewives Marc Cherry Alfre Woodard ((hot)) -

Betty wasn't a victim. She wasn't a sassy sidekick. She was a matriarch on a lonely, horrifying mission: keeping her mentally ill son Caleb (who she believed had murdered a woman) locked away to protect society. It was a dark, morally grey premise. Too dark, perhaps, for a show famous for Susan Mayer’s slapstick falls.

Moving from Chicago in the middle of the night, Betty Applewhite was a gifted concert pianist and a deeply religious single mother to two sons, (Mehcad Brooks) and Caleb . The Season 2 mystery centered on a man kept in chains in the Applewhites' basement—later revealed to be Caleb, who has a developmental disability. Betty wasn't a victim

Marc Cherry had written a mystery that was arguably too dark for the show’s satirical roots. The revelation regarding the basement—her son Caleb, a man with intellectual disabilities who had accidentally killed a girl—was a tragedy that lacked the show’s usual wit. Woodard was acting in a gritty drama about race, class, and mental health, while the show around her remained a bright, farcical satire. It was a dark, morally grey premise

The success of this storyline hinged almost entirely on Alfre Woodard. Cherry hired a dramatic powerhouse, a woman capable of conveying entire novels of history with a single downturned glance. Woodard did not play Betty Applewhite as a campy villainess in the vein of a soap opera diva. She played her as a woman enduring a slow-burning nervous breakdown. The Season 2 mystery centered on a man

Betty is introduced as a deeply religious and disciplined who moves into the old Young house under the cover of night. Her storyline is defined by the secret she hides in her basement: her son, Caleb, whom she is shielding from a crime she believes he committed [2, 3]. Unlike the more satirical or soap-operatic mysteries of other seasons, the Applewhite arc was noted for its darker, gothic tone [1, 4]. Alfre Woodard’s Performance