Mary Alice Young

Mary Alice Young (formerly Angela Forrest) is the omniscient narrator of Desperate Housewives, as well as one of its titular characters and occasional protagonists. A warm, seemingly happy suburban housewife, Mary Alice broke the thin layer of perfection covering Wisteria Lane the day she put a gun to her head and shot herself. From then on, and from her elevated state of point of view, Mary Alice has been waxing poetic on the not-so-perfect lives of all of her friends, neighbors and family members, as well as other residents of Wisteria Lane. No one there is safe from Mary Alice's insightful observations and intimate knowledge.

Mary Alice's sudden death inspires her circle of best friends to try and figure out the secrets she was keeping that constituted reasons for her suicide, which triggered the events of the series. Meanwhile, Mary Alice serves as the narrator and commenter for their lives, sharing with us all the juicy tidbits. Some secrets need to be told, and nobody dishes the dirt in a more comforting, neighborly way than Mary Alice Young.