who was locked in the basement on desperate housewives
Betty Applewhite Even several seasons after Betty's departure, her mystery was a target of negative reviews and comparisons. In his review of the fourth season premiere, Matt Roush of TV Guide complimented the addition of Katherine Mayfair (Dana Delany), writing "while she's obviously harboring a dark secret, at least there's no one trapped in the basement."[11] While reviewing the third episode of the fifth season, Tanner Stransky of Entertainment Weekly hoped that, after finding the truth behind the mystery of Dave Williams (Neal McDonough), the audience would not feel "Applewhited", commenting that "After episodes of buildup and rattling chains coming from her basement, the story line was such a disappointment."[12] Four episodes into the sixth season, Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly declared that the mystery storyline of Angie Bolen (Drea de Matteo) was suffering from the lack of interaction between the character and the other leading women, similar to Betty's storyline in season two.[13] When Vanessa Williams was cast as Renee Perry, who became the second African-American housewife to be a major character on the series, she admitted to having been a fan of the series during its first year, but stopped watching because of the racially insensitive Applewhite mystery storyline. Williams explained to Entertainment Weekly, "[Betty] had her son in chains in the basement. It was like, 'Really? Do we have to go there with our first Black character?' I honestly fell off the show after that. I think it was just so implausible and just an image that Black folks don't want to see: their child chained and shackled in the basement."[14]
Jenny Schecter In December 2008 it was announced that the show's creators had decided to kill the character off. It was confirmed that Jenny would still appear throughout the season in a "flashback" format.[18] The first episode of the final season starts with Jenny's murder. However the final series focuses on the events leading up to her death. Chaiken revealed that each episode would focus and tease with another motive.[19] She described how it would play out, stating: "There's one character at the beginning of each show who comes forward with the motive of the moment. This would be my reason for killing Jenny." The storyline was described as a "sub-plot" which would define the final season, but not "overpower" it.[19] However, when the final episode aired there was no reveal to who killed Jenny. Showtime released a mini-series titled "Interrogation Tapes" online, via the official website. Each video featured a fellow character being interviewed over the death of Jenny - although the killer was still not revealed.[20] Kate Aurthur of Los Angeles Times questioned if viewers would still want to watch the season after Jenny is killed.[17] New York later gave a large amount of praise to Jenny commenting: "Jenny Schecter is The L Word, and the death of her is the death of the show."[9] Diane Shipley of The Guardian stated her death was long overdue.[10] Websites started selling "I killed Jenny Schecter" merchandise.[21] Lydia Martin of The Miami Herald said Chaiken was being manipulative not revealing Jenny's killer, so viewers would watch their online series. She also wanted to know "who the fuck" killed her because it did not give a "decent" ending to the show.[22] Heather Hogan of AfterEllen stated that Jenny's ending was a dis-service to the character having never found out who killed her.[14]