Connie Britton’s ‘Real Housewives’-Inspired ‘Dear Edward’ Performance Brilliantly Balances Grief, Rage, and Humor

Dear Edward’s sixth episode opens with Connie Britton’s character Dee Dee sitting at her dining room table staring at a mess of financial papers. After taking a few sips of tea, she stands up and grabs a hammer from the chair beside her, walks over to her pristine dining room wall, and smashes several holes in it while howling, “MOTHERFUCKER! AHHHHHH!!!!!!” When she calmly sets the hammer down and leaves the room, the camera pans to reveal two more panels of Swiss cheese-looking drywall; a perfect symbol of Dee Dee’s big personality, pendulum of emotions, and unique grieving process — all of which Britton brilliantly embodies throughout the series.

For Jason Katims’ new Apple TV+ drama — based on Ann Napolitano’s 2020 novel of the same name — the Friday Night Lights creator tapped Britton to portray a wealthy housewife and mother so unlike the down-to-earth, even-keeled Tami Taylor she’s best known for. When Dee Dee’s husband Charles (Ted Koch) dies in a plane crash that claimed the lives of everyone onboard except an 11-year-old boy named Edward (Colin O’Brien), she’s left to mourn his loss while processing the double life (and massive amounts of debt) he left behind.

In an interview with The New York Times, Britton revealed that she prepped for the role by watching — wait for it — The Real Housewives of New Jersey. “It was really fun for me to be like, OK, I want to get in underneath that,” Britton explained. “Where did this worldview come from, this perspective, this sense of entitlement almost? And what happens when you start to dismantle that? What do you have left?” It’s evident that the self-assigned homework helped her craft a complex character who’s both privileged yet personable; a lost woman who’s letting grief guide her through an unexpected metamorphosis.

When Dee Dee first learns about the crash, she stands frozen in the middle of Grand Central Terminal fresh off a birthday celebration complete with caviar, foie gras, a bottle of Cristal, and a shopping spree at Valentino. In the episodes that follow, she attempts to shed her materialistic predisposition while desperately trying to maintain the composure she had before the plane — and her world — came crashing down. She struggles to see her late husband through the same lens after learning he lost his job more than a year earlier, drained their savings and retirement funds, and cheated on her with a man in LA. She has trouble getting through to her distraught daughter who wants to drop out of college and travel the world. And — as we know from the destroyed drywall — she’s completely overwhelmed with her family’s financials. A swirl of conflicting emotions, coupled with the weight of newfound realizations and responsibilities, are perfectly realized through Britton’s heartbreaking, relatable, at times comical performance.

Though she buys expensive cupcakes for her grief group and models an assortment of coats so stunning they’d make Nicole Kidman’s character in The Undoing salivate, there are several moments throughout the series when Dee Dee breaks down and succumbs to pure fiery rage. Whether she’s telling a stranger to “fucking shove your kombucha up your ass” or screaming “YOU CANT TALK TO HIM BECAUSE HE’S DEAD!” into the phone receiver at her wireless internet provider, Dee Dee owns the type of unfiltered tantrums we’ve all longed to unleash at some point. The scene where she learns her husband has a secret LA apartment, heads to the fridge, and breaks into a locked storage container of cupcakes to tearfully devour them with her hands is one of the greatest treats of 2023 TV so far. But there’s much more to her character than amusing outbursts.

Britton finds humor amidst Dee Dee’s grief, but she also allows her to mourn the man she’s been with since she was a 17-year-old working at IHOP. We see how profoundly his loss impacts her when she breaks down over the missing linden tree at his grave or finally opens up to her grief group in a poignant — masterfully delivered — monologue that ends with, “The grief. And the humiliation. And THE RAGE. IT’S TOO MUCH. IT’S TOO FUCKING MUCH! I lost my husband. I lost my best friend. I’m still in love with him. But I feel like he stole my life away.”

Throughout Dee Dee’s ever-changing highs and lows, she never loses her ability to make space for and empathize with others. She’s the first to give a hug at grief group, she consistently goes out of her way to support Linda (Amy Forsyth) during her pregnancy, and she does her best to shield her daughter from knowing an altered version of her father. Dee Dee’s grief has yet to harden her to the point of turning on other in need, thanks in large part to Britton’s ability to balance a spirited, unraveling widow with ample layers and a whole lot of heart. Six episodes in, the actor and her character remain incredible bright spots in a fairly dark series.

The first six episode of Dear Edward are now streaming on Apple TV+. New episodes premiere weekly on Fridays.