According to Cherry, casting the role of Karl was difficult because he "wanted a guy that was nice looking and seemed like he would have been married to Teri, but was also someone you wouldn't like."[2] The character was portrayed by another actor in a series of non-speaking flashbacks in the pilot episode, but the role was recast once the direction of the character changed.[2] After making some guest appearances during the first season, Burgi joined the regular cast in the second season. However, he returned to his guest starring status from the third season until his character's death halfway through the sixth season. Burgi returned for the series finale, appearing as his character's ghost among other deceased characters.
Storylines
Past
Karl was born in 1963. He is a lawyer by profession, in 1989 he married Susan Bremmer and a year later their daughter, Julie, was born. In 1992, he moved with his wife and daughter to Fairview, 4353 Wisteria Lane.[3] Eleven years later, Karl cheated on Susan with Edie Britt[4] and his secretary Brandi.[5] After discovering his affair with Brandi, his wife filed for divorce with the court and kicked him out of the house, changing the locks.[6]
Karl poses with his ex-wife Susan and his daughter Julie while having a picnic in a park.
Season 1
Karl, divorced from Susan and in a relationship with Brandi, has a tremulous relationship with Susan as they co-parent Julie. When Brandi cheats on him, he goes to Susan to ask for a second chance, but she declines because of her commitment to Mike Delfino.[7]
Later, he begins a relationship with Edie Britt.
Season 2
Susan discovers that Karl is now living with Edie.[8] However, he continues trying to get back with Susan, as he is still in love with her.[9] Eventually he lies to Susan, claiming him and Edie are broken up, and they sleep together.
Later in the season, when Susan finds out she needs to have a surgical operation to correct a wandering spleen, Karl offers to marry Susan so that she can use his health insurance to pay for it, but they plan to divorce soon after Susan's surgery.[10] Karl becomes jealous of Susan and Dr. Ron McCready's relationship and sabotages it.
Later on, Karl asks Edie to marry him; however, when Edie learns of his sham marriage with Susan, she demands that Karl throws her a lavish wedding.[11] However, when she discovers they had also slept together, Edie burns Susan's house down, prompting Karl to buy her a new one. Karl eventually leaves Edie before the marriage.[12]
Season 3
Karl appears only in the episode "Children and Art" to play the "bad cop" for Julie and Austin McCann, who have started dating. This backfires when he gets mad at Susan for dating Ian Hainsworth, a married English man whose wife is in a coma.
Season 4
Karl chances upon Susan at a Lamaze class he is attending, along with his pregnant new wife, Marissa (played by Sunny Mabrey). Karl constantly teases Susan about how things are going for him, including Marissa being an author and a law student and him becoming partner of his firm. Later, Susan confronts Karl and he tells her that Mike is a good guy, and he'd be better for her then he ever would.
Season 5
After the five-year time jump, Karl has enrolled his son Evan in Susan's art class, where she learns Marissa has left Karl because she could not handle being a mother, leaving him to raise Evan by himself. The experience has led Karl to come to understanding the ramifications of his infidelities during his marriage to Susan. Susan sympathizes with him,.[13]
Bree later hires Karl as her divorce lawyer, and he helps her stage a fake burglary of her house to hide assets that she does not want Orson to have access to.[14] When Orson finds out about the scheme and blackmails Bree into staying in the marriage, Karl and Bree begin an affair.
Season 6
Karl and Bree continue their affair during the first part of the sixth season. Karl decides to propose to Bree during the annual Christmas party using an engine plane with a banner reading "Will you marry me, Bree? Love, Karl" flying over Wisteria Lane. At the party, Karl and Orson fight inside Santa's Workshop, until the pilot of the plane Karl hired suffers a fatal heart attack at the controls. The plane subsequently crash-lands into the party, smashing straight into the workshop, killing Karl.[15] In the following episode, Susan and Bree both wonders what life would have been like if they had continued relationships with Karl.[16] In his will, Karl leaves Susan his partial ownership of a local strip club.
Season 8
Karl appears in the series finale, "Finishing the Hat", as one of the ghosts that watch Susan and her family leave Wisteria Lane.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
