Top 10 Most Touching The Golden Girls Moments
It is a truth universally acknowledged that The Golden Girls is one of the greatest shows in the history of television. Okay, I am not an expert, always having been more of a movie than a TV show kind of person, and not being all too familiar with the newfound quality apparently present in modern series. However, there is no doubt that the stories revolving around Blanche, Dorothy, Sophia, and Rose are among the most entertaining things I have seen. Whenever bizarre tales of St. Olaf or Sicily are told while a cheesecake is eaten late at night, you know your time is well spent.Since I bought the complete collection some years ago, I have kept binge-watching the series again and again, and let me tell you, it never wears off.
However, the series is not just funny. It is also very well-written in its storytelling. The chemistry between the characters and the side stories, such as the complicated relationship between Dorothy and her ex-husband Stan, are handled with great care. At times, the show also touches on serious social issues that other series of this era didn't address. Euthanasia, homosexuality, HIV, artificial insemination, interracial marriage, migration, age differences in relationships, and homelessness are just some of the many topics explored. Some of these issues are handled with humor, but the series knows when the tone needs to be darker.
It also has many moments that are emotionally intense and even sad. Sometimes these intertwine with the social issues, and sometimes they are used to add depth to a character's backstory. This list is meant to honor the scenes that touched us the most. A "moment" can range from a one-minute sequence to the content of a full episode.
This list contains heavy SPOILERS from individual episodes.
Episode: A Piece of Cake
In a flashback scene, we see Rose celebrating her birthday in St. Olaf alone after her husband Charlie's death. It's when she decides to move to Miami, where she would meet the other women. During the entire sequence, Rose pretends that Charlie sits next to her and talks to him about her plans.
What makes this scene so moving is how it is clearly not set up to be saddening, but in fact, has a positive tone of moving on and leaving the past behind, while obviously having a feeling of emptiness.
Episode: Mother's Day
In a flashback scene, Rose has to wait at a train station for a train to take her to St. Olaf for Mother's Day. Since the train won't arrive for another hour, she starts talking to an elderly woman waiting for the train to take her to her daughter.
Although at first annoyed by Rose's St. Olaf stories, the woman quickly finds amusement in the bizarre tales, and the two have a lively talk. The woman tells Rose that her daughter is actually dead and that she wants to visit her grave on Mother's Day, which has been a special day for the two of them. To make it in time, she ran away from her retirement home. When a police officer discovers her and wants to take her back to the home, Rose pretends the woman is her own mother, helping her to get on the train in time.
Episode: Brother, Can You Spare That Jacket?
In the episode, Sophia accidentally gives a jacket that contains a winning lottery ticket worth $10,000 to Goodwill. The Golden Girls chase after the ticket, and after a series of unfortunate but extremely funny events, they track down the jacket to a homeless shelter. They sneak in, posing as homeless women themselves.
In the shelter, they talk to the people there. Sophia and Dorothy meet an old woman who was a friend of Sophia's back in Shady Pines and has no money to pay for a home. Blanche talks to a young man who initially poses as an undercover student working on a thesis but turns out to be an alcoholic due to nobody wanting to give him a job. Rose talks to a man about her age who couldn't find a job after being fired for being too old.
The next morning, after seeing how much worse the other people's circumstances are, they decide to give the lottery ticket to the shelter. This is probably the most political, critical, and overall serious episode, as it not only contains individual sad scenes but is very depressing in its entire second half without humor to lighten up the situation. It's also the best-written episode.
Episode: And Then There Was One
The episode is thoroughly comical, with the Golden Girls babysitting the children of marathon participants (in which Sophia participates as well). However, when all the other kids are picked up, one baby is left with them, leading them to assume it was abandoned.
The episode focuses on the Golden Girls' humorous attempts at caring for the baby, as well as Sophia's exaggerations of her marathon success. The baby makes Blanche reflect on her relationship with her own children, so much that at the end of the episode, she decides to call her daughter Janet, with whom she had a troubled relationship, to make up.
At the beginning, it feels as if it's too late: Janet doesn't seem interested in meeting her mother. However, after Blanche states how important it is, she convinces her. This is one of the best-acted moments of the show.
Episode: Old Friends
In the episode, Sophia befriends an elderly man named Alvin, whom she meets in the park. He is just as big-mouthed as she is. However, as they meet daily, she begins to realize he behaves strangely and doesn't quite follow their talks. In the end, it turns out that Alvin suffers from Alzheimer's and that he'll soon be sent to a home and won't be able to meet Sophia again, which happens at the end of the episode.
Episode: Room Seven
Throughout the entire episode, Blanche desperately tries to prevent her grandmother's house from being demolished, even going so far as to handcuff herself to it so no one can destroy it. This is touching because everyone with a sense of childhood memories will remember their own and sympathize with Blanche, who even states she has heard her grandmother's voice in the house.
In the end, she can't prevent the inevitable but at least symbolically keeps wind chimes from the house.
Episode: Ebb Tide
Big Daddy is not exactly a memorable character in the show, but the entire situation around his death makes it so hard to handle. Blanche receives a call from him, and he asks her to visit him, which she refuses as she takes part in a pageant the same day. Shortly afterward, she receives a call that he died.
At first, she reacts with denial before feeling horribly guilty for not having been there. Her sisters also criticize her decision, worsening her feelings and leading to her not taking part in the funeral. She later visits his grave, talking to him and apologizing.
Episode: Not Another Monday
Martha, an elderly friend of Sophia, suddenly behaves very happily and seems to enjoy life more than before. Later, Martha tells Sophia why: she plans on ending her life on her own terms so she doesn't have to suffer the pains that come with aging, and asks Sophia to stay with her during her suicide. In the end, Sophia convinces her to stay alive.
Episode: Mother's Day
In a flashback scene, Blanche visits her mother in her retirement home on Mother's Day. Her mother is very confused, probably suffering from Alzheimer's. Blanche tries to make her relive a memory by telling a story from her youth set on Mother's Day, when Blanche was about to marry a man just to upset her mother. Her mother acted as if she was okay with the wedding, which made Blanche lose interest in the man and come back home to her parents.
It seems as if her mother doesn't remember the story, having a puzzled look on her face and confusing Blanche for her sister Virginia. However, in the end, it is revealed why she looked so puzzled: she corrects Blanche that this story didn't happen on Mother's Day, but Christmas, revealing she remembers it in every detail.
Episode: One Flew Out of the Cuckoo's Nest, Part 2
In the final episode of the show, Dorothy leaves the house to marry Blanche's uncle. Enough said. A series finale is always sad for being the end of an era, but it's even sadder when the characters themselves know and acknowledge it's the end of an era, which is the case here.
Episode: Ebbtide's Revenge
Throughout much of the series, we hear stories about Sophia's son/Dorothy's brother Phil, who is a heterosexual crossdresser. Whenever he's mentioned, it's for comic purposes, and everyone seems to accept his lifestyle. In Season 6, he dies and is buried in women's clothes. Sophia, who seems fairly calm about his death, is angry at his widow for an unknown reason. In the end, it turns out that she hated her because she didn't try to change Phil's crossdressing behavior and even liked it.
Sophia has been feeling extremely guilty for years, not knowing what she had done to make Phil who he was. However, his widow responds, "What he was is a good person." Sophia ends up in tears.
NOTE: Sophia has been the most progressive of all the Golden Girls when it comes to LGBTQ issues. She stood up for Blanche's gay brother when he wanted to marry and declared she'd love her children just the same if they were gay. It's interesting how she reacts when it comes to crossdressing. It's a well-known conflict that even for the most liberal people, it can be difficult if their own children are involved.