Hey everyone, PushingUpRoses here and today I’m diving into another crazy episode of
The Golden Girls.
One of the things I like about this show is even though it centers around the lives of
four older women, they don’t always write stories about their age.
Getting older is definitely a theme you see pop up pretty often, and I like how the show
tackles the stigma of aging as a single woman, having the characters deal with the inevitable
physical changes they go through, and giving them all individual relationship dynamics
with family and romantic partners.
It’s commonly unabashed, clever, and touching.
However, not every episode has to make a grand statement; there are so many episodes where
age doesn’t even play a role - it just shows the woman in comedic situations like every
other sitcom, and I love that it does.
You don’t stop having fun at a certain age, you don’t lose your personality or sense
of humor, and The Golden Girls showed that by getting the characters into some wacky
situations.
Some of them are just so bizarre and unique that I have to talk about it, which brings
us to “Till Death Do We Volley”, episode 19 of season four.
I’ve seen this one a few times, because I’ve seen every episode a few times at this
point, and I never really realized how savage it got until I saw someone tweeting about
it recently.
The characters are actually known for being quite brutal, in fact you can find several
videos on YouTube about their most savage moments, but this one went up to 11 for me.
It also has some of the most killer jokes - it’s rare I dislike an episode of the
Golden Girls but this one is truly top tier comedy.
This is a Dorothy episode, the main plot revolves around her.
With most half hour sitcoms, you usually see two plots; one main, and a goofier, secondary
story, but The Golden Girls doesn’t tend to have a lot of extra storyline padding,
it does tend to give the most attention to one idea, and I like that because I want to
get the most out of those 23 minutes.
Dorothy, who is my favorite character due to her epic wit and cutting facial expressions,
is excited for her high school reunion because her best friend from that time will be in
town.
Her name is Trudy McMan, and though Dorothy is expressing what seems to be genuine enthusiasm,
Sofia is skeptical about her motivations.
Trudy played what Dorothy calls a practical joke on her that involved the Tennis team
wearing their uniforms to their high school prom, but Dorothy was the only one that showed
up in her whites.
Blanche: “Your date must have been horrified.”
Sofia: “No her brother was a good sport about it.”
As a side note, this is one of the many continuity issues in the series - in other episodes Dorothy
goes to prom with Stanley, and that is when she gets pregnant with her son Michael.
Though even that story has a lot of continuity problems - I’m just VERY invested in this
show and note every minor detail.
Dorothy says that her and Trudy had a “healthy rivalry”, and that playing pranks on each
other was just a part of their friendship.
This causes Rose to go on a comical tangent about her being the butt of the joke.
Actually, it ran in her family.
Rose: “In our breakfast room, we had one whole wall covered with kick me signs we had
collected.”
...Ah huh.
Dorothy rushes out for Tennis lessons - she is eager to have a quiet game with Trudy.
You know, a nice quiet game where she squashes her opponent.
Dorothy: “I’m gonna mop the floor with her.”
Dorothy and I share similar competitive natures.
Don’t ever challenge me to a game of Scattergories, it gets intense.
I mean, unless you do wanna challenge me so you can experience an excruciating loss.
What in the WORLD do they have Bea Arthur wearing in this episode.
I swear, the stylists gave her the strangest outfits.
It’s sophisticated and ugly at the same time - how is that even a thing?
Blanche and Rose are getting appetizers ready as Trudy shows up.
What the hell is SHE wearing??
Why does she look like a Stewardess?!?
The shade starts before she even gets through the door.
Trudy: “Boy you look… it’s been so long.”
Dorothy: “You haven’t lost your sense of humor.
Or those pesky ten pounds.”
My my, the library is open.
I mean, this gets brutal.
I was really shocked when I saw this in my younger years - I used to watch back to back
reruns with my mom, and my young brain thought “grandmas” were supposed to be nice to
each.
You know, they make cookies and knit.
But this show portrays older women as actual people with personalities and interests other
than bingo and rocking chairs.
Anyone else notice that these earrings look like those chocolate coins?
Mmm.
They get to reminiscing and Rose quips about her high school days.
Rose: “I was president of the bull castration club.”
I…
I ...I got nothin, I got no comment on this.
As Dorothy and Trudy head to the kitchen to get the appetizer and drinks, Blanche expresses
confusion about their friendship.
She notices they are taking longer than they should in the kitchen, and the three ladies
all go to check on them.
They find them arm wrestling.
Trudy wins, and Dorothy suggests they play a real game that requires skill… like King’s
Quest III.
Or Tennis.
They chose Tennis.
Trudy is WRECKING Dorothy, while the other girls look on relatively unimpressed.
After a quick break, Trudy trips on the court and doesn’t get up.
Sophia claims she is dead, and the girls rush over.
Dorothy is beside herself with grief and guilt, and the girls try to comfort her.
Rose works at a grief center and is pretty good with her advice.
Blanche tries to lighten the mood with a salacious story, because that’s what Blanche does.
Rose says that the reunion party will take her mind off things and I am just like…
what?
The reunion is at their HOUSE?
Why??
Actually this is very common in this show; the ladies of the house were ALWAYS hosting
parties and events, though you’d think a high school reunion would be at a high school.
Or a restaurant.
Maybe this is for a select group of friends.
The party seems to be going well, except that Dorothy hasn’t been seen for the last two
hours and the attendees are also looking for Trudy.
Sofia volunteers to talk to her Daughter, trying to urge her to get her crap together
in not so many words, and get out of her room to host the party.
I see we’ve upgraded from elegant work out clothes to wearable couch upholstery.
Right, so Trudy is dead, Dorothy feels responsible, and now she’s going to have to announce
her untimely demise.
Now, Is there something you’d like to share with the class?
Dorothy: “Something tragic happened this morning, oh Ma I need your help!” Sophia:
“Sure sweetheart.
TRUDY’S DEAD.”
She’s blunt but she isn’t wrong.
Dorothy’s tearful, guilt ridden admission is really striking to me; Bea Arthur was such
a fantastic actress; even when she is acting sad, feigning tears and spewing words of grief,
she manages to sneak some humor into her tone and delivery.
Dorothy: “We should just take down that banner and put up one that says “Welcome
to the Dorothy killed Trudy party!!”
After Dorothy storms off, the doorbell rings, and it’s Trudy, who did NOT die.
This begs so many questions.
How does one fake their death in front of four other women?
Was the ambulance called?
Did the ladies see Trudy’s body being taken away?
Did they not take her pulse?
What is going on here, how do you fake your own death?
Asking for a friend.
So everyone is justifiably pissed, despite Trudy insisting it was just a practical joke
and meant no harm.
This is where it gets really bonkers, though.
I just… need to you think about what is about to go down in this episode.
Really consider how ridiculous it is.
Okay, deep breath.
The ladies convince Trudy to go apologize to Dorothy right away and they approach her
room.
Dorothy keeps telling them to go away, but Trudy is confident she can cheer her up, so
she just heads right on in.
Everyone is overcome with shock as Dorothy is seen under the covers with Trudy’s husband!
Sexual Healin’ INDEED.
Trudy is taken aback, furious at her husband.
I like Blanche’s expression the best though, she’s just thinking “Ohhh shit that is
good.”
After some back and forth, Dorothy and Trudy’s husband fling the comforter away, revealing
their fully clothed beings.
Dorothy: “Gotcha!”
Dorothy somehow figured Trudy was playing a prank, so she got her husband to leak the
details and they worked on this “joke” together as the ultimate act of revenge.
To everyone’s surprise, Trudy is impressed with Dorothy and they hug it out.
What a weird friendship.
Blanche, however, is pissed.
She tells Dorothy she’s gone too far and that her and Rose will never speak to her
again.
She storms off briefly, and then: Blanche: “Gotcha.”
I love Blanche.
The End
Okay, so can we just acknowledge how incredibly messed up this episode is?
These are women in their 60s… well… 30s according to Blanche, but yes, older women
playing the cruelest jokes I have ever heard on eachother.
I can’t imagine what would go through my mind if I went through this insane grieving
process over someone who was just kidding.
I know in this case it’s a little different because Dorothy was suspicious of Trudy’s
sudden death, but STILL.
What if she wasn’t?
That could traumatize someone!
And my god, the revenge.
So you are telling me Dorothy knew it was a joke and decided to play her own where she
convinces Trudy that she slept with her husband.
My god, this is sadistic.
This is the kind of weird crap you might see on a sitcom involving younger people, it’s
a little jarring seeing mature adults pulling such insane pranks.
I know this is more of a zany plot that cannot really be explained, so I don’t want to
dissect it too much, but I’m the most confused about how Trudy pulled this off.
I still don’t understand how you would fake your own death, especially when your plan
involves falling over in front of people who can take your pulse or call an ambulance.
But this is television so I am trying to suspend my disbelief.
Despite the absurdity of this episode, part of me really appreciates seeing older women
in these more mischievous roles.
You’re getting all the zaniness of a sitcom, but it’s also smart, cutting, and somewhat
relatable.
Well, in a very hyperbolic way.
I’d say in reality these women are just cruel and terrible, but the intelligent comedy
kind of makes up for that, as does the always supportive friendship between the four lead
characters.
As I mentioned earlier, there are plenty of serious episodes in this series that do focus
on age, though it doesn’t even come up in this one; these are just older women being
kind of ridiculous and I’m here for it.
I just never stopped to think about HOW ridiculous this episode really was.
These insults are as creative as they are ferocious.
Trudy: “Boy I envy you are your gumption.
Dorothy: “And I you your breast implants.”
Trudy: “Dorothy, you look wonderful.”
Dorothy: “The left one turned out nice!”
And I want to reiterate how great the jokes are in this episode, but that is pretty common
for the Golden Girls as a whole.
Some things aged poorly, but in terms of consistency with laugh out loud jokes, this show is definitely
on the top rung.
Trudy: “Do you wanna play or do you wanna forfeit?”
Dorothy: “Dorothy Zsbornak doesn’t know the meaning of the word forfeit.”
Rose: “And she’s a teacher too.”
Trudy: “How does it feel to have your butt whipped?”
Blanche: “Well sometimes I find it strangely titillating…”
This episode is very dense with jokes, they cram so in there it’s almost like a riff
session; if a joke doesn’t land, that’s okay, there’s a million more that might.
I highly recommend this episode, it’s just shocking and funny and it has some amazing
acting by Bea Arthur.
Of course, If you have an episode of the Golden Girls you would love to see me cover, please
leave a suggestion in the comments, and until next time, thank you for being a friend.
Hey everyone, thanks again for watching my video on this absurd and slightly messed up
episode on The Golden Girls!
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Here’s a few videos you might like: On the right we have a Golden Girl’s breakdown
on one of my very favorite episodes, where the ladies dress up as giant birds!
On the left I have something a little different, a breakdown on my favorite Goosebumps episode!
I have a lil something for everyone.
Thanks again and as always, I’ll see you in the next one!