Back in the era of 1980s television that spawned classic shows like The Golden Girls, there was something called “the very special episode” where a heavy topic would be dealt with on popular sitcoms to give people a way to cope with some particular problem.
The Golden Girls masterfully handles its “special episodes,” weaving sad, difficult, or upsetting themes into their usual light-hearted humor and familial love so easily that audiences often forgot they were even being taught anything by their televisions. A lot of these episodes broke viewers’ hearts, though, and are even still hard to watch today. Read on to find out about 10 times that The Golden Girls broke our hearts.
10 Big Daddy
Blanche Devereaux, played by Rue McClanahan, often refers back to her childhood growing up in the South, when she was Blanche Hollingsworth. One of the figures in her life who pops up most often is her father, who she lovingly refers to as Big Daddy. Tragically, in season 5, episode 11, “Ebb Tide,” Big Daddy passes away.
The entire episode is devastating, but perhaps the saddest moment of all is when Blanche is leaving Big Daddy’s grave at the end of the episode. She stops, then says to herself, “I’m nobody’s little girl anymore.”
9 Losing Phil
Another heartbreaking death on the show was the death of Phil Petrillo, Dorothy’s brother and Sophia Petrillo’s son. Though Phil was often the butt of jokes due to his cross-dressing, his funeral was appropriately somber in season 6, episode 11, “Ebbtide's Revenge.” Sophia gets in a disagreement with Phil’s wife, Angela, and says, “I did love him. He was my son… my little boy,” her voice breaking.
Angela hugs her and says Phil was a good man, at which point Sophia breaks down and sobs, “My baby is gone.” No parent should have to outlive their child, and this episode is particularly heartbreaking.
8 George Devereaux
In one classic episode of The Golden Girls, Blanche’s deceased husband, George, makes an appearance, having apparently faked his death. As it turns out, though, in season 6, episode 9, “Mrs. George Devereaux,” this is just a dream Blanche was having.
She wakes up to find that George isn’t actually alive, that he was still dead, and she starts crying. Her friends come in to comfort her, and she sobs to them, lamenting that she had felt George in the dream, that it had felt like he was really alive and with her, and that she could still feel him holding her. The devastation of loss and grief is particularly poignant in this episode.
7 Rose’s Last Cake in St. Olaf
In season 2, episode 25, “A Piece of Cake,” the girls throw a surprise party for a friend of Sophia’s named Roberta. While they’re preparing, though, they reminisce about past birthdays of their own, and Rose’s is particularly devastating.
As it turns out, the last birthday she spent in St. Olaf was actually the first major event she spent without her husband, Charlie, after he had passed away. She bakes the last cake she’ll ever bake in St. Olaf, then speaks to Charlie’s chair at the table as if he’s there, telling him that she can’t stay in their old house, too full of memories of him for her to move on. She tells him she’s leaving St. Olaf for Miami, and it’s as sweet as it is bitter.
6 Discussing Suicide
Martha Lamont, another one of Sophia’s friends, is going through a hard time health-wise in season 5, episode 7, “Not Another Monday.” The pain gets to be so much that Martha decides she wants to kill herself, and Sophia finds her when she’s about to swallow pills. Sophia tells her she can see her crying, and that that tells her “You're not as ready to die as you think you are. You still wanna live, kid,” which prompts Martha to respond, “I don’t know what to do.”
Sophia then delivers a heartbreaking line: “That's the point. If you're not sure, then you can't change your mind tomorrow. You wanted me to be there for your death. How about letting me be here for your life?”
5 Alvin and Alzheimer’s
The season three opener is an episode entitled “Old Friends,” presumably referring to the age of the two friends involved. That would be Sophia Petrillo and her new friend, Alvin Newcastle, who she spends time sitting with down on the boardwalk. The longer they know each other, the closer they become, but it’s also clear that something is wrong. As it turns out, Alvin has Alzheimer’s, and there comes a day when Sophia comes to their bench and Alvin’s not there.
Dorothy finds Sophia and tells her Alvin has been sent to New York by his family for special healthcare, and Sophia responds by saying that no matter what happens, no matter what you do, that, even after a long, eventful life like Alvin’s, “reality can still spit right in your face.” She leaves, saying Alvin may not remember her, but that she’ll always remember him. Even sadder is actress Estelle Getty’s later complications with dementia.
4 The Lottery Ticket
Speaking of very special episodes, season 4, episode 8 of The Golden Girls is the epitome of a lesson learned. A standard fable, the episode, titled “Brother, Can You Spare That Jacket,” sees the ladies going to a homeless shelter while trying to find a jacket they’ve accidentally donated that had a winning lottery ticket still in its pocket.
While at the homeless shelter, though, they meet several people who change their mind about what they’d like to do with their winnings, and they end up giving the lottery ticket to the priest in charge of the shelter. The third act of the episode has a montage of shelter residents with the song “Brother, Can You Spare A Dime,” which only makes it all the sadder.
3 Goodbye, Stan
Dorothy Zbornak’s ex-husband, Stan Zbornak, is often used as comedy fuel for the characters on the show, Bea Arthur’s Dorothy. However, one of the most heart-wrenching moments in the entire history of the show comes in only the first season, second episode: “Guess Who's Coming to the Wedding.”
In this episode, Dorothy confronts Stan, telling him how angry she is for him walking out on her and having a lawyer tell her that he was leaving at all. She gives an absolutely devastating speech about how Stan has thrown thirty-eight years of their lives together down the drain. She finishes by finally saying, “Goodbye, Stanley.”
2 Mother’s Day
In season 3, episode 25, the ladies talk about different Mother’s Days they’ve had in their lives, seeing that they’re all mothers. Appropriately titled “Mother's Day,” there are many different interesting plots going, but Rose’s story is the most poignant. She talks about a woman named Anna she met in a bus station on her way to St. Olaf once, on her way to spend Mother’s Day with her daughter.
Rose eventually finds out Anna’s daughter is dead, and she visits her grave every year on Mother’s Day to see her. Rose lies to the police and says Anna is her mother so she can safely get Anna along on her journey without being brought back to her retirement home.
1 One Flew Out Of The Cuckoo’s Nest
The last episode of the show is, frankly, devastating, and not just because it’s the last episode, and everybody has to say goodbye to the characters they’ve grown to love. The worst part is just how well-written it is, ripping at our heartstrings. Though the end of the episode is devastating, when the girls say goodbye to each other, the most upsetting moment of all is when Sophia and Dorothy part.
They have a sweet moment together where Sophia tells Dorothy, “It's been my great privilege to be your friend as an adult. To spend these years with you,” and Dorothy says, “No, Ma. It was my privilege.” If you have a good relationship with your parents, call them now!
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