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rachelkaser · 3 months

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Stay Golden Sunday: The Days and Nights of Sophia Petrillo

Blanche, Rose, and Dorothy lounge around the house during a rainy day. Meanwhile, Sophia has an active and fulfilling day volunteering, raising money for charity, and fighting with customer service people.

Picture It...

Blanche, Rose, and Dorothy sit in the kitchen on a rainy morning in their pajamas. Sophia enters, fully dressed and carrying an umbrella, on her way to the market to buy a nectarine. After she leaves, the other Girls opine that Sophia has nothing interesting in her life before trying to decide what to do to fill the rainy day. They initially decide to reline the kitchen shelves until they get distracted by a box of cookies.

At the market, Sophia is picking out a nectarine and runs into her friend Claire, who's looking for a refund on a lamb chop. The employee says they can't take it back, but Sophia starts arguing, claiming to be a representative of the Network of Older People Retired but Living (NOPRL). When a manager comes over, she then claims to be with the Organization of Retired and Elderly People (OREP) and threatens a boycott against the store if her friend doesn't get a refund. The manager pays the lamb chop refund out of his own pocket, and Sophia guilts Claire into paying for her nectarine.

SOPHIA: Hey! Hey, you got any decent nectarines? WORKER: There's nothing wrong with those nectarines. SOPHIA: Please, I've got a bowl of wax bananas that'll be ripe before these are. WORKER: You're crazy! This nectarine is byoo-tee-ful. I never saw a more perfect piece of fruit. SOPHIA: No? Then try kissing my behind. It's a real peach!

Back in the kitchen, Rose and Dorothy are listening to Blanche tell stories about her encounters with men -- in particular a date with one Preston Bougainvillea, a gentleman with long, floppy ears (and apparently other long, floppy appendages). They no longer feel like relining the kitchen shelves and change tasks to rearranging living room furniture, deciding not to wait for Sophia to get back.

On the boardwalk, Sophia is conducting a small jazz band of old ladies, who sound very lackluster. She eventually stops them and says they're no longer raising enough money for the clinic. Two other women talk to her about who's paying for lunch, and she says it's her day at the hospital. They realize they've attracted a crowd now that the rain has stopped. With renewed vigor, they launch into a spirited rendition of "When the Saints Go Marching In" and the onlookers happily throw money into their basket.

SOPHIA: Let's see, who's buying? WANDA: Pulse or pressure? SOPHIA: Pressure. ESTHER: 140 over 80. WANDA: 130 over 80. SOPHIA: 120 over 70. Your treat, Esther.

Back at the house (again), the other Girls finish up a pizza, having not really finished any work thus far. Rose keeps trying to get Dorothy and Blanche motivated to do some work and not waste time, which she does by telling a St. Olaf Story about Pigpen "Johansson" who ruined Founder's Day by wasting time. She eventually segues into another story.

At Biscayne General Hospital, Sophia arrives for her shift as a volunteer Sunshine Lady. Her fellow volunteer says her "boyfriend" Sam was looking for her. The elderly Mrs. Leonard approaches and asks if any of the delivered flowers are for her. Sophia quickly divests herself of a task and makes Mrs. Leonard's day by saying all the flowers are for her and letting her wheel the whole cart away. A little boy, the aforementioned Sam, wheels himself into the waiting room to visit Sophia.

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Back in the kitchen (yet again), Rose is on her umpteenth St. Olaf Story as they've waited 45 minutes for a cake to bake. Rose worries if Sophia's exhausting herself coming back from the market, and Dorothy talks about her grandmother's high energy levels later in life. The Girls go into the living room to watch Jeopardy and eat their cake. Back at the hospital, Sophia is entertaining Sam and gives him the nectarine.

Sam tells her it doesn't matter if he eats healthy, since they "goofed up [his] blood" with a transfusion and there's no cure. She tells him that there will be some day, and Sam could be the first one. Back at the house, it's nighttime and Rose laments their lazy day. Sophia finally returns home and the other Girls say they took care of "odds and ends" around the house. Dorothy asks her what she did that day.

SOPHIA: What did I do today? What I do everyday: I bought a nectarine.

"Remember the clinic and work hard! Remember your art and be proud! Remember an F-sharp and blow!"

This is the episode specifically that prompted me to write a tribute to Estelle Getty a couple of weeks ago. This is one of only a few Sophia-centric episodes in the whole series, in which Estelle gets the lion's share of the screen time compared with her costars. In Jim Colucci's Golden Girls Forever, the primary theme of the anecdotes about this episode is Estelle's stage fright, and how it would make filming more difficult.

ROSE: Now we agreed we weren't gonna waste time. That'd be a big mistake, something we'd regret for the rest of our lives. DOROTHY: Rose, we're eating pizza, not getting tattoos. ROSE: I just hate the idea of wasting time. I always have. Ever since what happened to my neighbor in St. Olaf-- BLANCHE: Rose, are you about to educate us on the evils of wasting time by telling a long, tedious St. Olaf Story? ROSE: You know a better way? DOROTHY: She has a point, Blanche.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I admire Estelle for doing her best and putting in such good work despite the fear and anxiety that her job gave her. According to the stories Colucci collected, everyone on set tried their best to be patient with her, knowing the at Estelle lacked the experience of her costars. One of the ways she tried to mitigate this was by writing down her lines on any paper, prop, or bit of set dressing that wouldn't be in direct view of the camera.

I'm so glad she made the effort, because this episode about what Sophia gets up to on an average day is one of my favorites. Not only does it have a central story about Sophia maintaining an active and satisfying life even at an advanced age -- which is both fun to watch and instructive for anyone who thinks being old means you can't thrive -- it has a contrasting B-plot where the other Girls worry about Sophia's lack of fulfillment in her life while they themselves spend all day lounging around the house.

ABE: It's after 1 o'clock. You're late. SOPHIA: So dock me. ABE: You do this for free. SOPHIA: Then be grateful! Anything happening? ABE: Yeah, three in surgery, two in x-ray . . . *indicates cart of flowers* and you have to deliver these on your break. SOPHIA: In your dreams! I'm a Sunshine Lady, not a Teamster.

Sophia's day out consists of her original stated purpose of buying a nectarine at the market -- while also bullying the employees to take back a fatty lamb chop with a threatened boycott from phony elderly organizations -- conducting a jazz band to raise money for charity at the boardwalk, and volunteering at the hospital and befriending a sick little boy. I would say I hope I'm that active when I'm Sophia's age, but truthfully, I wish I was that active now.

it won't come as a surprise to anyone who knows Sophia's character well, that she's so charitably minded. She may be irascible and even goes out of her way to avoid work, but she spends her entire day making everyone else's better. She brightens Mrs. Leonard up, gives everyone at the boardwalk a good performance, gets her friend $1.17 back for a bad lamb chop, and even keeps Sam's spirits up. I can see why she won the Best Friend of Good Health award back in "The Flu" over her roommates.

ROSE: Whatever happened to [your grandmother]? DOROTHY: She colonized life on Venus. Rose, she was 94 when I was 6. She died, you idiot. ROSE: How did she die? DOROTHY: You know, we're not sure. One night, she left in her wheelchair and she never came back. The next day, the neighborhood kids had a go-kart with two really big back wheels.

Speaking of Sam, I think it's worth mentioning here that there's subtext in his interactions with Sophia that some modern viewers won't pick up on. I sure didn't the first time I saw it, until my mother explained it to me. They don't outright say it, but it's heavily implied that the young man's terminal illness is AIDS -- he says there's no cure, no one's ever beat it, and that he got it because they "goofed up his blood" with a transfusion. Golden Girls will address the HIV/AIDS panic more directly in later episodes, but this is the first time.

As for the B-plot, I appreciate the contrast it offers: Sophia out having a productive day while the other three Girls sit at home and screw around. As much as I admire Sophia, I also think there's nothing wrong with just sitting and having a lazy day. Despite Rose's disgust at the idea of wasting time -- thanks to the apparent laziness of Pigpen "Johansson" -- it's sometimes nice to forgo being constructive in favor of resting up.

MRS. CARP: Excuse me, I'd like to check on my husband Mr. Carp -- prostate surgery? SOPHIA: Nothing yet, but he'll be fine. I went through it myself thirty years ago. MRS. CARP: You had prostate surgery? SOPHIA: What do I look like, a crossdresser? My husband had the surgery. I was the one who went through it.

The best part, to me, is the fact that all three women choose to fuss over Sophia's apparent lack of said constructive activity, while she's out running rings around them. I always wondered a bit why Sophia simply tells them she's out "buying a nectarine" and not what she's actually doing during the day. But it's honestly not their business, and given how protective and smothering Dorothy can be, I can't blame Sophia for keeping it under wraps.

Dorothy, Blanche, and Rose all have their chance to tell silly stories during their lazy day in, with Rose apparently getting in several St. Olaf Stories while their cake is baking. While the cynical side of me wonders if this wasn't an excuse to use some unrelated stories that had been cut from other episodes, it's still fun to watch the women sit around and yarn with no pesky plot to get in the way.

Episode rating: 🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰 (five cheesecake slices out of five)

Favorite part of the episode

After conning a supermarket manager into refunding her friend's lamb chop, Sophia can't help herself:

SOPHIA: Oh listen, how much for the nectarine? MANAGER: Take it. It's on the house. SOPHIA: Oh, we can't do that. It's against the bylaws. MANAGER: Alright, you can pay me. That's 45 cents. SOPHIA: 45 cents for one lousy nectarine? What's inside -- a pit or a pearl? *weighs the bag* This is a 25-cent nectarine. MANAGER: Fine, sold. SOPHIA: Claire, don't stand there like a bump on a pickle. Give the man a quarter. *swans out of the store*

#golden girls #stay golden #stay golden sunday #sophia petrillo #rose nylund #dorothy zbornak #blanche devereaux #picture it #s04e02 #the days and nights of sophia petrillo #Youtube

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rachelkaser · 2 days

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Stay Golden Sunday: Sophia's Wedding, Part 2

Sophia and Max decide to reopen their pizza-knish stand on Miami Beach. Dorothy picks up smoking to cope with the stress.

Picture It...

Dorothy sneaks into the garage vestibule from the kitchen with a pack of cigarettes. Just as she takes a puff, the smoke detector goes off and Rose and Blanche run in. Forestalling Blanche calling the fire department, Dorothy explains that she started smoking again. She's under a lot of stress, particularly after Sophia's marriage to Max. The couple return from their honeymoon at that moment and Dorothy asks the other Girls not to tell her.

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It's for naught, as Sophia can immediately tell and lays into Dorothy for starting her bad habit again. She promises to quit again. Max and Sophia decide to get settled into their new place. There's just one problem -- they don't have a new place. At some light guilt-tripping from Sophia, the other Girls invite them to stay for a few days while they look for their own place. Dorothy struggles with her cravings.

Three weeks later, Dorothy is in the shower and tells Sophia she'll be out shortly. Without a word, Max enters, takes off his glasses and enters the shower, making Dorothy scream. The other Girls run in and there's more screaming. Blanche tells Sophia that living with Max and Sophia isn't working out and other Girls are uncomfortable. Sophia and Max (who refuses to put on a robe) agree to start looking for a new place immediately.

ROSE: Dorothy, I know what you're going through. I smoked for years. DOROTHY: You smoked? Rose, that's like finding out Lassie was an alcoholic. ROSE: Lassie was an alcoholic?! That explains why she always tipped to one side when she waved goodbye to Timmy.

Sophia and Max reconvene at the boardwalk, having not found a new place. They look out at the beach and reminisce about Sal's idea to open a pizza-knish stand on the boardwalk in Coney Island. A nearby saxophonist starts playing, and Max requests Sal's favorite: "It Had to Be You," and he and Sophia slow dance on the boardwalk. Later, the other Girls talk about Dorothy's cravings -- Rose reveals she also used to smoke, to Dorothy's surprise.

Max and Sophia return home and excitedly tell everyone they've found the perfect place and ask to show them. When they arrive on the boardwalk, the "place" is an old, boarded-up concession stand. They've decided to reopen their own business -- though they'll have to live at the house until it gets off the ground. Sometime later, they've got the stand almost ready to go, and the other Girls arrive. They warn Max and Sophia they'll get a cold if they overdo it, which Sophia scoffs at.

DOROTHY: I have to give you two credit. It looks like it's really gonna happen! MAX: Why shouldn't it happen? I know the pizza business like the back of my hand -- *look at his hand* I never noticed that before. What do you think it would cost to remove something like that?

Smash cut to Max and Sophia sitting on the couch with terrible colds. They're afraid that they won't be able to open in time for the weekend's beach festival and will lose their lease. The Girls cave and agree to help them out. That weekend, Blanche, Rose, and Dorothy are hard at work getting the pizza and knishes ready to go. Rose inadvertently triggers Dorothy's cigarette cravings. Unfortunately, they don't get the customers they're hoping for as no one seems to notice the stand.

Sophia arrives on a wave of better health to check on the stand, and the Girls tell her they haven't sold since everyone's in the water. Sophia decides to show them what's what: She looks towards the beach and starts yelling, "Shark!" The terrified beachgoers immediately surge onto the boardwalk and up to the pizza-knish stand. That night, they excitedly say they completely sold out, and the business is saved.

FIREMAN: Well, we've finally found the cause of the fire. DOROTHY: Take me away. Cuff me. FIREMAN: …well, I'd like to take you to dinner first. Then we could play the rest by ear.

Unfortunately, Dorothy gets a phone call and they rush back to the beach: The stand is now a smoking ruin. In tears, Dorothy confesses she snuck in a cigarette while locking up. Sophia forgives her, saying it was an accident. However, a fireman appears and says the real culprit was an electrical issue, and Blanche says insurance will help Sophia and Max rebuild. Sophia and Max? They both say, "Eh," to each other's surprise.

Sophia and Max both come to the same conclusion: The business isn't the same without Sal and Esther. Sophia sends the Girls home for cheesecake, and she and Max sit on their bench to talk. They decide they aren't in love with each other like they were with their late spouses, and are better off as friends. The Catholic Sophia suggests they separate, and Max decides to return to his family in Brooklyn. The saxophonist shows up and offers to play "It Had to Be You" again, and Sophia and Max dance for themselves, Sal, and Esther.

"I don't need a divorce on my record with St. Peter at spitting distance."

Max and Sophia once again put the "whirlwind" in "whirlwind romance," as they fast-track through their honeymoon, starting a business together, and finally a separation based on mutual agreement in a single episode. There's a lot going on here, even by Golden Girls standards. However, I think the saving grace of the episode is the continuity between the two-parter, and because I think it at least sort of addressed the big problem I had with the last one.

ROSE: I don't understand. SOPHIA: You should have that printed on a t-shirt.

The addition of Max, a man who invades the Girls' sanctuary (albeit by invitation) adds an extra ingredient of humor to the first half of the episode, as they can't get used to living with a man once more. Though when I've lived with men who weren't married to me, I admittedly didn't often have an issue with them joining me in the shower because they've mistaken me for their wife. I'm not sure why Max and Sophia stay with the Girls for three weeks before looking for a house, but it at least provides some conflict.

Max and Sophia's decision to try and reopen the pizza-knish stand that the Petrillos and Weinstocks originally opened on Coney Island is a pleasant nod to the first episode in the two-parter. It's nice to see an expansion on Sophia's life before she moved to Miami to be with her daughter, and to see what she and Sal got up to during their long life together in Brooklyn. I'm not sure if pizza and knishes would do as well on Miami Beach as they would on Coney Island, but I'm not going to pretend I know anything about the food industry.

BLANCHE: Why don't you want to hear about my dream? DOROTHY: Because it is always the same thing with you, Blanche: Sex, sex, sex. I am tired of hearing it. ROSE: Maybe that's because you're not getting any, Dorothy. DOROTHY: Do you want the pot again, Rose?

The issue I had with the first part of the episode was that it almost felt like Max forgot about his recently deceased wife (and Sophia's former bestie) Esther. At the end of this episode, Max admits he doesn't love Sophia as much as he did Esther, and that he prefers to remain friends with her after their separation. He also admits that he misses Brooklyn, where his family and grandkids live, which clears up a factor I hadn't even addressed about how Max must have felt moving to Miami.

As for this episode itself, the problem I have with the primary story about Max and Sophia is that it doesn't seem to flow naturally from part one to part two. At first, the conflict is that Sophia and Max need to find a new place to live, then the issue is them starting a business they might not be able to keep going. They feel almost like two different episodes smashed together -- especially since Sophia simply tells Blanche they'll both be staying in her house until the business gets off the ground, despite them moving out being the motivation to go to the boardwalk in the first place.

SOPHIA: You want a Lifesaver? MAX: What kind you got? SOPHIA: Peppermint. MAX: I don't like peppermint. I like butterscotch. You got butterscotch. SOPHIA: Does it say 7-11 across my forehead? I got peppermint!

Speaking of the boardwalk, it's one of the biggest non-house sets I've ever seen on this show -- fitting, given we spend over half the episode here. Not only do we have the full-size pizza-knish stand, but we also get to see a large section of the boardwalk, including other shops, which include a palm reader, a newspaper stand, and a candy shop. And mentioning sets, they've redesigned the Girls' only full-size bathroom yet again for the single-scene gag of Max getting into the shower with Dorothy.

There's not a B-plot in this episode per se -- Dorothy's smoking is directly related to the A-plot, and plays a role in its conclusion. She says one of the reasons she resumed the bad habit is because of her stress over Sophia's remarriage, and the married couple staying in the house with them probably doesn't help. We never actually learn if she did kick the habit. She didn't actually burn down the stand, so she may not quit out of guilt -- perhaps out of an abundance of caution over what could have happened? I have no idea.

BLANCHE: Well, how was the honeymoon? MAX: I tell you, that Disney World hotel was just wonderful. It had everything: Good service, delicious food, a beautiful room! ROSE: What did you think of the rides? MAX: . . . they got rides? SOPHIA: Don't worry about it. You had a good time and you never had to stand in line.

Another issue I have is that Blanche and Rose have far less to do in this episode than they did in the last one. They've managed to lose all interest in Elvis Presley over the course of a month, and have nothing to do in the whole episode except complain about Max, try to help Sophia, and give Dorothy motivation to kick her smoking habit. Rose manages to sneak in several inane St. Olaf Stories, while Blanche's main contribution seems to be as the voice of reason for everyone.

That said, the last scene where Dorothy gets her final resolve to quit smoking and is absolved of her guilt simultaneously, then Max and Sophia agree to part ways, is very sweet and a nice way of tying the whole thing together. Max going home to his family gives a clean break while not requiring Sophia to move back from a different location, and it's a sweet way of paying homage to the two's original spouses. Also, it's always nice to hear "It Had to Be You," especially played on a saxophone.

Episode rating: 🍰🍰🍰 (three cheesecake slices out of five)

Favorite part of the episode

Dorothy dispenses punishment to Rose.

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#golden girls #stay golden #stay golden sunday #picture it #sophia petrillo #rose nylund #dorothy zbornak #blanche devereaux #s04e07 #sophia's wedding part two #Youtube

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