Ria

I’ve often wondered if the girls were supposed to be older in the pilot and first couple of episodes, maybe early-mid 60s for Dorothy and Rose and mid-late 50s for Blanche. That’s when Rose was widowed for 15 years, Stan was mentioned as 65, he and Dorothy were married for 38 years and apart for 2 years and Bea and Betty themselves were in their 60s and Blanche has a 14 year old grandson. Then suddenly Rose and Dorothy are 55, Rose is widowed only 5 years, Michael is too young, Blanche is just hitting menapause and Janet is 30ish and has a girl about 6. It just seems as if the girls were aged downward several years.

I know. There’s no consistency whatsoever. But I think that was the episode where they changed Charlie’s death from 15 years ago to 5 years ago. Rose says she’s not in exactly the same position as when Charlie died because now she’s 5 years older. The 5 years makes much more sense. If Rose has moved to Florida right after Charlie died 15 years earlier, she likely would have been leaving teenagers behind. Or younger. How old was Bridgette in season 1? About 23?

I is for Island, whether on the boring side or the fun side.

F is for Fat, which Blanche certainly was not, even if she hadn’t weighed 99 pounds since she attended college on Jupiter. .

I got the impression Lily was older since Rose talked about how Lily always cared for all the other kids. But it could also mean she was just smarter and more responsible than Rose. So I guess we really don’t know.

Especially since at other times Sophia is depicted as forgetful about people and places, getting on wrong buses, buying a boxer at a bus station and trying to go to Temple on a Tuesday night. In the days before cell phones, it’s hard to believe Dorothy wouldn’t insist on knowing exactly where Sophia was going and when to expect her back.

The episode where they go to the mountain nudist resort. They are told they will have to spend the night and are escorted to their room. They never give their names or actually check in. I could add one of my least favorite moments is when the Maitre D’ at the restaurant tells them they all dress for dinner and in their case they should do that for all three meals. It’s a cruel unnecessary and unfunny remark and would never be tolerated at a real establishment. Basically it just means older women are too homely to be seen naked even at a nudist camp.

I saw The Artist again one day this week. Overall I like the episode. (And I love Blanche sitting on the Whoopi cushion as she’s talking about her grace and femininity). But I’m always bothered by the artist wanting to do a piece on the mature woman and then wanting innocence and naïveté. These are not qualities associated with a mature woman and I certainly wouldn’t consider them desirable qualities. Mature women are wise, strong, sexy, intelligent. There are many qualities to depict. If you want naive and innocent, sculpt children. The other thing that bothers me is how he combines all three women into one perfect woman. I know this was a heavy handed anvil on how they compliment each other and belong together. But women don’t have to be perfect and have it all to be worth representing. It’s as if one real woman isn’t good enough, so he has to create a perfect fantasy woman. It’s just misogynistic.

R is for Red, the color of Blanche’s wedding & funeral dresses.

I actually think they looked better after the first season. They had way too much makeup on at first and Dorothy and Blanche both had very short old lady hair. Roses’s hair never changed (and I never cared for it much) but as the show went on Dorothy and Blanche had much more stylish hair and the makeup artist eased up on the heavy blush and eyeshadow.

It’s always bothered me how quick the girls were to turn on each other. And Blanche seems to get it the worst. In this episode, in the double exposure where she and Charlie appear to be in bed together, in the politician episode where she is snapped at his home, she is always blamed. Its as if the girls think just because she enjoys sex she must also be a liar and untrustworthy. Although Blanche hating Rose when Clayton lies about sleeping with her is the stupidest. He was divorced, who cares. But really, what sort of man lies like that? And then all is forgiven? Rose and Blanche should have been furious with him.

T is for Thrice as in the thrice of them are sitting on the sofa.

P is for Peacock,the nickname Blanche’s mom gave her as a girl because she was so beautiful.

It’s hard to believe four women living in a 4 bedroom multi bath house wouldn’t have a washer/dryer. Perhaps they took large items like comforters and bed spreads to the laundromat because it wouldn’t fit in their machine? Although I doubt Dorothy was actually on her way to the laundromat that night but just made up an excuse.

H is for House and also for Home. The floor plan makes no sense and the outside doesn’t match the inside, but it’s a big part of what gives the show it’s cozy feel.

C is for Chattanooga. The sheriff still writes.

And when Dorothy and Stan were going to remarry, apparently neither of their kids showed up to see their parents wedding. It wasn’t even mentioned if they showed up when Dorothy actually did get married. When Stan married Katherine, at least a line was thrown out that he had talked to them and they were going to try to attend.

I can’t remember if they mentioned having rooms. I thought it was an unnecessarily complicated lie though. Just say you’re friends who were in a Sound of Music rehearsal and got caught in the storm. No real nuns were outfits like that anymore.

U is for Rose’s missing umbrella with the duck handle. You know it’s in Sophia’s room.

F is for Fernando, poor cubby lost an ear.

C is for Chrissy, Stan’s 2nd wife. She must have been rich since after he married her they could afford a beach house in Maui with a hot tub. What a rich, pretty young girl saw in Stan, we will never know. Dorothy did call her a dumb blonde.

In the Flu Attack episode, the girls spend the entire week in the house together battling the flu and getting on each other’s nerves. Near the end of the week, they drag themselves to one of those many awards dinners where they all expect to win and Blanche pays a waiter to pretend he’s her date. She tells the others she met him in the park last week and they’ve been inseparable ever since. Except she’s been in the house the entire week with the flu and she knows the other girls know that. I’ve always found that to be sloppy writing. It’s as if the writers forgot the whole episode was about the girls being sick and stuck in the house all week when they had Blanche make up that story.

X is for Xerox, whose shares Sophia once claimed she owned.

U is for Uncle Hingeblotter. He sure loved his pig Baby.

If Blanche wants to attract rich men, why advertise she has a Mercedes for sale for a very low price? Wouldn’t that attract men who couldn’t normally afford even a used Mercedes at market value? Such as the teacher who asked Dorothy out? And why schedule the appointments so close together? I hate it when characters are dumbed down for a plot.