Top Ten The Golden Girls Episodes

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Top Ten The Golden Girls Episodes

Throughout its run, The Golden Girls reached 180 episodes across seven seasons. This is an iconic sitcom, so of course for my list I had to include some of the funniest episodes out there, but I also included a couple of truly heartbreaking, important dramatic episodes that dealt with serious issues. Here is my ranking of ten best Golden Girls episodes with some honorable mentions as well.

10. The Sisters

The tenth spot on this list goes to this Season 2 classic where Sophia is the MVP. Her sister, Angela, arrives to the house and the two argue over a big misunderstanding. Their biting insults were consistently funny and reminding us all that most often those confrontations that span decades are over the most insignificant things or straight misunderstandings.

9. Stan Takes a Wife

Stan Takes a Wife is one of the best and most emotional Dorothy-centric episodes. She realizes how Stan is caring when Sophia becomes ill, but she eventually lets him go and be with his soon to be wife in that touching, but also hilarious final scene between the two women. It is in this episode where Stan became surprisingly likable and redeemable.

8. Till Death Do We Volley

Dorothy gets to compete with her highly competitive high school friend and the two’s cruel practical jokes were hilarious throughout in this iconic Season 4 outing that ranks among the funniest episodes of the entire show. Dorothy was so much fun in her competitive mode and her friend made for one of the best one-off characters in the series’ history.

7. In a Bed of Rose’s

In a Bed of Rose’s is the quintessential Rose episode that makes full promise of her supposed curse of killing the men she sleeps with. It’s a surprisingly emotional as well as hilarious episode that is particularly moving in Rose’s kinship with a grieving woman in the final scenes. This was one of the deepest stories that Rose got and one of the rare unforgettable Season 1 episodes.

6. Old Friends

This episode from the third season has it all. The subplot with Rose and Blanche is genuinely hilarious and Rose was truly at her bitchiest here. But the meat of this episode is Sofia’s story. She gets to meet an older man named Alvin with whom she strikes a meaningful friendship. Eventually, he is hospitalized due to Alzheimer’s in that truly touching final scene. The Golden Girls is a comedy, but from time to time they also gave us these heartbreaking, but still inspirational dramatic stories about life, death and what it means to grow old.

5. Like the Beep Beep Beep of the Tom-Tom

This Season 5 episode is the one that humanized Blanche so much that it had to be on this list. Blanche decides to give up sex after having a medical scare and eventually she returns to her old self. It’s a very moving and relatable episode for everybody who has ever experienced a setback in life and it’s one of the best dramatic episodes of the series.

4. Isn’t It Romantic?

Isn’t It Romantic? was a groundbreaking television episode in its positive treatment of gay people. Dorothy’s friend who is a lesbian comes to the house, which hilariously leads to her developing feelings for Rose. Not only was she treated with respect, but the episode still did not forget to be funny as Rose’s cluelessness was so amusing and Blanche’s reactions throughout were priceless.

3. It’s a Miserable Life

The third place goes to one of the funniest episodes in the history of the show. Only The Golden Girls would know how to make light and fun of the subject of death and funerals. The girls being annoyed by this horrible neighbor only for her to die after Rose yelled at her led to a lot of hilarious situational comedy gold. The funeral itself was so funny and the episode was a riot throughout, which was a true accomplishment for such a dark subject.

2. One Flew Out of the Cuckoo’s Nest

The finale ended the show on a truly incredible note. It concluded with Dorothy leaving the girls to go live with her new husband and that final scene was perfectly executed, funny and thoroughly heartbreaking. It is one of the rare television episodes that truly made me cry. It left a lasting impression on me as the emotions were so earned. We’d come to care for these girls deeply by this point, so them saying goodbye to Dorothy was so touching. There are so many great moments to be found in this two-parter, but because it entirely rushed Dorothy’s marriage, it missed on the number one spot.

1. Mrs. George Devereaux

And the first place goes to Mrs. George Devereaux, a masterpiece from the penultimate season. The Golden Girls was throughout a funny sitcom meant to make you laugh, but once in a while they did something like this, which is a very amusing episode at first, but it ends up being quite dramatic and even heartbreaking in its incredible twist ending that honestly surprised me. It’s a phenomenally written and acted episode that will prove deeply relatable to anybody who’s ever lost a loved one. The ending made me cry so much and it will always stick with me, so it had to be number one on this list.

Honorable Mentions:

Ladies of the Evening – This hilarious episode gets the first honorable mention for that iconic prison sequence alone. How Sophia made fun of the girls there was unforgettable.

Mixed Blessings – A very progressive episode that is all about interracial relationships. How it treated racism from the black side too was groundbreaking and that rarely gets shown today.

Wham, Bam, Thank You, Mammy! – Not only do we get to see some excellent backstory for Blanche in this hilarious episode, but we also witness some of the best jokes made at Dorothy’s expense.

Dorothy’s New Friend – A fantastic episode that teaches us an important message that just because somebody is smart doesn’t mean they are quality friendship material.

Not Another Monday – This pro-life and anti-suicide episode is important and it saw Sophia show off some of her most human and admirable qualities.