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The Golden Girls Season 7 Review

The seventh season of The Golden Girls is one of the best in the show’s run. It ended the entire series with a moving finale that was truly unforgettable.

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“What the hell goes on in this house at night?!“

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Hey, Look Me Over is a solid, but hardly memorable opening. Dorothy and Sophia stole the show here. The Case of the Libertine Belle is a fine murder mystery episode that was well made, but not quite fitting the tone of the show unfortunately. Beauty and the Beast sees Blanche at her most maternal, but it is Sophia who is the standout here as she gets a new nurse that angers Dorothy amusingly so.

That’s for Me to Know is a solid episode throughout, but not a great one. Where’s Charlie? has a particularly cruel Sophia as she makes fun of Rose brutally so, but eventually she learns from her mistakes and the two bond with each other. Mother Load is at its best during the counseling sessions with Dorothy and Stan while Dateline: Miami is a filler episode focusing on dating. The Monkey Show is a dual episode that featured a contrived argument between mother and daughter, but it explored their relationship very well nonetheless.

Rose Loves Miles is pretty solid and important as it continued Rose’s relationship while focusing on some amusing Sophia exploits as well. Room 7 is terrific. Sophia’s spiritual storyline was emotionally charged and very relatable to me personally as I ponder over the questions of life and death quite often. Blanche also gets a moving arc focusing on her childhood here. From Here to Pharmacy is, on the other hand, much more comedic as Blanche’s subplot is reliably silly and Sophia hoarding money was a truly hilarious revelation.

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The Pope’s Ring is a solid, funny episode with Sophia being the highlight here. Old Boyfriends is another very moving episode in a season full of these touching stories. Sophia stumbles upon an older man whose wife is dying and she planned out for Sophia to replace her. It was a moral conundrum that ended with such an inspirational, beautiful scene.

Goodbye, Mr. Gordon is absolutely hilarious in that talk show segment where the girls are presented to the entire world as lesbians. The Commitments is forgettable, Questions and Answers fares better but it’s still far from great, but Ebbtide VI: The Wrath of Stan is another moving Stan and Dorothy episode that examined their relationship and shared history. It also benefits from a trial sequence that was hilarious and perfectly executed. Journey to the Center of Attention is a very funny situational comedy throughout with Sophia organizing a mass while still being alive constituting the funniest parts of the episode.

A Midwinter Night’s Dream is another classic two-episode story where Sophia is very amusing as a sort of mischievous party killer while Dorothy and Rose’s friendship is tested at the end. Rose: Portrait of a Woman is far from memorable, but Home Again, Rose is such a moving penultimate two-parter that sees Rose end up in a hospital in Part 1 and eventually recover in Part 2 in that truly beautiful final sequence.

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As for One Flew Out of the Cuckoo’s Nest, what is there to say about this episode other than that it’s an absolute masterpiece. The first part was rushed for sure as Dorothy suddenly is thrust into a potential marriage situation. This storyline should have received more room to breathe. Still, it ended with Dorothy leaving the girls to go live with her new husband and that final scene was perfectly executed, funny and thoroughly heartbreaking. I cried so much during this episode, which is the first time I cried when a show ended after ‘Schitt’s Creek’ a couple of years ago.