After Betty White's passing, many people were taking another look back at her iconic role in The Golden Girls. Since it's always a good time to revisit the sitcom, let's take a look at Blanche Devereaux (Rue McClanahan), who would have celebrated her 88th birthday on February 21.
Quintessentially Southern through and through, Blanche had her fair share of shortcomings when it came to issues like Southern "heritage," her brother's sexuality, and her daughter's decision to have a baby, despite being unmarried. The Golden Girls was truly ahead of its time in a lot of ways and always pushed the envelope, never shying away from controversial or uncomfortable topics. Blanche played a key role in several of those storylines. In honor of our Golden Southern Belle, let's take a look at seven episodes from the long-running sitcom that featured Blanche at her finest and helped define her as the multi-faceted character we all knew and loved.
1. "Second Motherhood" (Season 1, Episode 19)
Throughout Season 1, we got to know Blanche Devereaux as a very confident, sexual woman. To put it kindly, Blanche had many suitors, many for just one night. However, by Episode 19, she actually developed a deep and loving relationship with Richard (Kevin McCarthy), a man who happened to be extremely wealthy and, as she confided in her roommates, would soon pop the question. When the others teased her about wanting him for his money, she haughtily responded, "I don't give a hoot about his wealth." Cut to the next scene when he's flying her to Atlanta for dinner on his private jet, and she clearly does give many hoots.
Soon afterward, Richard tells Blanche he wants her to meet his family, and he does indeed, propose. She says "yes," of course, and gets to know his family, which, to her surprise, includes 7- and 9-year-old sons. This situation causes Blanche to question whether or not she is ready to be a mother to young children for a second time. She says she thought that part of her life was over, and now her golden years were supposed to be for her. Over the course of the episode, she comes to realize she can't marry Richard — but not because of his young children or his vast wealth. She can't marry him because he doesn't have time for her, his work, and his boys. She'll always be third in his life, behind his work and his family. And Blanche knows she deserves more. It's an empowering moment for her and shows a depth to her that we hadn't yet seen in this series.
2. "Adult Education" (Season 1, Episode 20)
It just so happens that McClanahan also knocked the very next episode out of the park, again showing the toughness underneath Blanche's superficial, glamorous exterior. In order to secure a promotion at her museum job, Blanche must earn a degree by attending night classes at a local college. The degree comes to mean more to her than she realized, and she finds herself studying at home on Saturday nights instead of going out on dates. However, there's one class where she's not doing as well as she'd hoped, and she decides to talk to the professor about how she might improve her grade. This is where Blanche's moral dilemma comes in. As she's no doubt used to experiencing, the professor likes her and makes a proposition that he'll give her an A on the final if she sleeps with him.
Flabbergasted, she tells her girls that she isn't sure what to do. They tell her to report it to the dean because it is sexual harassment. Unfortunately, the dean doesn't do anything much to help, since he's new to the job and has never dealt with a harassment allegation before. Down to the wire, Blanche decides that she's going to take matters into her own hands, and earn the A on her own. "No one is going to help me, except me," she says. And then, after handing in her final exam, she gives the professor an impressive telling-off speech that ends with, "And, you, sir, can kiss my A" before she triumphantly turns up her nose and leaves the classroom.
3. "The One That Got Away" (Season 4, Episode 3)
In this episode, Blanche is positively giddy that the one man she was never able to seduce is in Miami for a visit. Ham Lushbough (John Harkins) was a football player in high school that all the girls crushed on — yet, he was the one man that Blanche was never quite able to land. When she propositioned him in high school, he said, "Maybe some other time, Blanche," leaving her heartbroken. Fast-forward 30 years and when Ham shows up at the house to take Blanche out for a reunion dinner, she's shocked to find that time has not been kind. Handsome Ham now has quite a beer gut and has gone bald. Still, a lady through it all, Blanche goes out on the date and finds herself able to move past his exterior and comes to find that she really still likes him as a person. However, once again, he ends the night with "Maybe some other time, Blanche."
At this point, she becomes fixated on getting this man into bed somehow, some way. Fat jokes aside, it's refreshing to see her shed her superficiality and look for something deeper — even if it is just so she can say that no man ever turned her down. In the end, she's the one that does the rejecting, and it makes perfect sense for her character arc.
4. "The Accurate Conception" (Season 5, Episode 3)
Blanche Devereaux shows a softer side in this episode, that of being a mother. Her daughter Rebecca (Debra Engle) has come to visit and the two are bonding more than ever. That's why Rebecca finally tells Blanche something she's been dreading: that she's decided to have a baby, by artificial insemination. Blanche, as a result, goes from loving and caring mom to judgmental and disgusted within seconds. She even tells her daughter that she should wait until after she's dead to pursue insemination.
Throughout the episode, Blanche struggles to come to terms with the fact that her son-in-law will be a test tube. Due to her conservative nature, she thinks the idea is "unnatural." And her promiscuous side can't believe that her daughter wants to have a baby without the fun part of trying. In the end, she comes to support her daughter's decision, even though she and her fellow Golden Girls can't help but shudder and say, "Ewwww," every time they think about it.
5. "Sister of the Bride" (Season 6, Episode 14)
Again tackling a controversial (at the time) issue, this episode has Blanche's brother, Clayton (Monte Markham), coming for a visit with "a big surprise." Although it was revealed in a previous season that Clayton was gay, Blanche is convinced that his homosexuality was "just a phase," and he's going to introduce a woman he's fallen for. Instead, he's brought his fiancé, Doug (Michael Eyr). When they announce they're getting married, the audience erupts into surprised laughter. 1991 was a different time, decades before gay marriage became commonplace or even legal. Blanche, however, feels that there's nothing funny about it. She spends most of the episode being angry over the impending nuptials, even screaming "Fire! Fire!" when Clayton starts to introduce Doug to someone at a public event.
However, after a heart-to-heart with Sophia (Estelle Getty), Blanche comes to see that her brother's happiness is far more important than her homophobia. It's interesting that it's Sophia, the oldest character on the show, who brings Blanche to her senses, by asking, "Why did you marry George?" When Blanche responds because she loved him and wanted to spend her life with him, Sophia reminds her that's how Clayton and Doug feel. If only everyone could accept this simple logic.
6. "Witness" (Season 6, Episode 21)
The main plotline of this episode involves Rose and "the Cheese Man," who is pursuing her boyfriend, Miles (Harold Gould). A major subplot is Blanche's desperation to become part of The Daughters of the Old South, an organization that is meant to honor born-and-bred Southerners. Dorothy (Bea Arthur) helps Blanche research her family history and takes great joy in discovering that Blanche's great-great-grandmother was from Buffalo, "a little outside of Georgia." To boot, she's a Feldman. Dorothy has some of her best lines in this episode, relishing the fact that Blanche is "that Yankee Doodle Gal."
Despite this blip in her tried-and-true Southern roots, Blanche decides to attend the initiation ceremony and still try to be part of the group. However, when she reads her family history and the other "Daughters of the Old South" react with outrage, Blanche stands straight and delivers a fantastic monologue about how we all may be different, but we are also all Americans. It's a proud moment for her, and it's good to see her embracing her roots, even if it does make her a Yankee.
7. "Room Seven" (Season 7, Episode 11)
There are plenty of emotional episodes in the final season, and this is definitely one of them. In this episode, Blanche learns that her grandmother's home, Hollingsworth Plantation, is soon to be demolished. As the place where she had many childhood memories, Blanche can't bear the thought of no longer being able to visit her Grammy's home. To try to stop the demolition, Blanche handcuffs herself to the radiator in her old room, which was most recently Room Seven in a bed and breakfast.
While in the room, she discovers over a period of time that just because the physical place is gone, it doesn't mean her memories will be gone. It's a fantastic episode that focuses on life and death, and the importance of honoring our pasts, while also learning to live in the present. Sophia also has a near-death experience in this episode, in which she goes to heaven and sees her long-dead husband, Sal. Both Blanche and Sophia have to learn the hard way not to linger on what might have been, and embrace the present.
All episodes of The Golden Girls are now streaming on Hulu.