#s03e17 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

rachelkaser · 1 year

Text

Stay Golden Sunday: My Brother, My Father

Sophia asks that Dorothy and Stan pretend to be married while her brother Angelo, a Catholic priest, visits. Blanche and Rose are in a production of Sound of Music, but a hurricane disrupts everyone’s plans.

Picture It...

Blanche and Rose enter the kitchen and Sophia is once again cooking -- this time lasagna al forno, Dorothy’s favorite food. Dorothy enters and asks Blanche and Rose how their auditions went, and Blanche complains that they got bit parts in Sound of Music due to the new theater director not swinging her way. Dorothy notices the lasagna al forno and asks what favor Sophia wants. She gets her answer when the doorbell rings and it’s Stan -- Sophia invited him for dinner, much to Dorothy’s consternation.

ROSE: We’re doing Sound of Music, and Blanche is mad because she didn’t get the lead. DOROTHY: I can’t believe that you weren’t cast in the lead role. You’ve gotten it the past five years in a row! BLANCHE: Well, they hired a new director this year, and he has no taste. ROSE: Blanche used to sleep with the old one. The new director’s gay! BLANCHE: A gay theater director. Did you ever hear of such a thing? DOROTHY: That’s absolutely shocking. Next thing you know, they’ll have Black basketball players in the NBA.

Sophia explains that her brother, Dorothy’s uncle Angelo, is visiting America to see the family. He also wants to stop in Miami to wish Dorothy and Stan a happy 40th anniversary -- given that he’s a priest, Sophia hasn’t told him about the divorce. She asks that Dorothy and Stan pretend to be married for one day. Stanley agrees to it for $50. Dorothy initially resists, but Sophia threatens to invite Stan to dinner every night, which makes her cave. As the rain picks up outside, Rose and Blanche practice their lines for Sound of Music, unintentionally triggering Sophia. Dorothy comes home, with Stan following shortly after.

The bell rings, and Sophia hustles out Blanche and Rose, who grab their costumes and leave via the kitchen. Angelo enters and greets Dorothy, Sophia, and Stan affectionately. Dorothy and Stan snipe at each other, and Sophia tries to cover for it. Dorothy asks to see Sophia alone, and they go into the kitchen. Dorothy refuses to keep playing along, saying it’s too upsetting. Angelo enters, asking for a shot of scotch for his “heart medicine.” Dorothy almost spills the truth, but Angelo unintentionally guilt-trips her by saying he disobeyed doctor’s orders to visit them. She once again caves and hugs Stan when he steps into the kitchen.

ANGELO: It’s time to take my heart medicine. SOPHIA: You need a glass of water to take your pills? ANGELO: No pills. I take a shot of scotch -- 12-years-old, if you’ve got it. DOROTHY: Uncle Angelo, I have a confession to make. ANGELO: Good, I get my scotch, we go in the closet.

A couple of hours later, Dorothy is getting along as best she can, as Angelo is just about to leave for the airport. Suddenly Rose and Blanche return home, in full nun’s costumes -- their director told them to go home immediately, as a hurricane is heading for Miami. Angelo enters, and the other Girls cover by pretending to be actual nuns. Stan enters and says an emergency alert just reported the hurricane is about to make landfall and everyone is to shelter in place. This means the six of them could be trapped together for days.

As rain batters the house, Rose and Blanche make awkward conversation with Angelo, still pretending to be nuns. After one too many insults from Dorothy, Stan almost gives the game away, but Sophia smacks him into silence. She tells everyone to go to bed, with Angelo sleeping in her room. Dorothy wordlessly kicks Stan out when he tries to join her. Later that night, Angelo arrives and asks the two of them to make up and for Dorothy to let Stan sleep in her room. She acquiesces until Angelo leaves.

youtube

When Stan attempts to get into bed, Dorothy physically kicks him out and tells him to sleep on the floor. Stan begins reminiscing about their honeymoon, where Dorothy kicked him out of bed. He convinced her to let him back into bed with Gershwin classics, which he attempts to recreate. When Dorothy seems on the verge of relenting, Sophia enters and forces herself into the bed between them. The next day, Angelo almost catches Blanche talking to one of her boyfriends on the phone, but she passes the deception check.

Dorothy and Stan enter and Angelo notes today is their 40th wedding anniversary. Rose says her parents renewed their vows on their 40th, and excitedly suggests they should do the same thing but almost immediately admits it’s a terrible idea. Stan, however, wants to go along with it. Dorothy drags him into the living room, and he proposes remarriage as being together reminds him of how much he missed Dorothy. He says it must be fated, as they have a priest in the house. On cue, Angelo enters, admitting he’s not a priest.

youtube

Sophia is aghast, and Angelo explains: He intended to join the priesthood due to promising his and Sophia’s mother on her deathbed he would do so. However, during a stop at a trattoria in Palermo, he met a beautiful waitress named Philomena and fell in love, so he forwent the priesthood and married her instead. He thought Sophia would disown him for breaking his promise, but Sophia says they both had their own lives to live. Dorothy and Stan confess they’re divorced -- Angelo is thrilled, as he never liked Stan.

Blanche and Rose confess they’re not nuns either, and Sophia takes Angelo into the kitchen to explain. Rose leaves to play outside, while Blanche goes to meet her horny boyfriend, still in full costume. Stan dejectedly says he was joking about getting remarried, and he gets up to leave. Sophia offers him the $50, which he turns down. Dorothy watches him go, looking a little morose as some Gershwin plays over the end credits.

“Pull yourself together, pussycat. Gershwin confused a lot of people.”

We’ve got yet another Stan-based episode -- he’s turning out to be quite the regular this season -- and this is one of my favorites so far. You can’t go wrong in an episode that has both Bill Dana as Angelo and Herb Edelman as Stan. Them combined with all four actresses putting in fantastic comedic performances makes for one of the most engaging episodes of the season -- it sure makes what might otherwise be a tedious episode feel decently paced.

ROSE: *performing her Sound of Music lines* The Nazis are coming! The Nazis are coming! SOPHIA: *running in from the kitchen* Everybody, grab a gun and go to the basement!

While we unfortunately won’t get to see Nancy Walker as Angela again, we’re instead graced with another Sophia sibling played by a talented actor: Ersatz priest and butt man, Angelo. Bill Dana manages to keep pace perfectly with the actresses, playing the part of the man-pretending-to-be-a-priest perfectly. Like Angela, he will turn up again later living in Miami so he can participate in future episodes without having to come all the way from Palermo.

Speaking of Angela, this is another instance where an improbable set of lies and miscommunications somehow results in members of Sophia’s family not knowing what the others are up to for decades. This one is even more improbable than the fight in “Sisters,” as somehow no one in Angelo’s family knew he never entered the priesthood but was happily married to Sir Mix-A-Lot’s muse for an entire human lifetime. First of all, I don’t buy that Angelo and Philomena were married for 72 years, as Angelo would be at least 90 years old, which he certainly doesn’t look. Second, I have to presume that he never took his wife to visit his family -- he mentions going to Dorothy’s wedding -- and I can’t help but think no self-respecting Sicilian woman would put up with that.

STAN: Hello, Mama Bear. Papa Bear is back in the cave. DOROTHY: I could vomit just looking at you.

Just as with Angela, the impetus behind the miscommunication turns out to not be that big of a deal. Angelo was afraid his family would be furious with him if they discovered he broke a promise to his mother on her deathbed -- only for Sophia to inform him that she didn’t keep her promise either. She wanted her mother to die happy, but after that she had her own life to live. She and Dorothy instantly forgive Angelo, as they can’t exactly cast judgement on anyone for telling untruths to cover up their past given their actions in the episode.

There’s one point where I at first thought the episode was cheating -- by which I mean having a character behave in a way we later learn is contrary to their true motives. That’s the scene in the kitchen where Angelo takes a shot of scotch for his heart and earnestly tells Dorothy how happy he is that her marriage lasted in spite of Sophia’s grim predictions. Later he tells Dorothy that he’s never liked Stan and is thrilled that they’re divorced. However, I realized upon rewatching it that Angelo is actually trying to tell his niece he’s happy for her on both occasions -- it’s just that the former scene is written to make Dorothy feel as guilty as possible.

SOPHIA: Angelo, look! Saint Francis of Assisi! *Angelo, Rose, and Blanche all turn to look and Sophia slaps Stan on the neck* Shut up and play ball, you yutz!

This is also one of the more balanced episodes this season -- I think I’ve reached the point now where I will stop commenting on an episode’s balance unless it’s to point out an imbalance. By this point, I think the writers have figured out how to incorporate all four Girls into an episode’s plot well. And, when all else fails, just pair them up to take on the A and B plots in separate groups, just as happens in this episode.

I don’t have much to say about Blanche and Rose’s B-plot, where they play nuns in Sound of Music, except that both of them then having to play nuns when caught by Uncle Angelo is peak sitcom silliness -- and I love it. Especially since Blanche can’t repress her sexuality for even half a day to keep her cover from blowing. I do wonder what Uncle Angelo thought of the two visiting nuns having rooms in the house, but presumably that’s why Sophia hustled him out of the room first.

DOROTHY: Whew! It is really coming down out there! ROSE: What’s coming down? DOROTHY: . . . the Liberace marquee at Caesar’s Palace. Rain! Rain, Rose!

After the last episode, where the Girls went all the way to Hollywood, this episode is spent entirely within the house and over the course of a single day. There’s a lot of traffic in the house, especially once six people are in it, but it’s those episodes I really enjoy -- really gives the episode the feeling of a stageplay. I enjoy how much use we get out of the main living room and kitchen sets, with one scene set in Dorothy’s bedroom for a literal and metaphorical change of scenery.

This is possibly the first episode where Stan’s affection for Dorothy has ever been portrayed as sincere and genuine, or at least where they haven’t tempered that impression by Stan being awful in some way. Sure, he’s already asked Dorothy to get back together with him once already, but that one was, again, tempered by his immediately chasing after Chrissy when Dorothy turns him down. Here he’s forced to leave with his head down afterwards, and it’s the most vulnerable we’ve thus far seen him.

SOPHIA: Angelo! ANGELO: Sophia, you look terrific! You haven’t changed a bit in 40 years! SOPHIA: Angelo, you’re a priest -- you shouldn’t lie! ANGELO: Ah, don’t worry about it, don’t worry about. Before the trip, I said an extra 50 Hail Marys in case I felt like cutting loose. Dorothy! DOROTHY: Uncle Angelo, it is so good to see you! ANGELO: Dorothy, you know something? You look more beautiful now than you did on your wedding day! STAN: You just used up all 50 Hail Marys on that one.

One final note: Apparently director Terry Hughes knew the audience would have a good long laugh at the visual of Angelo sitting on the couch awkwardly between the costumed Blanche and Rose. To keep them in the dark until the cameras started rolling, he put a curtain down over the stage and asked the audience politely to watch the monitors until they finished raising it. While most of the actual laugh doesn’t make it into the episode, you can tell the audience enjoys the surprise.

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

Favorite part of the episode:

Rose and Blanche have to think on their feet when meeting Uncle Angelo.