The Golden Girls: Second Motherhood

THE GOLDEN GIRLS: SECOND MOTHERHOOD

Written by: Christopher Lloyd

Directed by: Gary Shimokawa

Airdate: February 15, 1986

Each of the four Golden Girls has fraught issues with their children. One might think that one of them would welcome the chance for a Second Motherhood, but that is not the case. Second Motherhood has some strong dramatic moments, surprisingly effective physical comedy and a curious B-plot.

Blanche Devereaux (Rue McClanahan) has found her ideal man in Richard (Kevin McCarthy). He is rich, handsome, and available. Her thrill compounds when he asks her to marry him, which she accepts. There is a glitch though: he has children who are seven and nine. Blanche does not look forward to the idea of being a stepmother to such young children. Even though she and the kids do hit it off, Blanche realizes that she will always come third in Richard's life. His children, sadly, will come in second, for Richard, even though he is a good man, will always put business first. Sadly, Blanche opts to turn down his marriage proposal.

Her other roommates, Dorothy Zbornak (Bea Arthur) and Rose Nylund (Betty White) have a larger issue to contend with. They are replacing their shared toilet but find nothing but crooked plumbers. Worse is Lou (Alan Blumenfeld), as sexist a plumber as they have encountered. Dorothy angry rejects Lou's work, much to the consternation of her mother Sophia Petrillo (Estelle Getty). As Sophia points out, the man may be an idiot, but he knows how to fix a toilet. Eventually, after a few stumbles, Dorothy and Rose install the toilet.

There is nothing learned about the four female's backstory in Second Motherhood, possibly apart from Sophia's declaration that when she spots a hole in the ground where the toilet would be, she momentarily thought she was back in Sicily.   

Only one section is cut from most rebroadcasts. There is an extended scene of Blanche in Richard's jet that contains a great bit of physical comedy from McClanahan. Blanche accidentally has slung herself backwards on a chair and is desperate to prop herself back up before Richard notices his. His back is to her as he tells her his rags-to-riches story, and it is impossible not to laugh as Blanche works feverishly to be upright. She manages to bring herself up at exactly the right moment, a credit to director Gary Shimokawa. 

There is a lot of strong timing in Second Motherhood. When Blanche comes back to tell Dorothy and Rose about one of her wild dates with Richard, Rose is a bit too eager to discuss the toilet repairs. The blending of these two disparate stories works excellently in the episode. 

"Richard leaned over and took my hand and you know what he said?", Blanche tells Dorothy.

"What?", an eager Dorothy replies. 

"Our biggest worry will be tank sweat," the oblivious Rose replies. 

Second Motherhood has some great moments both verbally and visually. A good running gag is Dorothy's inability to remember Lou the plumber's name. I think it is a subconscious way for Dorothy to put the sexist Lou in his place, a deliberate snub against him. Their fight stemmed from his insistence that you have to be a man to install a toilet. This raises the ire of especially Dorothy, though Rose too is displeased. 

I think a better argument could be made that they were not incompetent because they were women. Rather, it is because they were total amateurs who were mostly winging it. They struggled to try and so much as lift the Dolan Standard Lowboy toilet Lou brought. Rose insisted that if the Egyptians could build the Pyramids, they could move a toilet, leading Dorothy to snap back that if Rose got her 20,000 Hebrews, she could move the toilet in no time. All I wondered is why they could not use a dolly to move it. 

I think McClanahan was the best in Second Motherhood, not surprising as she was the central point of the episode. Her physical comedy was excellent, but she also did well when she reluctantly turns down Richard's proposal. Arthur was great whenever she faced off against Lou and White did well stumbling her way to fixing the bathroom. Blumenfeld and McCarthy were good as the idiot Lou the plumber and Richard, the tycoon who was blind to the needs of others.

As a side note, I marveled at the sight of the main bathroom (Blanche probably had hers en suite). With the toilet, sink and walk-in shower, the house bathroom looks larger than some of the rooms. 

The B-plot of the toilet did not quite work for me. I do not think Rose and Dorothy would have faced such openly sexist figures (one of them snipping that they were getting into their feminist stage late). Most plumbers, at least the ones I know, would not have so openly insulted customers since they would want their business. 

Second Motherhood flowed well and was entertaining. It was not brilliant but good, so there is no need to flush it down the drain.

At the risk of sounding sexist, I wonder if the girls would have asked Coco to help them lift the toilet and put it together. 

6/10

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