Amongst the zany cast of the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, there are few mainstay characters more irritating than Ray's mother, Marie. She can be quite overbearing, intrusive, and way overprotective of her children. She also seems to revel in slighting Debra at just about every turn. This includes subtle, but mean-spirited critiques regarding her cooking. Still, while the matriarch of the Barone family can have a cruel and condescending side, she can also be loving, caring, and nurturing. Throughout much of the series, she exudes a motherly love for her sons and support for her family at large.
She has some charming bouts of warmheartedness and a humorous wit - especially when it comes to the banter between her and Frank. She's also had her share of moments of being unjustly slighted and ridiculed, drawing some degree of sympathy. With that said, let's take a look at 5 instances that viewers felt bad for Marie, along with 5 that most found distasteful.
Felt Bad For Her: Debra Stealing Her Braciole Thunder
Marie truly prides herself on her cooking - seemingly above all else. Debra, by contrast, doesn't exactly make mouths water with most of her dishes; her zesty lemon chicken notwithstanding. Thus, Marie takes it particularly hard when Debra has a breakthrough and cooks a great meal - an Italian beef dish known as braciole. Marie seems to be engaging in her usual intrusiveness and petty jealousy when she finds out Frank is sneaking over to their house to eat this dish.
But it's soon revealed that this food holds sentimentality with Marie and Frank. Given this significance of the braciole, and Marie's deep pride in her cooking, one can't help but feel a bit bad for her when Debra steals both her thunder - and seemingly Frank.
Hated Her: Her Meatball Recipe Sabotage
When it comes to this cooking rivalry between Marie and Debra, however, Ray's wife usually ends up on the losing end of it. Though this is aspect is arguably Debra's own doing, one episode features Marie at her absolute worst.
In it, she deliberately sabotages a meatball recipe Debra attempts to use in order to make the meatballs taste bad. She slaps a false label on a bottle of tarragon, causing Ray's wife to inevitably ruin the flavor. While one can empathize with Marie's prideful nature when it comes to cooking, she certainly takes it too far in this case.
Felt Bad For Her: Ridiculed By Robert's Ex-Wife
Marie often stands out as one of the more abrasive and repellent characters of Everybody Loves Raymond. Still, it's definitely easy to empathize and root for her in the episode, "Robert's Divorce." Much of the episode features a flashback honing in on Robert's doomed relationship with his rather cruel ex-wife, Joanne.
Though Marie tends to show favoritism towards Ray, her support and love for Robert is admirable in this one, as she defends his honor after being scorned by Joanne. Despite Marie's own harsh nature at times, it's safe to say that most viewers felt bad for her after Joanne lobs some choice words her way by rightfully supporting her son.
Hated Her: Ruining Debra's Tupperware Party
Ray's mom tends to take quite a few jabs at Debra - but in the episode, "The Letter," she ends up poking the bear a bit too much. She officially pushes Ray's wife to her limit after barging into her carefully-organized Tupperware party and essentially ruins the event. Of course, since she lives just across the street, these uninvited intrusions rear their head often.
Still, Marie somehow reaches a new level of annoying intrusiveness in this season 2 episode. It's so bad that it coaxes Debra to write a letter communicating her feelings towards her and telling her - in so many words - to back off.
Felt Bad For Her: Marie's Unpopular Tofu Turkey
When it comes to Marie's succulent and savory dishes - lean, healthy meals aren't exactly a key feature. Yet, she decides to do a 180 in the episode, "No Fat," where she makes it a point to put on a healthy thanksgiving.
It's true that most viewers wouldn't want to try to grotesque jello mold of a turkey she presents to her family. Still, it's pretty brutal to watch everyone squirm and try to act like this tofu turkey is perfectly fine. It's particularly rough when they end up ordering out - especially since Marie's intentions of having a low-cholesterol thanksgiving were clearly good.
Hated Her: Backing A Car Through Ray And Debra's Living Room
Most of Marie's slights and intrusions are inflicted on an emotional and/or mental level. Yet, in the episode, "The Wallpaper," she manages to carry this out in a physical manner. She literally barges in on Ray and Debra by way of backing a car through their living room. Though this is accidental, her incompetence and nonchalant manner are pretty irritating, to say the least.
Even though she's essentially decimated Ray and Debra's living room, she still finds a way to be naive and even somewhat acts like a victim.
Felt Bad For Her: Seeing Ray And Debra Discard Her Suggestive Sculpture
The episode entitled, "Marie's Sculpture," revolves around a rather suggestive piece of artwork that Ray's mother has spent a great deal of time crafting. In her naivety, she had meant to construct an abstract sculpture, which she gifts to Ray and Debra.
Yet, the clearly subjective nature of the piece eventually leads to Ray getting ready to discard it by putting a trash bag over it. Marie eventually does have the epiphany that her sculpture resembles, erm, "female anatomy." Regardless, it's a bit heartbreaking to see Marie walk in on Ray as he's preparing to trash this well-intentioned gift that she worked hard on making.
Hated Her: Her Favoritism Towards Amy For Being A "Good Girl"
Ray's mother demonstrates quite a few negative qualities in the episode "Good Girls." Not only is her distaste for Debra on full display, but she also conveys a prudish nature, and has no qualms about gossiping to Frank over very personal details in Amy's life. After some awkward conversations, it's discovered that Marie favors Amy over Debra. The reason? Because Amy was apparently a virgin upon meeting Robert, while Debra had not been when getting with Ray.
Not only this, but Frank eventually reveals that Marie is a hypocrite, as she hadn't been a "good girl," as Marie colorfully put it, before they got married.
Felt Bad For Her: Getting Yelled At By Robert And Pleading To The FBI Agent To Hire Him
Marie certainly outdoes herself in the episode, "Lucky Suit," as she manages to ruin the confidence-building suit Robert intends to wear for an important job interview with the FBI. Still, his harsh, and borderline creepy blow-up directed at his mother is somewhat hard to take.
These sympathetic feelings towards his regretful mother only increase later in the episode. She ends up going to the FBI office to plead her case and try to get Robert hired - only to get shot down.
Hated Her: Making A Scene At Robert's Wedding
Marie may favor Amy over Debra, though you wouldn't really know it at Amy and Robert's wedding. At the ceremony, she swiftly gets up out of her seat after the call for any "objections" is spoken.
The reasoning for her appalling behavior is somewhat brought to light as she explains she merely wants him to marry Amy for love - and not for any family pressure. Still, in the heat of the moment, this is a truly cringe-worthy move - especially since her interruption is cut off from an episode-ending cliffhanger.