Starting its seven-season run in 1985, The Golden Girls have given us their fair share of snarky comments and wholesome moments. Every episode seems to cause a commotion amongst the group to have everything be resolved with late-night cheesecake. The girls certainly do show their love and admiration for each other but they too have moral flaws that consistently cause problems with one another, and in real life, the makeup would require a good bit more than cheesecake to make amends. In this list, we will break down ten of the worst things the girls have ever done with many of those acts being aimed at the friends themselves.
Rose Ditched Her Friends To Win
While we can’t condemn Rose’s love for bowling or her surprising skill at it, it was a harsh move picking winning over her friends. In the episode known as “The Competition” Rose and Blanche decide to enter into a local bowling tournament. When they tell Dorothy she almost immediately agrees to hop on board.
After a quick conversation with Sophia, Rose learns that Dorothy is a far more skilled bowler than Blanche and decides to drop her team's co-founder from the competition. Her decision to drop Blanche was also partially based on their loss the prior year against the Nielsen Twins. After both Dorothy and Blanche find out about Rose’s decision, they are both understandably furious. When Blanche tells Rose that she recently partnered up with Olga Nielsen after finding her sister sleeping with her husband, Rose then decides the only logical thing to do is drop Dorothy for Sonja.
Sophia Berates Dorothy
Sophia is known for having the most outlandish insults and snarky comments throughout the series, and while some of them are certainly humorous, there are some that seem especially spiteful. In the first season, we learn that Sophia had a stroke that left her without a filter. This has been referenced as the main reason for her rudeness.
While Sophia does distribute the insults amongst the group she hones in on Dorothy more often than others. In flashbacks, we see that their relationship in Sicily was the exact same as it was when Sophia popped up on the screen for the first time. This leads us to believe that she may, in fact, have a life-long problem with verbal abuse that may have affected Dorothy growing up.
Blanche Enabled Rose Cheating
Blanche’s shallow characteristics often come out to affect the group in ways they are completely oblivious to. In the episode titled “Ro$e Love$ Mile$” Rose starts to get frustrated by her new beau’s frugality. When she brings up the subject to Blanche, she is coerced to attending a double date with her.
Blanches tells Rose that the men they are going to meet are wealthy and that she wouldn’t really need someone like Miles to make her happy anyway. In the meantime, Blanche had been charged with taking care of Sophia, who ended up flying back to Sicily to confront a runaway groom.
Dorothy Disregarded Blanche’s Problems
Season one taught us how fragile the girls' relationship could be with the episode “The Triangle”. In this episode, Dorothy's boyfriend Elliot makes a secret pass at Blanche. Looking for advice she talks to Rose about the situation who tells her the best route to go would be to tell Dorothy herself.
When Blanche confronts Dorothy, she is called a slew of insults and not given the benefit of the doubt. Appalled that she would be spoken to that way by a friend, Blanche demands Dorothy leave her home.
The Girls Didn’t Believe Rose’s Allegations
When Rose says she doesn’t like someone she has a solid reason for it. When we first see Rose’s little sister Holly in “Little Sister”, she seems to have the entire group smitten despite Rose’s clear warnings about how her character truly is.
They don’t even notice when she is left out of lunch outings and movie showings and Dorothy even goes as far as to give her a very condescending speech about how Rose feels about Holly. None of the girls really seem interested in being friends with her or apologizing for their behavior until Holly is caught sleeping with Blanche’s boyfriend.
Blanche Accuses Dorothy Of Trying To Steal Her Job
This is a moment where we can see the serious self-esteem issues that Blanche has. In the episode “Joust Between Friends” Dorothy is forced to take at least 10 weeks off from teaching. Not one to not have a job she asks Blanche for help in the meantime.
Blanche helps her get a job at the art museum where she works and is quickly threatened when Dorothy shows a rigorous work ethic. This is only strengthened by the growing relationship between Dorothy and her new boss. When Blanche suspects Dorothy of hiding something from her, she quits her job in a fit of rage only to learn that she was being thrown a surprise birthday party.
They Routinely Turned On Each Other
One of the most glaring flaws in the show comes from its theme revolving around friendship, but their content stemming from drama amongst the group. You would think that after years of living together you would better understand the people you are living with, and see the things they wouldn’t be capable of.
One of the worst things that these girls have done time and time again is turn on each other, and this list is only a few collected moments to prove it. The relationships are constantly strained in situations that almost always boil down to childish communication amongst mature adults.
Blanche Attempted To Sell Rose A Faulty Car
Blanche pops back up in this list for the fact she attempted to sell a faulty car to one of her best friends. When Rose is interested in her old car Blanche convinces her that the noises she hears from the engine didn’t mean anything major. We learn that this is a huge lie and Blanche only sold her the old one because she desperately needed money for a new set of wheels. When she finally decides to tell Rose this, she is informed that the car was actually stolen. This really only serves as a relief to Blanche, as the insurance company offered to pay for her new car.
Sophia Pretended To Be The Spirit Of Charlie
This is one of the worst moments for Sophia in season seven's “Where’s Charlie?”. Whenever Miles gives Rose a new friendship ring she begins to take the downfall of the relationship as a sign that her late husband Charlie does not approve of the situation.
Sophia marks this as a chance to have fun and convinces Rose that she was possessed by his spirit out of anger of the relationship. These events only make Rose more hesitant to date Miles before she eventually breaks up with him. When Sophia comes clean with Rose about her antics Rose decides the best thing to do is move out.
Sophia Leaves The Girls In Jail
“Ladies Of The Evening” was a humorous though cruel episode for some of the characters. When they learn that Burt Reynolds himself is going to Miami, all the girls jump at the chance to see him. With Sophia not being able to go with them she grew frustrated. The girls decided to hit up a hotel shortly before seeing their icon only to get busted when the cops suspect them for prostitution. Their pleas don’t have any effect on the officers and they are promptly booked and thrown into a cell. Sophia shows up after learning about the mistaken arrest and insults the group before leaving them there to see Burt Reynolds herself.