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Sick and Tired, Part 1 is the first episode of the fifth season of The Golden Girls and the one-hundred and third episode overall. Directed by Terry Hughes and written by Susan Harris, it premiered on NBC-TV on September 23rd, 1989. It is the first part of the Season 5 premiere.

Summary[]

After five months of worsening fatigue and pain, Dorothy believes she is seriously ill. Two doctors tell her there's nothing wrong with her, as does a specialist whom Sophia then rebukes. Traveling with Rose to New York City, Dorothy sees neurologist Dr. Budd, who tells her she's just aging and any other problem is in her head, despite two psychiatric assessments that she's mentally healthy. Dorothy breaks down, thinking she may be crazy, but Rose reassures her that she is sick. Sophia fears losing Dorothy to an unknown disease. Meanwhile, Blanche decides to become a novelist, but immediately suffers writer's block.

Plot[]

While preparing dinner, Blanche announces to Rose and Sophia that she believes her destiny is to become a romance novelist. When Dorothy arrives home, she is uninterested in Blanche's revelation, stating that she feels ill and hardly had any strength to work through the day. Rose and Sophia worry for Dorothy, mentioning that her illness has persisted for at least five months already, and press her to see a doctor. Despite having gotten a second opinion already, Dorothy agrees to visit a doctor again and to ask for specialist recommendations.

Dorothy visits Dr. Stevens with Sophia, to which he finds nothing clinically wrong with Dorothy after having run multiple tests. Both Dorothy and Sophia insist there is something wrong, but Dr. Stevens can only suggest that Dorothy is suffering something mental, and suggests the cause may be from depression for leading a widowed, single life. This only upsets Sophia, who insists there is something wrong with Dorothy before they leave. Later that night, Blanche complains of suffering from "writer's block" despite Dorothy mentioning Blanche needs to actually write something to claim suffering from it. Blanche then postulates that her writer's block could be cured if she went to New York with Dorothy to see the neurologist that Dr. Stevens recommended, but Dorothy remains firm that she would rather be accompanied by Rose since she feels more at ease with her and that Rose believes in Dorothy suffering from a disease.

In New York, Dorothy meets with Dr. Budd. He, too, reaches the same findings as all of Dorothy's previous doctors. When he suggests that Dorothy is suffering mentally instead, Dorothy produces testimony from two other psychologists that she is mentally sound. However, Dr. Budd is dismissive and short with Dorothy, and repudiates the psychological findings Dorothy provides. He continues to simplify the problem as her getting older and needing to do something different with her life. Dorothy leaves wordlessly. She returns to her hotel with Rose, where Dorothy pretends to put up a front until she eventually breaks down in despair and Rose comforts her.

Once home, Blanche still has not progressed on writing her novel, and Dorothy is too fatigued to come to dinner. Blanche and Rose try to comfort a worried Sophia, who laments on the possibility of outliving her own daughter.[1]

Tall Tales[]

Back in St. Olaf...[]

While preparing for the barbecue, Rose mentions that they never had a barbecue in St. Olaf after "the tragedy". When Dorothy asks what Rose is taking about, Rose says she can't say -- but it had to do with barbecuing elk, a big fire and someone who lost his balance.

Later, while Blanche compares writing to giving birth, she exclaims "Once you get started, you can't stop!" Rose contradicts her, saying that Ingrid Thurman stopped giving birth to twins right after she gave birth to her son Hans. When Blanche asked what happened to Franz, the other twin, Rose replies that he just "stayed in". She admits she didn't know how long, but Hans and Franz were later a year apart in school.

In their hotel room in New York, Rose tells Dorothy about Gustav Ljungqvist, who became sick with a mysterious illness and later died. At the cemetery, Gustav's wife Beatrice became hysterical to the point where she had to be sedated. When Beatrice woke up, she explained that she heard her husband say "We never paid our '78 through '86 income taxes." Gustav's business partner Bergstrom concluded that Gustav had to be alive, because only Gustav would know that, so everyone raced to the cemetery to dig him up. However, when they opened that coffin, Gustav was dead. An incredulous Dorothy asks her what the point of the story was, Rose says that Gustav didn't die from his mysterious illness -- he lived and recovered, though he unfortunately died from the lack of air in the coffin. She adds that to top it all off, the IRS was waiting for Bergstrom at the cemetery to arrest him, so Bergstrom grabbed the sheriff's handgun and killed himself. Since the grave was still open and everyone was there, the town decided to bury Bergstrom with Gustav. Unfortunately, they later found out that Bergstrom wanted to be cremated.

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Guest Stars[]

  • Jeffrey Tambor as Dr. Stevens
  • Michael McGuire as Dr. Budd

Notes[]

  • Rose's $6 glass of tomato juice would be ~$12.00 in 2019, adjusted for inflation.

Production[]

  • This episode marks the start of an updated opening sequence. Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty now have new clips during their credit. When shown in Lifetime syndication, this version of the opening is shown only during several episodes from Season 7.
  • Series creator Susan Harris based this two-part episode on her own experiences with chronic fatigue syndrome.

Goofs[]

  • Dr. Stevens seems to miss the fact that Dorothy has a constant sore throat, swollen glands, and fevers, which don't suggest anything to do with depression or, as Dr. Budd calls it, getting old. Yet, that actually happened often when chronic fatigue syndrome was first discovered. Chronic fatigue syndrome was officially classified by the CDC in 1987, which had previously been labeled as "myalgic encephalomyelitis" and still used in other parts of the world.

Site Navigation[]

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List of The Golden Girls episodes

Season 1 The EngagementGuess Who's Coming to the WeddingRose the PrudeTransplantThe TriangleOn Golden GirlsThe CompetitionBreak-InBlanche and the Younger ManThe Heart AttackThe Return of Dorothy's ExThe Custody BattleA Little RomanceThat Was No LadyIn a Bed of Rose'sThe Truth Will OutNice and EasyThe OperationSecond MotherhoodAdult EducationThe FluJob HuntingBlind AmbitionsBig DaddyThe Way We Met
Season 2 End of the CurseLadies of the EveningTake Him, He's MineIt's a Miserable LifeIsn't It RomanticBig Daddy's Little LadyFamily AffairVacationJoust Between FriendsLove, Rose'Twas The Nightmare Before ChristmasThe SistersThe Stan Who Came to DinnerThe ActorBefore and AfterAnd Then There Was OneBedtime StoryForgive Me, FatherLong Day's Journey into MarinaraWhose Face is This, Anyway?Dorothy's Prized PupilDiamond in the RoughSon-in-Law DearestTo Catch a NeighborA Piece of CakeEmpty Nests
Season 3 Old FriendsOne for the MoneyBringing Up BabyThe HousekeeperNothing to Fear But Fear ItselfLetter to GorbachevStrange BedfellowsBrotherly LoveA Visit from Little SvenThe AuditThree on a CouchCharlie's BuddyThe ArtistBlanche's Little GirlDorothy's New FriendGrab That DoughMy Brother, My FatherGolden Moments, Part 1Golden Moments, Part 2And Ma Makes ThreeLarceny and Old LaceRose's Big AdventureMixed BlessingsMister TerrificMother's Day
Season 4 Yes, We Have No HavanasThe Days and Nights of Sophia PetrilloThe One That Got AwayYokel HeroBang the Drum, StanleySophia's Wedding, Part 1Sophia's Wedding, Part 2Brother, Can You Spare That JacketScared StraightStan Takes a WifeThe AuctionBlind DateThe Impotence of Being ErnestLove Me TenderValentine's DayTwo Rode TogetherYou Gotta Have HopeFiddler On the RopesTill Death Do We VolleyHigh AnxietyLittle SisterSophia's ChoiceRites of SpringForeign ExchangeWe're Outta Here, Part 1We're Outta Here, Part 2
Season 5 Sick and Tired, Part 1Sick and Tired, Part 2The Accurate ConceptionRose Fights BackLove Under the Big TopDancing in the DarkNot Another MondayThat Old FeelingComedy of ErrorsAll That JazzEbb TideHave Yourself a Very Little ChristmasMary Has a Little LambTriple PlayClinton Avenue MemoirsLike the Beep Beep Beep of the Tom-TomAn Illegitimate Concern72 HoursTwice In a LifetimeSisters and Other StrangersCheatersThe Mangiacavallo Curse Makes a Lousy Wedding PresentAll Bets Are OffThe President's Coming! The President's Coming!, Part 1The President's Coming! The President's Coming!, Part 2
Season 6 Blanche DeliversOnce, In St. OlafIf At Last You Do SucceedSnap Out Of ItWham, Bam, Thank You MammyFeelingsZborn AgainHow Do You Solve a Problem Like Sophia?Mrs. George DevereauxGirls Just Wanna Have Fun... Before They DieStand By Your ManEbbtide's RevengeThe Bloom Is Off the RoseSisters of the BrideMiles to GoThere Goes the Bride, Part 1There Goes the Bride, Part 2Older and WiserMelodramaEven Grandmas Get the BluesWitnessWhat a Difference a Date MakesLove for SaleNever Yell Fire in a Crowded Retirement Home, Part 1Never Yell Fire in a Crowded Retirement Home, Part 2Henny Penny — Straight, No Chaser
Season 7 Hey, Look Me OverThe Case of the Libertine BelleBeauty and the BeastThat's For Me to KnowWhere's Charlie?Mother LoadDateline: MiamiThe Monkey Show, Part 1The Monkey Show, Part 2Ro$e Love$ Mile$Room SevenFrom Here to the PharmacyThe Pope's RingOld BoyfriendsGoodbye, Mr. GordonThe CommitmentsQuestions and AnswersEbbtide VI: The Wrath of StanJourney to the Center of AttentionA Midwinter Night's Dream, Part 1A Midwinter Night's Dream, Part 2Rose: Portrait of a WomanHome Again, Rose, Part 1Home Again, Rose, Part 2One Flew Out of the Cuckoo's Nest, Part 1One Flew Out of the Cuckoo's Nest, Part 2

References[]

  1. The Golden Girls, Season 5, Episodes 1, "Sick and Tired, Part 1". Harris, Susan (writer) & Hughes, Terry (director) (September 23rd, 1989)
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