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Sick and Tired, Part 2 is the second episode of the fifth season of The Golden Girls and the one-hundred and fourth episode overall. Directed by Terry Hughes and written by Susan Harris, it premiered on NBC-TV on September 23rd, 1989. It is the second part of the Season 5 premiere.
Summary[]
Dorothy's friend Dr. Weston refers her to Dr. Chang, who diagnoses her with chronic fatigue syndrome. Although there is no cure, Dorothy is relieved to put a name to her condition. Blanche stays awake for three days and deliriously writes a manuscript, but is rejected by publishers. She believes there will be nothing special about her if she fails to achieve fame, but Rose explains that her Minnesota upbringing taught her that friends and family are special.
Plot[]
Dorothy visits her friend and pediatrician Dr. Harry Weston, who empathizes with Dorothy and agrees that she is sick with an illness despite the difficulty for doctors to find a specific diagnosis. He recommends her to see another specialist he knows: Dr. Chang.
Back at home, Blanche is delirious after depriving herself of sleep to write her novel, claiming she has written incredible material. When offered to Rose to read it, Rose simply tells Blanche she has written mostly nonsense. Offended, Blanche struggles between thinking no one understands her genius and the world needing to read her works. She is eventually comforted and put to bed by Rose.
Dorothy is accompanied by Sophia to visit Dr. Chang. She is relieved when Dr. Chang diagnosis Dorothy's condition as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), which is relatively new in the medical world and often dismissed by other doctors since there are no obvious signs that can be seen, and doctors can often blame the victim for failing to diagnose anything. He says he'll run some tests to confirm that this is what Dorothy has, and tells her that CFS has never killed anyone, and remission works out differently for everyone, but so far there is no cure for it, so she simply has to live with it and treat her symptoms individually. Despite this, Dorothy is relieved to finally identify what she has.
At home again, Blanche is angry to receive another rejection letter from a publisher to publish her novel. She is also offended at the rejection letters being form letters, saying that they could not even give her any concrete reason and that she could take any harsh criticism thrown her way. Rose tries to comfort Blanche again, telling her that being kind and loving is enough to define a person when Blanche worried that she would not have anything to define herself after her looks fade, which was a pretense for her desire to be a novelist. Blanche dismisses Rose as simply spouting more "Minnesotan crap," which sets Rose to tell Blanche off for always criticizing her upbringing and culture, and that Blanche is no better than her. Blanche is stunned silent, but when Rose asks "Was I too harsh?", Blanche smiles at her.
Later that night, Dorothy takes the rest of the girls out to dinner to celebrate finally discovering her diagnosis. As they drink champagne, Dorothy spots Dr. Budd also having dinner with his wife. She rounds on him, giving an impassioned testimony of how she was made to feel crazy and a fool for seeking his help. When she mentions that she may have been taken more seriously if she were a man, Dr. Budd makes an attempt to interrupt Dorothy to leave, but is silenced by his own wife. Dorothy continues on, remarking that he had lost his humanity as a doctor, and wishes that if he were one day seriously sick himself, that he receive the care of a doctor better than he is. She then returns to the girls to make a toast with their champagne, but all of them are shocked when Rose reveals it costs them $430 a bottle. Sophia then spikes her own glass with excess salt, complaining to the waiter to taste the quality, and getting their entire meal comped.[1]
Cast[]
Main Cast[]
- Bea Arthur as Dorothy Zbornak
- Rue McClanahan as Blanche Devereaux
- Betty White as Rose Nylund
- Estelle Getty as Sophia Petrillo
Guest Stars[]
- Richard Mulligan as Harry Weston
- Park Overall as Laverne Todd
- Keone Young as Dr. Chang
- Michael McGuire as Dr. Budd
- Bibi Besch as Helen Budd
- Glenn Walker Harris Jr. as Oliver
- Eric Poppick as Waiter
Notes[]
- 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.
- This is Rue McClanahan's favorite episode, as she loved being disheveled and unglamorous.
- This is another crossover episode with Empty Nest.
- Dorothy is wearing Chanel earrings in the restaurant scene.
- The $430 bottle of champagne would have been worth over $880 in 2020.
Production[]
- Series creator Susan Harris based this two-part episode on her own experiences with chronic fatigue syndrome.
- The end of the urine sample scene is currently not airing in syndication. This is most likely due to Dr. Weston's "sex in public" comment. However, the end of the scene is available to view on Hulu.
- During the scene in the restaurant where Dorothy confronts Dr. Budd, she is constantly looking to the left of Dr. Budd. Because she is delivering a long monologue, she may have cue cards or a prompt to refer to to help her remember her lines.
Goofs[]
- In the scene where Oliver was giving Dr. Weston his urine sample, his urine cup was short and fat. When he asks Dorothy how old she is, the cup is long and cylindrical. Then it goes back to short and fat.
- When Blanche is questioning why Dorothy took Rose to New York with her, Sophia calls Blanche incredibly insensitive and recounts Blanche saying she was getting a pedicure while her husband lay dying. Blanche states her husband had been in a coma for a few days, and the pedicure was much needed as the spring season was approaching and open toed shoes would be worn. This contradicts the information in "In A Bed of Rose's", when Blanche says that a police officer called her and told her that George was dead.[2]
- When Dorothy finds out the champagne she ordered is over $400, she blames Rose for not telling her the price, even though Dorothy ordered and told the waiter to bring them the finest champagne.
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References[]
- ↑ The Golden Girls, Season 5, Episodes 2, "Sick and Tired, Part 2". Harris, Susan (writer) & Hughes, Terry (director) (September 30th, 1989)
- ↑ The Golden Girls, Season 1, Episode 15, “In A Bed of Rose’s”. Harris, Susan (writer) & Hughes, Terry (director) (January 11th, 1986)