Job Hunting (S1E22)

Synopsis: Rose becomes distraught when she's laid off from her grief counseling job which puts a strain on the household; high school friend Barry Glick contacts Dorothy.

80s Flashback

Dorothy: “Look. You are 55, unemployed, your husband is dead, and you have no training.”

Blanche: “Let's face it, Rose. You're not exactly Mary Lou Retton.”

That's What She Said

Blanche: "The minute it goes in my mouth, I balloon up."

Crazy Continuity

We learn that Rose's husband Charlie died 5 years previously. Which still no makes no sense in the previous episode where Rose and her daughter review Charlie's will.

Musical Moments

Blanche opens up the episode awkwardly singing while chopping vegetables.

Let’s Get Political

Rose, searcing through the fridge: “Oh you'll never guess what I found!”

Dorothy: “Judge Crater.”

That’s What She Said

Rose: “It was five years before I knew what made your eyes go back in your head!”

Lewd Ladies

Rose, discussing how she never saw “a man” before her wedding night: “The only things I ever saw were the animals on the farm - you know, the bulls and the horses.”

Blanche: “Tough act to follow.”

Zbornak Zingers

Dorothy: “I am so glad that my date with Barry is tomorrow. The fat won't have time to show. It always takes a few days before it shows.”

Rose: “Where does it go in the meantime?”

Dorothy: “To Connecticut! How do I know where it goes?!”

Dorothy: “Well I just wanna be svelt for Barry."

Rose: "Barry Glick is very important to you."

Dorothy: "Barry was the man that I wanted to be the first.”

Rose: “First where?” 

Dorothy: “On Mars, Rose!” 

Insult Watch

Dorothy: “Rose, listen. You are feeling sorry for yourself. Sure, you're five years older - so am I, so is Blanche. All right, you have a few more wrinkles - so do I, so has Blanche. All right, you're a little thicker around the middle - so is Blanche!”

Tales from the Old South

Blanche, recounting her “first time:” “Anyhow, my first was Billy. Oh, I remember it so well, just like it was yesterday. That night under the dogwood trees, the air thick with perfume, and me with Billy... or Bobby? Yeah, Bobby. Yeah, it was Bobby... or was it Ben? Oh, who knows! Anyway, it started with a B!”

Product Placement

Rose: “Mrs. Montez found her cat. I'll bet she's happy, too.”

Sophia: “Not exactly. She found it under a Jeep Wagoneer.”

Best of B.E.D.

Blanche: “Well, I certainly didn't wait for my wedding night, honey. I couldn't. I had these urges. You know, in the South, we mature faster. I think it's the heat.”

Reel References

Blanche: “I used to have a waist just like Scarlett O'Hara. Well, you know that girl had an 18-inch waistline.”

Dorothy: “Blanche, that girl and her waistline were fiction.”

Golden Quotes

Blanche: “I hate phone calls in the middle of the night! Now I'll never get back to sleep. I'm as jumpy as a virgin as a prison rodeo!”

Critique: Fun fact: Rose's hobbies apparently include cheese making, stamp collecting, and viking history. This episode opens with Sophia bemoaning that they’re out of pepperoni. Apparently it's a hot commodity since Dorothy buys that nightstick in the season finale, but I digress. Obviously filmed early in the season, “Job Hunting” was an episode pushed towards the end of the first season's run for some reason. It's an episode I don't tend to go out of my way to watch because it feels so jarringly out of place in the latter half of the season, but I always forget that it's actually pretty decent. It almost feels like an alternative pilot; it's like they couldn't decide which episode to air first and then had a superfluous episode to stick somewhere (I think I even prefer it to the pilot). There are actually many very decide lines - Dorothy's trademark quips and expressions are particularly strong - and scenes (including many shots that appear in the opening titles). There's Blanche's infamous prison rodeo line and an epic midnight snack sequence around the kitchen table that involves lots of series-defining sex talk. I think the weak link here is Sophia unfortunately, with her lines not very funny but she's also not really given much to do except complain that they're out of pepperoni. GRADE: B