The Way We Met (S1E25)

Synopsis: Scared and wide awake after watching “Psycho,” the girls reminisce about how they first met and moved in together.

80s Flashback

Blanche: “Oh, I know exactly what you're going through. I can read it in your face. Your husband or your boyfriend dumped you. Oh, honey, don't let it get you down. It's just the nature of the beast. They'd do it in the mud if they had to. You just go sleep with his best friend. That'll even up the score.”

Rose: “Am I on 'Candid Camera??'”

Crazy Continuity

Rose: “The new owners of the building don't allow cats, and I'm not about to part with Mr. Peepers.”

One of the series' biggest continuity flaws begins here. Rose, clearly owns a cat and had to look for a new place to live because of her cat. Yet in the Season Four episode “High Anxiety” Dorothy says Rose has never had cats because she's allergic.

Let’s Get Political

Blanche: “You didn't get dumped?”

Rose: “Well, actually, I did, by my landlord. He threw me out of my apartment, but I couldn't sleep with his best friend. He's over 80 years old and thinks he's the Archduke Ferdinand.”

That’s What She Said

Dorothy: “This one's ripe.”

Blanche: “And how do you tell, Dorothy?”

Dorothy: “Well, you smell the tip of it.”

Shady Pines, Ma

Blanche: “I know the Shady Pines: it's a lovely place.”

Sophia: “It's a prison. They lock us in our rooms and force us to look like we're having fun. Then they take pictures for their brochure.”

From Feud to Food

Dorothy: “How about some whipped cream?”

“Mmm, I think we still have a can. I'll get it - it's in my bedroom.”

Dorothy: “Never mind, Blanche.” 

Lewd Ladies

Dorothy: “Oh, girls, girls, do you realize what just happened?”

Blanche: “Well, I know I've been having a very good time, and there wasn't even a man in the room.”

Zbornak Zingers

Rose: “Walking by that sausage case back there really brought back a lot of memories.”

Dorothy: “Sausage opens a floodgate for many of us, Rose.”

Insult Watch

Rose: “I can't help it if I'm an honest person. Obviously, something you don't know anything about.”

Blanche: “What are you talking about?”

Rose: “Well, you bought pantyhose in petite. Anybody can see you couldn't get those past your knees.”

Tales from the Old South

Blanche: “I was never a night person, either. Until I blossomed into young womanhood and realized I was even more devastating by moonlight. I will never forget the night I made that discovery. It was during the spring cotillion. I was wearing a long white dress and my first push-up bra. And Bobby Buck McAIlister and I were enjoying a glass of punch out on the veranda, when a beam of moonlight hit my cleavage.

Suddenly, the band began to play. It was at that moment I realized my bosoms had the power to make music.”

Dorothy: “Didn't Bette Midler win a special Grammy for that?”

Product Placement

Rose, referring to Raisin Bran cereal: “Actually, you're both wrong. It does not belong in a refrigerator. It does not belong in a cabinet. It belongs in a glass canister. That way, it's not only visually appealing, but you can see if they cheated you out of raisins. I thought everybody knew that.”

Dorothy: “You know, until I met you, Rose, I didn't know that people actually talk back to their Rice Krispies.”

Sassy Sophia

Sophia: “The woman has 'slut' embroidered on her underwear.”

Back in St. Olaf

Rose tells the story of the Great Herring War, between the Lindstroms and the Johanssons who fought over whether to pickle herring or train them for the circus.

Best of B.E.D.

Blanche, referring to Psycho: “Oh, I never should have watched it, either. It always upsets me - especially that shower scene. Why, it's the reason I prefer not to shower alone!”

Dorothy: “Sure, Blanche. And 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears' is why you prefer not to sleep alone.”

Reel References

Dorothy: “We never should have watched Psycho. For 25 years, I have avoided that picture, even when Stan invited me to the Roxy instead of over to his mother's house for dinner. And it turned out that my instincts were right: Norman Bates is scarier than my mother-in-law. And a much better dresser.”

Golden Quotes

Blanche: “I like you and I like cats. I also happen to have a room for rent, and the name is Blanche Devereaux.”

Rose: “Why would you name a room Blanche Devereaux??”

and

Rose: “Back in Minnesota, we'd settle this kind of a dispute with some good-natured logrolling.”

Dorothy: “Sorry, Rose. My log is in the shop.”

and

Dorothy: “This is just too extravagant. I'm not going in on this. I don't even like loin of pork.”

Blanche: “All right, then I'm not going in on this nightstick.”

Dorothy: “This is a pepperoni.”

Blanche: “It's obnoxious!”

Critique: First of all, it must be said that Blanche describes her previous roommates as “two very eccentric old ladies who used to bathe together and floss each other's teeth;” why they never showed a flashback to this is beyond me, but I digress. This is arguably one of the first season's strongest episodes. It employs a “flashback” structure as the girls reminisce about how they all moved into Blanche's house. The little vignettes are simply hilarious and show how each character's personality traits are constantly clashing with each other yet they're able to form a solid friendship. And that's what makes the show so great in the first place. The girls are initially at each other's throats until they bond over Rose's ridiculous (and classic) Great Herring War St. Olaf story. Some ice cream and cheesecake later and they're practically family. This is an almost flawless episode,with nothing sappy, and it's filled to the brim with classic lines and moments; there is one slight negative being the lack of Sophia throughout most of it. She does make up for her absence with her classic knife appearance at the end at least. "The Way We Met" ends the season on the highest of notes. GRADE: A