Friday, July 26, 2019

Room 7 S7E11

Synopsis: The girls travel to Blanche’s grammy’s plantation in Atlanta because it’s being demolished; meanwhile, Sophia has a near-death experience.

Musical Moments
Rose: “Let's try it now with Dorothy. Dorothy, Dorothy, bo-borthy/Bonana fanna fo-forthy/Fee, fi, mo-morthy-
[Tires Screech]
Dorothy: “Get out, Rose.”

Rose: “Three bottles of beer on the wall/Three bottles of beer/Take one down, pass it around/Two bottles of beer on the wall. Well, I'm off to bed.”
Dorothy: "TWO BOTTLES OF BEER?? Rose, you get all the way to two bottles of beer and you quit?!”
Rose: “Just drives you nuts, doesn't it, Dorothy?

That’s What She Said
Sophia: “Blanche, I wanna be here when the dynamite goes off. I wanna ride the rocket with you.”

Lewd Ladies
Dorothy: “Ma, I still cannot believe what you were doing on the interstate.”
Sophia: “I was living for the day, pussycat.”
Dorothy: “You were mooning a chain gang!”
Sophia: “And did you see the smiles on their faces? They probably hadn't seen a woman in years.”
Dorothy: “I guess not. No, they kept up with us through four warning shots.”

Picture It
Sophia: “Picture it. Heaven. Two days ago. I'm holding onto Sal, telling him I'll never let go, when who shows up... Uh-oh. What is it? What's going on?
Sal: “You're not gonna believe this, Sophia, but God, Sophia. Sophia, God.”
Sophia: “Wow, now I see where Jesus got those eyes..”
...
Sal: “God says it's not your time yet. You gotta go back, Sophia.”
Sophia: “But I wanna be with you. I don't wanna go back.”
Sal: “He pretty much gets his way in these things. Besides, someone's got to take care of little spumoni-face.
Sophia: “Who?”
Sal: “Dorothy. When I worked late, I'd come home, we had our little secret ice cream club, and that was the nickname I gave her.”
Sophia: “And what was her nickname for you?”
Sal: “Favorite parent.”

Zbornak Zingers
Blanche: “Oh, Dorothy, I just talked to somebody back home, and they are doin' the most horrible thing. They are tearin' down the most important building in Blanche Devereaux's family history.”
Dorothy: “Oh my God, they're tearing down Mattress World.”
Blanche: “Even worse than that. They are tearin' down the place where I spent my happiest moments as a child.”
Dorothy: “Oh, I'm sorry, Blanche. They're tearing down Boys Town.”

Insult Watch
Blanche: “Dorothy, they are tearin' down Grammy Hollingsworth's plantation. That beautiful old place is gonna be gone forever. I used to spend my summers there, and Christmas vacations. And whenever there was a fight in the house between Big Daddy and Big Mommy...”
Dorothy: “Big Mommy. Gee, I don't think I ever knew her name before.”
Blanche: “Dorothy, I just don't believe you. When you were a child, didn't you have some beautiful, fantastic place where you'd go, and it would seem just like a fairyland? Oh, that's right. You grew up in Brooklyn.”

Blanche: “The family had to sell Grand View, and it got turned into an old bed and breakfast. But at least I could visit.”
Sophia: “And have breakfast.”
Blanche: “Thank you, Sophia.”
Sophia: “Pancakes, by the looks of it.”
Blanche: “Thank you, Sophia.”

Tales from the Old South
Blanche: “I cannot tell you how many Christmases I spent in this place. Grammy's butler would bring us our eggnog by the hearth, and Grammy and I would sing carols and put out gingerbread men for St.
Nick. And, oh, and over there would be Grandpappy, drinkin' out of his jug with the X's on it, and wearin' his Santa's beard, and just screamin' at the lawn jockey to do him a little dance. Oh Rose, hold me.”

Blanche: “And my balcony. Oh, I remember as a girl of 10, I used to wander out here, and all the little boys from all around would come and serenade me: I see London, I see France I see Blanche's underpants. Rose, hold me.”
Rose: “Oh, honey.”
Dorothy: “Oh, Blanche, please. Now, honey, I know it's hard, but we've been here over an hour. And you've shown us the balcony, you've shown us the wind chimes, you've shown us the seven places you lost your virginity.”

Product Placement
Sophia: “After yesterday, I decided to take the time and stop and smell the roses.”
Dorothy: “Ah, that's nice, Ma.”
Sophia: “And you know where they have great roses? At the dog track in Lauderdale. By the way, your Bonneville shakes when you go over 65.”

Sassy Sophia
Dorothy: “Ma, are you okay?”
Sophia: “What happened?”
Dorothy: “Oh, Ma, you were choking. You passed out. Rose saved your life.”
Sophia: “But I was in heaven and with your father. I didn't wanna come back. Thanks for nothing, ya nitwit.”

Best of B.E.D.
Dorothy: “How long do you think you can stay handcuffed?”
Blanche: “My personal best is 32 hours. But of course then I had somebody to play with.”

Sweet, Single-Digit-IQ Rose
Dorothy: “Honey, you know we'd go with you if it would help, but by tomorrow, Grand View will be gone. And we'd have to drive all night and stop at a motel, and we all know how you hate to drive.”
Blanche: “Well, I found a way around that.”
Rose: “Hey, Blanche, I figured out this treasure map. It's buried somewhere outside Atlanta.”
Blanche: “Let's roll.”

From Feud to Food
Sophia: “Excuse me, sir, but I died yesterday, and it occurs to me I never experienced Southern food. So send a possum to Room 7. And, uh, tell my daughter it's chicken.”

Dorothy: “Blanche, this is ridiculous. You can't stay here all night. You're gonna have to eat sometime.”
Blanche: “Oh this is where you don't know me, Dorothy. I can go for days without food, if that's what it takes.”
Rose: “Oh come on Blanche. You've been known to debone a chicken from across the room.”

Dorothy Zbornak is My Spirit Animal
Blanche: “Dorothy, they're gonna build a cheap motel here.”
Dorothy: “You'll be back.”

Reel References
Sophia: “Oh, Sal, is that you? Could it possibly be you? Oh, Sal, please prove to me it's you.”
Sal: “You dirty rat. You killed my brother.”
Sophia: “Oh Sal, it is you! You always did such a great Cagney.”

Golden Quotes
Angel: “Sophia. Welcome to heaven.”
Sophia: “I'm in heaven?”
Angel: “That's right.”
Sophia: “Heaven heaven? I went straight to heaven? No stops? No purgatory?”
Angel: “Purgatory? [laughs] Oh, you Catholics!”

Dorothy: “Oh poor, Blanche. You know, I I actually do feel sorry for her.”
Rose: “Oh yeah, my heart goes out to her, too.”
“Hello, did I mention I died?”

Sophia: “Pussycat, what's that on your blouse? See? I laugh in the face of death.”
[laughs]
Dorothy: “Ma, stop it. I don't want to hear about this dream that is making you act reckless. The doctor says it was a lack of oxygen that made you hallucinate.”
Sophia: “All right, I won't tell you what your father said. I won't say another word.
[Dorothy opens the fridge] The light! The light! I'm coming to you, Salie!”

Demolition guy: “We're gonna blow this place up in two hours. I get to push the plunger, 'cause it's my birthday.”
Rose: “Well, happy birthday!”

Blanche: “My Grammy, she's in this room.”
Sophia: “Hey, man, cool.”
Dorothy: “Oh, Blanche, come on. You only think she's here. You and Grammy spent a lot of time here, and the memories are so alive. Of course you can, you can almost feel her here. Right, Rose?”
Rose: “Well, she's not under the bed...”
Blanche: “Dorothy, I know it sounds odd, but this is the room where Grammy and I used to have all of our heart-to-hearts. I would snuggle up in one of her homemade afghans, and whatever problems I had in life, she would make right. And then after she died, she started coming to me here, and the talks didn't stop.”
Rose: “And she's not in the closet...”

Dorothy: “Blanche, this is your Grammy. Y'all get yourself out of here, you dumb peckerwood!”
Rose: “Oh, I heard it that time, too. Feets, don't fail me now!”
Blanche: “How dare you mock my Grammy!”

Dorothy: “Ma? Ma, what the hell are you doing on the roof!?”
Sophia: “Living for the day, pussycat. I never jumped into a haystack before.”
Dorothy: “Ma!”
Sophia: “Geronimo!”
Blanche: “My God! Dorothy, is she okay??”
Dorothy: “Yeah, I think so. Rose broke her fall.”
Dorothy: “Rose, are you okay?”
Rose: “Charlie? Charlie, is that you?”
Dorothy: “Great, another one who hears voices.”

Dorothy, trying to convince Blanche to come downstairs: “You're right, Blanche, these naked Southern guys sure can dance!”

Rose: ““Hey, Dorothy, have you seen this yet?”
Dorothy: “B.H.? B.H. Blanche Hollingsworth. Oh, Blanche must have written this when she was a little girl. Can you imagine Blanche as a little girl, running and skipping all through this house, so carefree? I can almost hear her laughing. You know, I, I can almost feel her spirit here. And if I can feel her spirit here, then why is it so ridiculous that Blanche feels the spirit of her grandma upstairs? And is it such a leap of faith to believe that Ma was in the white light? Why am I making it such a crusade not to believe either one of them? What am I, just an ostrich with its head in the ground? A narrow-minded ostrich, who, who only believes what she can see and feel and touch? Oh Rose. Simple Rose. Rose, you are so wise.”
Rose: “Actually, I spoke with the demolitions guy. B.H. stands for ‘Blast Here.’”

Sophia: “What do you say we throw a sheet over our heads and go scare Rose?”
Dorothy: “Right!”

Blanche: “Good night, Grammy. [sounds of wind chime] It's time to sleep, honey. Some of us are still alive and need our beauty sleep. Be quiet, Grammy! [wind chime stops] Peckerwood??”

Critique:
First of all, I wanna see the “treasure map” Blanche drew for Rose SO BAD. More importantly, this episode contains arguably the funniest piece of physical comedy in the entire series, (though Rose’s dance marathon body double is probably first actually) which is the sight of Sophia throwing herself off the roof of Grammy’s plantation. Or what appears to be Sophia: it’s obviously a dummy in Sophia cosplay complete with white wig and bamboo purse. And it absolutely HILARIOUS watching that thing fly by Dorothy. Even if it lasts .6 seconds. I’ve probably rewound and watched that shot millions of times and it never gets old. But I digress. This is a fantastic season seven episode that ranks up there as one of the most outlandish but outright funny episodes in the later part of the series. At this point we all know the characters and that’s why so many of these jokes and gags work so well. It’s even a bit touching watching Blanche feel so attached to her Grammy’s plantation. And if I’m being completely honest, I tend to get slightly choked up when Sophia tells Dorothy that her father is proud of her. But let’s get back to the funny parts. These include the sound effect of Dorothy bringing the car to a screeching halt as Rose obnoxiously belts out “The Name Game,” Rose checking under the bed and the closet for Blanche’s grandma, and imagining Sophia mooning a chain gang on the highway. I absolutleh love a good Blanche-centered episode and this one is purely dynamite. GRADE: A

1 comment:

  1. The end where Sophia called Dorothy a name only her father ever used was really well done.

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