High Anxiety

After unexpectedly discovering that their friend Rose has been hooked on pain killers for thirty years due to an old farm injury, the girls work together to try to free her from her dependency. She's at first embarrassed to seek help, and even lies to her roommates to keep her meds within reach, but of course by the end, because she's lucky enough to have the kind of supportive friends that she has to help her, we know that Rose will be okay. I do really love however that the story isn't totally wrapped up by the end, with Rose actually relapsing, and acknowledging that she may never be completely free of her problem, but still feeling optimistic because she'll have her friends with her to help her face the struggle, as well as giving her the strength to reach out for professional help. It's so honest and they treat the topic with such respect, while not exactly hard drugs you get the point and for what it is, the episode is a very real little examination of addiction and how it can overcome anyone, no matter how sweet and innocent they may be, and I can't praise the writers enough for not taking the easy way out with the ending. Betty White really showed a little range in this one, as her character is normally so nice and silly, Rose's unexpected angry outburst is quite jarring and startling and it's impressive how convincingly she could switch up the intensity like that out of nowhere. It is pretty darn scary when those you care about fly off the handle at you and you have no idea why! I find the part of the episode where they stay up all night with her to show that she can make it through just one without her pills so sweet and it makes up most of the runtime and it's a great sequence, even though they all snap at and insult each other at points they still all look out for each other too, true friendship, and the cornerstone of the whole wonderful series. Funny moments-wise, I loved when they played the Saint Olaf version of monopoly, and when Blanche told the tale of when she once tried to quit "nooky", hilarious but mostly just by the way that wonderful actress told it! I also really enjoyed the subplot with the pizza commercial that comes back into play at the end, with Dorothy and Sophia having a bad rehearsal as Dorothy criticises the grammar of her few lines, and despite losing out on a lot of money, as a proud Italian Sophia is unable to hide her disgust at the admittedly lousy product! While not a top favourite of mine, I like this episode for the reason I do many others, because of the honest and respectful tackling of touchy subject matter that still rings true today, it was a show that was definitely ahead of its time that way. Thank you sweet Betty White, so sad we had to lose you, but now may you and all the other girls rest in peace together and may you all be truly golden forever, thank you so much for giving us hope and laughter and for being a friend to so many xxx 🌹

Dorothy and Blanche notice a dramatic change in Rose's behaviour, they discover that she has a long term addiction to painkillers. Sophia and Dorothy land a job on a tv commercial.

Wow, this came out of nowhere, I have never failed to be amazed by the variety of content on this show, this is such a good episode.

It's very funny, but it also has a pretty powerful message also. That Arthur 2 joke was so funny, and yep it was a car crash of a movie. Dorothy's irritation with St. Olaf's favourite board game was also hilarious.

Were people even contemplating the idea of painkiller addiction back in 1989, let alone talking about it, I can't see how, especially when you consider what went down with oxycontin some years later.

Very funny.

8/10.