DVD REVIEW: GOLDEN GIRLS, THE – SEASON 3

Yes, I need help.

The Show

To start off with, the first episode of this season of The Golden Girls
feels like it belonged at the end of the second season, a season filled
with many more dramatic and serious episodes than this third season
(and first season) has. The episode revolves around Sophia now living
in a nursing home and how she establishes a relationship she with an
older man who has Alzheimer’s disease. The episode ends on quite the
down note and it feels really out of place, especially in terms of a
season premiere. But after this episode it seems that everything takes
off in terms of the humor.

"Whatcha gonna do with all that junk
"All that junk inside your trunk"
*shiver*

The
characters are the same old selves from the last season. There have
been no additions to the cast but we do see much less of Sophia. The
third season of The Golden Girls
seems to concentrate more on the three “younger” ladies. Blanche is
still tramp-like person we all love to hate, Rose is still too
dumbfounded for her own good, and Dorothy is still her sarcastic self.
Although the characters seem to be the same, there’s something about
this season that feels different. Maybe it’s the lack of Sophia or
maybe it’s that the characters are maturing (no pun intended). It’s
probably a combination of the two, but it’s clear the writers are
allowing for some maturity even though the major concentration is on
the humor. I link the “maturity” to what appears to be of cranking down
of the character’s personality traits; it seems that the writers have
put less of what we expect from the characters in each and every
episode.

To focus on the cranking down of the characters,
Dorothy seems to be a little less aggressive towards Rose in terms of
her sarcastic tone. What I found the most interesting about this is the
fact that Blanche seems spot set many of the jokes Dorothy spikes at
Rose. Blanche appears to be on the same level as Dorothy’s humor and
maybe that’s why I don’t find Blanche as grating this time around.
Along with the rest of the characters, Blanche has been calmed down
quite a bit than what we’ve seen in the previous two seasons. Rose is
also a little less spacey than we’ve seen her before; she tells many
fewer stories about her home in St. Olaf, Minnesota. That’s probably
the one thing I appreciate the most about this season, as those stories
always seemed out of place and they made Rose less and less of an
interesting character as the stories were told. The stories always seem
to be an easy way to get a laugh and it’s nice to see the show stray
away from that a bit.

"Blanche, meet your new roommate!"

Mickey
Rooney makes a guest appearance late in the season and it’s nice to see
that the show’s success hasn’t allowed for it to bring in new
celebrities every week to play guest roles. Bringing in celebrities
seems to be a gimmick that I’ve noticed being used (more and more in
the most recent past) with comedies that have outlived their run and
it’s nice to see this season of the show hasn’t reached that territory
yet. (The show has 4 more seasons to go, by the way.) In some cases
bringing in guest stars works really well, but for the most part I’ve
only found it distracting and keeping the celebrity guest stars to a
minimum helps keep the show grounded and it also helps keep the
characters settled in terms of the reality based around them.

Season three of The Golden Girls
won three Emmy awards including one each for Bea Arthur and Estelle
Getty. In this season the writers layered on the funny and that’s what
helped keep the show on the top. As I mentioned before, the characters
seem much more settled in their roles on the show and their maturity
seems to have taken some bounds in terms of the storytelling. The
writers have acknowledged that most actions have consequences but that
doesn’t necessarily push the show away from its roots in comedy.

All in all, another solid set of episodes.

8.5 out of 10

"Hello, my name is Rose. And I will be piloting this flight today."

The Look

This
is where things get a bit weird. Most of the episodes on the discs look
clear as day but then there entire episodes that are grainy as shit. I
don’t quite understand why there is such a shift in quality considering
the last two season’s sets had no degradation whatsoever. Also, there
are times when entire sections of episodes will from good quality to
bad quality. It makes for quite a distraction at times.

7.0 out of 10

The others weren’t surprised when Sophia revealed her psychic mutant revolutionary cohort.

The Noise

The
sound is another story. Compared to the last two sets, this season has
had somewhat of an improvement over what we’ve heard previous. The
dialogue has a better clarity to it and the music tends to pop out from
the speakers a little bit better than before. The musical themes are
pretty much the same, and I find it more interesting to me than you
that it hasn’t drove me completely insane yet.

8.5 out of 10

The end of days had come. Blanche had joined up with the Russians.

The Goodies

The
two extra features included in this set are pretty pointless,
especially if you’ve already watched the season all the way through.
Extra features don’t appear to be these box set’s strong points and the
two pieces included here are simply montages of what’s considered funny
throughout the season and in my opinion these don’t do any of the joke
setups justice. Episode commentary would be nice but all in all just
give me the episodes, please.

2.0 out of 10

"Where’s the precious!?"

The Artwork

The
diamonds on the cover just don’t do it for me. Buena Vista has stuck
with the same general theme for the series, so that’s a plus. The only
major change to the packaging is the color, this time changing to a
vibrant pink tone. So far all of the boxes look pretty nice sitting
next to one another on my shelf. Yes… I have these on display in my
home. I have no problem with that.

7.5 out of 10