"The Golden Girls" - "The Operation" (1.18) Quiz

Answer: Dorothy

During the opening credits of this episode, Sophia is startled by the sight of an injured Dorothy being carried into the living room by Rose and Blanche. As Dorothy tries to shrug off the injury, Rose reveals that Dorothy hurt herself while trying to perform "a six-count Cincinnati riff with a double pullback". Rubbing salt in the wound, Rose then proceeds to perform the move itself, preceding it with the words, "Goes something like this".

Answer: She has a tumour in her foot

After being persuaded by her roommates to see a doctor about her injured foot, Dorothy returns to the house using a walking stick. She then reveals that she has a tumour in her foot, which requires a minor surgery to remove. Despite this news, Dorothy appears outwardly upbeat and relatively carefree, and the reason for this soon becomes clear when she reveals that she is planning on never having the surgery. Nevertheless, she is eventually brought to her senses by the rest of the girls, especially her mother, who harps on about how much she "suffers when she sees her child in pain".

Answer: Rose

When Dorothy finally gets to the hospital, knowing that she is terrified, Blanche tries to get her to look on the bright side, by emphasising the hospital's sterling reputation as well as Dorothy's "perfectly lovely room". Unfortunately, Rose has other ideas, and adds, "I just keep wondering how many people have never left this room".

Answer: Escapes from the hospital

As Dorothy tries to fall asleep in her hospital bed, a priest mistakes her for another patient, a dying man named Mr Ferguson. His subsequent attempts to perform last rites then wake Dorothy, who is horrified by what is going on. Though it is eventually revealed that the priest has merely entered the wrong room, he nonetheless promises to "swing by" the following day, once Dorothy has had her operation.

This is the last straw for Dorothy, who immediately gets out of bed, dons her coat and escapes from the hospital.

Answer: Rose

This none-to-flattering description of Dorothy comes courtesy of Rose, after she catches sight of her trying to sneak into the house without drawing attention to herself. When Rose eventually realises the figure is actually Dorothy, she tries to backtrack, by uttering, "but then again it was dark and I tend to overdramatize".

She then quickly changes the subject, by questioning why Dorothy is home when she should be at the hospital.

Answer: Behind

Dorothy comes out with this hilarious quip midway through this episode, after undergoing numerous tests before her surgery. As she is wheeled back to bed by a nurse, she can also be heard complaining about her wheelchair's "wobbly wheels", and is clearly unhappy about being in the hospital. Nevertheless, she does eventually have her operation, and is relieved when everything turns out well.

Answer: Exercises

After being convinced by her mother to return to the hospital, Dorothy is put through a battery of medical tests, before she is taken into theatre for her operation. On her way back to bed, she sees that she has a roommate, who is busy doing stretches by her bedside.

When Dorothy asks whether these are "some kind of therapy", the woman (whose name is Bonnie) replies with "No, I just like to stay healthy", which prompts Dorothy to come out with the quote mentioned in the above question.

Answer: Blanche

Blanche reveals her fear of flying to Dorothy during the latter's "escape" from hospital, though she does show a willingness to try to overcome it. However her second fear is not revealed until near the end of this episode, when Blanche and Rose are due to perform their tap routine in front of a large audience. Blanche does all she can to delay them, even going so far as to pretend to be experiencing "sympathy pains" for Dorothy, in the form of foot pain.

However Blanche does finally reveal that she is frightened by the idea of performing in front of a group, and explains that her fear stems back to her childhood, when she "wet her pants" on stage during a dance recital.

Answer: "Singing in the Rain"

Near the end of this episode, viewers get a glimpse of Rose's mean and competitive streak, when she bullies Blanche into attending their dance recital. Indeed when Blanche reveals that she has a fear of performing in front of groups of people the usually sensitive Rose refuses to let her stay home.

Instead she says, "Hey we've all got our sad stories. Look Blanche, we've practiced for six weeks, we've paid for our costumes, we've told everybody we'd be there. Now you're not going to wimp out on me, you're going to that recital, and if you end up in a puddle tonight then you'd just better break into "Singing in the Rain"." Needless to say, Blanche is promptly forced to confront her childhood fear, which once resulted in her wetting herself on stage.

Answer: The Two Merry Widows

While Dorothy is recovering in hospital following her surgery, Rose and Blanche come to visit, and tell her all about their earlier dance performance, which Dorothy has unfortunately missed out on. As the pair gush about their success, they reveal that they have been invited to perform at various functions, prompting Dorothy to say "That's wonderful, and I'll be back in dancing shape by then".

However Rose and Blanche then reveal that they have cut Dorothy from their act, so that the Tip-Tap Trio are no more.

Instead, the act now consists of just Blanche and Rose, who have renamed themselves The Two Merry Widows.