"Break-In" is an episode in the first season of The Golden Girls.
After the house is burglarized, Rose buys a gun to feel more safe.
Tropes:
- Aerosol Spray Backfire: Blanche borrowed what she thought was a can of hairspray from Rose's purse, then at the police station decided to touch up her hair when a cop caught her interest. Turns out the "hairspray" was mace.Blanche: So I took out your hairspray, to give myself a final spritz, only, surprise, it wasn't hairspray. It was mace. You had mace, your hairspray was mace, I MACED MYSELF RIGHT THERE IN THE POLICE STATION!
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Blooper: It’s a well-known example for this series, but Rose states that the gun shop owner let her practice firing her new gun in the shop’s basement. Due to Florida’s high water table, basements are not allowed in Miami. Fridge Brilliance could set in, though, if one interprets said gun shop as perhaps not being all that reputable a business if it has an illegal basement on its premises. - Eye Scream: Blanche took out a can of hairspray out of Rose's purse to fix her hair for the cops — only to accidentally blind herself with mace.
- I Just Shot Marvin in the Face: Nothing happened yet but Sophia fears this will happen one night if Rose continues owning and shooting a pistol at "intruders".Sophia: (after Rose fires her gun and shatters Blanche's vase) I managed to live 80, 81 years. I survived pneumonia, two operations, a stroke. One night I'll belch and Stable Mabel here will blow my head off!
- Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Rose tells the girls that she did some shooting practice at the gun store; she then shows them her paper target, which has zero holes in it. Later, Rose hears Blanche's date coming through the door and she shoots at him, but (luckily) she hits Blanche's giant Chinese vase instead.
- Mood Whiplash:
- Rose is in a parking garage, still paranoid after the girls' house has been burglarized. Suddenly, she hears footsteps, and they sound like they're following her. Panicked, Rose realizes a man is running after her and runs off frantically, and ends up having to hurry down sets of stairs — but she's out of breath, and eventually has to stop for sheer fatigue. The man is right behind her, and she turns with a terrified expression on her face... and we Smash Cut to the very next scene, featuring Sophia playing Scrabble, claiming her word really exists and joking that the robbers stole the dictionary, meaning it can't be disproven.
- This also happens in the aftermath of Rose shooting Blanche's Chinese vase when she mistook Blanche and her date Lester for an intruder. It's initially Played for Laughs, with Sophia hiding the broken pieces of the vase as Blanche is gathering them up to glue the vase back together. But immediately afterwards, Rose has a breakdown in Dorothy's arms as she reveals the depths of her PTSD in the wake of the robbery.
- Must Have Caffeine: Blanche and Dorothy reveal that due to her fear of another burglar breaking in, Rose has begun to sleep only in the daytime, later making a big pot of coffee so she can stay up through the night.
- Post-Robbery Trauma: Rose has to deal with the aftermath of a break-in. This causes her to take drastic measures including buying a gun.
- Reckless Gun Usage: Rose starts shooting with her pistol when she hears noises and the door opens to trigger the alarm — turns out it was only Blanche and her date and she almost shot them.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Blanche's date decides to get the Hell out of dodge after Rose accidentally shoots Blanche's Chinese vase. Blanche stating that she would have preferred that Rose shot him instead of the vase doesn't help.Lester: I think I'll pass on that nightcap, Blanche.Blanche: Go on home, you old fool!
- Shout-Out: The episode begins with the girls arriving home from having attended a Madonna concert. This information has allowed fans to date the night of the robbery: May 11, 1985, the night her Virgin Tour played the Miami suburb of Pembroke Pines.note (Why the Girls, who are usually depicted as fans of big band and swing music as would be expected of women from their generation, would even attend a Madonna concert - her opening act was The Beastie Boys, for crying out loud! - is a mystery.)
- Skewed Priorities: After Rose nearly shoots her and/or her date Lester, Blanche is more concerned over Rose accidentally shooting her Chinese vase.Rose: I didn't shoot Lester!Blanche: I'd rather you shot Lester!
- Take That!: Several against Madonna for her sexual performance in concert. (It's even funnier in retrospect, considering how her "Like A Virgin"-era antics would seem positively tame by comparison to what she got up to later in her career.)Rose: The name Madonna doesn't really fit her.Sophia: "Slut" would be better!Rose: Sophia!Dorothy: Oh, please, please! She did things on that stage I never did with my husband!
- Trauma Button: Played very seriously, when the girls are robbed and Rose develops some PTSD as a result. When she hears Blanche's date talking one night, she thinks the robbers have returned and almost shoots him.
- Very Special Episode: The girl's home gets robbed and Rose deals with PTSD.
- Wham Episode: The girls come home to find their house was robbed and Rose is traumatized from the experience.
