"Mary Has A Little Lamb" is an episode in the fifth season of The Golden Girls.
The girls try to reconcile a pregnant teenage girl and her father. Meanwhile, Blanche starts to regret having written sympathetic "love" letters to a man in jail, once the guy comes knocking on the door and looking for her.
Tropes:
- Aesop Amnesia: Near the end of the episode, the man Blanche wrote "love" letters to calls for Blanche after being sent back to prison due to robbery — taking Blanche's jewelry after having Sophia Bound and Gagged — and asks provocative questions to her about her choice of clothing at nighttime, and Blanche answers enthusiastically, having completely forgotten the trouble he had caused her as the result of her leading him on... until Dorothy takes the phone away from her and hangs up.
- Bestiality Is Depraved: Dorothy worries about accidentally implying this while telling a St. Olaf story about a pig breeder having an affair with his client's daughter.Dorothy: God, I hope I'm getting the names right.
- Bound and Gagged: Sophia gets this treatment late in the episode, as the result of the man Blanche wrote "love" letters to finding out through her that Blanche wants nothing to do with him.
- Bizarre Taste in Food:Rose: Come on into the kitchen, honey, and I'll make you some pickles and ice cream!Mary: Oh, no thanks— I don't have any strange cravings yet.Rose: ...strange?
- The Cuckoolander Was Right: Dorothy helps mend the rift between Mary and her father by... telling a St. Olaf story.Dorothy: I was desperate!
- Deer in the Headlights: Sophia immediately cottons on to Mary's pregnancy because Mary has this expression, citing that Dorothy did too. Sophia thought that expression was unique to pregnant teenagers until she saw Dan Quayle on TV.
- Embarrassing Nickname: "Moose". It turns out both Dorothy and the felon share it, as evidenced when Sophia addresses the latter with it and Dorothy and the guy both answer to it in unison.
- Funny Background Event: Dorothy returns home from her visit with Mary's father later in the episode, in which she complains to Blanche about how unhelpful Sophia had been during said visit, culminating in her claiming "there's nothing in the world that would shut her up"... all while Sophia has been Bound and Gagged in a chair behind Dorothy and Blanche throughout Dorothy's tirade.
- Hypocritical Humor: Dorothy denies it when Sophia tells the felon that "Moose" is Dorothy's nickname when she was younger. Then Sophia says "Moose" while addressing the felon due to not knowing his real name, and the guy answers... as does Dorothy (in unison with each other, at that).
- In Vino Veritas: According to Sophia, the man looking for Blanche got Sophia spilling the beans about the truth regarding Blanche's true identity and intentions towards him by giving her enough wine to make her a Loose Lips.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Dorothy ends up resorting to telling a St. Olaf story in her last-ditch effort to get Mary's father to take his daughter back home. She's reduced to justifying herself after Mary's father compliments Dorothy about St. Olaf around the end of the episode, in plain earshot of all other girls, Rose included.Dorothy: I was desperate!
- Remember the New Guy?: Mary is depicted as having a long-established relationship with the main characters, and yet is never seen or mentioned outside of this episode, nor is it ever explained to the audience how the girls came to be so close to her.
- Tempting Fate: In an attempt to get the guy looking for Blanche to leave, Dorothy and Sophia lie to him by saying that Blanche is not home — this part is true — and that she won't be back for weeks, even months... only for Blanche to come back inside the house with Rose and Mary in tow.note
