"72 Hours" is an episode in the fifth season of The Golden Girls.
Rose is afraid that a blood transfusion she had several years ago may have contained HIV-infected blood. In the meanwhile, Dorothy enlists Sophia's help in a "Save the wetlands" fundraiser campaign.
Tropes:
- Bait-and-Switch: After learning she may have HIV, Rose begins to grow hysterical in reaction to some other, unrelated bad news. While Dorothy tries to tell her to calm down, Sophia finally gives a Get A Hold Of Yourself Man slap; the only problem is that she slaps her daughter instead of Rose.
- Karmic STD: Discussed when Rose rants at Blanche that she doesn't know why this is happening to her when she's a good person, and that it seems like something which should happen to the more promiscuous Blanche. Blanche, understandably offended, fires back that "AIDS is not a 'bad person' disease, Rose! It is not God punishing people for their sins!"
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: After the doctor tells Rose that she is HIV-negative toward the end of the episode, Rose decides to join Dorothy's "Save the wetlands" fundraiser campaign, which Dorothy spends the whole episode and claims Sophia had stuffed details of the campaign inside hundreds of invitation envelopes they sent out. The girls leave... but Sophia stays behind for a moment, muttering to herself in a confused tone: "Stuffed?", before joining the others.
- The Talk: It's stated that Sophia and Dorothy had The Talk when Dorothy was a teenager - well, sort of.Dorothy: [to Sophia] I was amazed at your scientific explanation. You told me never to let a boy touch me you-know-where. And you spelled "where."
- Very Special Episode: Sweet, slightly prudish Rose is the one who goes through an AIDS scare. The episode both lampshades and deconstructs the assumption that it would be happening to Blanche instead.
- What the Hell, Hero?: When Rose is waiting for the results of her AIDS test, she tells Blanche that this shouldn't be happening to her because she's a good person. Blanche angrily informs Rose that AIDS is not a disease that discriminates between good people and bad, and it's "not God punishing people for their sins". Granted, Rose has been very badly frazzled by the ordeal and the waiting, but Blanche is justifiably angry because Rose makes it sound like this situation should have been happening to someone like Blanche and not her.
