"Ebbtide's Revenge" is an episode in the sixth season of The Golden Girls.
After her brother Phil dies, Dorothy tries to mend the rift between his widow, Angela (Brenda Vaccaro), and Sophia.
Tropes:
- Armor-Piercing Question: What Rose gets to as she has Sophia admit the actual reason she's had it out for Angela's blood for so long.Sophia: The dress thing. Why didn't she stop the dress thing?!Angela: He'd been doing that all his life. That didn't start with me.Sophia: Oh, so it's my fault?!Rose: Are you worried people will think it's your fault?
- Ask a Stupid Question...: When Rose chimes in while Dorothy has trouble mediating between Sophia and Angela late in the episode, Blanche, anticipating for Rose to say/ask something stupid, provides one herself, before Rose corrects her and get serious on the issue at hand instead.Rose: You know what I think?
Blanche: That the reindeer really know how to fly?
Rose: I'm serious, Blanche. - Estranged Soap Family: Phil's sister Gloria does not attend the funeral. Dorothy's children Kate and Michael (his niece and nephew) also do not attend, and neither do his Aunt Angela or Uncle Angelo, who fail to provide emotional support for their sister living through every parent's worst nightmare. Phil and Angela are also said in previous episodes to have a large number of children, none of whom make an appearance here.
- The "Fun" in "Funeral": When Dorothy's six-foot, three hundred pound, cross-dressing (but straight) brother Phil dies, Angela has him dressed in a teddy to be buried and Sophia gives the priest an exaggerated story of how smart and gifted Phil was. Dorothy tries to fix the problem Sophia makes by telling the priest. The priest responds that he can just look at a person to know about them. His reaction is Played for Laughs. Taken even further when four shapely, black-clad and veiled figures show up at the funeral. Blanche assumes they're mistresses that Phil had over the years...but his wife Angela informs her that they're actually his poker buddies.Blanche: This is too funny. I gotta get my camera. [leaves]
- Happily Married: Phil's wife Angela never had any problem with Phil's cross-dressing and often applauds him for having wonderful taste. She even goes as far as to honor Phil's wish to have him buried in a teddy he picked out himself.
- Hypocritical Humor: Late in the episode, Rose decides to bring up a St. Olaf story in her attempt to mediate between Sophia and Angela and, understanding that others might not be in the mood to hear the drawn-out descriptions, promises to shorten the story time... only to state the parts she promised to skip from her storytelling in minute details until Dorothy reminds her.Dorothy: You're not skipping, Rose!
Rose: Sorry. - It's All My Fault: Sophia is forced to confront her animosity with Angela, at first admitting she's hated her because she didn't stop Phil's crossdressing. When Angela points out that Phil was like that long before he'd met her, Sophia angrily asks if that makes it her fault. Rose, asking Sophia if she really does blame herself for this, makes her understand that Phil was a good, hardworking man who loved his wife and their children and just happened to prefer dresses, showing Sophia's not to blame for anything because nothing was wrong with Phil.
- Lady in Red: While most of the girls opt for the traditional all black funeral attire, Blanche chooses to go in all red.Sophia: What’s with Satan’s secretary?
- My God, What Have I Done?: Faced with the truth that there was nothing wrong with Phil, and realizing she spent his entire life acting she messed him up in some way, Sophia breaks down in tears mourning her son and all the time she lost with him.
- Obnoxious In-Laws: Sophia does not get along with Angela at all. Even at Phil's funeral, she has trouble treating her daughter-in-law with any sort of respect. It is not Played for Laughs.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted. Sophia's sister and daughter-in-law are both named Angela.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Sophia must come to terms with the death of her son, Phil. More importantly, she must come to terms with how she alienated Phil for something she blamed herself for, when there was nothing to blame anyone for.
- Small Parent, Huge Child: Phil is officially described in this episode to be six-foot-three and two hundred pounds, while his mother is under five feet and weighs less than a hundred pounds. Seeing Phil and Sophia next to each other must have been a sight to behold.
- Smart Ball: Rose spends this episode reminding everyone why she lasted so long as a grief counselor, and spends most of her screentime trying to help Dorothy and Sophia handle their feelings about Phil's death. When Dorothy drags Sophia and Angela into the living room and forces them to deal with their issues, Rose is the one who actually talks them, mainly Sophia, through Sophia's issues with Phil's crossdressing and helps them reconcile, doing in five minutes what Dorothy and Phil couldn't manage in thirty years. She even found a Saint Olaf story that was directly relevant to the situation.
- Trans Equals Gay: Very refreshingly averted with Phil. He is happily married to a woman for years, and has many children with her—he just happens to like dressing up in women's clothing (something his wife supports, as he enjoys it). It's discussed here when Sophia suggests that Phil might have been "queer," and Blanche corrects her, pointing out that the correct term is now "gay." Sophia counters this by pointing out that Phil was "a six-foot-three, two hundred pound man with kids."
