"The Commitments" is an episode in the seventh season of The Golden Girls.
Dorothy has a blind date on the same night for "Beatlemania", a show she excitedly wishes to attend, and so she requests for Blanche to go on the date in her stead. While Blanche obliges, she's very disgruntled that the man refuses to get physical with her. Meanwhile, Dorothy takes a liking to a guy who poses as one of the Beatles member and convinces him to quit the show and make it as an independent musician, only for things to go awry afterwards.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Aren't You Going to Ravish Me?: The man Blanche goes on a date with in Dorothy's stead is a perfect gentleman... which makes Blanche feel put off for much of the episode.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: After attending to "Beatlemania", Dorothy hits up with a man and soon convinces him to strike out as an independent musician. Unfortunately, the guy is more accustomed to playing in a cover band and his own musical works are bad enough to cause Dorothy to leave the venue in embarrassment hurriedly, axing their romantic prospect as a result as well.Rose: Didn't he play his own music?
Dorothy: [in disgruntled tone] Oh, yeah, he played his own song, all right: "A Tribute to Dorothy" — "Dot, Dot, what a girl I got." The last words I heard as I sprinted to my car were "when we shower together, we don't need the water on "hot"." - Blunt "Yes": After Blanche returns home from her date with no physical results for the second time, she asks Rose and Sophia if she's undesirable, expecting a reassuring "no" in return, only for Sophia to respond with a firm "yes" instead, culminating in Blanche lashing out at Sophia the second time the latter does so.Blanche: (to Sophia) Now, you cut it out, you old worm woman.
- Hypocritical Humor:
- Upon meeting Dorothy's blind date, Sophia claims to be Dorothy. Rose chides her for lying... before claiming to be Dorothy herself.
- On the morning after Dorothy's attendance to the "Beatlemania" show, she describes the occasion where plenty of fans acted wild and claims she acted with dignity... shortly before a performer from the show appears in the pajamas, having stayed the night at the girls' residence with her, and claims Dorothy had tossed her underwear to him during the performance.
- After having left the disaster of a performance early and, for all practical purposes, severed ties with a guy she had fallen for, Dorothy is desperate for comforting reassurance. Sophia... would rather rub it in Dorothy's face further instead.Dorothy: Oh, Ma, I need comforting words, so, please, no jokes; no "I told you so"'s.
Sophia: Of course not... Dot. [Dorothy casts an annoyed Reaction Shot] "Dot, I gotta trot." Hey, listen to me. I'm a Beatle.
- Insult Backfire: Shortly after it's revealed that Dorothy is with a guy she met in the "Beatlemania" show, Sophia, who does not approve of it, outright calls the relationship between Dorothy and the guy a British invasion inside her bedroom. Dorothy's response to that?Dorothy: Ma, you made it so dirty. Thank you. [walks away without shame]
- Noodle Incident: When Blanche is desperate for one of the other girls to reminisce about some experience in the past in which the man refused to get physical as a feel-good story for her, Rose manages to bring up one that gets Blanche to inquire further since Dorothy is more than happy to rub Blanche's sexual dissatisfaction in her face and Sophia's example doesn't seem bad enough to make Blanche feel better about herself.Rose: The time I was radioactive.
- Preemptive "Shut Up": Dorothy does this twice early in the episode (once to Sophia and then once to Blanche) while talking about having to get out of a scheduled date for a "Beatlemania" show.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: Early in the episode, Dorothy accounts the one time she actually managed to procure a concert ticket to The Beatles, but she couldn't attend because one of her children became sick on the night of the performance, forcing her to stay home for childcare instead.
- Tempting Fate: After Blanche agrees to go on the blind date Dorothy is scheduled to be in and Dorothy leaves, she talks about the prospective date in question with Rose and Sophia before all three of them burst into hearty laughter after surmising that the man might be good-looking. The girls meet the man arriving for the date soon afterwards... and discover to their surprise that he IS good-looking.
