Top 10 Golden Girls Storylines The Show Forgot About

In season one we meet Rose’s rather accomplished sister, Lily. Later in life, Lily lost her sight and is now struggling to adjust to life. The episode shows how Rose helps her sister regain her independence, especially after she accidentally causes a fire. The last we see of Lily, she’s doing much better and has become more accustomed to her new lifestyle. You might have expected them to revisit this character to see how she’s getting on. Or simply just to reunite the sisters again over the duration of seven seasons. Yet, Lily is never seen again and seemingly forgotten about altogether.

With the others on a rather disastrous vacation, Sophia starts spending more time with their gardener, Mr. Mitsumo. They develop a tight bond that soon turns into something more. Sophia becomes infatuated with the gardener and it seems like they’ve planted the seedlings for a budding romantic relationship. However, it’s never given the opportunity to grow as, after this episode, Mr. Mitsumo suddenly disappears. Sophia goes on to date several other men throughout the series’ run. However, Mr. Mitsumo isn’t one of them, nor does she ever bring him up again. It’s a shame that this relationship wasn’t given the chance to bloom.

After a decades-long feud due to a misunderstanding, Sophia is begrudgingly reunited with her sister Angela. The estranged sisters hadn’t spoken since 1955, but with Dorothy’s help, they reconcile. Angela even returns for a second episode, but after that, she’s never seen again. Instead, we’re introduced to Sophia’s brother Angelo, a priest from Sicily, who seems to have moved to the U.S. sometime after his sister. This begs the question, where’s Angela? Did she move back to Sicily? Has she had another falling out with her siblings? These are just some of the questions whose answers will forever remain a mystery.

In season two, Dorothy’s favorite student, Mario, played by Mario Lopez, faces deportation. His award-winning essay attracts the attention of government officials, who reveal that he’s an undocumented immigrant. Understandably, the teenager is scared, but Dorothy promises to stand by him. Sadly, he ends up getting deported but Dorothy vows to keep fighting for him. Only, we never see or hear about him again. Did Dorothy keep her word and keep fighting? Was she successful? Did Mario eventually return to the U.S.? If not, what happened to him? Perhaps she failed and it was too painful to talk about. All we know is that this story remains unfinished.

During the episode where Blanche’s sister Virginia comes to ask her for a kidney, Rose shares that she has a deep dislike of hospitals. However, in season six, she begins volunteering at one. Now we’re no experts, but we’re pretty sure that you wouldn’t be able to hold your breath on and off for the entirety of a volunteering shift. How would you even talk to anyone? Rose seems to have overcome a pretty serious phobia to voluntarily spend extended hours in a place she once feared. Or the more likely option is that the writers simply forgot about this exchange from season one.

Dorothy’s son Michael announces that he’s engaged to an older woman, much to her dismay. His fianceé’s mom isn’t exactly thrilled either. However, they quickly abandon their prejudices when they learn that they’ll soon be grandmothers. Yet, in season five when Michael and Lorraine separate, there’s no mention of the kid at all. It’s likely that the child remained with his mother. But since no one mentions him it’s almost as if they’ve forgotten that he even exists. Michael comes to his mother looking for support and a place to crash. At no point does he mention supporting little Robbie as well.

Rose’s sudden mood swings are red flags to her friends, leading them to uncover her 30-year long dependency on painkillers. At first, she’s embarrassed and reluctant to admit that she has a problem. She goes as far as lying to her friends just to cover it up. Eventually, though, she concedes that she needs help and admits that addiction is something that she’ll continue to struggle with for the rest of her life. So, it seems pretty unlikely that she would be able to overcome a three-decade-long addiction, in the span of just one episode. Yet, after this, it’s never brought up again.

Back in season four, Sophia reunites with someone from her past, and it’s not long until the pair announce their engagement. However, the honeymoon phase has barely begun when they realize that they got married for all the wrong reasons. But, due to Sophia’s religious beliefs, divorce isn’t an option so they just part ways. Yet, in season seven she agrees to marry the soon-to-be-widowed, Marvin. We know that the Catholic Church frowns upon divorce, but we don’t think they look too fondly upon bigamy either. So how was Sophia even able to consider another marriage? Did something happen to Max that we don’t know about?

This episode of “The Golden Girls” was considered incredibly progressive for its time. Based on the real experiences of show creator, Susan Harris, the two-part episode helped people with invisible disabilities feel seen. Dorothy goes through a long and grueling process to understand why she’s always so exhausted. She sees several doctors, most of whom make her feel worse when she’s already pretty down. But eventually, she’s diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. However, after spending two episodes trying to identify the root of the problem, her CFS is never mentioned again. It seems rather unlikely that she made a quick and sudden full recovery.

If you recall the pilot episode, before they became the fabulous foursome we know and love today, the ladies lived with their butler, Coco. Played by Charles Levin, Coco seemed like a great fit for the group, he chatted romance with Blanche and easily rivaled Dorothy’s sharp wit. However, NBC seemingly disagreed and cut most of his scenes before ultimately axing the character altogether. They quite rightly believed that the chemistry between these four women was strong enough to carry the show. So instead, Sophia was bumped up from a recurring character to a series regular, while Coco vanished and was never mentioned again.