Rue McClanahan... gone

I realize that Rue passed away weeks ago, but I needed to mark her passing, regardless of how much time has passed.

For me, The Golden Girls' Blanche was an acquired taste. I understood Rose's innocence, Dorothy's doubts, and Sophia's scrappiness, but Blanche was one of the elements that I had to grow on; fortunately, once I hit my 20s, I finally 'got' Blanche. And in subsequent years, I realized that of all of the characters, Blanche came 'of age' during the run of the show. Yes, Blanche was known to be the sexy, promiscuous one of the bunch, but you also saw how she repaired her damaged relationships with her children, grapple with her own aging (getting a pacemaker comes to mind, along with doubting her allure, albeit temporarily), deal with the residual pain of being widowed and adapting to life choices of family members (brother Clayton's homosexuality and Big Daddy's marriage to a younger woman and his long ago affair with her nanny).

But enough with the internal reconciliations - some of Blanche's best moments involved the rest of her roommates. Unfortunately, I couldn't find my favorite Blanche clips on Utube, like when Blanche was trying to comfort Rose and Dorothy after they had a falling out due to their children sexing each other. Or the clip when Blanche taunted Sophia while she was on a date with Fidel Santiago, resulting in one of Sophia's best burns. But the clips I did find illustrate the awesomeness of Blanche, which Rue McClanahan portrayed with effortless panache.