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one-of-us-blog · 7 years ago

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Miles to Go (TGG, Season 6, Episode 15)

Today Eli is forced to watch and recap Miles to Go, Episode 15 of the sixth season of The Golden Girls. Rose has been with Miles for ages now as sitcom standards go, so they must be destined to remain together for good, right? When some unexpected news throws everything into question, Rose is forced to evaluate her true feelings for the man she thought she knew. Will these two decide to ride off into the sunset? Keep reading to find out…

The hits just keep on coming! Drew, you’ve graced us with another exceptional Doctor Who recap, this time of The Pyramid at the End of the World. I really wasn’t sure how you would feel about the Monks storyline, but I was thrilled to see another QQQQ review! It’s exciting for me that these New Who reviews might go out with a bang, and I can’t believe that you only have five more episodes (plus one upcoming Christmas special) to cover. There’s a particular reason why I think Series 10 has the potential to finish strong for you (it’s almost poetic, really), but I can say no more at the moment. Keep up the great work! We’ll see if I have the same positive experience with my duties, as it’s time for me to get to a recap of my own. Let’s head to Miami!

Buttocks tight!

Episode written by Don Seigel and Jerry Perzigian, directed by Matthew Diamond

We open with Blanche carefully removing the tags from an expensive dress, so that she can return it to the store after wearing it out for an evening. Dorothy judges Blanche for her dishonest ways, and Sophia enters the room with some big news. Her pal Gladys has scored some tickets to see Tony Bennett, and she is taking Sophia along. Tony’s voice gets Sophia’s motor running, and she’s pretty psyched about this outing. Rose pops in to declare that it is the 117th anniversary of the birth of Robert Frost, and Miles will be cooking a dinner in celebration. They are all invited, and supposedly they each already agreed to go. Blanche has other priorities with a hot date in mind, but the gals all agree to go and experience some culture.

We cut to Miles, lecturing the girls about the work of Robert Frost and generally boring them to death. Sophia gets desperate and turns on the television news. A story is being broadcast about the death of mobster Mickey “the Cheeseman” Moran. Miles seems particularly interested and quickly wraps up the evening, sending the girls on their way. He then makes a hasty phone call to ask someone if the news is really true, and if he is free at last.

Back at home, Sophia gets a call from Gladys Goldfine, and responds to whatever is being said with the administration of a Sicilian curse. We learn that Gladys wants to take a man to the Tony Bennett concert instead, and Sophia isn’t having it. The girls encourage her to forgive her friend, and Dorothy says she is sure that Gladys didn’t hurt her intentionally. Sophia responds that nobody wrongs someone else on accident. Just then, Dorothy spills coffee on Blanche’s dress, the one that she was intending to wear and return. Blanche is upset and insists that Dorothy pay for the dress, but Dorothy says that Blanche shouldn’t have been dishonest about the dress in the first place, and she will only pay for the dry cleaning. Just then, Miles shows up with big news for Rose. He tells her that he is not really a teacher names Miles, but was formerly an accountant named Nicholas Carbone. He used to live in Chicago, and got caught up in the affairs of his biggest client, Mickey “the Cheeseman” Moran. Nick (a.k.a. Miles) was arrested, and turned into an informant to put Moran away. Unfortunately, the Cheeseman escaped, and Nicholas was forced into the witness protection program. Sophia wants to use Nick’s mob connections to take revenge on Gladys, but he is focused on other matters. Nick tells Rose that he finally has his life back, but she is in far too much shock to share his relief. He also tells Rose that he may have lied about everything else, but he never lied about his feelings for her. He can go back to Chicago now, and he wants her to come with him. Rose declares that she doesn’t even know who he is.

Later, in the kitchen, the girls comfort Rose. Blanche tells her to let out her feelings, and she releases a mighty “Heck!” Rose doesn’t know what she should do, and Sophia suggests dropping Nick/Miles like a bad habit, though resentment for Gladys may still be influencing her general attitude. Rose shares the story of Mary Jane, a girl from back home who had a pet Chihuahua that was actually a rat. She feels like she may be in the same situation. Dorothy assures Rose that Nick is still the same caring person that she knew as Miles, and encourages her to keep her upcoming date with him.

Rose does indeed go on a date with Nick, and has a great time doing so. He is still the man she loves. In fact, she announces that she will be moving with him to Chicago. But not to worry, they are just going back for three months to clean up some business.

We cut ahead to Gladys arriving at the front door to see Sophia, who pretends not to be home and forces Dorothy to lie for her, at least until Gladys says that she wants to apologize. Gladys says that she is sorry, and that she wants to take Sophia to the concert. The friends hug, and Sophia takes a look at the tickets. They are actually for Tony Martin, not Tony Bennett, and Sophia loses all interest. Blanche announces that she had a humiliating experience at the clothing store. While attempting to return her expensive dress, they discovered the dry cleaning tag that she forgot to remove. They not only shamed her, but she had to pay for the dress, and is now planning to hike up Dorothy’s rent to cover the cost.

In the same scene, Rose announces that she has heard some disturbing news on the radio. The Cheeseman isn’t dead after all, but staged his own death. Nick/Miles, who has already made some contacts with people back home believing the Cheeseman to be deceased, sneaks into the house through the side door. They don’t have much time, because the Cheeseman may be coming for them. They can’t go to Chicago any longer, and they can’t stay together in Miami. Nick tells Rose that they will have to go into hiding, and that she will have to break all contact with her friends and family. Rose considers this, and tells Nick that though she dearly loves him, she simply cannot do this. He prepares to leave for good, and tells Rose that there won’t be a day that he doesn’t think of her. They kiss goodbye while sweeping music plays, and Nick departs, leaving behind a Robert Frost book from which Rose reads the following excerpt:

And when to the heart of man Was it ever less than a treason To bow and accept the end Of a love or a season?

Actual text of poem, Reluctance: Ah, when to the heart of man Was it ever less than a treason To go with the drift of things, To yield with a grace to reason, And bow and accept the end Of a love or a season?

The End.

Well, sorry readers, but I really didn’t care for this episode. I don’t mind the show being wacky, but this felt like we were drifting into soap opera territory. I have liked Miles quite a bit, as well as his ongoing relationship with Rose, so it really felt like a disservice to the character to thrust upon him this convoluted backstory about actually being an ex-accountant in the witness protection program, hiding from the Cheeseman. I also generally like the actor who portrays Miles, but with the role he had to play in this episode, he really didn’t come off as anything but corny. What should have been an emotional parting at the end only had me rolling my eyes. I suppose the B plots with Sophia/Gladys and Blanche/Dorothy were okay, but not remotely good enough to redeem the rest of the episode. Looking back, with the close personal stories that Rose and Miles have shared, this whole angle feels inconsistent with everything that was written for the two of them before. One of Nick’s comments even seemed to imply that he wasn’t actually a teacher, but I can remember a faculty party. Perhaps he only meant that he took up teaching after the change in his circumstances, but I didn’t lend the writers enough credibility to give them the benefit of the doubt. It appears that the only episode previously written by the team of Don Seigel and Jerry Perzigian was Feelings, but I actually really liked that one, so now I don’t know what to think. Anyway, I know I’m being way too hard on the episode, but since I didn’t care for the major turn here, it affected my appreciation of everything else. I hate to do it, but I give Miles to Go a rating of 2 poofy hairdos out of 5.

Check back in soon for Drew’s take on The Lie of the Land, the next episode of Doctor Who, and I’ll be back after that with my recap of There Goes the Bride: Part 1, the next episode of The Golden Girls. Until then, as always, thank you for being a friend, and for being One of Us!

#golden girls #the golden girls #one of us

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