Golden Girls: 10 Plot Problems With Sophia’s Character

Sophia Petrillo is the feisty, witty matriarch of the Golden Girls home. She is fun to be around, and well-loved, as is evidenced by Rose’s and Blanche’s devotion to her despite her non-stop insults. The octogenarian from Sicily has led a rich and full life, that she loves to share with the girls.

Flashbacks of Sophia’s life have also added pieces of the puzzle of her history, altogether creating one of television’s most beloved characters. Still, Sophia’s life and rich history contain several inconsistencies and contrasts that avid fans of the show may have spotted at one time or another.

10 How Did Sophia Meet Sal?

In all fairness, Sophia is fond of telling elaborate stories that never happened, with Dorothy often admonishing her mother for making up her stories. One detail that is never cleared up is how she actually met Sal.

She is said to have escaped an arranged marriage by moving to America, but another story tells that she was engaged to a sweetheart in Sicily who left her for America. In other stories, she actually met and was engaged to Sal, in Sicily, before they moved to America together.

9 Dorothy Was Switched At Birth

Both Dorothy’s parents, Sal and Sophia are quite short, but Dorothy is very tall. To explain this, it is revealed that Dorothy was switched at birth in the hospital, and her real parents are very tall, while Sophia’s real child is short like her.

However, Dorothy’s sister, Gloria, has appeared on the show a few times and is just as tall as Dorothy. Likewise, a flashback episode shows that Sophia’s mom was also a very tall woman, so Dorothy being switched at birth does not explain her height.

8 What Happened To Angela?

Angela was introduced in earlier seasons as Sophia’s sister who moved back to Italy to live with her goat after her husband died. She had a dramatic relationship with Sophia, filled with sibling rivalry. She appeared in a couple of episodes and was never seen or heard from again.

By later seasons, Angela had been replaced by Angelo, who became the staple sibling used whenever there was a storyline about Sophia’s family. It was never mentioned whatever happened to Angela, even though she lived close by to Sophia. She didn’t even show up to Dorothy’s wedding.

7 What Happened To Mr. Mitsumo?

When Blanche, Dorothy and Rose jet abroad for a vacation, Sophia is left alone in the house. She is eager to be alone, because she wants to spend time with Mr. Mitsumo, their gardener. The two seem to be completely enamored of each other and spend a lot of time getting to know each other.

Sophia really likes Mr. Mitsumo and has a wonderful romantic time with him, hoping it would lead to more. However, she is seen in later episodes dating other men, and she never mentions him again.

6 Why Did Her Mother Have An American Accent?

When Angela moves back to Italy, she talks about how all members of her family have passed away. However, in a flashback episode, Sophia’s mother, also played by Bea Arthur in this instance, is seen together with Sophia.

Even more strangely, her mother speaks English like a native American, despite the fact that she would have been at least middle-aged when and if she left Sicily. Sophia’s grasp of Italian too does not fit in with the narrative, because she would still be very good at Italian if she was born there, and lived with other Italians when she moved to New York.

5 How Many Kids Does Phil Have?

Sophia’s stories about her son, Phil, are pretty inconsistent to who he is. She mentions his childhood, and how weird he was, but during his funeral, it is revealed that he was simply a crossdresser who was also a great husband and father.

Sophia misinterprets Phil because she feels too ashamed to accept her son for being different. She also does not seem very close to Phil’s children and forgets how many children he has on different occasions. The general gist is that Phil has a lot of children, but nobody seems to know how many.

4 Phil’s Funeral

Phil never lived in Miami. He grew up in Brooklyn, then moved to New Jersey as an adult, where he started a family. Therefore, it makes no sense why his funeral was held in Miami, especially considering that Phil’s wife did not get along with Sophia. Is the funeral location the reason why Phil’s children do not seem present at his funeral?

Sophia has mentioned how some of his children are still teenagers, but no such teenagers are present at the funeral. More to the point, why did his sister, Gloria, not show up to her brother’s funeral, and why did nobody bring this up?

3 Sophia’s Glasses

Another flashback episode that creates inconsistencies is the flashback concerning Phil’s birth. When Phil is born, a young Dorothy is angry that she does not get as much attention anymore. Sophia is shown looking at the baby while wearing glasses.

Yet, when an older twenty-something-year-old Dorothy visits her middle-aged mother and father, Sophia is not shown wearing her glasses, presumably because she did not need glasses until her old age. Dorothy and Gloria certainly don’t use glasses either, further pointing towards perfect eyesight being a trait in the family.

2 What Did A Young Sophia Look Like?

Most of Sophia’s history is told through the protagonist herself, and Sophia is just not a very reliable source. Sometimes she lies, sometimes she exaggerates to make her stories sound better, and sometimes she forgets, because of her old age and her stroke. In one story, she tells about how she had hair as red as delicious marinara sauce.

In another instance, she tells about how her hair was blonde when she was in her youth. Photographs exist of Sophia in her youth, but they would have been black and white, so even Dorothy cannot tell which is true.

1 How Old Is She?

There is no disputing that Sophia is in her eighties. She mentions it frequently on the show as a source of humor. Similarly, Dorothy often makes fun of her mother for being old. Sophia’s exact age is hard to pinpoint nonetheless. She starts off the show as an eighty-two-year-old, sometimes eighty-three-year-old woman.

Seven seasons and seven years later, and Sophia still refers to herself as an eighty-two-year-old woman. She also does not show any physical signs of ageing at all, although there are more episodes that focus on her deteriorating mental health.