Respect the Fanny
Amid the hubbub, can we take a second to appreciate this deliciously horrible, judgy queen? Politely cunt by name, politely cunt by nature? The raspberry in our tart? The lemon in our port? With the posture of a swing-ball pole and hair on loan from Mr. Whippy? I absolutely adore this unbodied busybody. Turns out, when you mash all four Golden Girls into one character, you get a Grey Lady. She never gets the most lines, but every one is a goddamn gem of cutting fuss-budgetry. It's rare you get a female character who is allowed to be old and unapologetically unpleasant, even when the person playing her is a writer, creator, and executive producer with enough cachet to do as she likes and enough chutzpah to lean into being gloriously infuriating. She gives us the perennial front-butt of any joke, and an absolute pitch-perfect unit of humour-multiplying disapproval. She truly is the Button on every scene. I love her. I adore Martha Howe-Douglas for crafting a Lady Fanny with such a fusty crust on the surface, and such a wealth of warmth and depth for anyone that looks closer. God love you, Fanny. May you get a sucking-off that will echo through the ages.
