MovieChat Forums > Rhoda (1974) Discussion > Ending scenes for S4 and S5

Ending scenes for S4 and S5

posted 11 years ago by pvd295
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Through Season 3, the end credits were always a homage to Mary Tyler Moore; Rhoda steps into Times Square, looks around and decides to toss her hat in the air (like MTM) only to see it fall into the street. By the end of S3, the 'Mary Tyler Moore Show' ended, and it looks like the producers of "Rhoda" wanted to do away with this ending scene.

Season 4 and 5 have a new scene for the closing credits, which has caused some different opinions of fans over the years...

A very thin, skeletal Rhoda is seen leaving the NY Public Library, carrying a heavy straw 'market' bag walking down the stairs past a guy sitting at the bottom of the stairs. It appears to some that the guy is laughing at her, as she stops and turns around to look at him, and then continues to walk away from him. (I myself have never seen it as he is laughing at her, but to many - he is).

She then walks forward into the 'plaza' in front of the library, and looks confused. At one point she stops, puts her bag down, and turns back to where she came from. She looks a bit lost, turns around again - picks up her bag, and continues to walk away from the camera (as the credits end).

Many fans don't like this closing scene - they say Rhoda looks like a drug addict of some sort in NYC - lost and confused. Others say she doesn't, she just looks like she's trying to make up her mind as to where she needs to go. (I agree with the latter).

Any thoughts from the fans here? If you need a refresher, the scenes are available on Youtube - just search for "Rhoda season 4 closing credits".

"I prefer fantasy over reality TV - like Fox News" - B.Streisand

[–] amyghost 11 years ago

It being New York, I always got the impression the guy on the steps was just a bum, who'd probably said something mildly off-color to her. She does a slight "what'd you just say?" double-take and walks off. Typical 'life in the big city' moment.

The 'plaza' sequence to me was just a humorous little take on Rhoda's being, even after all this time, not the totally pulled-together 'today's woman'. She forgets stuff, makes mistakes, is hesitant. I thought the scene was just a little visual shorthand take on this.

Never even occurred to me about the 'drug addict' thing; that comes off as a somewhat bizarre interpretation, IMO. I did think Harper had become far too thin at that point, however--she appeared almost to be teetering on the brink of anorexia at times.