During Season 1, one of Rose's boyfriends, Al, dies after spending a night with Rose. She discovers that he wasn't single, as he claimed, but married. She visits the wife and tells her the truth.
During the episode, Blanche tells the story of when she learned of her husband's death. It is a blunt recital--with jokes, of course--that addresses the reality of death occurring as life goes on.
The entire episode has a strong Fall of Icarus flavor. Icarus falls. The farmer plows. The ship sails. The boy whistles. Life continues. It can't stop.
One of Golden Girls' strengths is this realism about life's bodily functions. With Rose, sex and death get combined.
And jokes--since Rose ends the episode by (temporarily) convincing Blanche and Dorothy that she killed off several more men during sex.
