Title: I Call Your Name
Directed by: James Burrows
Written by: Peter Casey and David Lee
Air Date: October 18, 1984
Previous: Rebound, Part 2
Next: Fairy Tales Can Come True
Guest Starring: Kelsey Grammer, Sam Scarber
"I Call Your Name" is the third episode of the third season of Cheers.
Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) comes into Cheers and, because Sam is The Bartender, asks for advice. Frasier claims that a client he calls "Thor" told Frasier that Thor's girlfriend, "Electra", called out the name of an old boyfriend during sex. Sam is not fooled, of course. While he gives Frasier some genuinely good-intentioned advice, he mercilessly teases Diane, until she finally makes him admit what he knows. When Frasier shows up at the bar again, Diane lowers the boom on the both of them.
In the B-plot, Cliff anonymously turns in one of his Post Office co-workers for stealing a fragrance sample from a magazine. This is unwise, as the person he turns in Lewis, the big scary guy last seen in Season 2 episode "Cliff's Rocky Moment". Lewis puts Cliff in an awkward spot by recruiting him to track down the person who got him fired.
Tropes:
- Dirty Coward: At first, it looks like Cliff is going to surrender himself to the mercies of Lewis by writing his own name in a sealed envelope, which Lewis ultimately decides not to open after Cliff gives it to him. It turns out he wrote the name of another person. Who's laid up with a broken leg. And Cliff also included directions to the guy's house.
- Idiot Ball: Does Frasier really have no one but Sam to talk to about this particular problem? Did he not consider the risks of consulting the very man whose name Diane apparently cried out, even if he thought the "I have this client" cover would work?
- If You Can Read This: Cliff gives his letter about Lewis to Carla to mail. In high definition, the envelope has no address at all, only random squiggles.
- I Have This Friend: Guileless Frasier could not be more obvious when he tells Sam about how "Electra" called out the wrong name during sex with "Thor".
- Implausible Deniability: Diane says she wasn't talking about "Sam" when she cried out "Sam" during sex, she was talking about Sam Goldwyn.
- Repeat After Me: Carla is giving Coach a ride home. Coach asks if he can listen to his French-language tapes in the car. Carla says no, the tapes are doing no good, and challenges Coach to say "How are you today" in French.Coach: (in English but with a French accent) How are you today, in French?
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Lewis figures Cliff must know who got him fired, on the grounds Cliff's a gossip.
- Romantic False Lead: How much did Frasier Crane fit this trope when he was first introduced on Cheers? In his third episode, the plot is Diane calling out Sam's name during sex with Frasier.
- Scary Black Man: The rest of the gang try to stop Cliff from turning Lewis in, but fail. Cliff is terrified when Lewis comes to the bar, demanding to find out who did it.
- Serious Business: Cliff thinks ignoring the theft of a fragrance sample will lead to "Hitler in the White House".
- Titled After the Song: The title is taken from a song by The Beatles, "I Call Your Name".
- Troll: At the end of the episode, Diane starts acting amorous towards Sam, until they start making out. When Sam moans her name, she calls out "Frasier". Then, having made Sam look like an idiot, she runs for it.
- Wrong-Name Outburst: Diane called out Sam's name during sex with Frasier, much to Frasier's mortification.
