Recap / Cheers S 5 E 8 Knights Of The Scimitar

Episode: Season 5, Episode 8
Title: Knights of the Scimitar
Directed by: James Burrows
Written by: Jeff Abugov
Air Date: November 20, 1986
Previous: Young Dr. Weinstein
Next: Thanksgiving Orphans
Guest Starring: J Eddie Peck, Stephen Vinovich

"Knights of the Scimitar" is the eighth episode of the fifth season of Cheers.

This episode effectively has two A-plots. In one, Diane's attempts to make Sam jealous continue. She makes a show out of revealing to Sam that she has been asked out by one Lance Apollonaire, a handsome "Greek god" of a college student. Sam thinks that Diane is making Lance up, but when Lance (J. Eddie Peck) shows up in the flesh and is revealed to be just as handsome as Diane described, Sam does in fact get jealous.

The second plot has Cliff super-excited to be joining a lodge, the Knights of the Scimitar. He tries to recruit his buddies at the bar, and Norm grudgingly agrees, motivated mostly by the hopes of landing some accounting business.

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Tropes:

• All for Nothing: Norm goes through with the whole Knights of the Scimitar nonsense mainly because he's got hopes of getting some business. Funnily enough, it's only after he's in the door it turns out they don't do business with one another, something Cliff conveniently forgot to mention.
• Awesome McCoolname: Sam thinks the name "Lance Apollonaire" is fake, and it's not hard to see why.
• The Big Damn Kiss:
  • Sam basically gets rid of Lance by doing this.
  Sam: Diane!
  Diane: Yes, Sam...?
  Sam: [Walking up to her] It would've bothered me if he'd done this:
  [The Big Damn Kiss...lasting for a LONG time]
  Diane: [Breathless and weak in the knees] Yes, I can see where that might have given you cause for concern!
  • Then Carla tells Lance that they might have more concern if Carla kissed Lance like "this", and proceeds to leap into his chest and cling there like a monkey while hungrily make out with him. An annoyed Diane tells Carla she's not involved. Carla breathlessly replies, "I am now!"
• Brotherhood of Funny Hats: Cliff gets Norm to join the "Knights of the Scimitar," where they wear turbans.
• Continuity Nod:
  • When Lance shows up to take Diane away, and Diane looks to Sam for an answer, he softly says, "Send me a postcard"—a reference to late Season 3, when he says the same thing to Diane over the phone when she's gone to Europe with Frasier. The reference isn't lost on Diane—who takes this to mean her suspicions are right.
  • Second of three appearances for Walt Twitchell, who delivers the mail to Cheers and is Cliff's archrival at the USPS. He was previously seen in "The Executive's Executioner".
• Eating the Eye Candy:
  Sam: Excuse me, but what happened to the woman who said it's the inner man who counts?
  Diane: That woman just pictured Lance gathering flowers in his bikini briefs.
  Carla: (dreamily) So did this one.
• Eyepiece Prank: Cliff has some Poor Man's Porn knickknack where you look through what looks like a kaleidoscope, but instead there's a lady in a lingerie. He pulls it on his mailman rival Twitchell, only for Twitchell to say that the lady is naked, getting Cliff the dummy to do the Eyepiece Prank to himself.
• Mrs. Robinson: Diane, at once disturbed by Lance's pursuit of her and drawn to his immense attractiveness, remarks that "the last thing I need is to become that man's Mrs. Robinson!"
  • Woody doesn't get it, asking, "Wouldn't that be Mrs. Apollonaire?" Diane begins to explain the reference, but changes her mind.
• Operation: Jealousy: For the second episode in a row Diane makes sure that Sam knows that she has a hot date, in an effort to make Sam jealous. It works better this time as the episode ends with him giving her The Big Damn Kiss.
• Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: Norm is willing to give the Knights a try, right up until their first order of business is banning beer at meetings. Norm immediately leaves.