Title: Let Sleeping Drakes Lie
Directed by: James Burrows
Written by: David Lloyd
Air Date: February 18, 1988
Previous: To All the Girls I've Loved Before
Next: Airport V
Guest Starring: Tom Skerritt, Cec Verill
"Let Sleeping Drakes Lie" is the 18th episode of the sixth season of Cheers.
His accounting career mostly a failure, Norm is still trying to make a go of house painting. He has, in fact, been hired to paint Evan Drake's bedroom while Drake is away in Europe on a business trip. Norm, well aware of Rebecca's intense crush on Evan Drake, offers to give her a tour of Drake's mansion.
This turns out to be a major mistake. Rebecca is getting a little too excited about being in Evan Drake's bedroom when Drake shows up unexpectedly, having completed his deal and gotten back from Europe early. Rebecca, trapped in Drake's bedroom and with no excuse for being there, hides in the closet. Norm leaves, but the gang at Cheers makes him feel guilty for abandoning Rebecca. Norm eventually goes on a series of increasingly desperate attempts to distract Drake, and Drake's ever-vigilant butler, just long enough to allow Rebecca to escape.
In the B-plot, Frasier shares with his buddies a salacious story about one of his patients, a gorgeous woman who is tremendously turned on with dancers and dancing. When a gorgeous woman shows up at the bar and says she's Frasier's patient (she left a package in his office), Sam realizes that he can dance his way into some sex.
Tropes:
- And Starring: Tom Skerritt gets his usual "Special Guest Star" credit.
- Farce: This very funny but very silly episode, with a goofy plot in which Rebecca gets stuck in Evan Drake's bedroom, was typical of the sort of broad comedy Cheers started doing more often in the years after Diane left and the Sam-Diane romance was no longer the central arc.
- Funny Background Event: Rebecca clambering down the ladder in the far distance, while the gang lines up to watch Norm carry Evan Drake across the lawn in his pajamas.
- Home-Early Surprise: Rebecca is rolling around on Evan Drake's bed when Drake shows up unexpectedly, having returned from Europe early. The rest of the episode involves Norm trying to get Rebecca out of there without Evan finding out that she's been creeping around his house.
- Not So Great Escape: Rebecca's poor decision to visit Evan Drake's house ends with her getting trapped in his bedroom, hiding first in his closet and then under the bed, after Drake returns early from a business trip. Eventually she has to climb down a ladder after the gang comes to the Drake mansion and distracts Drake and his valet.
- Refuge in Audacity: Discussed Trope. In order to sneak Rebecca out of Evan Drake's bedroom, Frasier suggests that if Norm tells a sufficiently outrageous lie, Drake will have no choice but to believe it. First Norm goes with killer bees, but when the continuing presence of Grayson the butler ruins that, Norm comes back with a bigger lie: that he has always dreamed of carrying a rich man in pajamas across a lawn.Frasier: The more outrageous a lie one tells, the more readily the victim will believe it.
- The Reveal: Frasier says that he treated two gorgeous women that morning, and the other one was a pyromaniac. Sam runs out of the bar in a panic while a fire engine can be heard in the distance.
- Running Gag: Other characters at the bar saying "You just left her in the closet?" each time Norm comes back with his story of how Rebecca is still stuck there.
- Tempting Fate: Rebecca is nervous about being in Evan Drake's house, wondering what might happen if he came back unexpectedly. Norm laughs, saying that people come back unexpectedly from the grocery store or the movies, they don't come back unexpectedly from Europe. Cue the sound of a car door outside, Norm looking out the window, and Norm saying "It's Mr. Drake! He's back unexpectedly from Europe!"
