Title: Finally! Part 2
Directed by: James Burrows
Written by: Ken Levine and David Isaacs
Air Date: February 1, 1990
Previous: Finally! Part 1
Next: Woody or Won't He?
Guest Starring: Roger Rees, Bill Medley, Valerie Karasek
"Finally! Part 2" is the 16th episode of the eighth season of Cheers.
It picks up on the previous episode, when Sam found out that Robin is cheating on Rebecca. He managed to get Rebecca out of the burger joint without seeing Robin by pretending there was a fire and putting the coat over her head. However, he's now wrestling with his conscience and whether or not he should tell Rebecca, who after all is his friend. Robin, who knows that Sam knows after seeing him at the burger joint, buys Sam's silence by offering to arrange for him to buy the bar back at a super-cheap price.
Still, Sam feels ashamed. Eventually, when Rebecca says she's not going to renew the lease on her apartment, he tells her. She refuses to believe him, until she sneaks into Robin's limo for a surprise and winds up meeting Robin and his other girlfriend, a ballerina. Robin then confesses that he has three girlfriends: Rebecca, the ballerina, and a staffer at the French consulate. It seems he's holding his own little contest for who will be his bride. The ballerina dumps Robin on the spot, reducing the list to two. Will Rebecca follow Sam's advice and the ballerina's example, and salvage her dignity? Or will her gold-digging instincts get the better of her?
Tropes:
- Broken Tears: Rebecca's crying is played for a little more drama than it usually is. She tells Sam that she's now in a competetion with the French woman for Robin, and it's worth it. Sam says "You really believe that?", and Rebecca, who was completely calm, suddenly bursts into tears in the middle of saying "I believe every single word."
- The Cameo: Bill Medley of The Righteous Brothers, who sang to Rebecca in the bar after he was hired by Robin Colcord, pops up again in the cold open.
- The Casanova: It's probably easier to be a Casanova when you're a billionaire, but in any case, Robin is cheerfully unembarrassed when he confesses that he's stringing along three women at once.
- Continuity Nod: Frasier mentions dating Diane, and not in a good light. The fact that he still has some vitriol for her could be seen as Foreshadowing for their eventual reunion and reconciliation in Frasier.
- Flashback: We find out how Sam got Rebecca out of that burger joint without her seeing Robin. He barged into the women's room and yelled "FIRE!". After the window proved too small for Rebecca to fit through, he hustled her out after putting his coat over her head.
- Flashback Effects: The standard wavy screen to transition to the flashback.
- Flanderization: Rebecca continues hers into the nervous and desperate wreck she became by the end of the series. Here, she's so desperate to marry a rich man she not only forgives him for dating other women, but agrees on entering a competition of sorts for his love.
- Her materialism also gets greatly emphasized in this episode, were she struggles to resist Robin's present (a diamond bracelet); and in the end, she accepts it!
- Hidden Depths: Woody says that Sam's his hero, because Sam looks out for his friends. But if Sam's going to keep Rebecca in the dark so he can get his bar back, Woody's just going to have to go back to his old hero...St. Thomas Aquinas.
- Ignored Epiphany: Rebecca finally admits how she's been humiliated and emotionally abused by Robin, and prepares to break up with him. But all it takes is for him to offer her a diamond bracelet and tell her she's "in the lead", and she's in his arms again.
- Inelegant Blubbering: Rebecca Howe's calling card, coming as she dissolves in tears after telling Sam how she's in a girlfriend contest.
- Multi-Part Episode: Finale of the two-parter where Rebecca finds out that Robin is cheating on her.
- Oblivious Guilt Slinging: When Sam tells Rebecca that he has a way to buy back the bar (not knowing it's by keeping his mouth shut about Robin's infidelity), Rebecca is genuinely happy and congratulates him. It makes Sam feel rotten and can't go through with it.
- Shout-Out: When urging Sam to tell Rebecca the truth, Frasier quotes Macbeth: "If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well it were done quickly."
- Take That!: Rebecca refuses to believe it when Sam tells her the truth. She says "You need help! Real help, not Frasier!" Frasier's offended.
- What You Are in the Dark: Sam could have kept his mouth shut and gotten his bar back for a song. Instead, he tells Rebecca the truth. Rebecca then squanders that to keep dating Robin, but Sam believes he made the right choice anyway. Carla disagrees.Carla: YOU COULD'VE HAD THE BAR BACK, YOU JACKASS!
