Recap / Cheers S 9 E 1

Episode: Season 9, Episode 1
Title: Love Is a Really, Really Perfectly OK Thing
Directed by: James Burrows
Written by: Phoef Sutton
Air Date: September 20, 1990
Previous: Cry Harder
Next: Cheers Fouls Out
Guest Starring: Roger Rees, Eric Christmas

"Love Is a Really, Really Perfectly OK Thing" is the first episode of the 9th season of Cheers.

Events follow up immediately from the season ending cliffhanger "Cry Harder". Robin, having had a change of heart and come back to the United States to face the music, finds Rebecca and Sam in a compromising position—intimately buttoning up each other's shirts, in fact.

Robin is appalled but Rebecca assures him that nothing happened. It almost happened, but it didn't. Robin accepts this as true, reflecting that he only has himself to blame after pulling his vanishing act. Robin leaves the bar, and Rebecca thanks Sam for lying and not telling Robin the truth, that they did make love.

So that's that, as Sam and Rebecca decide to just be friends. They still are wrestling with the emotional aftermath of their encounter, however—Rebecca is startled by how it's apparently the best sex she ever had and wrestles with an attraction to Sam she hadn't felt before, while Sam, even as he admits that he and Rebecca are better as friends, is hurt by how she immediately goes back to Robin Colcord.

---

Tropes:

• Ambiguous Syntax: Sam tries to explain how he, most uncharacteristically, did not go bragging to the bar about how he finally, finally had sex with Rebecca.
  Sam: I thought I'd be betraying our friendship. I never really had a friend before.
  Rebecca: You have lots of friends!
  Sam: No, I never had a friend before.
• Anticlimax: The Will They or Won't They? three-year campaign of Sam trying to get into Rebecca's pants ends with him, in fact, finally getting into her pants. That's followed by her getting back with Robin Colcord literally as soon as she and Sam have their clothes back on. In-Universe this is discussed, as Sam talks about a vague feeling of dissatisfaction after "looking forward to it too much", although this is really emotional hurt over Rebecca ditching him immediately to go back to Robin.
• Cannot Spit It Out: Sam is incapable of just admitting he and Rebecca slept together. Of course, none of the gang believe him anyway.
• Cavemen Versus Astronauts Debate: The gang's inane discussion for the day; What if presidents had fish parts for faces?
• Gossipy Hens: The gang lives to hear about Sam's sexual conquests, living vicariously through it.
• Hypocritical Humor: Rebecca insists her return to Cheers isn't about the check, then immediately takes her final paycheck back.
• Inadvertent Entrance Cue: Hurrying to get out of Cheers, Robin says he wants to go before any paparazzi show up. He opens the door on Carla, camera in hand.
• Just Friends: Sam tries to be the gentleman, saying "But I hope we can, you know, remain friends." Rebecca, who is in a high state of agitation over her guilt about Robin and her insecurity as a lover, decides to take this as a come-on, and quits the bar.
• Momma's Boy: Cliff's first reaction to Sam getting the bar back, call Esther.
• One of the Guys: Carla, again. When Norm tells Rebecca their eager gossip about her and Sam is just "guy talk", he immediately turns to Carla, who joins in the obnoxious hooting and hollering.
• Previously on…: In the cold open, the events of the eighth-season finale in which Robin Colcord got arrested and Sam got Cheers back are discussed between a bartender and a patron at Gary's Olde Towne Tavern. How do they know? Norm and Cliff are there at Gary's, accepting free beers in return for gossip.
• A Round of Drinks for the House: Sam offers this to the bar in celebration for him getting Cheers back. He also cancels all bar tabs, which fills Norm's face with joy.
• Shout-Out: Sam, struggling to explain how he feels a sense of let-down after sex with Rebecca, talks about how much he was excited to watch The Bad News Bears, and when he finally watched it, it was just Tatum O'Neal throwing a ball around.
• Take This Job and Shove It:
  • It's pretty easy to read the long Season 6-8 arc of the Rebecca-Sam relationship as three years of relentless sexual harassment on Sam's part; the only thing that mitigates this is that Rebecca is Sam's boss and has the ultimate power in the relationship and could fire him at any time. Now that Rebecca is working for Sam as a waitress, he's behaving in a far more gentlemanly manner, which ironically she interprets as a devious tactic to get her back into bed. She quits the bar, ending her very brief career (only a day, apparently) as a Cheers waitress.
  • Seeing Rebecca storming out causes Woody to nearly storm out too, upset over his pay (and thinking Rebecca's talking about him being sexually harassed).
• Trauma Button: Sam and Frasier jump out of their skin when Norm name-drops Diane. Frasier in particular looks shell-shocked.
• Troll: How aforementioned trauma-mashing comes up, when Norm pretends he hasn't noticed any of the changes to the bar.
  Sam: Are you so focused on your own lives you don't notice what happens around here?
  Norm: We notice the important stuff. By the way, is Diane coming in this morning?
• Why Couldn't You Be Different?: Cliff's phone conversation with Esther turns sour quickly when he tells he he's not the new owner of Cheers.
  Cliff: I couldn't finish college and that's all there is to it! (slams the phone down) ... she's thrilled.
• Why We Are Bummed Communism Fell: Believing Sam has finally struck out for good, Carla and the boys lament it's the end of two eras: The Cold War, and Sam's hound days. Naturally, the later is given more weight than the former.
• Won't Take "Yes" for an Answer: Rebecca is so convinced Sam's trying to seduce her again she utterly fails to register that he's agreeing with her totally.