Title: The Days of Wine and Neuroses
Directed by: James Burrows
Written by: Brian Pollack and Mert Rich
Air Date: January 24, 1991
Previous: Achilles Hill
Next: Wedding Bell Blues
Guest Starring: Bebe Neuwirth, Paul Willson
"The Days of Wine and Neuroses" is the 15th episode of the ninth season of Cheers.
The day Rebecca has been waiting for has finally come at last - Robin's getting out of the joint. And what's more, he's asking Rebecca to marry her. Naturally, the celebrations are thrown at Cheers. Much merriment is had, but soon the drink starts to get to everyone's favourite neurotic manager, and she flees the bar.
After two days with no sign of Rebecca, Sam goes to her apartment to find it a mess. Rebecca's been spending the last two days drinking and smoking, and she has no real intention of stopping. She tells Sam she's perfectly happy to marry Robin and spend the rest of her life with him... she's just not looking forward to it. Sam's confused, given she's spent two years talking about how she wants to marry him. Rebecca says it's just cold feet, but Sam is dubious about that. It seems like a weenie reason to start getting completely brick-faced. Rebecca explains that it's because she's no longer sure she loves Robin without his money.
A by-now very drunk Rebecca starts hitting on Sam, demanding he sleep with her. Sam refuses, partly because of standards but also because Rebecca is very drunk, but Rebecca insists. Fortunately for Sam's honor, before anything can happen, Rebecca passes out cold.
Meanwhile, the bar's jukebox is in need of maintenance, but the repair guy is willing to replace it with a karaoke machine. Frasier is initially against the karaoke machine, but soon becomes addicted it himself.
Tropes:
- Bait-and-Switch Comment: Frasier leads everyone in the first toast... to Lilith, not Rebecca, presumably because he's pissed her off somehow. Then Woody says he wants to make a toast... also to Lilith.
- Broken Tears: We find out that Rebecca's having doubts about her impending marriage when she says "I wanna toast love, I wanna toast commitment", and then she bursts into tears while saying "and I wanna toast my whole stupid life!"
- Brutal Honesty: As Sam puts it to Rebecca, he won't sleep with her when she's slarnied because A; a gentleman has rules, and B; after two days of hard drinking and smoking, she's "kind of repulsive".Rebecca: (Beat) Can't take it?
- Cigarette of Anxiety: Rebecca begins smoking again.
- Continuity Nod:
- When Rebecca thanks Lilith for her party, Lilith says that Rebecca threw her a bridal shower three years ago. That was episode "To All the Girls I've Loved Before."
- Sam comments about how he was once divorced, another reference to the ex-wife seen only once, in "Sam's Women".
- Drowning His Sorrows: Rebecca goes on a two-day bender over her cold feet.Sam: Are you drinking again?
Rebecca: Certainly not! (Beat) I never stopped. - Facepalm: Lilith's response to Norm and Cliff's Helium Speech take on "Lollipop" during the bridal shower.
- Freudian Excuse: As Lilith explains it, Frasier's obsessive personality is not a good mix with parents who played Broadway cast albums to drown out their lovemaking.
- Gold Digger: Always a problem with Rebecca, but it's a serious problem for her relationship with Robin because now he has no money, and she's terrified at the thought of marrying him when he's poor.
- Helium Speech: Just to be a little bit more annoying when singing "Lollipop", Norm and Cliff suck on the helium balloons at Rebecca's party.
- Henpecked Husband: Frasier. Lilith tells him they're leaving when Rebecca doesn't give her credit quick enough, then scolds him for getting his coat when he does so.
- Hypocritical Humor:
- Sam tells Rebecca cold feet is a weenie reason to drink. When she asks why he started, he admits it was because he lost his curveball.
- After the first rendition of "Lollipop" by the guys, Frasier denounces the whole thing as idiotic and childish. He then shows them the right way to make a pop.
- I'll Tell You When I've Had Enough!: Rebecca at her bridal shower, when Sam notices she's clearly enjoying the "champlagne" a bit too much.
- I'm Standing Right Here: Inverted, when Frasier complains about the karaoke machine being a loud noise machine. Norm chides him for insulting something that can't defend itself, causing Cliff to chime in with a "thank you".
- Incessant Music Madness: Frasier spends two days singing on the karaoke machine.
- Lampshade Hanging: The discussion re the bar jukebox is an acknowledgement that, for the most part over the last nine seasons, it's just been part of the background.
- Noodle Incident: Confused by the difference between "articulate" and "inarticulate", Woody mentions learning that "flammable" and "inflammable" mean the same thing the hard way.
- Percussive Maintenance : In the cold open, Cliff tries to get the jukebox working by kicking. It just breaks the already broken machine further.
- Running Gag: Norm and Cliff singing "Lollipop", or at least the chorus part - never any of the actual verses.
- Sarcasm Mode: Sam initially suggests Carla go find and console Rebecca, forgetting this is Carla.Carla: Yeah, I'll go do that, and you can go take my kids to see Smurfs on Ice!
- Saying Sound Effects Out Loud: Sam manages to trick a drunk Rebecca into turning her lights back on by saying "click".
- Second-Face Smoke: A drunk Rebecca blows smoke in Sam's face when he's reluctant to have sex with her.
- Tempting Fate: Looking over the karaoke machine's available songs, Frasier thinks this might have some merit after all. "Lollipop" then starts playing, leading to Norm and Cliff immediately singing the chorus part.
- Troll: When asked why Carla's humour is at everyone's expense, Carla explains it simply: it's what makes her laugh.
- Unkempt Beauty: Two days and two nights of drinking and smoking alone in her apartment has made Rebecca a disheveled and smelly mess.
