Title: Love Me, Love My Car
Directed by: James Burrows
Written by: Rebecca Parr Cioffi
Air Date: December 17, 1992
Previous: Daddy's Little Middle-Aged Girl
Next: Sunday Dinner
Guest Starring: Dana Delany
"Love Me, Love My Car" is the 11th episode of the eleventh season of Cheers.
Sam gets a surprise one day when a gorgeous woman named Susan (Dana Delany, in a bit of stunt casting not long after her Emmy-winning lead role on China Beach) comes into the bar asking about his beloved Corvette. It seems that Kirby, the guy who bought the car in season premiere "The Little Match Girl" when Sam needed money to fix the fire damage, has died of a heart attack at a shockingly young age. Susan isn't sure what to do with the 'Vette.
Sam sees an opportunity. He will get close to Susan, not necessarily to have sex with her (in fact, their relationship appears to be platonic), but in order to manipulate her into giving back the Corvette. It works, as Susan sells the car back to Sam for a pittance after they spend a week hanging out together. However, Woody blurts out Sam's ulterior motive to Susan, leading to her giving Sam a brief but nasty "The Reason You Suck" Speech before angrily leaving the bar. Sam's got his car back, but he starts to feel really guilty.
In the B-plot, Woody receives a live piglet from his folks back in Hanover. Rebecca gets attached to the animal, which is a problem, because it's about to become Woody's dinner.
Tropes:
- Character Development: A minor theme in this last season of Cheers involved Sam slowly starting to grow out of his more adolescent habits. That's seen in this episode where he not only makes a shamefaced apology to Susan for manipulating her, he gives her back the car, saying that he can't enjoy it anymore. It's that which leads Susan to finally forgive him and give him back the car (although Sam will still have to make payments until he's paid her the blue book value).
- Continuity Nod: Sam being forced to sell the Corvette to repair the bar is referenced ten episodes later, when he learns that the guy who bought the car suffered an untimely death.
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: Eventually, Susan tells Sam if he'd just asked for his Corvette back rather than go through the whole rigmarole, she'd have given it to him.
- Cuteness Proximity: Rebecca towards the piglet. Woody, not at all, since it's just another pig to him.
- Emergency Food Supply Animal: Rebecca falls in love with the cute little piglet and gets mad when Woody says he's going to eat it. Rebecca winds up releasing the piglet into the wild, which leads to a call from Woody's mom saying the piglet found its way all the way back to Hanover. And it was delicious.
- Here We Go Again!: As everything ends, Susan expresses relief Sam hadn't been trying to get his hands on Kirby's boat, and Sam's interest is piqued. Cut to credits.
- Nice Girl: Susan is a sweet natured Kindergarten Teacher, and Sam ends up feeling incredibly guilty for using her to get his car back.
- Romancing the Widow: A spin on this trope, as Sam puts the full-court press on a young widow, not for romance, but to get his car back.
- That Came Out Wrong: Sam has to say "That came out wrong" after his initial "Thank God!" after learning that Kirby died of a heart attack and not, say, a car accident.
- Time Out: Susan's a kindergarten teacher. After she doesn't answer Sam's phone calls, he comes to her school and begs her forgiveness outside of class. After he refuses to leave, Susan makes him sit in "the dog house", a cardboard dog house that's the class punishment for misbehaving kids.
