Title: Rebound, Part 1
Directed by: James Burrows
Written by: Glen Charles and Les Charles
Air Date: September 27, 1984
Previous: I'll Be Seeing You, Part 2
Next: Rebound, Part 2
Guest Starring: Kelsey Grammer, Duncan Ross
"Rebound, Part 1" is the first episode of the third season of Cheers.
Six months have passed since the dramatic breakup of Sam and Diane in "I'll Be Seeing You, Part 2". It turns out that neither one of them dealt with it very well. Sam, for his part, is drinking again, stumbling into the office drunk, looking disheveled and dirty. Coach, deeply disturbed and with no other idea what to do, eventually asks Diane Chambers for help.
Diane didn't deal with the breakup well, either. When we first see her it turns out that she is just getting back to her apartment after having spent time in a mental health sanitarium. Diane is reluctant to get involved, but Coach's desperate plea convinces her to come back to the bar. When she shows up at Cheers, a drunk Sam greets her with scorn, but Diane perseveres and urges Sam to see her friend, a psychiatrist. Sam indignantly refuses but when everyone else, even Carla, agrees with Diane, Sam agrees to see her psychiatrist friend.
It turns out he's in the bar already! The fellow sitting next to Cliff who hasn't said a word throughout the scene stands up and introduces himself as Dr. Frasier Crane. Sam is initially freaked out by this but, having already said he would, leaves with Frasier. Sam, however, doesn't know something that Coach finds out at the end of the episode—Frasier is Diane's new boyfriend.
First appearance of Kelsey Grammer as Frasier Crane, the character he would play on American television for the next 20 years.
Tropes:
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Even when she's supposed to be helping Sam, Diane still ends up arguing with him anyway.
- Berserk Button: Carla has forbidden any mention of Diane, grabbing Norm by his hair when he suggests it might be the reason for Sam's relapse, and threatening to kill him if he so much as thinks it.
- Continuity Nod:
- Second appearance of Duncan Ross as Boggs, Diane's mother's former chauffeur and current husband, last seen in Season 1's "Someone Single, Someone Blue".
- Diane's twitch makes a reappearance when she can't say Sam's name.
- Emotionally Tongue-Tied: Diane can't bring herself to say Sam's name.
- Euphemism Buster: Carla reveals to Sam that Diane spent time in a nut house this way.
- Hypocritical Humor: Norm reluctantly tells Sam not to get defensive, but he's got a problem. Sam retorts that Norm's one to talk, making him defensively shoot back "I already have a mom, lush face."
- Insistent Terminology: Diane refuses to admit she spent time at a sanitarium. Twice she says "sani—vacation".
- "It" Is Dehumanizing: Carla refers to Diane as "it" when she sees her returning.Carla: It's gonna come in here and say something!
- Jump Scare: Sam and Cliff both jump when Frasier introduces himself.
- Meaningful Background Event: Kelsey Grammer is first seen in the foreground, briefly, holding a beer, as Sam exits his office. Then in the scene that follows where Sam is arguing with Diane, Frasier is repeatedly caught by the camera in the background, when Sam is talking, sitting next to Cliff. Usually, Frasier is near the center of the screen. This draws the attention of the viewer even though he isn't saying or doing anything, setting up the reveal when Frasier stands up and introduces himself.
- Necktie Leash: People keep trying to grab Coach by his tie when he tells them he invited Diane back to Cheers—but he's wearing a clip-on, so it just comes right off! Eventually, Coach grabs his own tie and throws it to the floor.
- Off the Wagon: Apparently Sam has been on an alcoholic bender for months. Coach turns to Diane out of sheer desperation. This would be the only time in the whole run of the series where Sam Malone the alcoholic fell off the wagon.
- One-Hour Work Week: Sam while on his bender shows up at Cheers with gals, has sex with them, then leaves.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: That Carla actually agrees with Diane, however reluctantly, shows just how bad Sam's situation has become.
- Perma-Stubble: Sam sports it through the episode, showing he's not taking the best care of himself while off the wagon.
- Pun: In the teaser, Cliff gets annoyed at Coach constantly futzing with the blender as Coach tries to make a mai tai. He eventually rips off Coach's clip-on tie and throws it in the blender. Coach then says "Does anyone want a my tie? Get it? My tie?", while cackling with laughter.
- Romantic False Lead: Frasier Crane became a Breakout Character, so it's a little startling to re-watch this episode and see what an obvious Romantic False Lead he was. With his erudition and his cultured, nearly effete manner, and his stuffiness and reluctance to show affection, he's basically the Anti-Sam, and obviously only a temporary roadblock in the Sam-Diane romance.
- Sanity Slippage: The trauma of her breakup with Sam led Diane to spend some time in a mental health sanitarium.
- To Be Continued: Ends with a freeze-frame and a "To Be Continued" after Diane and Frasier embrace and Coach realizes that Diane has a new boyfriend.
