Title: Sam Turns the Other Cheek
Directed by: James Burrows
Written by: David Lloyd
Air Date: November 1, 1984
Previous: Fairy Tales Can Come True
Next: Coach in Love, Part 1
Guest Starring: Carmen Argenziano, Kim Lankford
"Sam Turns the Other Cheek" is the fifth episode of the third season of Cheers.
The episode opens with Sam shooing Maxine (Kim Lankford), a good-looking but obviously disappointed woman, out of his office. The rest of the gang assumes this is just Sam The Casanova dumping another conquest, but he explains it's something different. Sam found out that Maxine was married, and for all his skirt-chasing ways, he has a firm rule against dating married women.
The wisdom of that rule and the danger of breaking it is demonstrated soon after. The bar is closed and Sam is totaling up receipts when a man comes in. Turns out the man is Maxine's husband, Marvin—and Marvin has a gun. Sam does a pretty good job of keeping a straight face through his mortal terror, offering Marvin a drink and calming him down. When Marvin veers from homicidal rage to maudlin self-pity, Sam carefully picks up the gun, sticks it in his back pocket...and shoots himself in the butt.
At the bar the next day Sam can't hide from the questions when he comes in for work walking awkwardly and using a cane. Desperate to avoid embarrassment, he tells the gang that he got shot in the leg while fending off some armed robbers. This blows up on him in a big way, as everybody at the bar thinks it's the coolest story ever, word gets around, and a reporter runs an article. Diane, however, soon figures out that Sam is hiding something.
In the B-plot, Norm is selling his house, and Cliff is interested in buying it. In the C-plot, Carla has a toothache.
Tropes:
- Actually Pretty Funny: Diane can't resist dropping one pun after another when Sam reveals to her that he accidentally shot himself in the behind. Even Sam soon finds himself struggling to keep it together at her quips.
- Basement-Dweller: This is the first episode where it's mentioned that Cliff lives at home with his mom. This, alongside with his Cannot Talk to Women extreme social awkwardness, would be a defining feature of the character.
- Epic Fail: Sam tries to jump-kick Marvin, who is just a little out of range, and only ends up falling on his still-injured ass.
- Everyone Has Standards: Sam may be a relentless hound, but there are things he doesn't do, and one of those is dating an already married woman. He also doesn't date the underage or comatose, prompting Norm to remark "hey, he's added one."
- Hurricane of Puns: In-Universe, as Diane can't resist making constant "shot in the ass" puns at Sam's expense.
- I Just Shot Marvin in the Face: Sam's carelessness with a loaded gun gets himself shot in the butt.
- Pants-Positive Safety: Rather than, say, holding the gun with the barrel pointed down, Sam sticks it in his back pocket. Bad idea.
- Shot in the Ass: Sam manages to shoot himself in the butt after being careless with Marvin's gun.
- Shout-Out to Shakespeare: Diane does not take long to figure out that something is fishy about Sam's story of how he got shot.Diane: Coach, I think there's something rotten in the state of Denmark.
Coach: It's all that cheese. - Show Some Leg: Diane does this in an attempt to distract Marvin, who is holding Sam at gunpoint.
- Tempting Fate: Sam takes the gun from Marvin after Marvin has calmed down, saying he'll "put it someplace where it's not going to do any damage." It does some damage.
- The Tooth Hurts: Carla unwillingly goes to the dentist for a toothache. She gets through it by grabbing the dentist "where I knew I'd get his attention" and saying "We're not going to hurt each other, are we?"
