Recap / Cheers S 8 E 5

Episode: Season 8, Episode 5
Title: The Two Faces of Norm
Directed by: Andy Ackerman
Written by: Brian Pollack and Mert Rich
Air Date: October 19, 1989
Previous: How to Marry a Mailman
Next: The Storks Bring a Crane
Guest Starring: Eric Allan Kramer, Cynthia Stevenson

"The Two Faces of Norm" is the fifth episode of the eighth season of Cheers.

Norm hires a bunch of workers for his painting business, but a problem quickly arises when they prefer to laze about and go to Patriots games rather than actually do the work they're paid for, and Norm is too mild mannered to confront them directly. Desperate, Norm invents a partner named Anton Kreitzer to intimidate them into obedience, but soon enough this backfires on him.

Meanwhile, in his attempt to get Cheers back, Sam reluctantly gives up his beloved Corvette.

---

Tropes:

• Butt-Monkey: The Plymouth Volaré gets drubbed.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Doris, the secretary of Petersen & Kreitzer, who plays a minor role in this episode, becomes more important a few episodes later.
• Continuity Nod: Lilith's dangerous driving skills come up again, having ramped up a number of tickets in a few days, much to Frasier's exasperation.
• Cool Car: Rebecca posits that part of the reason Sam got so many chicks in his day is mainly because of the Corvette. That two attractive girls come into the bar solely to laugh at him for driving a Volaré in Rebecca's mind validates her theory.
  Rebecca: I wonder who your Corvette's dating tonight.
• Extreme Doormat: Norm has a lot of difficulty actually getting his workers to work, mainly because he's not good at standing up to them.
• Hypocritical Humor: Frasier, trying to help Sam get his car back from its buyer, takes the phone, saying a trained psychiatrist can help more than pulling a Kreitzer imitation. He then yells down the line at Lilith.
• Humiliation Conga: It only takes a few days driving a Volaré before Sam gets fed up of being taunted and decides he really wants his Corvette back.
• Incredibly Lame Fun: Doris occupies her time as the office of Petersen & Kreitzer by sharpening pencils. She still thinks it's the best job she's ever had.
• Invented Individual: Anton Kreitzer, Norm's terrifying partner in the painting firm. Where'd he get the name? It's Vera's maiden name.
• I Resemble That Remark!: Norm's hires come to complain at him about how just because they sit in the sun breathing in turpentine fumes all day, they ain't dumb. Rudy zones out in the middle of saying this, however.
• Jekyll & Hyde: Frasier starts to worry this is happening a little with Norm and Kreitzer.
• Murder Is the Best Solution: Rudy and the other workers get so fed up of Kreitzer that they decide to go bash his skull in.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: Rudy figures out Norm was lying to him and the guys to get them to work, but gets it the wrong way round, thinking goofy, lazy, generally spineless Norm is the lie and vicious, bad-tempered psycho Anton is the real person.
• Running Gag: Played with, when Norm tries to do the usual "NORM!" routine with the bar to prove he is Norm, and not Kreitzer... but everyone calls out "ANTON!" instead.
  • Woody will make a vague suggestion to Norm that Rebecca will add on in more detail, and Norm will give credit solely to Woody for coming up with it. Until he regrets the advice and says he never should've listened to Rebecca. Eventually Rebecca just rolls with it.
• Serious Business: Sam grills any potential buyer of the 'vette with the sort of mania usually only seen in dads with access to military hardware. He immediately rejects one buyer for suggesting he'd drive it at high noon, completely forgetting about the perils of sun damage!
• With Friends Like These...: After Sam's sold his 'vette, Frasier says they shouldn't taunt him about his new car, a Volare. Of course, the minute Sam enters the bar... they taunt him.