Recap / Cheers S 9 E 25

Episode: Season 9, Episode 25
Title: Home Malone
Directed by: Andy Ackerman
Written by: Dan O Shannon and Tom Anderson
Air Date: April 25, 1991
Previous: Rat Girl
Next: Uncle Sam Wants You
Guest Starring: Bebe Neuwirth, Jackie Swanson, Anthony Cistaro, Paul Willson

"Home Malone" is the 25th episode of the ninth season of Cheers.

This episode has two A-plots. In the first, the Cranes are going out, but they are left in the lurch when their babysitter cancels. With no other options on short notice, they ask Sam Malone to babysit Frederick. Sam cheerfully agrees, but he is no match for a crafty toddler.

In the second, pampered, privileged Kelly has to write a course for her college class about her work experience...but she doesn't have any. So she decides to get some by doing some waitressing at Cheers. After Rebecca grudgingly agrees, Kelly puts on the apron. Both Carla and Norm are pretty happy about Kelly working at Cheers, for different reasons.

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Tropes:

• Ambiguous Syntax: Lilith is uncomfortable with Frasier asking Sam to babysit Frederick.
  Lilith: I don't know how comfortable I feel with this set-up. He's just a baby, he needs supervision.
  Frasier: Well, Sam can take care of it.
  Lilith: I'm talking about Sam. You know how out out of control he can get at times, what a mess he can make of everything.
  Frasier: Well, Sam can clean it up. Oh...
  Lilith: I'm talking about Sam.
  Frasier: (simultaneous with above) You're talking about Sam.
  Frasier: Darling, it'll just be for a few hours.
  Lilith: All right, but if anything goes wrong, he could be scarred for life.
  Frasier: You mean Sam, right?
  Lilith: Yes, and it is a threat.
• Babysitting Episode: Sam goes over to the Crane residence to look after Frederick. He winds up getting locked out onto a window ledge...twice.
• Badly Battered Babysitter: The first time Sam gets locked out onto the ledge, he winds up falling into the complex's broken glass receptacle. He makes it back in, looking pretty disheveled, only to get locked out again and fall out of a tree.
• Bar Brawl: The only one that Cheers ever had. Henri taunts Woody one too many times about stealing Kelly. Woody goes chasing after Henri, only to crash into a customer. That customer shoves Woody, into a table full of other customers. A brawl ensues, which leads to Rebecca "firing" Kelly for distracting Woody.
• Bilingual Bonus: "Je vais te piquer ta copine" does in fact mean "I'm going to steal your girlfriend."
• Cue the Rain: Frederick locks Sam out on the ledge. What would be worse for Sam than being stuck out on a ledge of an apartment that's dangerously high up? The rain that starts right after he realizes what a fix he's in.
• Dumb Blonde: Kelly probably should not be let outside without a keeper.
  • Kelly asks Carla about the extra money that a customer left on her tray. Should she chase him down and give it back? No, says Carla, that's a special payment to the senior waitress. (Has Kelly never even paid for a meal?)
  • Norm tells Kelly that the notebook full of check marks—his bar tab—represents beers he's paid for in advance. For every beer he drinks, she erases one mark off his tab. Then Norm starts treating the bar to beers.
• Hypocritical Humor: Once again, the gang talks about how much they hate Henri, then they all give him a cheerful, friendly greeting.
  Norm: He's such a phony.
• The Klutz: Just another step in Rebecca Howe's Flanderization. In this episode she keeps shattering glasses due to sheer clumsiness.
• Mama Bear: Lilith makes it clear that should anything happen to Fredrick while Sam is babysitting, he (Sam that is) will be scarred for life.
• Noodle Incident: Frasier asks Woody to babysit, and Woody used to babysit back in Hanover, before...the incident. Rebecca's going to be out of town for a couple of days, and she asks Woody to feed her cat, and Woody used to have a lot of pets, before...the incident.
  Paul: Hey Woody, that's a really clever trick. You get out of anything doing that.
  Woody: Yeah. Just wish I'd thought of it, before...the incident.
• Skeleton Key Card: Sam tries to use a card to jimmy open the bathroom door, but he doesn't have any cards. So he tries a $20 bill, but Frederick grabs it and flushes it down the toilet.