User Reviews

Diane receives news that her cat has died. When she announces this, no one has even a modicum of sympathy. This leads to her trying so hard to get anyone to take her pain seriously. It ends with one of those confrontations in Sam's office. The difference here is that Diane, who is usually so pretentious and insensitive herself, is right to feel the way she does. Well done.

This episode was an unexpected tear-jerker. Any other sitcom would have failed at making this plot work. Anyone that whose only friend growing up was a pet could totally understand Diane's grief, but it was exaggerated and played for laughs /just right/ enough that it's actually fun to watch. My favorite episode of the series!

There's no way around it: this is a tear jerker of an episode, even if you're "allergic to cat stories."

Diane's reaction to her childhood cat dying may seem a bit over-the-top until you realize that this is really about the main theme of the Diane years: Diane as outsider, never in tune with the rest of the gang. Each main character reacts to Diane's misfortune in their own way: Carla is unsentimental and cynical; Norm is empathetic and comforting - until the game is back on; Coach tells a bizarre story about his grandfather's dog. It's Sam, of course, who has the most complex reaction.

At first Sam tries to use Diane's grief as an excuse to "comfort" her in a sleazy way, but as Diane tells him the whole story he's genuinely moved. It's yet another step towards the inevitable...

The subplot introduces Marshall, the nerdy MIT professor. Marshall is a bit too broad a caricature to take seriously, but the plot involving Sam and Coach betting against the Celtics is good for some laughs.