User Reviews

Susan Howe, a horror movie actress and Rebecca's estranged sister comes over to make peace with Rebecca. Apparently they had trouble because Susan always took Rebecca's guys away. So Sam pretends to be Rebecca's boyfriend and Susan starts to flirt with him. But when it comes out Rebecca gets so mad she shoots Susan. But it is just a trick to fool Sam Malone.

A very fun episode. This is where unsuccessful jokes from the past can play a role: when I saw Rebecca with the gun it reminded me of that bad scene when she goes to Cancun to get Sam. This was the only thing that actually made me believe for a second that is true. If they came up with that I think it was a great thinking to make use of a previous mistake.

I also loved Frasier Crane talking about the movie Susan was in and getting his autograph for his mother in law.

This is the point in Cheers' run where the jokes sometimes made little or no sense- let's call them Un-Jokes. They were good for a laugh but were either illogical, untrue or so bizarre that they unraveled as they were being told. I'll keep you posted on the Un-Jokes as we go along.

Marcia Cross guest-stars this week as the luscious Susan Howe, Rebecca's perky-bottomed sister, and Sam- stuck in perma-Hound mode- wants to bang the both of them back to the stone age.

Okay, so it's not the greatest plot in series history, what with Sam lying to the Sisters Howe in an attempt to get some quadruple motorboat action, but what makes this a less-than-stellar episode is that you can see the twist ending coming a mile away. When Susan does her acting demonstration in the bar did she really have to scream the EXACT SAME lines she would later use when pretending to be shot by Rebecca? And if the two sisters aren't talking why do they suddenly make peace offscreen after years of bad blood and conspire together to fool Sam into thinking Susan has been killed? It's more than a little silly.

Rebecca's line in the office scene, "It ain't licorice!" is a reference to the Spencer Tracy film "Adam's Rib," in which he holds a man at gunpoint and then later admits the gun was made of licorice by taking a bite out of it. This episode is also the first time Rebecca uses her quasi-catchphrase: "Shuuuut Uuuuup!!!" (You'll have to see it to appreciate it.)

Here's an Un-Joke for you: Frasier asks Susan to sign an autograph for his Mother-In-Law, one that says: "I know where you live, and I'm going to get you." Now why would any actress write a threat to a fan, even on request? And why would Frasier want to threaten his Mother-In-Law's life with an autograph? It just doesn't make any rational sense, and the joke isn't funny enough to justify the weak premise.

Somewhere along the way the two newly-reconciled sisters invite the entire Cheers gang- including Lilith- to sneak back into the bar after closing to enjoy the look on their best friend's face as he carries a corpse through his workplace. I guess there was nothing on ESPN that night.

GRADE: C