Title: Strange Bedfellows, Part 2
Directed by: James Burrows
Written by: David Angell
Air Date: May 8, 1986
Previous: Strange Bedfellows, Part 1
Next: Strange Bedfellows, Part 3
Guest Starring: Kelsey Grammer, Kate Mulgrew, Max Wright
"Strange Bedfellows, Part 2" is the 25th episode of the fourth season of Cheers. It is the second part of the three-part season finale.
The election has come and gone and Janet Eldridge (Kate Mulgrew) is still on the Boston city council—and she is still dating Sam, much to Diane's displeasure. A casual exchange between Sam and Janet leads to Sam admitting that the longest relationship he was ever in was his year-long romance with Diane Chambers. Janet, who had a hunch, says that Sam should fire Diane. First, she pretends that Sam should fire Diane because Diane's wasting her potential as a waitress in a bar, but she then admits the truth, that she's simply jealous and wants Diane gone. Sam reluctantly agrees.
As it so happens, Diane heard this entire conversation, as she was hiding behind the bar. She decides to quit before Sam fires her, and she writes out a typically wordy Diane letter. But when push comes to shove the next day she refuses to quit and dares him to fire her—and he does. A nasty argument ensues in which Sam insists that she's fired and Diane insists that she quit, but either way, she leaves the bar.
In the B-plot, Norm complains about his sister-in-law Donna, who is staying with Norm and Vera and who insists on strolling around the house wearing very little clothing.
Tropes:
- Armor-Piercing Response: Janet's "That too" answer, when Diane corrects her "you were wrong about Sam and I" to "you were wrong about Sam and me", leaves Diane flat-footed.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Janet manipulates Sam into firing Diane because she still views her as a threat.
- Character Filibuster: Diane writes a six-page "resignation" letter when quitting Cheers. It includes at least one graph.
- Crossing the Burnt Bridge: Diane makes a big speech to the whole bar in which she says that she's quit, she's leaving Cheers, and "You will never, ever see me again." She dramatically exits the bar—and then she has to come back to get her coat. Carla, of course, repeatedly moves the coathanger further in until she actually has to come back in to get it.Carla: [big trolling grin] Hey look everybody it's Diane!
- Drowning My Sorrows: Frasier is still pounding drinks in Cheers and moping about Diane rejecting him the year before.
- The Ghost: Norm's horny sister-in-law Donna is just as much of a ghost as Vera, as she remains unseen but Norm complains about her at the bar.
- Grammar Nazi: Diane tries this with Janet, but Janet nails her with an Armor-Piercing Response.Janet: Obviously you were wrong about Sam and I.
Diane: [muttering] Wrong about Sam and me.
Janet: [smirks] That too. - Hypocritical Humor: Diane ridicules Sam for all the name-dropping and stargazing that he's been doing since he's been dating Janet (among other things, she took him to a black-tie dinner at the governor's mansion). Then when Gary Hart steps into the bar Diane flips out and squees like the fangirl she is.
- Ladykiller in Love: Discussed Trope, as Carla specifically tells Sam that "You are not a one-woman guy", and urges him to dump Janet and go out with a bimbo with "big casabas".
- Multi-Part Episode: The second part of the three-part finale to Season 4.
- Politician Guest-Star: Senator Gary Hart, who apparently was Sam's Trivial Pursuit partner, drops by the bar. Diane flips her lid, squeeing hysterically about "Could have been president Gary Hart! Could still be President Gary Hart!" (Hart ran second to Walter Mondale in the 1984 Democratic primary. He declared his candidacy for the 1988 election in December of 1986, only to drop out due to a sex scandal, one year to the day after this episode aired.)
- Series Continuity Error: One of the many continuity errors scattered throughout the run of Cheers between Cheers and Frasier. Diane mentions that Frasier's receptionist has worked for him and his family for years, which of course doesn't mesh with Frasier's father being a cop from Seattle.
- Shameless Fanservice Girl: Norm complains about his sister-in-law Donna prancing about the house half-naked and exercising right in front of him while wearing "skimpy little leotards." And later he says that after Donna didn't answer his knock, he opened the door to her room to find her "buck naked." Right after he says this Cliff asks if he can come over to Norm's house to watch TV.
- Take This Job and Shove It: Maybe. Sort of. Diane drops the bomb on Sam with her resignation letter, then says she won't quit after all, daring him to fire her. When he says "You're fired" she insists that no, she quit.
- Tempting Fate: Diane takes back her resignation letter, saying that she refuses to take it easy on him.Diane: Well, I'm not going to let you off the hook. I withdraw my resignation. Fire me, if you can. But I don't think you have the guts. After all we've gone through, the good times and the bad, I say you don't have the courage to fire me to my face.
Sam: You're fired!
