Title: Diamond Sam
Directed by: James Burrows
Written by: Tom Reeder
Air Date: January 15, 1987
Previous: Chambers vs. Malone
Next: Spellbound
Guest Starring: Al Rosen
"Diamond Sam" is the 14th episode of the fifth season of Cheers.
Sam and Diane come back to the bar after the events of "Chambers vs. Malone" and tell everybody that they've gotten engaged. They're met with muted congratulations and an eye-roll from Frasier. Carla is simply unable to process this information, entering a sort of fugue state where she walks around in a daze.
Meanwhile, it's time to get a ring. When Diane notices a ring with a particularly large diamond in a shop window, Sam asks about the price, only to laugh and hang up when he's told it's $5200. (In 1987 money!) Norm says he can get the ring wholesale (although it's vaguely implied that the guy he knows may be getting the ring illicitly) and save Sam a bundle. Sam agrees, and buys what apparently is an identical ring for only $1200 bucks. Naturally this backfires, as he goes to increasingly desperate measures to stop Diane from finding out.
Tropes:
- Big "NO!": The episode ends with the truth about Sam and Diane finally sinking in for Carla. She drops her tray, raises her head to the skies, and screams "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
- Brutal Honesty: Frasier observes Carla's state of denial.Frasier: Fascinating. She's experiencing denial.
Woody: What's that mean, Dr.Crane?
Frasier: Well, simply put, it means that the human mind blocks out that which it cannot emotionally accept.
Woody: What's that mean, Dr. Crane?
Frasier: [gently] It means that you don't understand this, and you never will. - Call-Back: Desperate to switch out the rings, Sam tells Diane to close her eyes, because he wants to tell her something important. All he can say is "You're really neat." At the end of the episode, after Diane learns the lengths that Sam has gone to and the money he's spent to get her that ring, she says the same words back to him, heartfelt.
- Delayed Reaction: Some time passes, and we get to the end of the episode, before Sam's engagement to Diane dawns on Carla. Cue the Big "NO!".
- Description Cut: Sam had to buy four dresses because there were four pink dresses in the window, but he figures that it's all right, that Diane couldn't possibly like all four. Cut to Diane holding the dresses and saying "Oh Sam, I love all of them!"
- Friend in the Black Market: Although Norm never admits it, it's strongly implied that his friend Bruce is selling the ring cheap because it is stolen.
- Maintain the Lie: Sam passes off a cheaper ring as Diane's fancy ring. Then he has to buy silver corncob holders for a box for the ring. Then he has to buy dresses to stop Diane from going back to the store. Then he winds up buying the real ring.
- Selective Obliviousness: Carla at first seems completely unable to process the news that Sam is marrying Diane. Then she says that Sam is marrying Norm. Finally at the end the truth sinks in.
- Skyward Scream: Carla's Big "NO!", shouted to the heavens, at the end upon realizing that Diane and Sam are getting married.
- With This Ring: What should have been a simple matter of getting Diane a ring becomes an increasingly complicated ordeal, until Diane winds up chucking what she thinks is the fake ring out the window of Sam's car. The episode ends with the two of them frantically searching for it in a storm drain.
