Recap / Cheers S 7 E 19

Episode: Season 7, Episode 19
Title: The Gift of the Woodi
Directed by: James Burrows
Written by: Phoef Sutton
Air Date: April 6, 1989
Previous: What's Up, Doc?
Next: Call Me Irresponsible
Guest Starring: Bebe Neuwirth, Jackie Swanson

"The Gift of the Woodi" is the 19th episode of the seventh season of Cheers.

It's Kelly's birthday, and Woody tries getting her something unique as a gift. Unfortunately for Woody, his gift of a heartfelt song goes right over the beautiful but dim Kelly's head, causing Woody to have doubts about whether their relationship will even work.

Meanwhile, Cliff's gotten into mad botany, creating a hybrid of the beet and the rutabaga which he has dubbed the "beetabaga", and Rebecca and Lilith team up to try and find a way to intimidate the stuffed suits of Lillian Corp.

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Tropes:

• All of Them: Inverted. When Kelly is literally unable to comprehend the idea of not having money, Woody drills it home to her by saying "You take all the money in all the world and get rid of it, and that's how much money I have!"
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Woody successfully convinces Kelly that he works to make money and that he simply can't afford to get her the kind of extravagant presents she usually receives. She appreciates the meaning of his gift, saying it's made her think how shallow it'd be to get him a Porsche for his birthday like she was going to. Woody is left staring in shock.
• Dating What Daddy Hates: Mr. Gaines comes in to Cheers to invite Woody to Kelly's birthday party, hoping that close proximity to Woody will allow him to figure out why Kelly likes him so much. After a moment, he admits defeat and leaves.
  Woody: I'm an enigma.
• Drowning His Sorrows: After the humiliation at Kelly's party, Woody flees, returns to Cheers and starts nursing a beer. Sam asks how much he's drank and Woody says "eleven." Eleven beers? No, eleven sips.
• Epic Fail: Rebecca's attempt to intimidate the suits doesn't go how she planned. They fail to notice her at all, but they do offer Lilith the position of Vice-Chairman of the Eastern Seaboard.
• Flat Joy: Part of Lilith's instructions to Rebecca is to remove all trace of emotion from her voice.
  Rebecca: I'm ready!
  Lilith: Too much inflection.
  Rebecca: I'm ready.
  Lilith: I'm proud of you.
• Gift of Song: Woody is too poor to give his rich girlfriend Kelly a present, so he writes her a song instead. Kelly loves it, but has trouble understanding that the song is her present.
• Innocently Insensitive: While talking about their differences, Kelly admits she finds Woody having a job at all is cute, which gets Woody as irritated as we ever see him.
  Woody: I don't have a job to be cute, I have a job to earn money to live. The cute part just happens.
• Limited Lyrics Song: A large part of Woody's song is him repeating Kelly's name over and over.
• Minor Flaw Major Break Up: Woody has good reason to feel embarrassed after the party, but his gut reaction is to break up outright no discussion, due to Kelly's failure to grasp where he's coming from. Sam cautions him on this, saying he should at least try to talk things out and take into account that Kelly might genuinely not understand what life is like for someone of a different social class. It takes some doing, but Woody and Kelly manage to work it out without breaking up.
• Rage Breaking Point: Woody spends every dollar he has on an expensive piece of jewelry, which Kelly loves. He's willing to leave it be, until Kelly asks why they have to wait to get the expensive chain accessory and why he can't just withdraw the needed funds now. Woody then starts shouting about how he doesn't have the money for such a thing, which leads to Kelly realizing what his problem has been.
• Sarcasm Failure: Sam, who probably should've known better after three years, asks Woody if he'll go buy something expensive with all his money to make Kelly happy again. So Woody goes to do just that, as Sam tries to tell him otherwise.
• Serenade Your Lover: Because he can't afford anything else, Woody instead writes a song for Kelly and sings it for her birthday. Kelly loves it, but doesn't get that the song is Woody's gift.
• Spoiled Sweet: Kelly. Hoo boy, Kelly. She unintentionally crushes Woody when, after he sings her a song for her birthday, instead of the various sports cars everyone else has gotten her, asks where her actual gift is. It takes some time for Woody to get the point across to her that he can't buy her sports cars, and that when he says he has no money, he has no money. She eventually gets there, in her own way.
  Kelly: This is like when daddy tried to buy Shell Oil but couldn't.
• Uptown Girl: Played a bit more for drama this time, as Woody stresses about getting Kelly a meaningful birthday present and then gets frustrated over her continued inability to grasp that he has substantially less money than she does.