Title: One Happy Chappy in a Snappy Serape
Directed by: James Burrows
Written by: Phoef Sutton
Air Date: November 17, 1988
Previous: Executive Sweet
Next: Those Lips, Those Ice
Guest Starring: Alex Nevil, Gerald Hiken, Fred Asparagus
"One Happy Chappy in a Snappy Serape" is the fourth episode of the seventh season of Cheers.
Continuing on from the previous episode, Rebecca is still dealing with the unwanted advances of her boss, Martin Teal, who is determined to marry her. In order to prevent this, Rebecca has been pretending Sam is her boyfriend, but Martin has a plan around that: He offers Sam the chance to work as a bartender in Mexico for a month. Before Rebecca can even finish saying Sam won't take the offer, he takes it.
One month later, and Martin's still on Rebecca's tail. The time for Sam's return comes... and passes. Seems Sammy's been having fun in Cancun, so much so the locals have started composing songs about his activities. Driven to desperation, Rebecca goes to see him, and holds him at gunpoint to "persuade" him to come back. Fortunately the gun's not loaded, and Rebecca goes home, resigned to marrying Teal, but Sam has a change of heart.
Back in Boston, a slightly drunk Rebecca is met at Cheers by Martin, but before any impromptu wedding can take place Sam returns, and Rebecca turns Martin down for good, though she admits she'll probably regret her decisions when she sobers up.
Tropes:
- Ambiguous Syntax: When Sam takes the gun Rebecca says "I'm sorry it wasn't loaded," the clarifies that she meant "I'm sorry, period, it wasn't loaded, period."
- Bait-and-Switch: At the very end, Rebecca passes out from her drinks, and Sam declares he's finally got a chance to do something he's wanted to do for ages... he then doodles a mustache on her face.
- Boyfriend Bluff: The second episode in a row where Rebecca pretends Sam's her boyfriend in order to ward off the persistent attention of Martin Teal.
- El Spanish "-o": A painful example of this when Rebecca is trying to talk to a Mexican person over the phone.Rebecca: Me talking to me boyo amigo in Cancun, and we were cut offo.
- Face Doodling: Sam draws a goofy mustache on Rebecca's face when she's out cold, drunk.
- Flanderization: Rebecca's continues, with Sam ranting to Pepe about how she's been an unstable idiot since he's known her, as opposed to the Defrosting Ice Queen of the previous season.
- Foreshadowing: There's a passing comment about how Martin kicked his father out of the company when Martin was only seventeen. This helps set up The Reveal when Martin's worn-out assistant Dennis is revealed to be his dad.
- Going Native: Sam is having the time of his life working in Cancun and has no desire to return.
- Lady Drunk: Part of Rebecca's Flanderization in Seasons 7-11 was her getting drunk and morose every time things went bad (which they always did). Here she's hammered when Sam gets back, moaning about how she's about to get married to Martin the pipsqueak. She eventually passes out in a chair.
- Latin Lover: Ramon, the Cancun bartender sent to Boston to replace Sam. Carla lusts for him, and in his last scene he's accompanying two hot women out of the bar.
- Male Gaze: Sam complains to Pepe about how Rebecca's a nutjob and he keeps "pulling her chestnuts out of the fire", and he still likes her, and he's probably going to do it again. He wonders why, and Pepe says "Nice buns, Sammy?"
- Previously on…: The events of the previous episode are cleverly recapped by having Rebecca call a radio talk show during the cold open for relationship advice. (Because Rebecca's an idiot, she calls a gardening show.)
- Really Gets Around: Sam's only in Cancun for a month, and in that time sleeps with so many women they're singing songs about him.
- The Reveal: Dennis is Martin's dad, as Rebecca finds out when she tries to get out of their impromptu wedding by saying their parents aren't there (Martin's mother is dead).Dennis: Welcome to the family.
- Servile Snarker: Dennis is not nearly as much of a Yes-Man behind Martin's back, snarking "The master of the universe awaits" when summoning Rebecca.
- Shout-Out:
- Carla dubs Sam's replacement "Ricardo Montalbán", because of his association with "rich Corinthian leather".
- The episode title alludes to a lyric from the title song for The Three Caballeros.
- Similar Squad: The bar Sam works at has its own equivalent of Norm, Pepe, who even has his own version of the "NORM!" gag.
- Status Quo Is God: Obviously, Sam was never going to stay in Cancun.
- That Came Out Wrong: When Rebecca pulls a gun on Sam to take him back to Boston, Sam disarms her, and Rebecca apologizes that is isn't loaded. She quickly realizes what she said and clarifies that she's sorry period, it's not loaded, period.
- This Is Gonna Suck: Rebecca, already several sheets to the wind, comments that when she sobers up, she's going to regret not marrying Martin.
- Time Skip: "One Month Later" finds Sam unwilling to leave Cancun, so Rebecca has to go down there to get him.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Martin leaves Cheers, with the ominous suggestion he's going to get back at Rebecca for rejecting him, but he's never heard from again. Then again, Rebecca stays in her dead-end position at Cheers.
