Recap / Cheers S 8 E 17

Episode: Season 8, Episode 17
Title: Woody or Won't He
Directed by: Andy Ackerman
Written by: Brian Pollack and Mert Rich
Air Date: February 8, 1990
Previous: Finally! Part 2
Next: Severe Crane Damage
Guest Starring: Jackie Swanson, Melendie Britt, Richard Doyle

"Woody or Won't He" is the 17th episode of the eighth season of Cheers.

It's time for Woody to meet Kelly's mom. Roxanne Gaines is divorced from Mr. Gaines and so is the only member of the clan Woody hasn't met yet. Woody is desperate to impress her, because no one else in the family likes him.

The meeting goes well. Way too well, in fact. Roxanne corners Woody on a couch, asks if he likes older women, then tackles him and sticks her tongue down his throat. Woody winds up frantically trying to avoid the attentions of a horny Mrs. Gaines.

In the B-plot, Cheers gets a mechanical bull, sent over from a Lillian Corp. bar in Texas that closed down.

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Tropes:

• Brutal Honesty: Sam is admiring Mr. Gaines's house, but apparently Mr. Gaines wasn't enjoying the conversation.
  Mr. Gaines: Well Mr. Malone, you've gotten tiresome. I'm going to stand over there now.
• Captain Oblivious: Starting a recurring trend for Kelly being an awful judge of non-Woody characters, she fails to realize her mother's amorous intent even when it's staring her in the face. It's especially bad as Kelly herself states that she's done this with all of her boyfriends, but dismisses it as harmless flirting in an effort to feel young again.
• Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: Mrs. Gaines paws and gropes Woody in a manner that clearly makes him upset and uncomfortable, but Kelly chastises Woody for being "rude" to her when he finally gets fed up with it and yells at her to stop.
• Footsie Under the Table: Mrs. Gaines doing this to Woody at dinner is what finally makes him freak out and yell at her, in front of a whole dining room full of people.
• Formal Full Array of Cutlery: Woody's invited to Kelly's father's house. He brings Sam with him and the following exchange occurs:
  Woody: Hey, Sam. I was in the dining room earlier and I was wondering something. Why do the table settings have two forks?
  Sam: Well, I guess that's in case you drop your fork, then you have a spare.
  Woody: Yeah, but why is one fork smaller than the other?
  Sam: Well, I guess in case you drop that one, it doesn't make as much noise.
• Guinness Episode: The mechanical bull won't stop bucking, and Cliff is tied to it. After several hours of Cliff in the pool room howling with distress, the gang figures out that if he can stay on for five more hours he'll set the record. Everybody gets excited, except for Cliff, who's begging for them to get him off.
• Hypocritical Humor: Carla recognizes a customer as an old boyfriend. They reminisce about a night of wild sexual abandon, until the customer suggests that they go to a No-Tell Motel. Carla gets outraged and kicks him out of the bar.
• Meet the In-Laws: Woody meets Kelly's mom. It goes way too well.
• Mom Looks Like a Sister: Well, not really, but that's Sam's joke.
  Sam: Who's this, your sister?
  Roxanne: That's a tired old line, Mr. Malone.
  Sam: You're right, I'm sorry.
  Roxanne: No, it still works.
• Mrs. Robinson: Kelly's mother lusts for Woody and he isn't the first of Kelly's boyfriends that she's made advances to.