Cheers 6.4: “Little Carla, Happy at Last, Part 2”

Airdate: 10/22/87

Bride and groom are at each other’s throats: Eddie won’t talk to Carla because of his mother’s opinion of her, and Carla now hates Eddie for being such a mama’s boy. It’s up to Sam to negotiate a settlement, in part because that means he can ditch the uniforms, in a deal he made with Rebecca, who wants the wedding reception to go on because the company VP, he one she has a crush on, will be in attendance. It’s looking promising for the “I do’s,” and, despite being held in the overcramped church rectory, Carla officially becomes Mrs. Eddie LeBee. The happy couple ain’t looking so happy at the reception; that’s because they got married at 4:01, missing the all important good-luck deadline by one minute, and so Carla is back to her old paranoid ways. Rebecca’s loverboy never showed, so now she’s getting drunk on champagne, and Sam’s hopes that she’ll start warming up to him are stymied when she icily insults his looks. But with the newlyweds still newly-mopes, he lays down the law. Only when a call arrives that Eddie is cut from his hockey team does Carla realize they’re not cursed; poor-playing Eddie probably deserved to be cut, ditto his mother’s hatred of her, her twins, etc. This is life, she concludes.

Fine conclusion to first two-parter of the Rebecca era finally features a wedding that succeeds! (The producers must have decided that enough was enough.) Also the first time (not the last) we see Rebecca drunk, which adds a new wrinkle to her relationship with Sam, which is to say – there is none, and his chances ain’t looking so hot, either. Jay Thomas will likely be making future appearances as Carla’s better half. And it looks like those uniforms will be going away, as Ms. Howe must honor her agreement.

Cold open: a recap of the previous episode plus Norm and Cliff jaw about Eddie needing to cut the cord, before Cliff grouses about a wasted casserole when his mom can’t make diner.

Norm’s opener: Woody: “Would you like a beer?” Norm: “No, I’d like a dead cat in a glass.”