Airdate:
11/24/88
The ice show’s in town, and with it, the return of Eddie
LeBec, much to Carla’s celibate delight. Joy turns quickly to suspicion when
Eddie starts showing the newest member of the show, a gorgeous East German
brunette named Franzi Schrempf, around town. Carla’s fit to be tied – as per
her usual ways, she resorts readily to fisticuff when her hubby drops even the
slightest suggestion of infidelity, and a news article revealing an affair
between Franzi and “a melon-headed skater” doesn’t help much either. Sam
advises Carla that maybe she oughta be a bit nicer if Eddie does indeed have
wandering thoughts – and maybe some low cut dresses too, so Carla hosts Eddie’s
next poker game like a cross between a Stepford Wife and a Victoria’s Secret
model. Sam drops in to tell her the illicit affair does not involve Eddie, and so she breaks up the game abruptly – later
facing her husband’s admonition to be more trusting of him, while still
retaining that “Carla-ness” that made him fall in love with him.
Jay Thomas makes another appearance as Eddie, and Carla gets
to show her stripes yet again as a feisty, volatile and thoroughly irascible
barmaid. The only problem is I didn’t find her likable in this episode the way I always have before, warts and
all. I think that’s another indicator of how sometimes mean-spirited the
writing has become. We always had acerbic put-downs and rough-edges before;
now, they feel belabored, and missing the crucial element of humanity (and not
at the 11th hour, either). If I were Carla’s husband in this episode
I’d be cheating too, right after recommending a therapist to treat her
pathological hostility.
Subplots: Cliff, Norm and Frasier all vie for Woody’s other
hockey ticket, via a footrace that Frasier barely recovers from. And speaking
of Frasier, he’s got a cell phone (at least a 1988 version of one) inside his
briefcase, but he can get it open, and the ringing throws everyone off.
Cold open: Rebecca needs quiet in her office, but Woody
keeps interrupting her, even after being put in charge. Her berating him makes
him cry, and her feeling guilty about it.
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