Airdate: 11/9/89
Carla’s getting tired of Eddie’s
excuses for his constant in absentia, until she gets the biggest one of all:
he’s dead. He had gotten run over by an ice machine in pushing a fellow cast
member out of its way. A silent Carla appears to be in shock – but she’s got
lots to say at the funeral, when the other
Mrs. LeBec comes forward for the eulogy, and soon an all-out brawl ensues
amid the chaos of the revelation. Stewing over mixed feelings, not the least of
which is wondering whether or not he really loved her, she receives a visit
from Eddie’s other better half, who wants to settle their rivalry once and for
all. Oddly enough, it takes a letter (hand delivered by Goldie, he man whose
life Eddie saved) to confirm Carla’s husband’s true love for her – and both
wives agree to let bygones be bygones.
Surprising turn of events
effectively ends Jay Thomas’s featured role as Eddie LeBec, and his untimely
demise is wisely handled a la Chuckles the Clown’s farcical fate on the Mary
Tyler Moore Show. Funeral fistfight is just perhaps a bit broad, but the
quieter moments do lend a great deal of poignancy, as when Carla ruminates on
her marriage and finally allows herself to “grieve” at episode’s end. Frasier
probably has the funniest scene, when he tries to get Carla to spill her
unresolved feelings and winds up doing so himself – over the loss of his own
mother.
Cold open: Rebecca can’t figure out
why the phone bill’s so high: it’s Cliff, jawing away to some dude in Tokyo.
She severs the phone line with a cleaver.
Look sharp for an early appearance
by Thomas Hayden Church (Sideways) as
Goldie Brown, who delivers the note to Carla.
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