User Reviews

Apparently, people in Carla's family have death dream before they pass. Her mother has told her she has had this dream and she wants to see Carla. The only thing that will help is if Carla changes the name of one of her children to Benito Mussolini. Sam shows up in the living room of the most dysfunctional family imaginable. There's a lot of history and the family is a horror show.

Obviously, any sitcom delving into "ethnic humor" runs the risk of inciting controversy, but as one with at least partly Italian background, I found it hilarious! It might look like fiction set up for a regular episode of "Cheers," but that naming tradition does exist in the Italian-American world to an extent. One of my best friends from college came from an Italian-American originally from New Jersey who named my friend after the two grandparents in his family. His name is "Anthony 'Tony' Rocco Alfieri" and it came from both of his grandfathers, one who was named "Anthony" and the other who was named "Rocco," giving him the most stereotypical Italian name possible that you'd think he has Ragu sauce flowing through his veins. He does embrace it, seemingly proud of how "Italian" his name sounds.

I'm only a quarter Italian, but through my mom's side of the family from where that heritage came from, I sort of got to experience the "culture" of Italian-Americans. They of course came through New Orleans instead of New York, and Southerners that descend from Italian immigrants are culturally different from those that settled up north like my friend Tony. Even still, there are some similarities. Yet again, I'm more of a mutt. My grandmother whose grandparents immigrated from Sicily had the name of Marguerite Ciuilla. Something my mom's family was very centered on was dedication to family, a trait Italians are known for. Also, there was the bluntness, as Italians are not really known to mince words. Though, at the end of the day, I'm not an Italian-American, but a mutt. My name is an American, quasi-Greek spelling of the name "Christopher," as "Kristopher," and then my middle name is Irish and my last name is German. LOL, good luck assuming my heritage. As Norm said in this very episode of "Cheers" while talking to Carla about her family, "I wish I belonged to an ethnic group;." LOL, because WASP Americans.

Though I find this episode hilarious with playing on Italian-American tropes, it's a little historically inaccurate. "Benito" was more of a Spanish name and was never popular in Italy. Benito Mussolini's parents were die-hard political revolutionaries who named their son after Mexican political leader Benito Juarez. But, it sounds "Italian" enough (after all, Spanish and Italian share a common origin through Latin), and don't let facts get in the way of a good sitcom joke. :-)

And did I mention that in any Italian family, whatever the mother says is law. I'm Southern, and once saw a sign that said "If Momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!" Well, if you had an Italian mother, that's the truth on an exponential level! :-D.

Honor Thy Mother has to be season 9's worst episode. It is a bit forced and not as funny as the previous episodes of season 9, which in my opinion, is one of the greatest seasons of the series.