Death Becomes Him is the third episode of the seventh season of Wings, and the 125th episode overall in the series.
Synopsis[]
Eleanor Kingsbury, of the wealthy Kingsbury family, hires Sandpiper Air to fly to Miami to pick up the remains of her father, Harrison Kingsbury, following his death. But because he drank too much the night before, a hungover Joe picks up the wrong casket. Now Kingsbury's casket in Brooklyn, Joe, Brian, and Fay must come up with a plan. Unable to admit their mistake, Brian suggests that Joe be made up to look like the dead man and take his place in the coffin for the scheduled viewing until the dead man's body arrives. While in the coffin, Joe overhears Eleanor confess to murdering her father.
Credits[]
Main Cast[]
- Tim Daly as Joe Hackett
- Steven Weber as Brian Hackett
- Crystal Bernard as Helen Chapel
- David Schramm as Roy Biggins
- Rebecca Schull as Fay Cochran
- Tony Shalhoub as Antonio Scarpacci
- Amy Yasbeck as Casey Davenport
Guest Cast[]
- Marian Seldes as Eleanor Kingsbury
- Scott N. Stevens as Wilson Kingsbury
- Heather-Elizabeth Parkhurst as Stacy Kingsbury
- William Frankfather as Thurmon
- Charles M. Dugan as Stubbs
Quotes[]
- Eleanor Kingsbury - "I want you to fly down to Miami, pick up his body, and bring it back to Nantucket for the memorial service. I'll need you to leave right away."
Joe Hackett - "Oh, um, well, that could be a little bit of a problem--"
Brian Hackett - "We-we have scheduled flights and a lot of valued customers who depend on us..."
[Eleanor hands Joe a check]
Joe Hackett - "Fay! Cancel all flights."
Brian Hackett - "And if anybody says anything, call security."
- Fay Cochran - "Wow, Harrison Kingsbury's gone."
Helen Chapel - "I don't believe it. Kingsbury was an institution on this island. I had my first kiss on Kingsbury Point."
Joe Hackett - "I lost my virginity on Kingsbury Point."
Brian Hackett - "I lost my virginity on Kingsbury's couch. His niece was my prom date. A great prom date."
- Brian Hackett - "Hey Joey, I really think you oughta check this out."
Joe Hackett - "Would you forget it Brian. I'm not looking at Kingsbury's corpse."
Brian Hackett - "Either am I. Unless he's 4'10" in a sequin gown and a really tasteful brooch."
- Brian Hackett - "He wants a casket, we'll give him a casket."
Fay Cochran - "Well you can't give him that casket!"
- Fay Cochran - "Hey! Pull yourselves together. We've got a job to do here. Where's the casket?"
Brian Hackett - "In there."
Fay Cochran - "Show me. NOW!"
Joe Hackett - "What-what are you doing Fay? You got an idea?"
Fay Cochran - "Maybe this body will do. People look very different when they pass on. Kingsbury was a recluse, no one's seen him in years. Now let's see what we've got here. Pop the hood.
[Brian open's the casket]
Fay Cochran - "...Well, this dame's not gonna cut it."
- Joe Hackett - "This is bad, this is very bad. You work all your life to build a business and you lose one lousy corpse and it's all down the drain."
- Joe Hackett - "We need a plan."
Brian Hackett - "I got a plan. Get in the box Joe."
Trivia[]
- The title of this episode is a play on Death Becomes Her, a 1992 American satirical black comedy fantasy film directed and produced by Robert Zemeckis.
- Helen reveals that she had her first kiss on Kingsbury Point, Joe reveals he lost his virginity on Kingsbury Point, and Brian reveals that he lost his virginity on Kingsbury's couch (as his prom date was Harrison Kingsbury's niece).
- Fay reveals that Siasconset Air (the airline that occupied Sandpiper Air's counter before them) misplaced Eleanor Kingsbury's luggage and in the 11 minutes it took to find it, she had them shut down.
- The scenes of the plane in air are of the Cessna N160PB (not the actual Cessna N121PP).
- The body they mistaken took belongs to a Mrs. Pearl Nadelman from Brooklyn.
- Joe reveals that he wears shower shoes.
