"Tattoo" is the ninth episode in the fourth season of the CBS sitcom The Nanny. It aired on November 20, 1996.
Synopsis[]
Maxwell wants to see Fran's concealed tattoo, while her mother suggests that Dr Roberts remove it. Fran decides to go to the doctor but has no intention of getting it removed.
Plot[]
The episode opens with C.C. leaving the house with her skirt tucked into her underwear and Niles desperately in search of a camera. Val visits Fran at the Sheffield's while Maggie seeks Fran's help to distract her father while she gets a tattoo with friends, but Fran is not supportive. Val lets slip that Fran has a tattoo just as Fran's mother arrives, everyone is shocked. Distressed by the news of her daughter's tattoo Sylvia threatens suicide by oven but is luckily distracted by a plate of crab cakes. A flashback shows Fran and Val dancing to 80s music in a tattoo parlor and it is revealed that the tattoo is related to her ex-fiance's Danny. Sylvia threatens Fran with exclusion from the Jewish cemetery and being disowned if she does not have the tattoo removed.
Niles reveals the knowledge of Fran's tattoo to Maxwell via a game of charades. Maxwell is extremely interested and eager to know where the tattoo is located. Maggie talks Fran into broaching the topic of her getting a tattoo with her father. Maxwell misunderstands and thinking Fran is talking about her own tattoo Maxwell says that he likes them. Maggie takes this as his approval for her own tattoo and makes a swift exit.
Meanwhile, Fran attends a consultation with her mother and Fran about getting the tattoo removed, but decides not to proceed. She buys a tiny swimsuit to show off the tattoo and convinces the family to take a vacation to Bermuda for the big reveal to Maxwell. Maxwell and Fran lounge at the pool in matching outfits, while Maxwell continually misspeaks betraying his obsession with the tattoo. At bedtime Gracie asks Fran to stay with her family forever and makes other comments that give Fran cold feet. Fran tells Maxwell that the timing is not right and instead asks him to play ping-pong with her. They proceed to play a bizarre game of ping-pong simulating sexual climax and both appear to be extremely satisfied after.
Cutback to the Sheffield house and Fran has had the tattoo painfully removed. Sylvia is happy that Fran can now be buried in a Jewish cemetery and not in the yard next to their family pet who had supposedly run away. Maggie says that she intends to get a tattoo when she turns 18 despite Fran's negative experiences.
Cast[]
Starring[]
- Fran Drescher as Fran Fine
- Charles Shaughnessy as Maxwell Sheffield
- Daniel Davis as Niles
- Lauren Lane as C.C. Babcock
- Nicholle Tom as Maggie Sheffield
- Benjamin Salisbury as Brighton Sheffield
- Madeline Zima as Grace Sheffield
Guest Starring[]
Co-Starring[]
- Sally Kirkland as Tattoo Lady
- John Astin as Dr. Roberts
Quotes[]
Trivia[]
Sylvia's claim about Jewish cemeteries banning people from getting buried because of body tattoos is partly true, though it has no real legitimacy by Jewish law and is regarded in modern times as a legend based on common misconception. Sylvia's interpretation of tattoos in Jewish burial had much greater acceptance in the Jewish religion prior to the revelations of the forced tattooing of Jewish prisoners in Nazi concentration camps. The Holocaust and the tattooing of Jews in Nazi concentration camps in fact reopened the discussion of tattoos in Jewish burial.[1] However, despite largely being regarded in the present day as an old myth, it has been acknowledged that the myth about tattoos in Jewish burial was told to many individual Jews who follow the Jewish religion for ages and such bans can be enforced depending on the rules and standards of the individual cemeteries and organizations involved with the burial.[2]
Gallery[]
