Alright, so here’s a thing we’re doing for about as long as I feel like doing it.
I love the sitcom Frasier, it’s majestic, so let’s do a little thing here, summed up thus: me, Frasier episodes, a random number generator, and then I’ll review the episode it picks out.
According to the fantastic and never wrong Google AI, there were 264 episodes where we met the good doctor for his second act. So that could be a wonderful 264 posts to strain my rarely-used webhosting. For those of you who are completionists or pedants (and I know I’ll link at least one of you to it), I’m not currently including the revival in this, because I’ve reviewed it already.
Thanks to the wonder that is random.org, I was able to generate a number to get us started on this endeavour. Let’s see what it’s thrown at us today.
Episode 36 – “Roz In The Doghouse” (Season 2, Episode 12)
Well, it could’ve been worse, and spookily, this was the random episode I decided to revisit today before I started writing this post and series – but bloody hell, it could’ve been a lot better.
I don’t revisit this one a lot because there’s parts of it I really, really, really dislike, particularly involving Frasier. Let’s get to it and let’s see what I can make of it.
The basic premise, as I recall it as I watch, is Roz injures herself running to move her car, leaving her out of commission for a few shows. Couple in a ridiculous row with Frasier because of her seconding herself to Bulldog’s show, and there’s our conflict for today.
Everything opens quite well – Frasier’s sassy, and Roz is sassy back, over a caller who isn’t sure about dating someone 40 and unmarried. Boy, does this feel like a 90s thing – as someone 35 and unmarried, I’m glad Roz at least stood up for the terminally single.
Following a very contrived moment that allows Roz to acquire her ankle sprain (there is, at least, a decent moment for Gil), the action moves to Roz’s apartment, where, amid some clumsy flirting, Bulldog offers Roz the option to produce his show. Bulldog is an acquired taste, but he somehow comes out as a complete saint here compared to the inconsiderate arse that Frasier’s being. This is a poorly-written episode for Fras, that’s for sure.
Niles is wonderfully introduced with his artisan Italian shoes for Martin (“they have tassels…”), but that soon gives way to more of Frasier being a complete arse for no reason, implying Roz and Bulldog slept together after he left her apartment the previous evening.
That goes about as well as you’d expect, and Roz eventually explodes, and while Daphne’s obliviousness to Niles’s gift-buying and Roz’s slow descent out of the apartment both raise a chuckle, I really do find this a chore to get behind – Frasier stops being ‘lovably pompous’, and is honestly just a complete prat.
Roz quits, and goes with Bulldog – after about 2 and a half minutes of trying to leave the apartment. That did make me laugh at least.
We transition to several Frasier show cockups over the next scene, with “Weird Bruce” managing to hang up on someone with a fear of abandonment (played by future guest star and almost-Daphne Rosie Perez, which was “Supah” to hear), among other technical glitches. Conversely, Bulldog and Roz kill their show, after a false ending for Frasier’s belief of Bulldog’s perversions. Peri Glipin is a tremendous actress, and she nails being Bulldog’s sidekick. This is also one of the few times I enjoy Gil’s appearances, as his general snobbishness just gives things a bit of light, and life, in an episode that seems painfully by-the-numbers.
Cue the montage, as Frasier runs through a number of dreadful producer options in approximately 15 seconds. This didn’t do much for me, but a Nervosa scene with Niles and Frasier, including the usual classic Maris line (this week; ‘she distrusts anything that loves her unconditionally’) and an explanation of their gardener’s creation of obscenity via horticulture, puts things back on track.
Martin and Daphne show up for some early-season Martin-Frasier conflict, and John Mahoney is, as usual, fantastic at being the everyman, enhanced in this episode by Frasier, again, being an extra-level idiot. This being early-season Daphne as well, Jane Leeves remembers that she’s supposed to play the character with some homespun, working-class charm, and she’s great here too.
And now, the denouement. After some shop talk between Roz and Bulldog, Bulldog ‘hilariously’ misreads Roz’s intentions, and after a somewhat predictable explosion of anger, Bulldog runs right into…yes, an apologising Frasier, holding a bunch of flowers.
So the show resolves its drama most predictably – despite being an utter cock for 22 minutes, Frasier turns out to be right, and is implied to be insufferable about it, meaning that not for the first time, he’s the living embodiment of ‘you can be right, but don’t be a prick about it’. Sigh.
Final Score – 2/5 – Sorry, if you’re reading this for the first time, you probably think I hate Frasier after this. I really don’t, it’s my favourite sitcom ever. But christ, is this an average-to-poor episode. Frasier is not even humorously insufferable, he’s just a tit throughout, and there’s no real lightening of the story. This isn’t one of Bulldog’s good outings, while Peri Glipin is great as Roz and the crutches/apartment departure scene is very very good, but they’re working with some poor material here. Let’s hope episode 2 is more fun.