Frasier season 2 comes to an end, and it ultimately finds its feet on the home stretch. Our thoughts on the final two episodes:
Truth be told, the second run of Frasier had me worried for the first four episodes or so. The writing felt limper, the storylines echoes of the kind of wit displayed with ease in the original 90s era show. Everything seemed like it was running in place and already suggesting the idea had played itself out.
Halfway in, something changed. Not even necessarily just the arrival of legacy characters, given seeing Bulldog or Gil again in ‘Thank You, Dr Crane’ simply reminded you they had both seen better days. It felt as if the quality shifted somewhat and showrunners Joe Cristalli and Chris Harris began to find their groove, which arguably had been there at points in the first season, if in more scattershot fashion.
‘Murder Most Finch’ perhaps puts no finer point on it by eclipsing the Bebe Glazer episode (see thoughts on that here) to become the best outing of the season, and perhaps one of the strongest in the series run yet. I’ve always championed Toks Olagundoye as a talented comic performer and this episode demonstrates that Olivia has clicked as a character. They’ve at last realised who she is – a massive, awkward nerd.
In a different manner to David (Anders Keith), a character who I would argue after two seasons still has no definition, and probably won’t until his parents show up frankly; his nerdiness is characterised by what Frasier carefully avoids, a probable undiagnosed autistic trait (something a lot of American series quietly try and make light of), plus his father’s anal attention to detail (in amazes me how little of Daphne there is to David’s character).
Olivia is different. She’s the kind of girl who squeals at buying Frasier Sigmund Freud’s humidor, or in ‘Murder Most Finch’ delights in staging a surprise murder mystery party for her friends, having crafted the entire narrative in detail from scratch. Previous episodes this series have displayed her awkwardness opposite a successful sister, or how difficult she finds it to get a boyfriend, but this episode frames that in a cliched but understandable context.
As a comic conceit, the surprise murder mystery element plays out very well, with Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) able to hold court in his guise, but it also fully introduces a relationship for him via Holly (Patricia Heaton), a sassy streetwise bartender seeded earlier in the season, someone he worries might be too ‘cool’ for him. It is pleasing to see Frasier dating an age appropriate woman, even if she does seem to have wandered out of Grace and Frankie, and the dynamic between Grammer and Heaton manages to work.
Nicholas Lyndhurst comes out among the best this episode, with Alan at first displaying contempt for Olivia’s game but being revealed as secretly a big fan. It’s very funny, allowing him some of the best lines, and I’d argue at last his character is beginning to escape the shadow of Frasier’s brother Niles and, indeed, the cliche of the old, drunken British professor who he was presented as at the beginning. As many of the characters are, he’s starting to evolve into his own thing.
The process continues in the season finale, ‘Father Christmas’, which places Alan’s sadness at being estranged from his daughter (again established earlier in the season) as the central crux of the plot, with Frasier working to meddle and try to repair the damage when Alan’s daughter comes to Boston. It’s a simple narrative and a predictable one, affording a happy ending as you’d expect from such a cosy show, but it allows Lyndhurst to tap a level of pathos he has always been capable of, as far back as his career defining role as Rodney Trotter in Only Fools and Horses.
Around that, Frasier indulges what now appears to be a growing tradition, ending the season on a festive outing (given the show ends in November), but one that clearly plays to the safe and steady nature of the series itself. Everything is comfortable. Everyone is fairly affluent and happy. A crisis will never be a crisis for too long. The creators nonetheless understand, through all of these plotlines, that the series is ultimately about Frasier and Freddy (Jack Cutmore-Scott) as a relationship. They always bring it back to both of them, something I consistently appreciate about this show and its storytelling.
Various elements are seeded here, assuming a third season. Freddy is growing closer to Roz’s daughter Alice (Greer Grammer), much to the subtle but visible chagrin of Eve (Jess Salgueiro), which suggests a love triangle in the third year or certainly an inevitable coming together of Freddy and Eve as a romantic interest. The show hinted at this in ‘Cape Cod’ and it’s always been there, given the chemistry both characters (and their actors to be fair) visibly display. It is unlikely to reach the heights of the Niles and Daphne longing (what will?) but it makes sense as a narrative for this show.
We are likely to see more legacy figures arrive. Roz (Peri Gilpin) seems to have assimilated into the main cast now, always in Boston despite living and working in Seattle (that ain’t no Birmingham to Wolves guys, trust me), which is no bad thing as she’s great value and works among this cast. Cristalli and Harris are talking up bringing more Cheers connections back, including Ted Danson’s Sam Malone, which makes a lot more sense than anyone in Seattle. Will we finally get Niles or Daphne or both? Let’s hope so. It feels inevitable eventually. It would finally perhaps allow the show to break free and become its own thing, seeing those guys again.
This all remains to come. For my money, Frasier should keep running as a show. The back half of the second season was far stronger than the first, but only partially thanks to seeing legacy characters. It is increasingly proving itself to have the legs in order to stand on its own two feet and while of will never escape the shadow of better classic comedy, it nevertheless is a cosy, sweet and fun way to spend half an hour.
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