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tori_reviews2020-06-07 08:25 pm
jedi_of_urth) wrote in tori_reviews2020-06-07 08:25 pm
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Frasier 2x21-24
Finally, the last set of episodes for Frasier s2; final thoughts and ranking at some other time.
Frasier 2x21: An Affair to Forget
This episode is sort of weird. It has too many contrivances for me to say it's well done, but it tells it's story so well and breezes past the contrived elements enough that it doesn't hinder it as much as it might. It helps that the story is focused on things I care about, namely main characters and specifically Niles (although Frasier drives more of the action, it's about Niles) in a way that this season hasn't very much.
I had considered between seasons adding a part to the reviews where I name what each episode is about. I noticed that most of my favorite episodes from s1 tended not to focus on Frasier as much and thought going forward I should see if that was a real trend. But this season has been a little harder to judge; it's more Frasier focused than s1 was (kind of strange that way) but has done a bit more focusing on Frasier and another main cast member where a lot of times in s1 I felt it was Frasier to the exclusion of the rest of the cast. And that s2 dichotomy is definitely noticeable here. As I said, this episode is driven by Frasier's knowledge and reactions rather than being driven by Niles' character and feelings; while the story is very much about Niles' marriage problems, though for once with little actual reference to the larger problems. Just another way this episode is weird.
I actually don't have a problem with the coincidence of Frasier getting a call that sets things off here. Some coincidence is allowed or there would be fewer situations to have comedy about. But that doesn't seem to be a very good sensory deprivation tank if Niles heard everything Frasier was saying. I don't think Marta ever has pronoun confusion issues when we see her again, so that's pretty contrived for this ep. I find it hard to believe that Niles with his staff of servants doesn't speak at least conversational spanish but Frasier apparently does; or that neither of them speak conversational german with all the german opera and theater they enjoy.
There's also a bit of a production problem with the fight scene. I actually appreciate that Niles seems to be an okay fencer but not really able to keep up with Gunner for too long. But the set limitations are apparent when we don't follow the action outside one room; but it's too brief an absence for them to create any offstage fight humor to the fact that we aren't seeing it.
I don't know whether to call this a contrivance, but it's clearly a product of not being the story they're telling in this ep, that Daphne doesn't wander out while Niles is at the apartment. If this were a story more thoroughly examining Niles' full situation there probably would or should have been more of a presence from Daphne. And while I doubt this is the intentional take away, that does have a bit of a knock-on effect; as long as there isn't actual cheating we're not going to confront the deeper problems in Niles and Maris' marriage. Niles doesn't have to look at Daphne and wonder how much he can judge Maris for having her head turned by another man; and if in the end Maris didn't cheat and says she loves Niles that's all that matters, and no matter how many jokes/observations get made about their marriage or how much he desires Daphne, he doesn't cheat and can still say he loves Maris so that must make it okay.
But it's not enough; this is an episode that kicks the can of marital problems down the road, and closer to the cliff it's headed for, and it doesn't really seem to know that in the moment.
And though I rarely comment on it, I really liked Eddie in this one. Having him involved in comforting Niles is sweet; and then the odd bit of physical comedy where Niles almost sits on Eddie a couple times really me laugh.
Production: 7.5/10 that acting is great, the fact the sword fighting looks a little stagey works with the participants, it's just knocked by the set limitations
Story: 6/10 too many contrivances to say it was well structured
Writing: 4/5 it was however pretty well written
Characters: 3.5/5 good moments, not enough plot furthering
Relationships: 3.5/5
Comedy: 4/5
Drama: 3.5/5
Personal: 7.5/10
Overall: 39.5/50
Frasier 2x22: Agents in America, Part III
I didn't love that one, I'm not even sure I liked it, but it is worth a fair amount of analysis. Even without getting too much into the question of whether Bebe date raped Frasier.
In Bebe's season 1 appearances she was more the demon of Frasier's shoulder, tempting him to compromise his ethics in the name of name of fame and money, but this a big step further into devil-Bebe territory. She's not only a smooth operator, but a master manipulator and a chess master. And it's dialed up to a pretty ridiculous degree; for comedic effect or course, but it does become more of a caricature than a character. And Frasier going along with it gives somewhat less insight into his character because he ends up being written as the good innocent doop in Bebe's manipulations.
That said, did they actually sleep together, or was Bebe gaming him all along? Either seems possible, as does both which would make it even more date rapey. Probably the only evidence that maybe they didn't is the fact that Frasier ended up sleeping on the couch and the fact that if Bebe will use a suicide attempt then she's definitely capable of deciding that for some reason this also helps her negotiation position. That and the fact that I'm of two minds about her customary flirting; it's so fake that I don't take it as a serious sign of attraction, on the other hand she does give the impression that she's the kind of person who has an unattached and casual attitude toward sex so it doesn't need to be part of deep feeling besides wanting to in the moment. I'm not saying it's my headcanon that they didn't, I'm just raising the possibilty.
Additionally, and this is getting into headcanon territory, Niles' reaction to Bebe is something I find complex. Because in my head Bebe is not that different from Maris; louder without the aristocratic attitude, but the same kind of manipulative and selfish and fake and dangerous. I'd probably go into this more if it was beyond headcanon.
Also, there's a lot of Daphne abuse in this one. She gets back at Bebe some, but Frasier's being an ass too and he doesn't get called on it.
Production: 7/10
Story: 7/10
Writing: 3/5
Characters: 2.5/5 Frasier is decent; I have mixed feelings about this turn in Bebe's presentation but I'm pretty sure it will stick; not a lot for anyone else to get involved
Relationships: 2/5
Comedy: 2/5 there were some long stretches where I didn't laugh much
Drama: 2/5
Personal: 6/10
Overall: 31.5/50
Frasier 2x23: The Innkeepers
I know this one is considered a classic by many, but I'm not that fond of it. I can remember seeing it before, so it did leave an impression, but it wasn't a memory that said I loved it, and I definitely didn't this time either. I expected to at least come out of it this time with an understanding why it's popular, but I mostly don't, I think it's actually kind of bad.
The structure is kind of terrible. The family dinner scene...well it's not too long if the episode was several times its current length. The scene flows pretty well (although it seemed to me that JM's timing was off and likely not actually filmed in the scene much), but it's too big a chunk of the episode. Then we skip over all the possibilities inherent in watching the Crane boys set up a restaurant which also would have helped set up the way things fell apart in the end. There's no inertia going into the opening night scene which means that it ends up feeling too slow and the setups too obvious.
This would be a great story told on a modern series, as a half season arc or something, an episode about humorously interviewing the chef, another a fight about decor, early on maybe you have to show them finding investors because as is I have to conclude Maris is bankrolling this. Then you can get some stories about either trying to repair the restaurant or realizing they can't run one, but while I think this gets mentioned on occasion I equally think there's no real fallout for the choices made here. And because it comes out of nowhere and goes nowhere this doesn't feel like it offers any character insight, about how the brothers' visions for the restaurant feed on each other or clash (outside of the souffle debate).
I was definitely entertained watching this (though the studio laughter was a lot more than my own), but in the end I can't say I liked it very much. I really wanted to, but it's not for me.
Production: 6/10 this ep didn't seem to be put together very well, it was ambitious but not well done
Story: 4/10 this needed at least a full hour to even begin to tell the story properly
Writing: 2/5
Characters: 2.5/5 it does say something that the brothers were interested in this, but that's the best it gives
Relationships: 2.5/5
Comedy: 2.5/5
Drama: 1/5 it's trying to be so funny it doesn't have room for drama, if only the comedy had worked better
Personal: 3.5/10
Overall: 24/50
Frasier 2x24: Dark Victory
This turned out to be one of those annoying episodes where I want to like it more than I actually do. Not the way last episode was where I just didn't like it even though I wanted to, this time I want to love it but I only like it and somehow that annoys me. It really feels like there's about half another episode missing here; not like last time where it feels like several episodes and mini-arcs were missing, this just feels like details are glossed over to serve the time constraints of the show.
In principle, this is the same kind of finale as last season, where it's a character driven bottle show that gives us a chance to reflect and let the characters be going into the summer hiatus. In some ways it's even more of a bottle show than last season, since for that they needed extras to populate the cafe while this is basically just the main cast with a delivery guy at the beginning.
And it's good that I finally feel like we got some character work for Roz and Daphne that's been largely missing from the show, and even Martin gets some new dimension. I can sympathize with Frasier when he finally has enough too, but that's partly where the problem comes in; I feel like his drained energy reserves and need to recharge is barely set up at all before the party and we don't really see it building through the party. He certainly doesn't seem any more frustrated with the arguments or the situation than he would have been if he wasn't coming in stressed.
I think we should have seen something of Frasier's rough week. If these fights between Martin and Daphne are that regular we sure haven't seen them beyond beyond snippy before. We don't get enough intel about Niles' patient for what Frasier says to comfort him to ring true (how much work Niles has put in to help her, how his perfectionism was becoming a problem in treating her) so should have gotten more either from the initial call or in them discussing it.
Also, Niles and Roz's relationship is fighting like that, Frasier shouldn't be bothered by it any more than usual. If someone had pointed out that he was more easily frustrated by it than normal then it could have been a sign of his stress level, but that wasn't how I took it.
Production: 7.5/10 I do love a good bottle show, and even if some of the staging was a bit strange the acting was good
Story: 6.5/10 the structure was awkward in places, but it did get to the conclusion it wanted decently
Writing: 3/5
Characters: 4/5
Relationships: 4/5 mostly Frasier's relationships with each of the others, but some good stuff for each
Comedy: 3/5
Drama: 3.5/5 some of it's glossed over a bit quickly, but more of it works than doesn't
Personal: 6.5/10 I want to go higher, but I can't quite find the reason to
Overall: 38/50
Frasier 2x21: An Affair to Forget
This episode is sort of weird. It has too many contrivances for me to say it's well done, but it tells it's story so well and breezes past the contrived elements enough that it doesn't hinder it as much as it might. It helps that the story is focused on things I care about, namely main characters and specifically Niles (although Frasier drives more of the action, it's about Niles) in a way that this season hasn't very much.
I had considered between seasons adding a part to the reviews where I name what each episode is about. I noticed that most of my favorite episodes from s1 tended not to focus on Frasier as much and thought going forward I should see if that was a real trend. But this season has been a little harder to judge; it's more Frasier focused than s1 was (kind of strange that way) but has done a bit more focusing on Frasier and another main cast member where a lot of times in s1 I felt it was Frasier to the exclusion of the rest of the cast. And that s2 dichotomy is definitely noticeable here. As I said, this episode is driven by Frasier's knowledge and reactions rather than being driven by Niles' character and feelings; while the story is very much about Niles' marriage problems, though for once with little actual reference to the larger problems. Just another way this episode is weird.
I actually don't have a problem with the coincidence of Frasier getting a call that sets things off here. Some coincidence is allowed or there would be fewer situations to have comedy about. But that doesn't seem to be a very good sensory deprivation tank if Niles heard everything Frasier was saying. I don't think Marta ever has pronoun confusion issues when we see her again, so that's pretty contrived for this ep. I find it hard to believe that Niles with his staff of servants doesn't speak at least conversational spanish but Frasier apparently does; or that neither of them speak conversational german with all the german opera and theater they enjoy.
There's also a bit of a production problem with the fight scene. I actually appreciate that Niles seems to be an okay fencer but not really able to keep up with Gunner for too long. But the set limitations are apparent when we don't follow the action outside one room; but it's too brief an absence for them to create any offstage fight humor to the fact that we aren't seeing it.
I don't know whether to call this a contrivance, but it's clearly a product of not being the story they're telling in this ep, that Daphne doesn't wander out while Niles is at the apartment. If this were a story more thoroughly examining Niles' full situation there probably would or should have been more of a presence from Daphne. And while I doubt this is the intentional take away, that does have a bit of a knock-on effect; as long as there isn't actual cheating we're not going to confront the deeper problems in Niles and Maris' marriage. Niles doesn't have to look at Daphne and wonder how much he can judge Maris for having her head turned by another man; and if in the end Maris didn't cheat and says she loves Niles that's all that matters, and no matter how many jokes/observations get made about their marriage or how much he desires Daphne, he doesn't cheat and can still say he loves Maris so that must make it okay.
But it's not enough; this is an episode that kicks the can of marital problems down the road, and closer to the cliff it's headed for, and it doesn't really seem to know that in the moment.
And though I rarely comment on it, I really liked Eddie in this one. Having him involved in comforting Niles is sweet; and then the odd bit of physical comedy where Niles almost sits on Eddie a couple times really me laugh.
Production: 7.5/10 that acting is great, the fact the sword fighting looks a little stagey works with the participants, it's just knocked by the set limitations
Story: 6/10 too many contrivances to say it was well structured
Writing: 4/5 it was however pretty well written
Characters: 3.5/5 good moments, not enough plot furthering
Relationships: 3.5/5
Comedy: 4/5
Drama: 3.5/5
Personal: 7.5/10
Overall: 39.5/50
Frasier 2x22: Agents in America, Part III
I didn't love that one, I'm not even sure I liked it, but it is worth a fair amount of analysis. Even without getting too much into the question of whether Bebe date raped Frasier.
In Bebe's season 1 appearances she was more the demon of Frasier's shoulder, tempting him to compromise his ethics in the name of name of fame and money, but this a big step further into devil-Bebe territory. She's not only a smooth operator, but a master manipulator and a chess master. And it's dialed up to a pretty ridiculous degree; for comedic effect or course, but it does become more of a caricature than a character. And Frasier going along with it gives somewhat less insight into his character because he ends up being written as the good innocent doop in Bebe's manipulations.
That said, did they actually sleep together, or was Bebe gaming him all along? Either seems possible, as does both which would make it even more date rapey. Probably the only evidence that maybe they didn't is the fact that Frasier ended up sleeping on the couch and the fact that if Bebe will use a suicide attempt then she's definitely capable of deciding that for some reason this also helps her negotiation position. That and the fact that I'm of two minds about her customary flirting; it's so fake that I don't take it as a serious sign of attraction, on the other hand she does give the impression that she's the kind of person who has an unattached and casual attitude toward sex so it doesn't need to be part of deep feeling besides wanting to in the moment. I'm not saying it's my headcanon that they didn't, I'm just raising the possibilty.
Additionally, and this is getting into headcanon territory, Niles' reaction to Bebe is something I find complex. Because in my head Bebe is not that different from Maris; louder without the aristocratic attitude, but the same kind of manipulative and selfish and fake and dangerous. I'd probably go into this more if it was beyond headcanon.
Also, there's a lot of Daphne abuse in this one. She gets back at Bebe some, but Frasier's being an ass too and he doesn't get called on it.
Production: 7/10
Story: 7/10
Writing: 3/5
Characters: 2.5/5 Frasier is decent; I have mixed feelings about this turn in Bebe's presentation but I'm pretty sure it will stick; not a lot for anyone else to get involved
Relationships: 2/5
Comedy: 2/5 there were some long stretches where I didn't laugh much
Drama: 2/5
Personal: 6/10
Overall: 31.5/50
Frasier 2x23: The Innkeepers
I know this one is considered a classic by many, but I'm not that fond of it. I can remember seeing it before, so it did leave an impression, but it wasn't a memory that said I loved it, and I definitely didn't this time either. I expected to at least come out of it this time with an understanding why it's popular, but I mostly don't, I think it's actually kind of bad.
The structure is kind of terrible. The family dinner scene...well it's not too long if the episode was several times its current length. The scene flows pretty well (although it seemed to me that JM's timing was off and likely not actually filmed in the scene much), but it's too big a chunk of the episode. Then we skip over all the possibilities inherent in watching the Crane boys set up a restaurant which also would have helped set up the way things fell apart in the end. There's no inertia going into the opening night scene which means that it ends up feeling too slow and the setups too obvious.
This would be a great story told on a modern series, as a half season arc or something, an episode about humorously interviewing the chef, another a fight about decor, early on maybe you have to show them finding investors because as is I have to conclude Maris is bankrolling this. Then you can get some stories about either trying to repair the restaurant or realizing they can't run one, but while I think this gets mentioned on occasion I equally think there's no real fallout for the choices made here. And because it comes out of nowhere and goes nowhere this doesn't feel like it offers any character insight, about how the brothers' visions for the restaurant feed on each other or clash (outside of the souffle debate).
I was definitely entertained watching this (though the studio laughter was a lot more than my own), but in the end I can't say I liked it very much. I really wanted to, but it's not for me.
Production: 6/10 this ep didn't seem to be put together very well, it was ambitious but not well done
Story: 4/10 this needed at least a full hour to even begin to tell the story properly
Writing: 2/5
Characters: 2.5/5 it does say something that the brothers were interested in this, but that's the best it gives
Relationships: 2.5/5
Comedy: 2.5/5
Drama: 1/5 it's trying to be so funny it doesn't have room for drama, if only the comedy had worked better
Personal: 3.5/10
Overall: 24/50
Frasier 2x24: Dark Victory
This turned out to be one of those annoying episodes where I want to like it more than I actually do. Not the way last episode was where I just didn't like it even though I wanted to, this time I want to love it but I only like it and somehow that annoys me. It really feels like there's about half another episode missing here; not like last time where it feels like several episodes and mini-arcs were missing, this just feels like details are glossed over to serve the time constraints of the show.
In principle, this is the same kind of finale as last season, where it's a character driven bottle show that gives us a chance to reflect and let the characters be going into the summer hiatus. In some ways it's even more of a bottle show than last season, since for that they needed extras to populate the cafe while this is basically just the main cast with a delivery guy at the beginning.
And it's good that I finally feel like we got some character work for Roz and Daphne that's been largely missing from the show, and even Martin gets some new dimension. I can sympathize with Frasier when he finally has enough too, but that's partly where the problem comes in; I feel like his drained energy reserves and need to recharge is barely set up at all before the party and we don't really see it building through the party. He certainly doesn't seem any more frustrated with the arguments or the situation than he would have been if he wasn't coming in stressed.
I think we should have seen something of Frasier's rough week. If these fights between Martin and Daphne are that regular we sure haven't seen them beyond beyond snippy before. We don't get enough intel about Niles' patient for what Frasier says to comfort him to ring true (how much work Niles has put in to help her, how his perfectionism was becoming a problem in treating her) so should have gotten more either from the initial call or in them discussing it.
Also, Niles and Roz's relationship is fighting like that, Frasier shouldn't be bothered by it any more than usual. If someone had pointed out that he was more easily frustrated by it than normal then it could have been a sign of his stress level, but that wasn't how I took it.
Production: 7.5/10 I do love a good bottle show, and even if some of the staging was a bit strange the acting was good
Story: 6.5/10 the structure was awkward in places, but it did get to the conclusion it wanted decently
Writing: 3/5
Characters: 4/5
Relationships: 4/5 mostly Frasier's relationships with each of the others, but some good stuff for each
Comedy: 3/5
Drama: 3.5/5 some of it's glossed over a bit quickly, but more of it works than doesn't
Personal: 6.5/10 I want to go higher, but I can't quite find the reason to
Overall: 38/50