The reboot of Matlock began with a cash-strapped, widowed, and retired lawyer reentering the workforce to raise a grandson.

But the pilot ended with that character *actually* being a wealthy, happily married woman infiltrating a law firm to avenge her daughter’s death from opioids. 

Similarly, Tulsa King’s first season featured a fish-out-of-water narrative with Dwight Manfredi as a mobster who emerged from twenty-five years in prison to a changed world he had to learn to navigate and monetize.

This was highly engaging (and incredibly funny) until the second season, when Dwight seemed full up to speed with the current times, and the show became more of a generic crime thriller. 

Maddie Matlock’s plight as an elderly widow who desperately needs to work and dusts off her law degree to do so should be compelling enough to carry a series, and it was until “The Twist” at the end of the Matlock pilot was revealed. 

Why are the realistic problems of older people not viewed as worthy enough to carry a TV series? The Golden Girls proved there was a market for this type of content over forty years ago.

Picture It: Old People Being Old, And It’s Okay

The Golden Girls featured many heightened sitcom situations during its run, but it focused on the more mundane aspects of its characters’ lives.

After all, the show’s initial setup involved homeowner Blanche Devereaux needing roommates to help pay her mortgage. 

The girls were in various states of financial precarity after divorces, widowhood, or small pensions from steady but non-lucrative careers. Living together gave them all some breathing room.

It was revolutionary for a show at the time to explore the lives of older, unmarried women who didn’t live with family. 

Their day-to-day struggles weren’t particularly groundbreaking aside from the unique point of view provided by their age and gender. And, of course, the humor their characters brought to every situation.

The Golden Girls explored a number of big issues of the time, like the AIDS crisis and immigration. But perhaps its most daring topic was the sexuality of older women. 

The jokes about aging, in general, were universally funny, but the focus on women of a certain age took the show to a whole new level. 

Girls Before Golden

Maddie Matlock is an older woman, too, and that remains the reboot’s biggest strength. 

Even if the show’s decision to flip the lead’s gender was made solely to land the glorious Kathy Bates, it still missed an opportunity to focus on the realities of a woman restarting a demanding career in her seventies.  

That’s because Kathy Bates can sell anything, and it would’ve been sublime to watch her play the widowed-and-broke Maddie Matlock instead of the married-and-wealthy Madeline Kingston.

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Seeing Maddie Matlock trying to get a job as an older candidate was thrilling. She flagrantly used societal age stereotypes to her advantage, which was totally understandable given the stakes of her story.

But the actual stakes of each version of Maddie are vastly different. One is just trying to get through each day, while the other is playing a long game of revenge.

In the spirit that the best lies contain kernels of truth, both Maddies lost a daughter to addiction and are raising a twelve-year-old grandson. 

Madeline Kingston is already starting to see the costs of her single-minded mission to discover which lawyers at her firm were responsible for getting Big Pharma off the hook for opioid deaths. 

Her grandson’s schoolwork is suffering, and her marriage is getting strained. Meanwhile, her homespun work persona is bringing up many of the uncomfortable truths Madeline has long kept buried. 

So yes, all of that is actually super meaty and incredibly interesting. 

But my point is that Matlock could’ve gone in a much more realistic direction from the start and still have been totally compelling. 

Like the ensemble cast of The Golden Girls, Kathy Bates is an entertainment powerhouse who could’ve done six different versions of this show, and every one of them would have been the best thing on television that night. 

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But that doesn’t mean all senior characters on TV need secret superpowers. Or does it?

Enter Dwight Manfredi.

I Would’ve Said A Hard Fifty-Five

Tulsa King gave us Sylvester Stallone as the Golden Goose in his Golden Years — America’s favorite fighting underdog was back on screen and looking damned good for just about any age.  

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It’s no shock that a TV series starring Stallone would lean more into guns and violence rather than a culture shock character study. 

But that very aspect of Tulsa King made it stand out in the first place.

Dwight was dealing with culture shock on at least three levels, starting with going from prison to freedom after twenty-five years of captivity. 

The world he was released into was utterly different than the one he’d last roamed as a free man. And modern-day Tulsa, Oklahoma, was entirely different from New York City at any point in time. 

What made Tulsa King’s first season so compulsively watchable was Dwight’s open — dare I say youthful? — attitude as he acclimated to these changes in his life. 

He noted how things were now compared to a quarter-century ago but also stayed more curious about the present than stuck in the past. 

He even entered the dating world, where at least one woman (an ATF agent, no less!) thought he was much younger than his actual age. 

True, there’s only so much story material that can be mined from Dwight’s cultural adjustments, but season one wasn’t quite yet finished with any of them, much less all three.

Also on deck was Dwight’s effortless charm and respect for others. The gentleman gangster is a good character trope in general and a perfect role for Stallone, who is incapable of being anything less than lovable on screen.

The premise of Tulsa King hinged on Dwight’s banishment to Oklahoma instead of his getting due respect and compensation for spending a third of his life in prison for his boss.

Of course, that whole mess in New York City, with Chickie taking over as boss and disrespecting Dwight, had to be dealt with narratively. 

But the main pleasure of the first season was watching Dwight use his New York City strongarm tactics with the often befuddled Tulsa denizens, who took a more relaxed view of their own criminal activities. 

The physical distance between Tulsa and New York kept that mob plotline secondary to Dwight’s character growth as he created a new life for himself in Oklahoma. 

Dwight’s business success roused even the complacent Tulsa crime lords, leading to some good old-fashioned gunfights on his new turf. 

But any hope of the New York storyline fading away was dashed when season two featured almost equal screen time with Chickie’s gang. 

The show effectively became about warring mob factions and surrendered its focus on Dwight’s unique perspective from his age and experience.

Watch Tulsa King Online

What Are We Missing Out On?

Matlock and Tulsa King share a different point of view based on the age of their leads, which still has value for the current world and its younger people. 

These experienced viewpoints often take a backseat in these new shows, but they were the main focus of The Golden Girls. That fresh generational perspective — plus a lot of humor! — was enough for audiences back then. 

When you think about it, The Golden Girls was really just an extension of a family sitcom, a genre that had its heyday around the same time. Even then, gimmicks weren’t new — Alf, anyone? — but the spin of vibrant older women facing routine life changes together sure was.

Nowadays, it’s almost as if a show about older people and their daily concerns is too risky without some other jazzy aspect tacked on.

The Golden Girls famously employed slapstick and physical comedy, but the iconic image associated with the show is the girls seated at their kitchen table.

That’s where Rose spun her loopy St. Olaf stories, and Sophia made us “Picture it: Sicily, 1924,” while Blanche regaled her fellow seatmates with highly specific tales of romantic conquests.

These kitchen table conversations existed in a lively present moment, even when they were about events from years past. Plans were made, secrets confessed, and memories shared, all while the only physical activity was pulling cheesecake from the fridge and setting the table.

These scenes weren’t filler, nor were they dull. They were completely engaging and moved the plot forward while allowing for the pleasure of feeling like you were also sitting at the table, laughing along with your new best friends.

A great achievement of The Golden Girls is that it wasn’t afraid to tell instead of show. It trusted the audience to follow a story through silent pauses and meandering anecdotes that didn’t always relate to the main plot.

It also didn’t require constant physical distraction or melodrama to be absorbing and emotional.

Do Modern Audiences Need More Moving Parts?

TV can hardly be called “passive” entertainment these days. Between puzzle box shows and non-stop action fests, watching television almost counts as cardio.

It’s not entirely filled with young people, either. Only Murders in the Building continues to be a huge hit with its mature cast, but… it’s also got a ton of murders.

Which is great! Well, not the murder part, but of course, it’s much better for a show to have interesting things going on than not.

It just seems like shows with older leads are expected to have unusual talents or complex stories with lots of action instead of trusting that audiences might not need so many bells and whistles.

The Golden Girls was a product of its time, and modern TV audiences are accustomed to a faster pace of visual storytelling.

But in a television landscape full of quieter, realistic shows with younger casts, it doesn’t seem like a big ask to have a few that feature older leads who aren’t secret sleuths or criminal masterminds.

What do you think, TV fanatics? Let us know in the comments!

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The post The Silvered Age: Why do Matlock and Tulsa King Need Plot Twists And Guns When The Golden Girls Got By On Menopause and Cheesecake? appeared first on TV Fanatic.

The condition might’ve been described in Ye Olden Days as that “record-scratch” moment when a person entered a room, and all eyes turned to them in wonder. 

It’s that same center-of-attention dynamic, only all the time and in every room.

But if everyone truly is the hero of their own story, how is Main Character Syndrome any different from just being alive? 

What Are The Symptoms?

It’s when someone considers themselves the main character in someone else’s story. This has traditionally been the one job where you can’t be replaced.

Pulling focus like this doesn’t work well in real life, but it’s surprisingly common on the small screen. 

After all, you don’t have to be an actual main character in order to act like one, as many TV protagonists have discovered. 

In fact, a character doesn’t even have to be particularly virtuous.

It’s a nifty trick for a character to blur the lines between who gets your attention and who deserves it. And a TV landscape filled with anti-heroes makes for excellent camouflage.

So, which questionable protagonists act like their show should be all about them?

If Main Character Syndrome were a person, that person would be Jennifer Coolidge. She remains the premier example in just about every project she’s in, especially The White Lotus franchise.

Her scene-stealing persona usually presents as being completely unaware of how she affects those around her.

That absolves her (at least a little bit) of intentionally causing misery to others and also sets her up as the only person in the room who doesn’t realize how awful her character’s actions are.

But there are other not-so-nice TV protagonists who trick us into seeing them as heroically good.

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Guillermo de la Cruz, What We Do In The Shadows

Our favorite long-suffering ex-familiar has always been positioned as the sole voice of reason in a house of, shall we say, strong personalities. 

Guillermo (Harvey Guillen)’s role as an audience stand-in and assumed good guy was based on nothing more than his not being a vampire (and, I suppose, that business about him being related to Van Helsing). 

The series portrayed him as a sweet, innocent babe in the woods at the mercy of a group of vampires. 

But was he, really?

Guillermo helped facilitate countless deaths over the years to feed Nandor and the other vampires. Sure, he did it with a “Mondays, amirite?” shrug, but… he did it nonetheless.

Despite a talent for walking the vampires back from their worst impulses, Guillermo himself almost murdered Nandor at least twice for breaking his promise to turn him into a vampire.

He also disposed of so many dead bodies in their backyard that a sinkhole opened.

Guillermo’s sound bites for the documentary crew always sounded reasonable and generous.

But his actions were more often self-serving and duplicitous, like when he kept his vampire hunter heritage a secret for a very long time (for good reason, but still).

His justifications were understandable after being strung along for a decade of servitude and having to lead a double life on little to no sleep.

However, his thoughts and actions can only be categorized as “good” compared to the vampires around him. And he’s not being honest with himself when he says he wants to lead a normal life.

We saw that most recently with his office job at Cannon Capital, where he was horrified at Nadja’s murderous interference until… it kept getting him promoted.

So, it seems Guillermo is a protagonist who proves that he doesn’t have to be an actual vampire in order to act like one.

Watch What We Do In The Shadows Online

Main Character Patient Zero

Main Character Syndrome has also been known to afflict actual main characters, as seen in the recent ret-con of Carrie Bradshaw as the iconic symbol of that term.

Although that’s perhaps not news for many fans of Sex and the City‘s original run, who have always considered Samantha Jones its true star.

The conceit is that while it’s not ideal to act like the world exists only to be the backdrop for your own life, it’s worse to act like that about the world of your own show.

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Carrie’s self-absorption was always kind of her thing, though, and Miranda called her out on it MANY times (yes, before And Just Like That…, Miranda Hobbes had some serious sass).

However, the tipping point seems to be when other characters are treated like background scenery, not people who also have their own lives in this fictional world.

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Back in the “real” world, there’s a character on that teakwood Titanic fever dream we call Doctor Odyssey who would definitely not make room for you on that floating door…

Avery Morgan, Doctor Odyssey

On a ship that’s full of shenanigans, you could strive to be the calm that you’d like to see. Or, you could be Nurse Avery Morgan and add as much drama as possible to the proceedings at every opportunity.

Avery (Phillipa Soo) is extremely competent and super prickly. This sadly reinforces that dynamic where the guys can be fun-loving professionals while the women only get to scowl and keep them on task.

However, Avery is pretty much a sourpuss all on her own. She’s fantastic at her job and wants to be a doctor but resents how long and hard she’s had to work to pay for every step of her education so far.

Avery hates the ship’s over-the-top theme weeks, as well as the passengers and their stupid, predictable ailments.

She REALLY hated Plastic Surgery Week and told the cruise line’s owner as much, which got her fired (don’t worry, it didn’t stick).

Avery’s obviously talented but is so bored in her current position that it makes her dangerous.

She’ll stick to a possibly incorrect diagnosis a beat too long just to antagonize her new boss, Dr. Max, and alternates between encouraging fellow nurse Tristan’s crush on her and cutting him down.

And in quite possibly her worst crime, she does not attend strip poker night with the rest of the crew!

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It was hard to see all this initially because Avery’s angelic features, intelligence, and calm demeanor read as “good.”

But after she rejected Tristan, Avery got jealous when he became interested in a new chef and tried to create problems for them.

Avery is busy enough with medical school on the horizon and a kinda-sorta love triangle with Dr. Max and Tristan.

But she still found time this season to get appendicitis during a once-in-a-lifetime storm and almost had to amputate a woman’s arm in a cave.

Avery is an experienced medical professional who deserves her place on this elite ship’s team. However, she also lashes out in self-destructive ways.

Anchors away!

Watch Doctor Odyssey Online

Liz, Shrinking

For a gentle hangout show, Shrinking has many seriously frustrating characters. But none can come close to meddling next-door neighbor Liz (Christa Miller), an unstoppable force of annoying nature.

In the show’s first season, Liz threw herself into helping a widowed husband and devastated teenage girl stay afloat as they all dealt with loss differently.

A hyper-organized empty nester, Liz had tons of free time and the certainty that she was always right. She took on that role a little too well and became a smothering presence for the grieving family next door.

It’s easy to see why her husband, Derek, cheerfully spends his days away and just goes along to get along when he’s home. Liz is sharply funny and intelligent, which almost makes you like her until the next overstepping thing she does.

Liz’s controlling nature was tamped down in the second season. Her better qualities were allowed to shine with all the characters, and she even went into business with Sean and his food truck.

Then she sold her half of the food truck to Sean’s semi-estranged father without telling Sean first.

And… we’re back! To Season One Annoying Levels of Liz!!

Liz is not subtle about her advanced case of Main Character Syndrome. She sees her fellow characters as projects she can improve and doesn’t listen if they don’t want help.

Watch Shrinking Online

Take Two Aspirin

Self-involved protagonists have long been a TV staple, even if it does seem like there’s more of them than usual.

But it’s true that good shows rely on bad characters, so Main Character Syndrome could be responsible for much of the great television currently on television.

What’s your take on frustrating TV protagonists: Love them or leave them?

Let us know in the comments!

Watch Shrinking Online

The post Main Character Syndrome: When TV Protagonists Are Actually The Worst appeared first on TV Fanatic.

Over the past decade, the premium streamer has quietly amassed a library of sci-fi shows that offer new ways to explore the genre.

These shows lean on the classics but are largely shaped by how we’re experiencing life in the present moment.

Apple TV+ is definitely not the only champion of sci-fi today, but its popular shows Foundation and Silo are great examples of two new directions the genre seems to be moving in.

Hard Sci-Fi Versus Soft Sci-Fi

Just like other broad entertainment genres, sci-fi contains a ton of different subgenres depending on how nerdy you want to get. The biggest of these subcategories are hard and soft sci-fi.

A super basic “righty-tighty, leftie-loosey” shorthand way to keep them straight is that hard sci-fi focuses on science while soft sci-fi focuses on fiction.

The distinction between these two can get blurred by a lot of shows and ultimately isn’t hugely important except in terms of figuring out what kind of sci-fi you gravitate toward.

For instance, I would have put Foundation squarely in the soft sci-fi camp due to its many religions, neverending sets of Dawn-Day-Dusk clones, and Hari Seldon’s disembodied consciousness popping up every few hundred years like the worst Jack in the Box ever.

However, Foundation is apparently considered hard sci-fi mostly because of its realistic mathematical projections. Because checking the math is what’s most important here, not checking out Lee Pace.

Foundation is a little bit of a curveball because it contains so many different stylistic elements. A more straightforward example of hard sci-fi is The Expanse, a show revered for its scientific accuracy.

Soft sci-fi focuses more on relationships and sociology. Star Trek is arguably the gold-standard example of this subgenre, where the technology serves the characters rather than being a focal point itself.

Of course, technology plays a huge part in Star Trek and many other soft sci-fi shows, such as Firefly. It’s just that the science behind that tech isn’t as dependent on accuracy as it is in hard sci-fi.

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Speculative, dystopian, and alternate history shows fit in the soft sci-fi subgenre, but these categorizations tend to overlap.

While Severance is pretty straightforwardly speculative, you could also say that about The Handmaid’s Tale, which is more often described as dystopian.

Again, none of these categories or subgenres are “better” than any others. But it’s interesting to see just how many different shows fall under the sci-fi umbrella.

Is Sci-Fi Getting Outpaced By Reality?

Science fiction has a long history of anticipating technological advances in the real world.

We may not yet have flying cars like the Jetsons, but a staggering number of innovations we take for granted today were predicted decades ago by sci-fi novels, short stories, and TV shows.

Credit cards, the internet, cell phones — at one point, all of these were just words on a page instead of tangible items in our actual lives.

It seemed an accepted fact that science fiction would always be a step ahead of what we actually saw around us. That is until the debut of Black Mirror on Netflix brought the technological horrors of the future much closer to home.

Black Mirror operated in the same near-future or alternate history present that films like Ex Machina and TV shows like Devs explored.

It featured an enjoyably plausible nightmarish existence that seemed too far-fetched to be worrisome — until it wasn’t.

We’re now effectively in a post-Black Mirror world where our current reality has surpassed almost anything the show could throw at us as a jump scare.

How Sci-Fi Is Changing To Suit Us

Science fiction shows have expanded to accommodate recent viewing trends.

Foundation may be based on a series of books written nearly seventy-five years ago, but its use of low-tech tribal cultures and alternate timelines echoes crowd-pleasing aspects of Game of Thrones and Marvel shows like Loki.

A blend of genres, time periods, and elaborate backstories isn’t alienating to contemporary audiences who are inundated with all kinds of content online.

They are used to juggling large amounts of seemingly unrelated information on a daily basis and are more tolerant of narratives without a clear endpoint.

This increased comfort with ambiguity is especially perfect for dystopian shows based on video games, like Fallout and The Last of Us.

Rather than expand its scope to include a little bit of everything, Silo is a more traditional dystopian show that narrows its focus to the point of claustrophobia.

Watch Silo Online

It also cloaks its advanced technology in analog trappings that blur the specific time period and history of the world in question.

This trait, shared by many dystopian works, imparts a timeless quality and also provides its characters with a greater sense of agency.

Tech experts thrive in this sci-fi environment as well, but all classes of people are able to use at least the basics of available technology.

This accessible, back-to-basics dystopian ethos blends our reliance on current technology with our perceived survivalist abilities.

The world as we know it may have imploded, but we have a chance at staying alive even if we’re not computer engineers because we can (maybe?) build a fire and replace the battery in a walkie-talkie.

Dystopians also flip the narrative on how technological power is perceived.

In many science fiction works, technology is synonymous with progress and enlightenment, a la Star Trek and Quantum Leap. But in dystopian settings, those with technological power use it to subjugate.

If both the lofty, detached expansiveness of Foundation and the gritty, confined individualism of Silo resonated with audiences, what does that mean for sci-fi going forward?

There’s Always Room For More

Sci-fi may have lost some ground in terms of predicting our future, but it’s still unmatched as a snapshot of our current mood.

Alternate timelines aren’t new, but their mainstream acceptance into non-sci-fi genres has become more commonplace over the past decade.

For All Mankind goes all in on this subgenre, taking the concept of America losing the space race far into the future.

The show’s grounding in actual history differentiates it from Foundation, where alternate timelines branch off a line of history that was imaginary to begin with.

A sci-fi show that’s based in reality also provides tangible stakes for the audience, who are more likely to be invested in a “What If?” that is easier to imagine actually happening.

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The thought of being in the “wrong timeline” can be a source of both comfort and terror. But it also provides a non-denominational view of immortality where alternate versions of yourself coexist across an infinite span of timelines.

This is appealing on many levels, including the notion that it might be possible to jump into a different reality in an expansion of the Sliding Doors concept.

This notion ties back to our constant inundation of information, where we’ve accepted the concept of infinite complexity, but we also yearn for an escape to a simpler reality.

Can We Still Have Spaceships?

Just because sci-fi is creeping into earthbound genres (noir mystery in Sugar, workplace thriller in Severance) doesn’t mean we have to leave the stars behind.

There will always be a place for “traditional” sci-fi that takes place in outer space and encounters alien civilizations.

After all, those have been the genre’s hallmarks for decades. But it’s thrilling to watch sci-fi branch out into new territory that even it didn’t see coming.

Science fiction has never been closer to our current time than it is in the present moment.

Perhaps the genre’s most significant shift is that now, we’re facing the future together.

Do you think sci-fi is heading in a new direction, or is it feeling about the same to you?

Share your thoughts in the comments below!

The post The Future Is Here: How Shows Like Foundation and Silo Are Defining Modern Sci-Fi appeared first on TV Fanatic.

The episode wrapped up most of the subplots introduced this season and featured a steady stream of laugh-out-loud zingers from Frasier as he navigated a holiday-themed meddling scheme.

Did the season finale go bigger on pathos than party favors? Perhaps. But I think it was necessary to dispense with a couple of larger storylines so that those characters and the show itself could move forward for a potential third season.

I liked a lot of what this episode accomplished, even if I may have wished for less of an elegiac mood.

It was deceptively intricate on the story side, which was great, but it still clung to some aspects of the show (David!) that haven’t worked too well this season.

It’s Christmas Time Again

Has it only been a year since we were invited to a Christmas fete hosted by Dr. Frasier Crane??

Even with the magic of streaming and selective memory, it seems like Frasier Season 2 started just moments ago.

For once, the obligatory info-dump-with-drinks opening scene at the Harvard bar actually made sense. Its crowded and convivial setting supported the jumble of characters and different motivations we saw in a short amount of time.

Somehow, this scene seemed more “real” than so many others have this season in this exact same setting.

Like, it was a revelation for the camera to follow Freddy and Olivia over to the bar for a casual discussion between just the two of them — which I don’t think we’ve seen before? — about what Christmas gifts they had gotten for Frasier.

I loved the ease of their conversation and how comfortable they seemed with each other; it made me wish that they could be buddies like Freddy is with Eve.

It was just so great to see the group all together and then fracturing into different components before moving back, like in a real bar environment.

Let’s Talk About Alan

We saw Alan do a good Scrooge impression at the bar, which honestly was low-hanging fruit for him, but then we learned that his estranged daughter was in town, which may have upped his Bah-Humbug-ness.

The subplot of Alan and his daughter Nora was introduced earlier this season and has popped up occasionally ever since.

This family situation seemed to surprise everyone, including Frasier, so it was hard to fully integrate that backstory into what we already knew (and loved!) of Alan as a bachelor dilettante and alcohol enthusiast.

Alan loathed Christmas more than usual this year since Nora still wouldn’t take his calls and had recently given birth to his only grandchild.

I love Alan’s character, but this estrangement storyline has felt a little forced to me. It came out of nowhere, and it’s a big ask for him to be seen as a contrite family man based on very little information.

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Earlier in the season, it seemed like Nora was Alan’s only child, which upped the stakes of their conflict.

But in this episode, we learned that he also has at least one son, with Nora as the eldest of his children and the only one who’s a parent.

The estrangement from Nora has apparently been an undercurrent of regret and grief for Alan, but how will their reconciliation change Alan’s character going forward?

His worldview and drinking seem based on much more than just this one broken relationship. When did he lose interest in his career? And why didn’t we hear about his son(s) before now? So many questions!

Let’s Not Forget Frasier

Frasier’s romantic foibles weren’t a huge part of this season, but during the finale, I kept wondering how he would navigate a relationship at this stage in his life.

We didn’t get to see his almost twenty-year relationship with Charlotte (Laura Linney) in Chicago, which might have been the longest one he’s had. So it’s new territory for us to see Frasier coupled up!

It also raises the question of how being in a couple will affect his meddling with others — maybe not so much if his beekeeping outfit (???) plans for Olivia are anything to go by.

At the very least, Frasier’s new relationship with Holly will hopefully quash for good any lingering hopes for a romance with him and Roz. C’mon, she’s already moved cross-country; she can’t suddenly stop dating around, too!

Mission Impossible: Gingerbread Village

It was such a kick to see Frasier presiding over a map of his plan like the world-weary military leader of a non-military heist. He was entirely in his element, moving shot glasses around the same way he meddles with people.

As Alan later noted, Frasier means well, but his madcap capers leave a lot of damage behind. Still, I do wish we could’ve seen David fold himself into a bar cart!

Historically, it must be said that this was probably the most even-keeled of all Frasier’s schemes.

It had very few moving parts, didn’t require finding obscure items, and used the personal connections they already had on hand.

Frasier even managed to stay on track by delegating his usual distractibility to David and his pastoral gingerbread village.

This hearkened back to those zany days of yore when Frasier would completely derail a plan because he couldn’t let some minor point lie (much like the Seattle episode this season).

But the gingerbread village was still an odd subplot that existed in somewhat of a vacuum despite being good for a few big laughs. I expected it to have a decent callback, at least.

Even though Eve and Roz effectively bailed on their jobs, Frasier’s plan actually worked! It just didn’t get the desired results.

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I was scared that Alan’s anger at Frasier would lead to them avoiding each other or the silent treatment, so it was nice to see them have a very adult conversation of apology and expressed hurt.

Alan even showed a lack of Scrooge-ness by bringing Holly to the party for Frasier, even though he was alone. So, he’d grown emotionally and was now ready for — or deserving of — reconciliation with Nora.

Freddy As MVP

Freddy probably evolved the most this season. He took steps to deal with grief over his best friend’s death, really seemed to forgive Frasier for childhood stuff, and made peace with his choice of career.

I always forget that he’s in a service-oriented career (‘cos he’s always at the bar!), so maybe that’s why I was surprised when he took the initiative to seek Nora out on his own and make a case for Alan.

Freddy’s talk with Nora was a compassionate, Frasier-free way to hear what he really thought about his dad leaving Boston when he was young, and it reinforced the closure he’d found during the Seattle episode.

Perhaps that’s why Freddy was now open to admitting he has some of his dad’s less-than-admirable traits, aka the meddling gene. Seriously, what ARE he and Frasier going to do with that beekeeper‘s outfit?!

Santa Pub Crawl Thoughts

When did these Santa Pub Crawls become a thing, anyway? I know it’s been a while, but I feel like it must’ve been around the same time as gender reveal parties.

In any event, the tipsy Santas in this episode seemed like they were there to add holiday color, and they also confused the timeline of events.

At the hotel bar and lobby, everyone kept talking about meeting up at eleven o’clock, and I thought, That sounds pretty late at night for this “stakeout-stakeout-stakeout” to go down.

But it was actually eleven in the morning, which meant that the Pub Santas, Alan, and Freddy had all started drinking incredibly early that day. I know, I know — I’m quibbling!

Then Holly said she couldn’t make dinner because she had to work until eleven. But she told Alan she was getting off in an hour when it was daylight, and… you’re right; I’m overthinking this.

It was nice to see the gang (literally) off campus at the hotel, but truly delightful to see Alec Mapa as Thomas, the “uncool” hotel desk manager!

Okay, but I have to ask: Who was watching Nora’s baby when she was in the hotel lobby and bar? And where was her husband during this ENTIRE episode??

Last Minute Gifts

The subplots involving Olivia and David were on about the same level of pleasant yet unnecessary, and each had their moments.

This time, Eve and Roz got the “David” treatment, where they could have been removed and not missed in terms of the story.

But the MVP of being MIA goes once again to Eve’s toddler son, John!

We haven’t seen him since the opening of that art gallery; he could have his driver’s license by now.

The Road Ahead

Well, as they say in the biz, that’s a wrap for Frasier Season 2!

It was nice to see Alice again, even if she didn’t really have much to do.

It was a relief that Nora gave Alan a second chance, plus tying up that storyline leaves room for more interesting ones in the future (I’m sorry! I just didn’t get any feels from this one).

What do you think, TV Fanatics? Did Frasier Season 2 Episode 10 feel more like a series rather than a season finale? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

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The post Frasier Season 2 Episode 10 Review: Father Christmas appeared first on TV Fanatic.

On Frasier Season 2 Episode 9, we were treated to the return of not just one but two favorite guest stars and a storyline that played to the strengths of characters new and old.

This episode made me laugh the most out of the season so far, and I even wished it had lasted a few minutes longer.

What Was Not To Like, Here?

First off, it was the very biggest of joys to see Patricia Heaton appear again as Holly the bartender. I had almost forgotten about her and my high hopes for her and Frasier getting together!

Also exciting was the new-to-us information that Frasier had been heading over to the restaurant bar to fill her in on his misadventures since Valentine’s Day.

I’m actually surprised that Holly still has a job after offering Frasier a free glass of Macallan for each embarrassing story. That’s like a drinking game where you take a shot every time Roz flies from Seattle to Boston!

Speaking of: What was that almost rueful admission from Frasier that “there was no sex on Cape Cod?” Had he sort of wanted something to happen with Roz that weekend, or was he just lamenting how his romantic scene-setting for Eve and Freddy didn’t result in them hooking up?

In any event, Roz apparently lives in Boston now (or she’s using Eve’s bar as an airport lounge) and has joined the Harvard faculty tradition of day drinking. She’s assimilated well so far with an invite to Olivia’s party and has even managed to charm Alan (???).

But Roz wasn’t the big reveal of this episode; it was Holly.

I loved Holly’s first appearance on the show because it reminded me of the OG Frasier episode where he got misdialed messages on his answering machine from a woman cellist who sounded like his perfect match. She was stuck at the Seattle airport, so he impulsively drove there for a drink with her.

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That character was played by Linda Hamilton (yay!) but was married (boo!), so it ended up being this charmingly flirtatious but wistful encounter where they both sort of wished things were different.

However, she still gave him the whole “You’ll find someone!” speech that single people of all ages just LOVE hearing.

Fast-forward to that same rom-com-gone-wrong feeling on the Valentine’s Day episode when Holly told Frasier she had a boyfriend. My hopes for a season of Frasier in a healthy relationship were crushed!

So when Holly finally asked Frasier out on this episode, it was all sorts of wonderful.

Well, it was wonderful for about six minutes, thanks to Dr. Crane getting in his own way yet again.

It Might Be Sabotage

Part of Frasier’s appeal has always been the way he straddles his erudition and more earthy impulses.

It’s funny that in present-day Boston, he’s reverted to his more upper-crust self, whereas his time at Cheers in the 1980s gave him a sprinkle of everyman grit that kept him from being a complete snob like Niles when he moved to Seattle in the 1990s.

I guess it was too much to hope that Frasier would be able to appreciate a hockey game in the present, but I’ll admit I was disappointed that he couldn’t keep it together to at least be a good sport for his date.

We’ve seen Frasier date TONS of women he didn’t completely vibe with, and the only times he’s really questioned that was when they were much younger.

So it was kind of odd to see him sabotage an age-appropriate relationship with the old, “Oh, we’re so different” excuse.

Frasier already knew that Holly didn’t like many of the same things, like the opera and the ballet, but he seemed more invested in her thinking that he was “cool” than in her appreciating the things that he likes.

Which was… progress?

He couldn’t point to an age difference in this relationship, so he used their taste differences after a whopping TWO DATES to sabotage their relationship.

Lucky for them, they were able to find common ground during an experience that they both disliked.

Olivia’s Murder Mystery Party

I was thrilled to see Olivia get a few more facets added to her character when she went all out for a Regency-themed murder mystery party, complete with ice sculpture.

It was deliciously diabolical how she tricked everyone into attending (although I kind of wanted to see that olive oil tasting!), and her excitement was palpable, if not infectious.

It was also fun to see some of the other faculty members who have been lurking in the background of several other parties this season. Their characters got filled out a little bit more, too!

I loved Alan’s look of absolute horror when he realized what was happening, and all of his quips were wickedly funny, even for him.

I feel like in every other episode, Alan just knocks it out of the park and then has to rest in the background for an episode to recover.

Frasier Season 2 Episode 9 would have been successful even if Olivia’s party really had been about olive oil or caviar.

It was a little weird to see Freddy and Eve at what seemed to be a mostly Harvard faculty event, but I liked their energy as a non-couple couple.

Also, they formed this perfect example of how to cheerfully manage two different interests (his football game and her reality show) in one evening, an example Frasier completely missed.

The banter with them and fellow non-academics Roz and Holly was entertaining on its own, so I settled in to enjoy a quiet party episode with a lot of clever wordplay.

Then everything was turned on its head with the murder mystery party reveal!

This propelled the episode into wacky greatness, including the hilarious push-pull of Frasier trying to deny how much he absolutely would enjoy an event like this if he weren’t busy trying to convince Holly that he was cool.

Alan’s co-opting of Eve’s insight about Ibsen and the dollhouse continued their tradition of stealing each other’s ideas, like when they gave feedback on Frasier’s memoir draft.

I was a little surprised that Eve, as an actress, didn’t get into her mystery game character more flamboyantly. Even Freddy’s fake mustache was more of a scene-stealer!

See also: Holly’s shepherdess hook as the prop that kept on giving (laughs).

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But I’m not going to lie — I really did wish that we could have seen what an ice sculpture of the Bronte sisters looked like.

Alan being a mystery aficionado after he so vehemently claimed otherwise was a fun twist, if perhaps a smidge unconvincing. It was nice to see him get excited about something other than alcohol, though!

Clues And Quibbles

I thought there might be a twist upon a twist, with the “ruined” party being the actual planned mystery party all along. But if Frasier hadn’t insisted on finding the true culprit, everyone would have just left.

This made it a stretch to believe that Sharma had the foresight and opportunity to pull that Brontosaurus ice sculpture switch, especially when he supposedly thought he was going to a caviar-tasting party.

But it was pretty cool that his revenge plot ended up giving Olivia the murder mystery party of her dreams.

David had an admittedly GREAT line with “They were famously reclusive.” But as to his presence at the party, I thought he’d gone back to working for just Alan unless the whole department is sharing him as an intern now.

Then again, he really was perfectly cast as the viscount’s illegitimate son-slash-murder victim for the party — I’m almost sorry we didn’t get to see that play out!

This episode reinforced my belief that Olivia’s heart lies with the English department rather than psychology. I feel like the season finale may feature her making a substantial change in her life, and a switch to literature might make sense.

Frasier Season 2 Episode 9 was incredibly polished and filled with sharp, laugh-out-loud dialogue. It felt like you were in such good hands watching it, where it was a complete story that you didn’t have to worry might fall apart at any point.

This episode was superb, from the lighting and costumes to the set design and camera work. It was such a joy to watch, and it made me hope that the show returns for a third season.

What did you think, TV Fanatics? Did this episode charm you, or was it too little too late?

Let us know in the comments!

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The post Frasier Season 2 Episode 9 Review: Murder Most Finch appeared first on TV Fanatic.

They left from Boston, where it wasn’t surprising to see Roz seated comfortably in the bar with the Harvard gang. After all, it feels like she’s been in more episodes this season than some of the main cast!

But that was just the first of many blasts from the past in an episode that perfectly melded the beats, strengths, and (it must be said) flaws of the OG show to create an emotional turning point for the new series.

Bon Voyage, Boston

The Harvard bar scene set up the main storyline of Frasier’s visit to KACL for a special tribute show and the smaller one of David leaving his job with Alan.

But to my mind, the actual sole purpose of this bar scene was to inform us that Niles and Daphne now live in Sedona (??), where they drive a Tesla (???) and own a vineyard (Okay, that tracks).

How did we not know this before now?!

Well, probably because it neatly explained why we wouldn’t see Niles and Daphne in Seattle any more than Frasier and Freddy would during their visit.

It also allowed the episode to focus on KACL and Frasier’s former professional life in Seattle.

Freddy tagged along on this trip, calling into question his fire department’s vacation days policy.

They already seem to look the other way with his frequent day drinking at the bar, so what’s another few days on the other side of the country?

Radio Days

Eve’s quip to Roz about radio being obsolete was accurate foreshadowing disguised as a generational put-down. It was indeed painful to see Frasier’s old KACL studio crammed with outdated equipment like a forgotten storage closet.

This made me think back to the end of Frasier’s original run when everyone was starting new life chapters (Niles and Daphne were new parents; Martin and Ronee were married and moving out of the condo).

I remember Roz being promoted to… KACL’s station manager? It seemed like a big deal then, a position that offered security and recognition of her true value as a producer.

So I was as shocked as Frasier to see how far KACL had fallen and how Roz hadn’t recognized it by now.

But before all that, how great was it to see Frasier’s former coworkers (plus Bulldog’s gong!) crowded into his studio once again?!

I could only hope that Noel Shempsky was absent simply because he was away at a Star Trek convention.

It was seriously thrilling to see the KACL crew together again — it’s almost like the show actually listened and gave the people what they wanted!

Bulldog and Gil were instantly and entirely themselves (well, with a little bit more from Bulldog’s revelation), while the restaurant jingle conflict felt familiar but also as if it were from a different century.

I loved seeing these characters fall right back into step with each other with steady, unforced grace. And then… the show kicked them all out of the KACL studio and ended the scene!

You know that scene was cut short because the cake was left on the desk untouched! Unless… it was still there from Frances’s welcome-back party?

Well, they did say their budget was tight!

The Coffeeshop Around The Corner

Our consolation prize for leaving KACL so abruptly was a visit to Cafe Nervosa, which was miraculously still in business.

It honestly didn’t look much different, and despite what Frasier said, I could swear I remember an old episode where he and Niles also complained about people bringing bikes into the cafe.

Another crumb of foreshadowing was dropped when Frasier grumbled that he couldn’t believe Roz still patronized Cafe Nervosa, which wasn’t as charming as he remembered.

But the familiar cafe was very much in keeping with the scope of her tribute interview and Frasier meeting an old caller.

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That caller was Lou, a random new character, even though I was kind of hoping it’d be someone recognizable from the original show.

At first, I was confused because it seemed like Lou had just made these questionable life changes but had also supposedly gotten the idea from a twenty years ago call to Frasier’s radio show.

I’m not sure that this timeline discrepancy was ever fully cleared up. But we learned all about Lou’s dream of a career in magic, his failed marriage, and how he quit his law firm based on Frasier’s past advice.

A couple of the magic trick sight gags were good, but Lou wasn’t all that compelling of a character.

(However, when Freddy picked up Lou’s “Ace up my sleeve” playing card and said, “It’s a seven,” I almost died laughing.)

I was mostly anxious that we were still at Cafe Nervosa when I wanted to return to KACL and all of those much-missed (and presumably expensive) guest stars.

Plus, that “Welcome Back” cake wasn’t going to eat itself!

There’s Always Time To Heal

It was frustrating that Frasier became fixated on helping Lou right then, even though that would make him late for the radio show slot that Roz had set up for him.

Seriously, he couldn’t wait forty-five minutes to correct a twenty-year-old wrong??

This fixation on something to the exclusion of all else happened a lot on the old show. It was usually tied to a perceived slight involving class or ethics and was definitely anxiety-making for the audience.

Frasier stated he had a reputation to protect in Seattle, but judging from KACL’s shabby offices, methinks that was just a convenient excuse for him to indulge his ego without guilt.

Roz bringing Frasier out of retirement for “one last call-in show” was a sweet gesture that was hopefully pinned to a milestone broadcast anniversary.

However, I can’t imagine Frasier’s tribute show giving KACL the same numbers boost it might have in the pre-podcast era.

I also don’t know how big a Seattle audience would even remember The Frasier Crane Show — and I say that with so much love!

Still, I felt really bad for Roz having to scramble and get Gil to cover for Frasier after she’d arranged this whole tribute show for him and flown him out from Boston for it.

What Is Going On Here?

At this point in the episode, I wondered if this show was ever going to stop snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

I mean, gathering all of those beloved guest stars together just for a blink-and-miss-it scene? Giving us random-guy Lou and magic tricks instead?

(Okay, Lucky the rabbit was super cute.)

But then the show worked some magic of its own. In the process of helping Lou, Frasier showed Roz that it was time to leave the familiarity of KACL and perhaps even the West Coast.

He also had a surprisingly tender and unexpected breakthrough with Freddy as they maturely addressed long-standing father-son issues, as well as guilt and grief over Martin’s passing.

The only one literally left out on a ledge was Lou, but even there, Frasier’s obliviousness actually helped Lou become angry enough to figure out how to change his life.

This turned out to be a completely hilarious and superbly choreographed scene that made me feel bad for ever doubting Lou as a character. And Lucky was so well trained! I wish my cat listened to me like that.

It wasn’t just the guest stars and KACL setting that made Frasier Season 2 Episode 8 feel so much like an episode of yore. Part of it was the pacing, but most of it was seeing Frasier in his element as a psychiatrist.

In the same way that he gently suggested Roz let go of what no longer worked, he might have asked himself if his post-retirement return to academia was a version of his holding on to an outdated dream.

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Back in Boston, the side plot about David getting fed up with Alan’s constant criticism was similar to the idea of discarding an old role for the chance at a better one.

It was impressive to see David stand up for himself against his revered professor even while I snort-laughed at the description, “tries a bit too hard with his sweaters.”

This whole minor Harvard storyline was way funnier than expected, and it made me wish Olivia had a reason to speak with a Scottish accent more often — or constantly! I loved it that much.

Olivia was kind of a badass in Frasier Season 2 Episode 8, and I felt like the show was FINALLY exploring different layers and directions for her character.

That, plus David growing a backbone under his delightful knitwear, proved that this was a truly transformational episode for every character on this show.

Even Alan was compelled to sit in the corner and think about what he’d done and act accordingly.

Maybe I’m just still obsessed with Alan’s version of The Parent Trap, but the show absolutely missed a golden opportunity to have Anders Keith play both David and his replacement.

However, the lint roller gag with David and Alan at the end was brilliant enough to almost make up for it, if anyone asks.

Hooked On So Many Feelings

This game-changing episode of Frasier Season 2 gave Roz permission to move on with her life and allowed us to say goodbye to KACL’s familiar voices.

Freddy’s regretful thoughts about his deceased grandfather formed a surprisingly poignant ending to this episode.

It’s impossible to think of the original series without remembering John Mahoney as Martin Crane, and it’s a (flimsy) testament to the new iteration that it acknowledges the character without necessarily doing him justice.

This episode managed to tie together a lot of threads we hadn’t even realized were loose and formed an incredibly organic way forward for the series. It wasn’t perfect, but it ended up being sublime.

What do you say, TV Fanatics? Has Frasier Season 2 finally found its way in terms of balancing pathos and humor? Let us know in the comments!

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The post Frasier Season 2 Episode 8 Review: Thank You, Dr. Crane appeared first on TV Fanatic.

Olivia’s sister Monica may have visited for the annual Harvard-Yale game, but her actual favorite sport was one-upping her younger sibling.

I hoped the episode’s focus on Olivia would give her some much-needed character development. While that didn’t exactly happen, her nimble participation in this festive farce was reward enough for now.

Alan and Freddy did the heavy lifting of setting the episode’s events into motion, which freed Frasier to do what he does best in these situations: facilitate and react.

Meanwhile, Yvette Nicole Brown needed a toothpick for all the scenery she chewed, but it sure was fun to watch her turn the character of Monica up to eleven.

Even David got some well-deserved laughs from the few lines he was given in this episode that featured sharp writing, balanced subplots, and smooth choreography.

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Olivia Has Family In Town

Right away, it was refreshing to see the show’s attention shift to Olivia with her sister’s arrival.

Could this mean we’d get to see a side of Olivia apart from her dating life??

Sadly, no.

I guess I should be glad that the show has given Olivia at least one interest besides dating: literature.

Meanwhile, Frasier’s interests include wine, contemporary art, interior design, the opera, the piano, Felix Mendelssohn, and Spanish ham.

Still, we could assume that Olivia’s personality has been shaped in no small part by a lifelong competition with her sister.

I almost feel like Olivia may have chosen an academic career in psychology instead of literature because of pressure from her sister or other family members.

Olivia’s outsized focus on dating might also be influenced by her sister’s marriage to a chief of neurosurgery, something Monica mentioned every chance she got.

It was heartwarming to see how quickly Eve and Frasier got behind Olivia’s fake dating ruse.

Well, Frasier almost immediately got distracted by his own issues. Still, Eve pulled through by enlisting her actor friend Augustine to play “Marc,” the Spanish guitar player who only exists in Olivia’s mind.

Freddy Explains It All

Unfortunately, the handsome and talented Augustine had made an enemy of Freddy earlier that day.

First, he cheated in softball. Then, he was the first person Eve thought of when looking for an objectively “cute” friend to play Olivia’s fake boyfriend.

At first, Freddy’s jealousy seemed like it was just about him not being the Cutest Boy of All, the way people eventually go from being the youngest and brightest in the room to… well, not being that anymore.

But then Freddy’s jealousy seemed to get very Eve-specific, which was disheartening. Didn’t we leave the possibility of romance between these two back in Cape Cod?

This story thread (which I hope ends here) did serve its purpose by undermining Freddy’s smug prediction when his father fretted over not being able to cancel his tailgate party so he could attend another one.

I mean, knowing your parties, some hilariously tragic and completely avoidable catastrophe will end the whole thing in what, like, twenty, thirty minutes?

— Freddy Crane to Frasier

At first, I could only think: When did Freddy become the series MVP??

He had several zingers right off the bat in this episode (the one about the 1906 tailgate party was my favorite). I seriously rejoiced that the show might have finally figured out the perfect tone for his character.

Smart and sassy is a good look for Freddy!

Still, on Frasier Season 2 Episode 7, Freddy proved that he is indeed his father’s son by hyper-fixating on a perceived slight and letting that ruin his better judgment.

Freddy didn’t even realize that he had become the completely avoidable instrument of destruction for his father’s party.

It was pretty annoying to see Freddy take it upon himself to play “Mark” after Eve had texted him she’d already found someone else to do it.

He didn’t try to call any of his firefighter friends and added imaginary punctuation to Eve’s text to justify his coming over.

And he didn’t even check in with Eve before swooping in with Olivia! That definitely made Freddy’s actions all about his ego and not about helping Olivia.

Freddy did get some comeuppance by having to use a British accent in front of Monica, though.

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It was hard to tell if Freddy was mainly jealous of Augustine for being a better softball player or being more attractive to Eve.

Don’t get me wrong, I *loved* seeing these two go at it! Acapulco‘s Rafael Cebrian was a true delight, and I hope he’s on the show again soon.

It just seemed like that level of rivalry would have to be about more than just softball, but Augustine didn’t seem all that into Eve, so he wasn’t a threat in that way for Freddy.

This episode was a little coy by making it seem like Freddy’s jealousy could go either way, but I really hope the show doesn’t put him and Eve together romantically. I like them better as friends!

Alan Calls In A Favor

Alan did a lot of good work in this episode, from his creative interpretation of Disney films to delivering Frasier’s VIP guest directly to his party.

I really liked this version of Alan, where he was maybe just a couple of drinks in. He was charmingly eccentric in Frasier Season 2 Episode 7 but still competent and reliable.

His suggestion that Frasier attend two parties at once by imitating his version of The Parent Trap, in which one person plays two twins, had me scratching my head.

It’s been a while and a half since I saw The Parent Trap, so for a second, I’ll admit I was, like: Is *that* how that movie went??

(Oh, come on, it’s almost as plausible as what actually happened!)

I thought it was a decent throwaway joke worth a chuckle, but then it came back at the end as a truly surprising callback that had me laughing out loud.

Alan was the gravitational counterpoint to Frasier in how both of them played pivotal roles in the episode but left the focus on Olivia’s storyline.

It was fantastic to see such well-balanced subplots that overlapped in an unforced way. Even David’s brief appearances were incredibly organic to the narrative, had perfect comic timing, and were really funny, to boot.

Especially when he asked a roomful of academics if any of them had written a memoir examining their childhood trauma (all hands shot up).

I’m still concerned that David is always the youngest person in the room on this show. I know he has a close relationship with his uncle Frasier and Freddy, and he works at school with Alan, but we never see him with friends his own age.

That’s unlikely to change now that we’re seeing so much less of him this season. However, I feel that a younger group of friends could take David’s character in a new comedic direction.

Yes, And…

I was impressed by how Olivia just rolled with everything instead of spiraling and was able to improvise on the spot. She was probably in some heightened creative fugue state from the stress of being around her sister, but it was still very cool.

I liked that she ended up secluded in the kitchen with Valdo, where she finally had some fun and peace away from family expectations and fake dating shenanigans.

Monica was an over-the-top, over-achieving sibling who you just knew was hiding something. The revelation of her flawed marriage was totally expected but still satisfying.

It made me curious to see their parents, though! Maybe they’ll come to next year’s Harvard-Yale game.

I enjoyed all of the clever reversals of expectations on Frasier Season 2 Episode 7. I was prepared to be totally okay with yet another disaster party episode, but this turned out to be delightfully different.

I was glad that Frasier didn’t sabotage his own party beyond repair, but he still needs to revise that memoir manuscript. All of his friends, plus a Nobel-prize-winning author, can’t be wrong!

I loved that Olivia met a nice guy and made her sister jealous for once. I cringed at Freddy sacrificing his own maturity and the goodwill of his friends for the title of “Best Mark.” And I was inexpressibly happy to see that Eve got her roots touched up!

This episode featured some real laughs and great performances from the entire cast and guest stars. It fell short on fleshing out Olivia’s character apart from her love life, but I liked the glimpse into her non-academic life that we got from her sister’s visit. The back half of Frasier Season 2 is holding strong!

What did you think about this episode, TV Fanatics? Let us know in the comments!

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The post Frasier Season 2 Episode 7 Review: My Brilliant Sister appeared first on TV Fanatic.

On Frasier Season 2 Episode 6, Frasier played matchmaker for Freddy and Eve and enlisted Roz as his accomplice in a delightful outing that combined farce with heart.

Yes, that’s right — Roz returned for another visit! That plane she took home to Seattle in Frasier Season 2 Episode 3 barely had time to refuel before heading back to Boston.

Now she and her daughter Alice have joined Frasier and the gang (minus Alan and Olivia) in Cape Cod for an unspecified holiday weekend that seems way too early to be Independence Day.

I feel like it was just Valentine’s Day in the show’s timeline. So maybe this episode takes place on Memorial Day? In any event, there are actual fireworks involved this weekend, if not romantic ones.

Roz Is More Relaxed

It was refreshing to see Roz reclaim her laconic, irreverent persona that was missing when we last saw her this season. She felt like a real person again who fell right back into her familiar rhythm with Frasier.

I have to admit that when I saw Roz was back on the show so soon, I thought, Jeez, why not just have her move to the East Coast already?

Then, when I saw the easy way she interacted with Frasier, I was like, Yes, why NOT have her move to the East Coast, already??

This also made me wonder why Freddy and Eve were aghast at the thought of Frasier and Roz as a couple. Okay, in Eve’s case, she thought they were related, which was incredibly funny.

Where did that notion of hers even come from? I don’t know, but I loved it.

But why would Freddy be against his father finding love with an old friend, even if he apparently doesn’t know they hooked up years ago?

Obviously, something needed to kickstart all the matchmaking misunderstandings, but I wish it had been a more understandable reason.

It was also sweetly silly how Eve and Freddy saw the seductive setting laid out on the porch and immediately thought it was for Roz.

I guess it makes sense that if they think it’s incomprehensible for them to be a romantic pair, they would have trouble accepting that possibility for Fraiser and Roz.

It’s still a little weird, but I will use my Legislature Expansion Pack gavel to give them a pass for now.

Alice In Frasier Land

We finally got to meet Alice, played by Greer Grammer, daughter of Kelsey Grammer (maybe Roz and Frasier are related, after all).

Alice fit into the group seamlessly, and I hope we see more of her this season, even if it seems that she won’t have a love match with Freddy.

Speaking of, why was Frasier so convinced that his son and Eve were perfect for each other?

It’s been nice to see Frasier’s respect for Eve grow this season. But he went straight to pairing her up with Freddy forever and ever based on… her starting to date again?

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If it weren’t such a characteristically Fraiser thing of him to do, I’d chalk it up as yet another example of the Harvard Psychology Department staff’s questionable competency.

Back At The Bar

We didn’t get to see much of Alan in this episode, but what little we did was enough.

Alan’s bit about getting scammed went on a bit too long. It was also unnecessary for a scene that just needed to establish Freddy and Eve as a potential couple and explain the Cape Cod trip.

I feel like the show tries to shoehorn the entire ensemble into each episode, whether they’re needed or not.

David played a slightly bigger part in this episode than he has lately, but I wish the show kept its precious few minutes of running time focused on the main players, especially when it has guest stars.

That said, what was up with David’s board game??

I REALLY hoped that Legislature would turn out to be a slightly less chaotic version of the True American drinking game from New Girl.

Alas, it was just a mild common interest for David and Alice that failed to light a romantic spark.

On The Beach

The beach house, with its porch and sliding glass door, was a perfectly compact setting for the episode’s farcical choreography.

This episode’s relaxed stakes, believable misunderstandings, and sharp dialogue provided the kind of low-key farce that makes me laugh without making me roll my eyes.

It was also great to once again see Fraiser in his delusional project mode, waxing poetic about the perceived success of his machinations as they unfold.

But it was bittersweet to hear him casually tell Roz how lonely it’s been to manipulate people all by himself.

He needs a partner in crime who will both support and rein in his more outlandish impulses.

Roz was a willing participant up to a point, with her welcome balance of fun and responsibility.

She has a soft spot for romance and Frasier (separately!), so it made sense that she went along with the plan until Frasier insulted Alice.

That was a wake-up call for Roz, leaving Frasier pretty much on his own as he tried to force a connection between Freddy and Eve.

To its credit, the episode did not plant any seeds of potential romance between Roz and Frasier.

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If anything, seeing them together in this romantic setting just highlighted how well they work as friends.

That still doesn’t keep me from wishing Roz would move to Boston!

What Did Everyone Learn?

Freddy and Eve once again mistook romantic advice that was meant for them. It gave them food for thought about friendship turning to love, but they didn’t see it as being about their friendship.

But I don’t know if I see Freddy and Eve as a romantic couple!

They’re obviously comfortable with each other, but to borrow a line from Eve: Aren’t they related?

I mean in a found family way through their shared bond with her ex, not by blood.

Along those lines, Freddy is not interested in Alice, which will be sad news for her.

David, meanwhile, continues to be interested in everyone!

This was another polished episode that felt true to the characters and featured sparkling dialogue.

I feel like it settled the question of Roz and Frasier getting together, and it may have even done the same for Freddy and Eve.

In the best sense, this episode cleared the way for new developments while proving that it can still perform the brand of restrained farce that worked so well in the original series.

Let’s toss it over to you, TV Fanatics: what did you think of this episode? Were you happy to see Roz again so soon? Let us know in the comments!

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The post Frasier Season 2 Episode 6 Review: Cape Cod appeared first on TV Fanatic.

On the one hand, Noa was finally forced to see what EVERYONE around him had already clocked: that Koh was his biological father.

On the other hand, this new knowledge caused a huge rip in the show’s space-time continuum that deserved way more exploration time than just the last few minutes of Pachinko Season 2 Episode 8.

A lot happened to all of the characters during this finale. In 1989, Sunja and Solomon made very different ethical choices that might have left them too far apart to reconcile as a family.

And in both timelines, Mozasu’s life was defined by pachinko parlors.

Noa Is Still A Good Student

The 1951 storyline showed that Noa had comfortably settled into college life and continued to impress his teachers. However, it was surprising that Noa attended weekly dinners with Koh.

Another surprise was learning that he now allowed Koh to pay for his boarding room when taking money from him had been such a big issue just a year earlier.

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I kind of wanted to see what had happened between Noa and Koh since 1950 and learn exactly how their relationship had risen to this more agreeable level.

It was enough to assume that some sort of mentorship slash Remember To Be Nice To Mom’s Old Friend action had taken place, and that assumption would have to tide me over.

Noa was also romantically involved with the young woman we’d seen demonstrating at the end of Pachinko Season 2 Episode 7, Akiko Nakazono. It seems Noa had an eventful year!

Akiko Plays With Fire On Pachinko Season 2 Episode 8

It was hard to get a handle on Akiko as a character.

From the previous episode, I thought she was a campus revolutionary, but after hearing her take on Tolstoy and seeing how she treated Noa, I wasn’t sure.

I sensed that maybe not all was copacetic with Noa when he bristled at Akiko’s desire to meet Koh. Was Noa embarrassed to be seen with a gangster?

Maybe he enjoyed their dynamic where he was the “poor” boyfriend, and her seeing him in the opulence of Koh’s home would threaten that?

Or… did Noa suspect that Koh was his father and was scared the look on Akiko’s face would confirm it?

Whatever the reason, I was conflicted about Akiko due to this argument between her and Noa.

It was weird that he got kind of aggro about her wanting to meet Koh; it seemed like a lot more than just a desire to keep his school and family lives separate.

But Noa also pointed out that he never said no to her and was just asking her not to do this one thing.

That literature class of theirs must not have reached the story of Bluebeard’s Castle yet because otherwise, Noa would’ve known how THAT request usually works out.

While I felt like Noa could have phrased his request MUCH better, I also thought that Akiko fully intended to force a meeting with Koh, no matter what.

Noa’s obviously strong feelings on the matter acted like catnip rather than gave her pause. That told me this was the moment when their relationship was doomed.

Mozasu Gets A Job On Pachinko Season 2 Episode 8

Admit it: Moz’s magnet hack with the pachinko machine was pretty genius. Wrong, mind you, but genius.

Sunja’s noodles once again saved the day when Goto-san, out of respect for his gastronomic goddess, took Moz on as a worker in his pachinko parlor to keep him out of trouble.

I think Goto and Sunja just kicked that potential issue down the road a few decades, but it was fun to see Moz try to keep a grin off his face as his scholastic-free future was decided.

It was verrry interesting to learn this was the job that put Moz in the path of both grandfather and grandson Yoshii, way back when.

I wanted to know SO MUCH MORE about their history before 1989, when we got just the smallest taste of Moz reminding Yoshii that he’d shown him some serious mercy once.

FOR WHAT, MOZ?? What did you show him the mercy for?!

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Apparently, Moz stayed in the pachinko business, as he had his own parlor in 1989. Sunja had a restaurant for years, so I wondered how all that coincided with the timeline.

And, of course, I realize that Moz and Yoshii wouldn’t be such enemies if they hadn’t been involved with something other than pachinko at some point. But I guess we won’t know more until next season.

Solomon And Sunja Face Tough Rooms

Solomon had a tough crowd at the downtown Marriott or wherever that packed hotel conference room was.

When asked about a potential real estate crisis, he wanted to tell the truth because Moz was looking at him from one corner, but Yoshii was glaring at him from the other.

So Solomon lied. He (or maybe it was just me) finally realized that Yoshii had been using his golf club dream to run a scam all along, selling memberships that would never be used because the club would never be built.

He also learned that Abe-san committed suicide due to his failed deal and didn’t appear very upset at the news.

I think Solomon might be getting that Tokyo Businessman of the Year Award next year unless his soul comes back before then.

The concept of mercy was a recurring theme this season, and almost every character provided it at some point on Pachinko Season 2 Episode 8.

Except maybe Solomon, unless you count him being merciful to himself by lying in order to keep Yoshii from punishing him, or worse.

Sunja made a difficult decision about Kato and showed him mercy by being a silent witness to his war story.

It didn’t change Sunja’s mind, but it felt like a conscious act of kindness to show her now-former friend that she could not accept what he’d done but could respect the person he’d been with her.

Kato was such a ray of light up until this point. Before Moz’s findings, I really thought that Kato and Sunja might travel to the United States. But she even tossed out the repotted plants he’d helped her with!

Koh Hosts Dinner On Pachinko Season 2 Episode 8

That whole dinner at Koh’s place was a fast-falling boulder.

From the pre-funk interaction with Kurogane, who you could see made the connection between his host and Noa in real-time, to Akiko crashing the dessert course, it was destined to be the worst night of Noa’s life.

Koh had dismissed Noa’s desire to be a teacher with his trademark bluntness. I thought about how Sunja might’ve been able to change Noa’s mind more gently.

I wished Koh had paused and made a mental note to ask for her help with that.

Instead, he ganged up with Akiko, the daughter of an official, to bring (or force) Noa into politics.

Akiko had a moment of redemption when she diplomatically noted that Noa would excel in politics, but it must be his decision. Other than that, I could not BELIEVE that she crashed Noa’s Daddy Dinner. How did she even know where Koh lived??

And then Noa learned the truth. His reaction? Not great, Bob.

Noa’s violence was frightening but not surprising after the restraint he’d shown all his life. No matter what suspicions he’d had about Koh before, Noa received a lot of intense information that night that even he couldn’t compartmentalize.

But it wasn’t good to see him choke Akiko, and it also wasn’t fun to see that echoed by Koh later on when he shoved the waitress at his club.

It was hard to tell what Noa intended to do after saying goodbye to Sunja. Later, finding out that he’d been missing for weeks also didn’t help me figure it out.

I couldn’t place Nagano’s significance or Noa’s new name, Ogawa Minato. But the transformative moment of him getting a job sweeping the floor at a pachinko parlor just like his little brother was clear.

It’s no secret that Noa (or Ogawa) has been absent from the 1989 timeline. I hoped we’d learn more about why in Season 2, especially since so much time was spent on Noa’s formative years.

To just get tossed a new name and a new job for Noa in the episode’s last moments was disappointing.

If Season 3 isn’t all about Ogawa Minato’s rise and Moz’s adventures as a young adult, I guess… I will have to stick around for Season 4.

And don’t get me started on Yoseb keeping Mr. Kim’s letters from Kyunghee! That also needed some more time in this episode.

I think it might have been a good call not to take Yoseb up on his offer to step aside and let the lovebirds be together since hiding those letters is peak pettiness and only hints at worse.

Pachinko Season 2 Episode 8 closed the most significant plot line (Noa learning about Koh) and settled the accounts of a few smaller ones like Kato’s fate, Tom moving to Macao, and Moz’s debt being erased.

It was a good episode that should have been great, considering the quality of previous installments and how invested we are in these characters by now.

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This episode had a lot of ground to cover, so it felt a bit rushed at times, but it worked well overall as a season finale. I just hope the series doesn’t pull a Lost, where every solved mystery spawns five new ones.

What do you think, TV Fanatics? Did the finale of Pachinko Season 2 leave you satisfied or wanting more?

Did I miss an earlier mention of Ogawa Minato, or was this the first time we heard that name?

Are you looking forward to Pachinko Season 3? Let us know in the comments!

The post Pachinko Season 2 Episode 8 Review: The Wheel Of History appeared first on TV Fanatic.

The show fired on all cylinders in this smoothly choreographed outing that showcased Pretentious Frasier, Selfish Frasier, and Bebe, his evil agent extraordinaire!

This episode was the very definition of a delightful romp. It played to each character’s strengths and also allowed us to spend time with the flawless Rachel Bloom.

The episode was witty, tightly plotted, and self-assured in a way that I was afraid we might never again see on this show.

Luckily, this episode contained a ton of sparkling storylines, so let’s dive in!

Frasier Writes A Memoir On Frasier Season 2 Episode 5

Frasier is never funnier than when he’s in the throes of an ambitious but doomed project. In this case, it was a memoir, and he enlisted his friend group to read the first draft.

This was a brilliant way to get everyone in the same room for a reason other than a party, and it showed how comfortable the group has become with each other as a unit separate from Frasier.

Frasier’s cheerful inability to even consider failure was evident in the fact that the only column on his whiteboard was “What We’re Loving.”

This actually might have worked in the group’s favor when giving feedback, at least if anyone had actually read the memoir draft.

It was clear that Niles had read it, with son David as his proxy. Even if David’s line readings could have been a tad more evocative of his father, it was nice to hear Niles’ “voice” once again.

In this episode, instead of David, it was Eve who only got a handful of lines before effectively disappearing

The dynamic between Alan and Olivia was fun to watch. She may have shamelessly stolen his manuscript comments as her own, but his bemused take on her actions stole that scene.

One troubling thing I’ve noticed is how Olivia and Eve are becoming almost interchangeable characters. For example, most of their lines in this memoir scene could have been swapped without changing much overall.

It’s also worrisome that Olivia continues to be portrayed as a character who seems like she shouldn’t be in charge of anything, much less Harvard’s Psychology Department.

I feel like the show still hasn’t figured out exactly what it wants to do with Olivia, but making her this naive and easily manipulated isn’t the answer.

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It was great to see Frasier flustered between burning his brie and keeping the memoir meeting on track.

His ego-driven excitement was endearing and made him completely oblivious to snarky comments from the peanut gallery.

For instance, only Frasier would have taken Eve’s Very Hungry Caterpillar-based notes as comparing his work to Kafka’s.

But it was Freddy, out of everyone else present (including Niles in absentia), who homed in on the one psychological item buried in Frasier’s dense text: calling his son an alien.

The Truth Is Out There

Frasier and Freddy would probably agree that they had no interests in common other than breathing. However, Frasier’s memoir draft showed that he’s considered his son an “alien” for decades.

It was a subtle but welcome character flip for Freddy to be the mature one and suggest that they find an activity to do together.

It was also good to see Frasier in his squash whites again, as he often was in the previous series for matches with Niles.

Even Frasier’s avoidance of telling Freddy that he didn’t enjoy their squash court time together was so very much in character that I couldn’t be annoyed with him for it.

Frasier actually lied so he could do what he really wanted and go to the opera, even as Freddy signed them up for a squash tournament.

And I was still just so happy that the Frasier I recognized was back!

Box Seats With Bebe On Frasier Season 2 Episode 5

Harriet Sansom Harris, as Bebe, graced this episode with her delectably serpentine presence, and it was as if no time at all had passed.

I both feared and loved it when Frasier’s cutthroat agent appeared on the original show because she would always lock him into yet another professional obligation he’d been trying to avoid.

But she was so incredibly entertaining while doing it!

Every episode she appeared in should’ve been renamed “Bebe” because she stole the entire show every time she was on.

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It made perfect sense for Bebe to be in Boston at this moment. She always had a sixth sense for when Frasier was up to something particularly pretentious and unprofitable, and his writing a memoir fit the bill.

Frasier may have left his TV show behind in Chicago, but Bebe wasn’t about to let that cash cow starve in Boston. While Frasier may still be blind to his own flaws, his agent has definitely learned a thing or two in the past twenty years.

Bebe probably understands Frasier better than anyone, even if it’s just through the lens of her own greed.

She has long known how smart her client is and how inventive she must be in order to manipulate him.

Bebe always excelled at this, but she really outdid herself with the elaborate ruse she concocted for her client on Frasier Season 2 Episode 5.

The show slipped in a few mentions of Frasier and Bebe’s long-past dalliance, but not enough to immediately set off alarm bells.

However, that changed with the arrival of Bebe’s adult daughter, Phoebe.

From Here To Paternity On Frasier Season 2 Episode 5

Frasier was already disgruntled from not connecting with Freddy, and Bebe’s confession about not being an opera fan didn’t help his mood.

Little wonder that when he discovered a kindred spirit in Phoebe — down to having the same opera glasses! — it was enough for him to basically forget Freddy’s existence.

It was THRILL-ING to see Rachel Bloom as Frasier’s maybe-daughter! She absolutely nailed the balance of echoing his interests and mannerisms enough to make it plausible they could be related.

Even better was their (much too brief) singing duet. It made me wonder if we’ve heard Freddy sing on the show before or if that’s yet another talent he’s kept hidden. They could be the von Crane family singers!

Listening to Frasier and Phoebe snob it up in the opera box (PHANTOM fans, the horror!) made me nostalgic for his old dynamic with Niles.

I feel like having that outlet with his brother helped Frasier deal with not having much in common with Martin as they re-established their relationship.

Alan currently fills a version of that role, but his bond with Frasier is based on academia and who they were as young students rather than the blithe elitism and status-seeking of the Crane brothers.

It was good to see Frasier indulge his niche interests with an appreciative audience instead of having it played for laughs as usual with the less persnickety main cast.

Fraiser always needed (and got) his comeuppance in the old days, but it was also a secret thrill to recognize or learn about various wines and other fancy stuff from the asides he shared with Niles.

That said, the dialogue on Frasier Season 2 Episode 5 was whipsmart for all the characters, and I’m crossing my fingers that the show will operate at this level for the rest of the season.

It was so nice to just settle back and enjoy the show without worrying that it would lose its footing.

I must admit that I was hoping Phoebe might actually be Frasier’s daughter!

I also secretly hoped that Bebe had moved away from her manipulative ways, but no dice. A hat tip to her, though, for the deviously convoluted plot she engineered to get Frasier onto that TV set in Bushwick!

Frasier may have escaped Bebe’s elaborate snare this time, but now he’s got two Glazer agents to keep an eye on going forward. You know they’re both not going to drop that TV deal!

Freddy Squashes The Competition

Freddy continued his leap into maturity when he rightfully called his father out for his deceitful behavior.

It was hard not to be impressed by Freddy’s forcefully voiced removal of his father from the immediate clutches of his agents.

Frasier himself was won over when he finally saw whatever it was he thought his son had been missing. Passion? Emotion? It’s been there all along, Dr. Crane.

It was refreshing to see Freddy deal with Frasier as he is and not turn this into yet another example of his failures as a father.

It felt like the show was moving past some of those familiar childhood wounds for the benefit of their adult relationship. They can have all new problems going forward!

Frasier Season 2 Episode 5 was an unexpected delight that restored my faith in the show’s future. The stellar use of guest stars and fantastic dialogue set this episode apart and made it the best of the season so far.

What do you say, Frasier Fanatics? Did this episode stand out for you, or did you miss all the slapstick we’ve seen this season? Let us know in the comments!

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