Frasier Puts Out a Few Fires and Meets a New Canine Adversary — Read Recap
Frasier got a crash course in Freddy’s life as a firefighter this week — and yes, a Dalmatian was involved.
At the start of Thursday’s episode, Frasier teams up with Alan and Olivia for a bar trivia contest: He’s woefully unprepared for sports questions, but “you know where I’m in my element? The table of elements!” Alan is so confident that he orders expensive cognac, knowing that the winning team drinks for free, but Freddy and his fellow firemen are on another team, and the two teams are tied going into the final question. It’s about wine, but Freddy gets it first, thanks to his summers organizing Frasier’s wine cellar. Frasier is proud of Freddy’s smarts, saying he’s not “just a fireman”… which rubs Freddy the wrong way. To mend the rift, Eve suggests Freddy invite Frasier down to the firehouse to see him at work.
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At the firehouse, Frasier offers to cook up a cassoulet and marvels at all the testosterone in the air. Freddy warns him that he could get called away any minute for a life-or-death emergency, but really, he only gets called in to do a photo shoot for a fireman calendar. Freddy points out that the proceeds go to help underprivileged kids, and when David stumbles in looking haggard after locking himself in the Harvard library all weekend, the other firemen think he must be a needy orphan. He’s happy to snack on their treats and take a ride down the fire pole, though. Plus, Frasier rejects the friendly advances of the fire station’s resident Dalmatian, invoking the spirit of Eddie: “I outlasted that little mongrel. I’ll outlast you.”
Freddy is hoping for a fire to prove his worth to his dad, but the next distress call is a man wedged inside a doggy door. To make things worse, the guy recognizes Frasier from TV and gets an impromptu therapy session from him while Freddy warms up the power saw. They head back to the firehouse to dine on Frasier’s cassoulet, but Freddy takes offense yet again when Frasier refers to his fire department as a “fraternity.” He feels belittled by Frasier’s constant suggestions to try another career path, he says — but he’s interrupted when a call comes in for a four-alarm warehouse fire. Freddy and the fireman rush out, leaving Frasier alone with the dog and a full pot of cassoulet.
Frasier watches a news report about the fire at Eve’s bar and admits that he’s worried for Freddy’s safety. Eve tells him fond memories of her late boyfriend Adam, and Frasier realizes this is stirring up childhood memories of him being worried about his cop father Martin. (He and Niles used to do shadow puppets of Gilbert and Sullivan operas to pass the time, he recalls.) Frasier is just as scared that Freddy won’t come home, and that’s why he doesn’t want him to be a firefighter. Eve encourages him to share this with Freddy, so when Freddy finally gets home, Frasier waits up for him and earnestly asks him about how it went. He even tears up a little… but that’s only because of the spicy chili he made from Freddy’s recipe: “My mouth is a portal to the fiery pits of hell!”
How are you feeling about Frasier and Freddy’s relationship so far? And should he just get a dog already? Or a cat, at least? Hit the comments below to share your thoughts.
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