Cranes Unplugged

Freddy episodes usually aren't very good. I get that he's just acting a certain way for the plot...but, eh. Never really care about watching them again. Usually just mildly entertaining.

Roz at her most desperate and annoying.

This is more like a 5 than a 6.

It's so very obvious that Jane Leeves is pregnant and excusing this by saying she's on a food binging spree is insulting to the viewers. Some other way round this should be found to omit her from the series until she's given birth. She could go to see her mum in Manchester. And that's another thing. Daphne is the only one in her family with a Mancunian (Manchester) accent. Her mum and brother speak with London accents. Well, Millicent Martin is British but Antony LaPaglia is Australian and his 'cockney' accent is as bad as Dick van Dyke's in Mary Poppins in the 1960s movie.

As the character of frasier progressed thru each season. Frasier became really dumbed down. The show tuck to long to bring daphne and niles together and unfortunately because daphne was pregnant in reality, they really couldn't expand on that. Frasier tho.. Starts the show single and hopeless in love and the show ends that way too.. In fact despite constantly ending up with beautiful woman he'd always ditch them after a night of passion so it really strained the "lovable frasier" I hope if they do make a new frasier show, they don't carry on this trend.

This episode is good but this season really wasn't on the level as its previous ones.

Frasier is a psychiatrist on the one hand, and appears to be totally clueless on the other. When Freddy (his tiresome son) comes to visit, he has no idea how teenagers interact. He drags Martin along as they go camping. It is a total bore. In a subplot, Roz is desperate for a date and nothing works out. And she complains.

I liked the idea of three generation of Crane men being together in this episode that sees Freddie return. There were some nice moments in that storyline. It's not 'Frasier' anywhere near top form, far from it, but by series eight standards (so, low then) it's good enough.

I didn't mind the Roz/Niles/Daphne storyline either, with the writers doing a far better job of showing that Roz was lonely than they did in the very heavy handed 'Frasier's Edge' episode previously.

I still don't think the show is on good form at this point. There's a thin nature to the storylines, and they almost bleed away to nothing before their conclusion, but this was one of the better outings from the eighth series.