Rooms with a View

'Frasier' suffered a massive dip in quality after its seventh season finale and this for me was the nadir.

The premise is a good one, offering the chance for humour and pathos. But where in the past the show might have dealt with these two elements in a balanced fashion, here it goes right over the edge and opts for schmaltz and sentimentality that is unneeded.

You can't blame the creative team I suppose. After 10 years (and the 'Frasier' character existing for a previous 9 on 'Cheers') it must have been harder to come up with new ideas and to keep giving the audience new ways to invest in the characters, but this is going too far.

The fact that it was dragged out over a two parter again shows a lack of direction and a show that had run out of steam.

Huge fan of fraser. I've seen every season probably a dozen times. This episode always annoys me. All of the acting feels overly dramatic and annoyingly unfunny. For instance why is Marty asking about a vending machine that he can just get up and look at?

People either seem to either love or hate this episode. I'm on the side that, while I'm not in love with it, don't mind one bit. It's not really a "very special episode" per se, as there isn't much doubt at all about Niles' fate, it's more of how the rest of his family is worried nonetheless, and how the hospital "remembers" past visits from all of them. Nothing tremendously deep, just quietly reflective.

The last scene seems to give a little creedence to Daphne's psychic abilities. After we've seen past glimpses of characters' previous visits, we see Daphne stop, compose herself, then walk past a room where we see her and Niles in the near future welcoming a second child. One could say she composed herself then and there because she "saw" that future, and knew beyond all doubts things would be just fine. At least that's how I saw it.

People can hate this episode all they'd like. Fair enough. If you hate it, don't ever watch it again, and don't keep complaining about it's existence. There's about 300 or so other episodes of humour for you, if one dramatic one drives you up the wall, pleasantly avoid it.

Frasier fans seem to consist of two types; those that enjoy the slapstick goofiness that made it a smash hit, and those (like myself) that reveled in the fine line it tread between comedy and drama in the first season or two, but quietly abandoned in favor of (albeit often well done) farce and one-liners. While the story line all but forces the drama (rather than being introduced more naturally in more typical situations as in the early years), the cast takes good advantage of the opportunity of a well-written and well-directed episode. Those who lament Frasier's turn to straight-up comedy fairly early on in its impressive run, and rarely revisit the later seasons, should make an exception for this episode.

I love this episode and I might literally cry my eyes out.

This episode is not so Frasier-style but still brilliant. The drama, emotions, hilariousness, they just merge with each other in the perfect way. There are some sad memories for sure, but there's a bright future as well. And this is life. This is our life.