Three Valentines

Sadly I have to break from the group here in review of this episode. While David Hyde Pierce is wonderfully animated, the mishaps he stumbles through are so blatantly contrived that it becomes painful to watch. Truly funny would be when the mistakes are more naturally instigated. Prominently laying a hot iron face down on a pair of pants is telegraphing the punchline way too obviously. But even worse is when said pants catch fire, and, for whatever reason, he makes a painfully unnatural motion by throwing them on the couch, obviously leading to a bigger fire. Who in the world would take flaming clothes and throw them on a couch 5 feet away? Either drop them on the floor, or if you must toss them, why not in the fireplace that's not really any further than the couch?

These sorts of forced predicaments stole away the enjoyment of Niles silly antics, dancing through all the mayhem.

The 2nd and 3rd sequences were enjoyable enough, but not nearly as inspired as some of the shows truly brilliant episodes.

I've loved this show since it came out, and each year it just built on itself. Season 5 seemed a bit of a slump for me, but still had some good episodes and lots of laughs.

This episode, though, is still one of my all time favorites. I'm binge watching the whole series again on Blu Ray, and as soon as I saw the opening scene of Niles on the couch, I knew what it was.

The writers on this show were so well known for getting so many hilarious things on screen, for writing a show that seemed to cater to the intellectuals, and DID, but really catered to EVERYONE. It never felt dumbed down like some shows. And this episode showed what they could do when they were just cut loose.

The first act is the best for me, no words, other than a Niles saying "No" a few times. He's all alone waiting for an evening to begin, and in normal Niles fashion starts getting a bit fussy and begins trying to "fix" a small issue. And the entire scene shows just how amazing David Hyde Pierce was as an actor. Every bit throughout this little vignette is exquisite, and pure Niles.

Eddie of course, just sits there, looking back and forth, watching.

This really shows just how well the show wrote their characters, that they could have all this time without dialog and with a single character, and everyone would end up rating it as one of the best episodes ever.

A mix of three Valentines stories amongst the cast members. The whole episode is funny, but nothing compares to the first ten minutes featuring David Hyde Pierce's scene as Niles. Pierce is truly a master of physical comedy! He really is an extremely talented actor.

This Kelsey Grammar-directed episode has the greatest opening (focusing on Nikes and Eddie) of the entire series.

There's something particularly irresistible about this trio of bite size pieces where we get to see each of the main cast experience a very different valentine's day.

Sort of like a Simpson's Treehouse of Horror but with a different holiday: we begin with a sparkling vision of physical/silent comedy from our most loquacious character as the slight imperfections just snowball.

Frasier deals suffers through a romp which may or may bot be as risque as he would like.

Finally, Daphne and Martin enjoy a poignant moment that shows that love knows many flavors and is no less special for being low key. It is funny too, though.