Frasier (1993) s07e18 – Hot Pursuit

Hot Pursuit is the second of two season seven “Frasier” episodes credited to writer Charlie Hauck. Considering the job he got on this one, it’s understandable he wouldn’t be back. It doesn’t seem fair to give a new writer an episode about Kelsey Grammer and Peri Gilpin wondering if maybe they ought to just get it over with and jump the shark and sleep together. It’s not a bad idea for an episode. It’s executed poorly here, but it’s not necessarily a bad idea. It’s just too basic, which is a surprise since the other half of the episode is a subtle delight.

The episode opens with Grammer returning from a week in Boston to visit son Freddy and, consequently, ex-wife Lilith. And, consequently, her late twenties stud boyfriend. No cameos, just exposition and some mid-life crisis facial hair for Grammer. He’s only home for a scene before Gilpin shows up at the door to pick him up for their broadcasting conference. While they rush out, Saul Rubinek—Jane Leeves’s fiancé, only in the episode for this one scene—tries to hire John Mahoney to do some light surveillance. Mahoney’s enthusiastic, but David Hyde Pierce makes him promise not to do it.

Oh, in addition to the Rubinek bit, Hyde Pierce is around long enough for he and Grammer to make fun of Gilpin being jealous of blondes. It’s a nasty bit for everyone; it’s intentionally bad for Gilpin, but it also makes all three regular male cast members come off like assholes when they tease her about it. It’ll be back later. It’s Chekhov’s reductive female character trait.

Half the episode will be Hyde Pierce and Mahoney doing a bonding arc, while the other half is a single-set comedy of offscreen errors to get Grammer and Gilpin alone together and having big singles sads. They also talk about how long they’ve been working together—seven seasons, sorry, years—and how it makes them one another’s most successful opposite-sex partnership.

If the writing were great, if it were some kind of very special episode (maybe Gilpin directing, at least Grammer), there might be something there. Instead, it’s an awkward kicking of the show’s tires, trying to decide how desperate they are to gin up a new twist. Except, of course, they were one of the last nineties sitcoms not to have made a similar move, which… just makes it seem more desperate.

The resolution is okay but not good.

The Hyde Pierce and Mahoney arc, however, is sublime. It’s heartfelt, funny, and incredibly well-acted. Grammer and Gilpin try in their arc, but there’s nothing to work with. Sure, they’ve been playing these characters for seven years, but Grammer’s been hung up about Lilith’s never seen new boyfriend for twelve minutes, while Gilpin’s been jealous of blondes her whole life for eleven. It’s nowhere near enough ado about nothing.

Sigh.

Frasier (1993) s07e11 – The Fight Before Christmas

“Frasier” does indeed run into immediate problems with Jane Leeves finding out David Hyde Pierce has a crush on her (and has had one for quite some time). Leeves has her first moment of romantic interest—post finding out—and it’s when Hyde Pierce puts his jacket on her. They’re standing out on the balcony unraveling the plot-driving confusion. Leeves has spent the episode thinking Hyde Pierce is romantically interested in her again because he’s on the outs with girlfriend Jane Adams, while Hyde Pierce just wants to patch things up with Adams.

But they’re out in the cold Christmas air (it’s the Christmas episode), and when Leeves shivers, he offers his suit jacket. Why are they out on the balcony? So he can discretely ask her something (related to Adams), and while it’s awkward, it doesn’t require them to be outside. It’s just to set Leeves to get swept away by gallantry in an absurdly unnecessary situation.

Last episode—the “first part” of this two-parter, quotations because it’s not a real two-parter—neither Adams nor Saul Rubinek showed up. In this episode, Leeves initially thinks Hyde Pierce won’t confess his devotion because Rubinek’s around. Except Leeves has now got the “what ifs,” and it’s derailing the show. Or at least threatening to do it.

The episode begins an indeterminate time after last episode, which was a birthday episode (initially) for Kelsey Grammer. I’m vaguely curious if they do him having a birthday just before Christmas in other seasons, but I’m not willing to do the work. But some time has passed, only Leeves hasn’t seen anyone to tell them about the crush discovery. Anyone meaning Peri Gilpin, who becomes Leeves’s sidekick this episode, which is fine—they’re great together—but it’s strange and forced.

Pamela Fryman directs this episode (she did last episode, too) and does a fantastic job. Grammer’s got a Christmas party at work (Tom McGowan and Edward Hibbert briefly guest), and then he and John Mahoney have Christmas antics fun; Fryman does great with that stuff. And she does all right with Leeves’s, but she can’t make it work. The script—credited to Jon Sherman (who didn’t get the credit last episode)—just isn’t there.

To confuse Leeves, Hyde Pierce has an opening subplot regarding Maris, which means Adams’s most significant contribution is a brief harpy scene. Rubinek does slightly better, at least getting to have fun as Grammer’s Christmas party gofer.

It’s okay, but the problems are immediately showing. Not assuring.

Frasier (1993) s07e02 – Father of the Bride

This episode’s very funny, but often in a “the less you think about it” way. The script’s credited to Mark Reisman (his first credit on the show), and it very impressively gives almost everyone in the main cast a story thread. Except for John Mahoney, who gets a couple hilarious bits but not a thread, and Peri Gilpin’s is tacked onto Jane Leeves’s.

The A-plot is Kelsey Grammer inadvertently taking over Leeves’s wedding planning. Well, wait; he very intentionally takes over the wedding planning, but he inadvertently puts himself in that situation. The episode uses audial gags three times, always to strong effect, with the first being a bad case of hiccups leading Leeves to believe Grammer wants to pay for her entire wedding. She’s frustrated with her interfering mum in the U.K. and is so relieved Grammer’s saving the day, he can’t find a way to back out. The “paying for the wedding” plot goes unresolved; once Grammer starts taking over the wedding, auditioning harpists, caterers, and ministers, it’s the raucous center of attention.

The B-plot is David Hyde Pierce’s new girlfriend, Loryn Locklin, being a high-priced escort. Not because they met somewhere, and he doesn’t know, but rather because he doesn’t know the dating service he’s using is actually an escort service. So, his mistake entirely. Grammer finds out about it from Saul Rubinek, who does his one requisite guest scene as Leeves’s fiancé. The escort thing is an aside for later; otherwise, Rubinek’s there to make things even more awkward for Grammer backing out of his wedding funding commitments.

There are some great scenes for Grammer, who gets more and more obsessed with throwing the perfect wedding, and a few excellent ones for Leeves. Hyde Pierce has some excellent deliveries, but the jokes immediately start molding. See, Locklin doesn’t know Hyde Pierce doesn’t know she’s an escort, which means he’s just being an asshole. So it’s a mistaken identity bit, only an unnecessarily mean-spirited one.

Locklin’s lack of characterization also brings attention to Leeves and Gilpin’s plots, which are of the “decorate and be decorative” nature. Leeves wants to do the decorating, and Gilpin’s upset about Leeves’s wanting to decorate her in an ugly bridesmaid dress. They pass Bechdel for a few scant moments before failing it again.

Sure, it’s an episode in Leeves’s long-going marriage arc, so they will be talking about her marrying dude Rubinek and male boss Grammer interfering, but the dynamics play out a little weird.

Though often very funny. From the first scene, there are a lot of laughs, and they don’t slow down. The episode’s got some actually inspired jokes and bits throughout (a little broad at times but still), and there’s even time for some father and son time for Grammer and Mahoney. Director David Lee maintains great momentum, and the structure’s phenomenal.

It’s just some of the themes are thin and easy.

Frasier (1993) s06e23-e24 – Shutout in Seattle

“Frasier” has had some excellent season finales, but Shutout in Seattle might be the best so far. Definitely when taking into account it’s an hour-long and because it addresses previous plot lines. And because it has an elaborate set-piece conclusion, which director Pamela Fryman sublimely realizes.

The episode opens with David Hyde Pierce and Peri Gilpin at the coffee shop; she’s just been stood up for a date, he’s still recovering from Saul Rubinek proposing to Jane Leeves. Well, more accurately, he’s recovering from Leeves accepting said proposal. He and Gilpin chat a bit about their respective sorrows, comparing. Then, just when it seems like Hyde Pierce is in the lead, there’s a surprise to put Gilpin ahead.

Hyde Pierce is going to be the focus of the first third or so of the episode. He’s the only single person he knows (besides Gilpin), and there’s a lengthy sequence at the apartment where the happy couples can’t stop being happy in front of Hyde Pierce. Even when Kelsey Grammer can’t remember Amy Brenneman’s name, calling her “Cassandra” (her character’s name is Faye). Cassandra, of course, was the character Virginia Madsen played in the episode where Grammer was dating both women at once. In the still icky recurring subplot, John Mahoney can’t shut up about how much he preferred Madsen because she’s… more voluptuous. Pig Mahoney is gross.

Especially when he’s got his own lady friend, Alice Playten, over at the same time.

And then there’s Rubinek and Leeves, so happy in love. It all makes Hyde Pierce miserable, and he runs off.

While he’s incommunicado for a few days, there’s time for Gilpin’s subplot, which has her making a bad dating choice. The episode will play it entirely for laughs, which works—they’re good laughs—but it’s an incomplete arc. Instead, the episode ties up everything else, seemingly forgetting Gilpin’s arc doesn’t start with her specific dating woes but her general ones. It’s a missed opportunity, one of the few in the episode, instead of the icky Mahoney comments.

Yuck, I just thought of another one I’d forgotten. One the show even acknowledge is gross, with Grammer visibly reacting to Mahoney’s comment.

Otherwise, of course, Mahoney’s good. Most of his arc takes place off-screen, so it’s all about his delivery of the recounting, and he does a fine job.

Hyde Pierce’s arc gives him a bunch to do—he gets to flex more than anyone else in the episode—with Grammer getting a slight arc made funnier with repetitive. Given that slightness, it’s pretty impressive how funny it gets by the end.

Leeves and Rubinek also get a minor subplot, once with occasional sight gags, and it’s cute, but it’s not one of the standouts.

Shutout is an ambitious episode, primarily for director Fryman, who’s got to keep all the plotlines going and all the characters around each other so much, then there’s the incredible real-time finale sequence in the cafe—Ron Volk’s editing got a nomination but didn’t win; I’m curious if what did aged as well as the superb comedy here. David Isaacs gets the script credit, and it’s mostly stellar. Minus the misogyny and the truncated Gilpin arc.

It’s also impressive how well it wraps up, giving a “just right” season finale feel.

Shutout’s excellent. Save the damn icky.

Frasier (1993) s06e22 – Visions of Daphne

I was zoning and missed both the writing and directing credits, which turned out to be good. The first distinctive joke in the episode is John Mahoney talking about spying on a woman’s cleavage through security cameras. Rape culture Martin Crane continues. And the opening scene was more amusing than jokey. Peri Gilpin’s getting David Hyde Pierce a present and wants Kelsey Grammer’s take on it. Confusion and regifting reveals ensue. But there’s nothing distinct about it.

Only then, after the Mahoney bit, the episode starts getting really funny. There’s a lot of drama–Visions is a “Mythology” episode, entirely about Hyde Pierce’s crush on Jane Leeves going back to the first or second episode—but there are also these amusing recurring bits. There will be character development for Hyde Pierce, funny-to-tough scenes for Grammer, Mahoney, and Leeves, and a great set of episode punchlines. There are three, two with some dramatic kick, one pure silliness.

And so, given the good material, I wasn’t surprised to discover Lori Kirkland Baker had the script credit. I also wasn’t surprised to see her sharing it with Janis Hirsch, whose last outing with Mahoney also made him into a lech. But it’s also got a new-to-the-series director with Robert H. Egan. Egan does an excellent job with the drama. See, Grammer and Mahoney have discovered Saul Rubinek’s plans to propose to Leeves. They don’t want to ruin the surprise—or, presumably, have Mahoney’s peeping tom security guard bro get in trouble—and so they’re going to hide it from Leeves. Then they realize they’ve got to hide it from Hyde Pierce too.

There’s a whole arc for Leeves, who has her own issues with Rubinek proposing, and one for Hyde Pierce, who’s got to balance his humanity against his desire. The episode contorts itself into a very sitcom problem, then unravels it and explores it with some very dramatic sensibilities. It’s downright lovely, especially once Grammer and Mahoney can empathize with Hyde Pierce instead of cajole him, but also with the Crane boys having to interact with Leeves. She gets some fantastic blow-up scenes this episode, surfacing previously unexplored character development. Again, downright lovely.

And the episode hits its bittersweet notes just right too.

Great direction from Egan. Great performances from Leeves and Hyde Pierce, with excellent support from Grammer and Mahoney. And if you ignore that one shitty joke, great work on the script. It’s an exemplar “Frasier,” including the silly and adorable Eddie the dog joke.

Frasier (1993) s06e16 – Decoys

This episode starts as a Crane boys outing—David Hyde Pierce has just found out he’s gotten a lake house in his divorce and is taking brother Kelsey Grammer and dad John Mahoney up for the weekend—and ends up being a light screwball comedy of errors. Hyde Pierce has brought Peri Gilpin up in hopes of getting her to seduce Saul Rubinek away from Jane Leeves while they pretend to be on their own romantic rendezvous, so Grammer doesn’t spoil the whole thing.

So basically, Hyde Pierce and Gilpin are really shitty, and they’re only going to get away with it—not sabotaging the relationship because it’d be too shitty for a sitcom–but get away with it in terms of not being tarnished characters if they learn enough of a lesson. Or at least eventually get enough of a chastising from the proper authority. Along the way, there are some excellent laughs and good direction from Pamela Fryman—the episode does the character X doesn’t see character Y because someone went through a door at just the right time ad nauseam. The joke is in the buildup, which is a fine enough device.

I mean, “Frasier” has already used it in other episodes. Including other episodes involving weekends away in cabin or lake house settings. The episode plays as a reliable standard, though there are some particularly nice moments. The first one is Hyde Pierce and Gilpin having a bonding moment in the coffee shop; the two actors took quite a while to share scenes and have never had an adventure together before. Usually, it’s just snippy banter. Here they’re collaborators. They’re good. It’s not a great plot, but they’re good.

And there’s a charming bit where Mahoney forces Grammer to go duck hunting. After promising the episode would feature Mahoney, he’s just around for scene setups and wise old man monologues. The duck hunting scene gives him a decent enough monologue, and Mahoney’s able to act the hell out of it. He does wistful quite well and watches Grammer process things through quite well.

Rubinek’s really likable in his few scenes—I’m also pretty sure it’s the first time we meet baby Alice; the real baby doesn’t get a credit, but I assume she’ll be back. Hyde Pierce is able to get Gilpin on board helping because Rubinek wants a family and getting back with Gilpin has a readymade one. Fryman can do a lot with the pace, but it’s troublesomely gross when the episode slows down enough there’s time to think about Hyde Pierce’s plan. Even for a nineties sitcom.

So, the very cute Eddie the dog bit during the end credits lightens things considerably.

Frasier (1993) s06e15 – To Tell the Truth

In terms of "Frasier"'s concept, To Tell the Truth is the most significant episode they've ever done. They've irrevocably changed something about one of the characters. When you watch the show in reruns, there's before and after this episode, six and a half years into the show's run, and resolving a story arc starting in the third season. The divorce of Niles (David Hyde Pierce) and Maris (Maris Crane) is finally resolved, something the show's been boiling on a back burner this entire season and brewing the last two. Started in season three, decides in season six. It's a three-year episode arc.

And they do it in one episode. It's a great episode—I'm guessing director David Lee's best; he's done plenty of the larger scale episodes, but I never think of him as a particularly successful director. The first scene with Kelsey Grammer talking to Hyde Pierce about getting new lawyers leads to Peri Gilpin recommending an ex-boyfriend, they meet the lawyer (a perfect Saul Rubinek, I really hope he and Gilpin get to interact going forward), there's a crisis for Grammer because it's his show still, they wrap it all up, and they give it an epilogue. It's an awesome twenty-two minutes. In a season of strong episodes—and one really shitty one, not ready to forget that one yet—it's far and away the best. It just gets better and better as it goes, ending on a bittersweet and beautifully acted moment from Hyde Pierce.

Everyone gets a lengthy showcase, except Gilpin, who's only in the first scene. She's good, but it's a Hyde Pierce episode, and they're still in a reasonably distant orbit. Hyde Pierce gets a whole range of things to do, comedy and drama, as Rubinek's effective lawyering appears to be rushing the inevitable—Jane Leeves is going to find out about Hyde Pierce's crush on her. Maris's lawyers watched Moon Dance back in season three and are… wait a second; Moon Dance is episode thirteen of season three, Hyde Pierce leaves Maris in episode eight.

Anyway.

Even though Leeves doesn't know about the crush, Grammer does, and they've already established he can't lie. His ethics, you see, which Hyde Pierce accepts but John Mahoney doesn't. So then there's a great father and son scene for Grammer and Mahoney before Mahoney gets a great bit on his own stemming from it too. It's a fantastic family episode, lots of frustrated Crane boys.

But then there's also Rubinek, whose first scene is a comedy goldmine, mixing dialogue and physical comedy. It might be Lee's best-directed scene in the episode, and all of them are well-directed. It's a great introduction to the character, with Rubinek ably putting it all out there.

Rob Hanning gets the credit on the script, which is obviously phenomenal.

To Tell the Truth's one hell of a sitcom episode. Not just a "Frasier," but it's one of the great twenty-two minutes of television.

Hunters (2020) s01e09 – The Great Ole Nazi Cookout of ’77

“Hunters” must’ve had the same thought I did about hammering in the point “Operation Paperclip” was a real thing as this one starts with another of the show’s overly stylized, retro PSA videos. But it doesn’t need the history lesson for this episode, because this episode is where everything comes together. “Hunters” does the penultimate episode as a wrap-up, presumably so next episode can establish what the next season’s going to be like. A ground situation refresh. Love it.

And there’s a lot in the episode. A lot of it is even good. Jerrika Hinton having a showdown with Dylan Baker, then ending up dragging Baker along as a prisoner. It’s fantastic. All of a sudden Hinton comes to life again. She’s not moping about her love life, dying mom, uncaring dad, indifferent—at beast—colleagues (though Sam Daly appears again as her only office bud), or doing a purely expository investigation thing. She’s in a suspense thriller and she’s got to deal with Dylan Baker, who’s such a wonderful bastard.

There’s a good scene for Louis Ozawa, which is just an okay one for Tiffany Boone, but Ozawa gets some nice material this episode. Josh Radnor, it turns out, is able to make Kate Mulvany a lot more than she is on her own. It’s Radnor and Mulvany who find out the Nazis are going to execute their evil plan that night. No blackout from this one, however. Just a wanting John Woo movie.

It doesn’t start like a John Woo movie, it starts with Nelson McCormick almost able to direct an infiltration sequence. The team has come together. It’s time to stop the Nazis once and for all. Al Pacino’s going after Lena Olin and Logan Lerman wants to take out young Nazi Greg Austin, which leads to a painfully bad scene between Lerman and Austin. Lerman, doing his tough guy act this episode, is really not working out with this character development. He’s not able to do any of the stuff he needs to do. Meanwhile Austin’s able to weather the weirdest stuff in this episode and still get in some great deliveries.

But when it comes to action, McCormick certainly seems to be trying to do big action and he does it rather poorly. He’s seemingly confused, with the actors armed like it’s a John Woo movie, but the costumes still the seventies stuff, and the production values wanting. If they couldn’t do it, they shouldn’t have tried. “Hunters” has its definite moments, just rarely when it really needs them.

Like when the cliffhanger has Pacino once again acting like a complete idiot who’d never be able to track down and kill a single Nazi, much less a dozen of them or whatever. He’s always not thinking of something really obvious and important. It’s frustrating.

Hunters (2020) s01e08 – The Jewish Question

Well… while this issue has some great stuff for Carol Kane and Saul Rubinek, pretty much everyone else is at the other end of the stick, which seems like a mixed metaphor but basically there’s some not great acting this episode.

The Nazis blowing up a subway was the final straw to convince Logan Lerman he needs to start torturing Nazis to get information—Victor Slezak, who’s a long way from The Bridges of Madison County—and the episode charts Lerman’s growing radicalization. The scene where Louis Ozawa is mortified at Lerman’s inhumanity while Al Pacino looks on proudly would be something… if Lerman weren’t so insufferable when he acts tough.

At the beginning of “Hunters,” I wondered why Lerman—save looking fourteen years old at twice the age—hadn’t made it. Range. Tough Lerman this episode is a slog.

Also a slog is Jerrika Hinton finally joining the team and facing off against Kate Mulvany. Hinton doesn’t come off well, which is a problem. Hinton joins the team after the blackout starts and she threatens Pacino a bit about how he better be telling her the truth about the Nazis she already knows about.

It seems like they’re going to go out and save the day but really they just meet up with the team, have some cries when the extent of the tragedies unfold, then have a funeral. The funeral’s the next day, which is fine, Jewish funeral and all, but it seems like there’d be some trouble getting the body that fast. Like… finding all the parts.

Anyway.

This episode does have some promise of happiness for Hinton, whose dying mom (Myra Lucretia Taylor, who’s got a seriously thankless role) not only knows she’s gay but loves her for it. Good because not only does dad Andre Ware hate her for it, he also thinks her job (saving the world) isn’t important.

It ought to make Hinton more sympathetic but… not really sure she’s going to to be able to have a successful character arc.

Greg Austin’s writing also disappoints. He’s just an idiot Neo-Nazi psychopath. His sidekick this episode, Jonno Davies, is good. Austin’s fine, it’s just disappointing his role’s so shallow.

Dylan Baker’s only got a couple scenes. Doesn’t help.

Great Judd Hirsch cameo. He faces off with Pacino, comes out ahead, which is cool but not great for the show.

What else… we get Pacino’s secret origin from the Holocaust finally. It’s horrific but not as horrific as it could be; it’s measured. Pacino’s got a monologue about being the dark night. “Hunters” seemingly couldn’t exist without superheroes being in pop culture due to the movies of the last fifteen years, which seems very odd for a show set in the seventies.

But Kane and Rubinek have some amazing work here. Not playing old spies and whatnot, but just a married couple. Lovely work.

Oh, and the secret Nazi plan reveal at the end… could be great if the show has the right idea but I’ve got no confidence it does. Not anymore. “Hunters” has started coasting.

Hunters (2020) s01e07 – Shalom Motherf***er

“Hunters” and the secret history of July 13, 1977! It doesn’t just tie into an actual historical event, it causes an actual historical event. It also then directly ties into Summer of Sam then… I wonder if you could cut the entire movie into “Hunters” and just have it be a subplot.

The Nazis cause the New York City blackout of 1977. Maybe if the episode weren’t so wonky it’d be a better twist.

The whole episode’s not wonky, which is almost what makes it most frustrating. Yes, everything involving Pacino—who starts the episode deciding he’s going to keep more secrets from his team—and Jerrika Hinton (who knowingly lets the Nazis play her so she can close one or two open murder cases and not avert a terrorist attack) is wonky. The showdown between Pacino and Hinton is particularly bad because it’s unbelievable Pacino was able to mastermind anything. He gets painfully played in interrogation… and somehow never asks for a lawyer.

But Louis Ozawa finally gets a great moment or two, one with Josh Radnor (who’s so good) and another with Tiffany Boone (who still doesn’t get enough to do) and sort of assumes the unappreciated utility man position on the show. Radnor and Ozawa are trying to infiltrate a veteran’s hospital and Radnor mugs his way through a group therapy session talking to real vets like it’s a shitty war movie. It’s amazing stuff. Then Ozawa just tops it with his real sharing.

There’s a big suspense set piece with the team trying to avert the Nazi attack at Grand Central Station, which feels very New York movie, but then they’re laughably bad at tailing Greg Austin and it’s like… okay, the “Hunters” aren’t so much “Hunters” as bumblers at this point.

The episode ends on a very sad note–with another ghost coming in to forecast the tragedy—and it’s affecting as all hell, it’s just not particularly good. Pacino’s out of his depth, Hinton’s out of her depth… she’s continuing the U.S. Government protecting Nazis and he’s just so inept at masterminding what else would you expect from his team but disaster.

The show still works—it’s still got loads of accumulated goodwill (Dylan Baker’s amazing as always)—but it’d be nice if they could successfully execute this very important episode.