The B Story – The episode opens with Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer) returning graded assignments to his students as class ends. When a female student thanks him by using the title, “Professor Crane,” he launches into a tangent about how his official title is Adjunct Visiting Guest Lecturer In Residence. After boasting about his academic excellence, David Crane (Anders Keith) offers to tutor a fellow student, Roger (John Bucy), who is worried that another bad grade will land him on academic probation. They are both shocked when they receive the same grade (B).

Frasier visits Olivia (Toks Olagundoye) to voice his concerns regarding his official title. Addressing him as Doctor Crane, she reminds him that it takes years of lecturing before any academic establishment will even consider gifting the title, “Professor.” Alan Cornwall (Nicholas Lyndhurst), who has been eavesdropping, claims that he and Frasier technically do the same amount of work and have the same level of education and he has the “Professor” title. Frasier’s persistence pays off and he gets Olivia to reluctantly agree to get him a meeting with the review board. She adds that winning the favor of the chairman, Provost Sharma (Parvesh Cheena) will likely guarantee him his desired title. Although she claims arranging a prior meeting would be unethical on her part, she subtly hints that she meeting with him this very evening.

One For The Rhodes – Frasier is pleasantly surprised when he overhears Freddy Crane (Jack Cutmore-Scott) giving his friends a drunken yet impressively intelligent lecture at the bar. Much to Frasier’s astonishment, Moose (Jimmy Dunn) says that Freddy gets wicked smart when he gets drunk. Eve (Jess Salgueiro) says Freddy is always smart but only reveals it when he’s drunk. Frasier doting is interrupted when Eve calls him to the bar and gives him a list of things that need repairing even though she doesn’t pay rent. Just as he promises to get the repairs handled, he sees Olivia enter the bar with Provost. Before joining Olivia, he tells Eve to send over a glass of the bar’s finest wine so that he looks like a man who enjoys the finer things in life.

After joining Olivia, Frasier doesn’t waste any time doling out compliments to Provost and he loves it. Provost goes on to admit he was apprehensive about coming to a bar because of the recent complaints about the excessive faculty drinking, but glad he came. When Frasier claims he rarely drinks or visits the bar, Eve shows up with his “usual” glass of wine and whiskey. He manages to shoo her away before his reputation is too tarnished, but a drunker Freddy followed by a fuming David paints him as a well-known patron of the establishment. Once Olivia rushes out with Provost, David expresses his displeasure over the B. Frasier tells him there is nothing wrong with a B, but offers him the opportunity to write another paper if he is willing to accept the average of the two grades. David agrees and leaves just as Olivia comes back in to announce that Provost thinks he’s a drunkard. Not ready to give up, Frasier convinces her to get Provost to attend one of his lecturers.

Elsewhere at the bar, David’s hopes of turning his B into an A are dashed when Freddy points out that it’ll take a perfect grade to convert his 86 to an A. While discussing his fears of failure, David learns about Freddy revealing his smarter side when he’s drunk. He also learns that Freddy has quite a bit to say about BF Skinner, who just happens to be the subject of his paper. The next morning Freddy wakes hung over and surprised on the floor of David’s dorm room. Seconds later, Sara, they are joined by David’s study buddy, Saara (Cheyenne Perez), who automatically assumes she’s been replaced and is not happy about it.

Frasier manages to change Provost’s perception of him with a brilliant lecture. He then invites him and Olivia to his office to discuss it further over coffee. While preparing the coffee, Frasier encourages Alan to finish his whiskey before Provost shows up. Alan pours it into one of the coffee mugs as David arrives unexpectedly to turn in his paper. David ends up mixing up the coffee and Provost gets the one laced with alcohol.

Sting Operation – Frasier makes a final attempt to impress Provost by making homemade honeybuns to go with his speech to the review board. On his way out, he encounters David who is even more upset about getting a B minus. While arguing over the grade, Frasier gets stung on the hand by a bee. David has an EpiPen and even against Freddy’s advice uses it as leverage to convince Frasier why he deserves a better grade. Although his speech is rousing, Frasier claims it’s only worth a B +. Freddy gives him the shot and David points out that he’ll likely need to visit the ER because dizziness is a common side effect. He offers to drive him for an A, but Frasier insists on going to the board meeting. Although he makes it to the meeting, he makes an idiot of himself by passing out. Provost thinks he’s drunk and calls 911.

The Crane Curse – Freddy visits David in his to learn he’s thinking about dropping out of Harvard. David claims to be disgusted with the fact that he was willing to harm Frasier for a better grade. Freddy cleverly gets David to change his mind by helping him realize he is exactly where he wants to be.

 

Frasier Review

I enjoyed the typical social awkwardness that Frasier always seems to manage to get himself in. And, there were plenty in this episode. Despite that, it felt like something was missing. The episode didn’t feel as fulfilling as the others. I did enjoy seeing David get a bigger spotlight and was intrigued with John Bucy. I didn’t know there were so many Bucy. They are starting to feel like the Baldwins. All that said, the episode still deserves a high 5.7 out of 10.

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