The Dedication – Episode 4 begins on the morning of Adam’s dedication with Doctor Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) and Freddy Crane (Jack Cutmore-Scott) escorting Eve (Jess Salgueiro) to the event. After Eve briefly comments on Freddy’s formal firefighting regalia, she accepts Frasier’s offer to stop by later with dinner while she goes through the last of Adam’s belongings. Frasier briefly inquires about Freddy’s emotional state while offering some advice on his beg speech when Eve steps away to get her purse. Freddy practically snubs his nose at the offer.
A Trip (And Fall) Down Memory Lane – Freddy chooses his and Adam’s time at the Academy as an icebreaker before busting into the comedic portion of his speech about Adam’s horrible ground turkey chili. The footage soon jumps to the end but the ovation indicates he did a fantastic job. Moose (Jimmy Dunn) has nothing but nice things to say as he, Frasier, and Smokey (Renee Pezzotta) watch Freddy converse with a lady later revealed to be the station’s therapist, Doctor Virginia Stathos (Amy Sedaris).
Although Frasier said nothing at the firehouse, a later conversation with Alan Cornwall (Nicholas Lyndhurst) and Olivia Finch (Toks Olagundoy) reveals that he’s clearly feeling snubbed with Freddy choosing to speak with Stathos over him. As the head of the psychology department, Olivia can’t help but defend Freddy speaking with someone. Frasier claims to be thrilled that Freddy is speaking with someone but doesn’t know why that someone must be Dr. Stathos. Frasier hatches a plan after Alan points out that there are only two individuals know the answer.
Despite Eve’s earlier claims of wanting to spend the day alone, Freddy shows up at her door. This is later revealed to be a good move because she not only needed company but was having a hard time dealing with the last of Adam’s things. Unfortunately, Freddy proves to be of much help with the task either, but David Crane (Anders Keith) is more than willing to help with the gaming system.
Shrink Rap – Although Stathos is star-struck when Frasier visits her at the firehouse, she refuses to share any information about Freddy. Her nervousness comes out in the form of idle chatter and she can’t help but bombard him with questions about his time on TV. He’ll use the opportunity to try and sneak in questions about Freddy but she’s not willing to break the doctor/patient confidentiality. It doesn’t matter because Tiny (Kevin Daniels) interrupts to request Stathos on the courts. Apparently, she was a fierce point guard back in her college days. Frasier uses the opportunity to steal Freddy’s file.
Disorganized Crime – The bar is the first place Frasier heads with the file and after explaining things to Olivia and Alan, he’ll try to find a number of ways to justify looking at the file. Much to everyone’s surprise, it is Alan who convinces him to not look at it by claiming that doing so could severe a part of Freddy’s trust that he’ll never get back. When it becomes a matter of returning the file without Stathos noticing that it was missing, Olivia opts out.
Elsewhere, disposing of the last of Adam’s belongings only proves more and more difficult for Freddy and Eve once they actually start sorting through the items. This eventually leads to Freddy suggesting introducing alcohol into the equation.
Entering And Breaking – Although Frasier and Alan get back into Stathos’ office easy enough, he learns that replacing the file won’t be as easy as expected due to the now locked filing cabinet. Matters are not improved when she randomly shows up several seconds later. Alan hides behind her desk while Frasier tries to distract her with memorabilia from his show. When she mentions giving anything to see his show live, he comes up with the idea to recreate a session right there in her office to give Alan the opportunity to return the file. This will prove far more difficult than imaginable but Alan successfully returns the file and escapes the office without her notice. This is only after a series of hilarious debacles.
With the task accomplished, Frasier will begin making his exit as well, but Stathos’ apology for not being able to speak about Freddy leads to him questioning why Freddy won’t talk to him. Much to his surprise, Stathos admits to having the same problem with her daughter. She also helps him realize that the best they can hope for is to provide their children with a strong support system.
By the time Frasier shows up at Eve’s with dinner, she and Freddy have realized that parting with some of Adam’s things has been rather cathartic. The extremely expensive and now empty bottle of wine doesn’t pass Frasier’s notice as he reminds both Eve and Freddy that he is always there when needed. The episode ends with David collapsing after spending the entire day in the background playing the gaming console.
Frasier Review
I enjoyed the whole overall theme of the episode but Dr. Stathos was a bit much at times. Alan and Frasier’s debacle was only slightly better. Although I did appreciate the theme of the episode, I just wasn’t feeling Eve and Freddy’s struggle either. David’s attendance certainly didn’t help matters. All in all, I guess there wasn’t much more to appreciate about the episode other than the theme. For that, I’d have to leave episode 4 with a disappointing 4 out of 10.
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