Frasier's Edge

Choice: Tara Lipinski Answer: She gets a three and a half Tara Lipinski's out of five. Scores: Unresolved: [{'value': 3.5, 'maximum': 5, 'unit': 'Tara Lipinski'}, {'value': 3, 'maximum': 5, 'unit': 'Tara Lipinski'}] answer: 3 and a half Tera lipinski’s out of 5 Initial rating wording: 3 and a half Tera lipinski’s out of 5 Initial score: value: 3.5; maximum: 5; unit: Tara Lipinski Score qualification: The record confirms initial3.5/5. Brad later affirms the three-fifths paraphrase; no explicit revised final score is inferred.

T'was the night before Christmas, when all through the pod, not a creature was stirring, not even a mic. The MP3s were hung by the chimney with care, in the hopes that St. Fraser soon would be there. When out on the Discord there arose such a clatter, I sprang to my headphones to see what was the matter, when, what to my wandering ears should appear, but season 8, episode 9, Fraser's Edge was here. I'm your host, dressed all in fur, from my head to my foot, Curtis Scheck, our resident upside downer, his cheeks like roses, his nose like a cherry, it's Ryan Sansone. Fair enough, I know it's deep winter and you haven't seen the sun for months now, but have you lost your mind? Also with us is a man with a broad face and little round belly that shook when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly. It's Bradley Kirkston. Happy December 24th. Woohoo. Let's do it. Woohoo. Yeah. Happy Christmas Eve, everybody. I thought you, I thought you transformed into Santa Curt. No, I was just my festive way of introducing this episode. Look, me and Santa Curt are in the, in the Christmas spirit. Why is Scrooge Ryan so anti-Christmas this year? I didn't say I was anti-Christmas. I was just asking if my friend was okay. You're being a Scrooge. Well, we should address this. So normally we, it would be a week from now before we'd release this episode. But I realized that on the calendar, we were going to release a Frasier Christmas episode like the first week of January, which felt really stupid. So I moved it up and we're releasing this one today. And tomorrow we're going to drop that Christmas episode. Merry Christmas, everybody. I hope you're happy. A Christmas treat. Ah, that's going to really make some people's Christmases. I'm sure. I assume most people on Christmas Day are downloading and listening to podcasts. Well, they're at least checking to make sure there's new ones out. Checking it twice. There you go. There's long car rides. You know, there's sometimes where you got to just escape from the fam. You know, it happens. Sometimes you need a pod. Yeah. If you're Jewish, you're going to get Chinese food. Yeah, Brad just needs something to do. So this is perfect. Exactly. Yeah. It'll be the first time he's ever actually listened to the pod. It's just because it's Christmas. Thank you for bringing that up. I actually listened to it today at work with my coworkers and they told me they gave us a compliment. They said we're ranked 4.5 and that's really high for a podcast. We're ranked? That's exciting. A rating is 4.5. I got what you meant. I wasn't questioning that. I didn't know we were rated. That's exciting. I looked on Spotify and we have a 4.5 rating. Considering we can't have more than a handful of reviews, 4.5 doesn't sound that good. That's the point. The audience could think we have thousands of them. We don't need to say that. We also technically could. We don't know how to check. Yes, exactly. If you're listening to this, you should check the reviews and maybe give us a 5 star immediately. Brad had to ask his coworker. They told me. They're like, Brad, that's so amazing. You're rating so high. I go, excuse me? Would you like to give me more detail? What are you talking about? Why were you? You said you were listening at work? Yeah. What was the context where you were listening to the podcast at work? He was listening at work, Curt. We've all done it. We've all listened to ourselves, talk to our buddies at work. Yes, we all have our coworkers listen to ourselves, talk to our buddies at work. Yes. You got to sell the pod. Anyway, so in this episode, I don't know how to transition from that. In this episode, Marty tries to protect Niles from feeling left out because Frasier gets this Lifetime Achievement Award. But all of his moves totally backfire. So I want to know, have you ever had that where somebody's trying to cheer you up in some way, but their attempts totally backfire? No. Does that happen to people? This was the thing you suggested we bring up. Doesn't mean I hadn't answered. I thought one would come to me. Nothing came to me. The example I was going to give, which is kind of like that, was like Curtis defending Vitaly all those times. And Vitaly, you know, just putting the kibosh on Curtis trying to make him feel better. Him physically attacking Curtis. Not kiboshing him. I basically assaulted him. Yes, this is something that happened a lot, especially in college, where Vitaly would be in an argument with you guys and I would take his side. And then he'd be like, Curtis, you're wrong. And to be fair, you were. That's the closest I can think of. I'm sure someone's tried to cheer Brad up and he took it poorly. I think the opposite happened today where his colleagues were trying to warn him that he's only got a 4.5 on his podcast and he took it as a compliment. First off, when you say on his podcast, you also mean you were a podcast. Yeah, it's very confusing to refer to his brands. Exactly. I like the point, though. You're right. Brad probably does get insulted a lot and just rolls with it and just like, oh, yeah, thanks. That's a huge compliment. When I was a little kid, I was being babysat by a cousin and she played for us the trailer for the movie The Candyman, which is like a horror movie. And it freaked me the fuck out. I was absolutely, I could not go to sleep that night. Like, I was totally terrified of The Candyman. And my mom, my baby of the pod, she tried to cheer me up by saying, don't think of that Candyman, think of the other Candyman. And I was like, what do you mean? And she goes, Willy Wonka. And I was like, but the boat scene. And I like started to cry. Oh. What's behind the mystery? What's behind the legend? And most terrifying of all. Are the fires of hell aglowing? Willy Wonka, even more terrifying than the Candyman. You latched onto the boat scene. Wait a minute. The LSD acid trip? Yeah. Terrifying as a kid. The only scene where no kid dies? Yeah, that's the part that scared me. That's interesting. Occasionally now I still think about the fat kid going up the tube. That is a haunting image. Well, that was plausible. It could have happened to you. I could have been on a boat. And just had a weird time. Not even a bad time. Do you suppose we're going to have a bad time discussing this episode, Frasier? It sounds like it, yeah. It's going to be a great time. We open with a monorail running through Seattle. Kenny comes to announce this year's CBs. And Frasier has won a Lifetime Achievement Award. Such a weird way to start this. People come into the announcing booth, whatever you call it. And it's exactly one person we know. And then nine people we've never seen before. We know two of the people, right? Gil's the only one I recognized. And Kenny. I meant the other people, but yeah. Okay, fine. Two people, even though we have a well-established cast of people we should be able to pull from. This stinks! This is totally yes! Are they ever just playing background, though? Wouldn't they need to get some kind of a line to make it worth their while to show up for the day? This wasn't background, right? They rushed these people to the foreground. They make you look at it. And all the truth is, this point is, they didn't talk. They had no lines, yeah. Why set it up this way? Why not just him, Gil, and Kenny walk in? To make it more dramatic, I think, is the point. It is strange that everybody just piles in to the studio that way. For no payoff. The only nice thing is we got to hear about Gil and what he does with his wife and his dogs, you know. Thank God I am nominated, and I won't have to attend the Chestertons. The Chestertons? It's an elaborate award show my wife and the dogs put on while I'm overlooked by the Seabees. Some interesting Gil lore. I think Gil's got to be, what, the seventh main at this point? Right behind Kenny? It's hard to say. Between Noel and Bulldog and Gil, I'm not sure. In season 11, I thought Bulldog was going to be more of a mainstay, well-established guy, and he's barely been in any. Right. But Gil hasn't been in it a ton. No, but he's come on strong lately this season. This might be his season, yeah. Maybe we have, like, a special focus every season. Maybe next one will be Bulldog season. Let's hope we've already had the Noel season. Amen to that. We don't know anything about Noel. The upside down knows nothing other than he's a creep and a nerd. I don't know if he actually works at the station or not. I don't think they told us his job, have they? I don't think so. I think there was one scene we saw where, for some reason, he was filling in for Roz. So, I mean, I think it's possible he's a producer, like, essentially a colleague of Roz's. Makes it worse. Yeah. I know. It's hard to imagine him having any kind of job, really. Yeah, really a job. So far, no reason that he should be employed. And there's also no reason why Frasier should be winning a lifetime achievement award. I know this is part of the bit, but he is very young to win it, and it's not like they give any details on why he won it. It's not just that he's young. He's only been doing this for eight years. We know he wasn't doing it before that. Correct. No one's been like, oh, eight years. What a lifetime you've lived. That's a really good point. Because I was thinking, like, I mean, he's not a young man, so it didn't seem completely crazy. But you're right. Like, in broadcasting, he's literally been less than a decade. And it's not like we've got the vibe that his show is, like, so successful. You know, it's like a local radio show. So unclear how popular this radio show is. It seems to ebb and flow from season to season, episode to episode. But even at its most seemingly popular, it's nothing crazy. It's nothing like we see in new Frasier with his TV show. Yeah. Frasier practices his speech. When Dr. Tewksbury sends him flowers, Frasier overanalyzes the note. Marty gives Niles a world's greatest psychiatrist mug so he doesn't feel left out. Love Frasier's opening. When I was a boy, my parents told me to reach for the stars. Sadly, I later learned that stars are just massive, fiery balls of gas, which were I to reach one would vaporize me instantly. Is he practice speaching? Is that what he's doing at the start of this? Yeah, I think this is the speech he's planning to give as he receives the award. I loved the tangent speech. I thought it was great. Eddie was not a fan. He was a very bored dog. And that's where you would applaud. You and the laugh track seemed to love that. I did not. I know I've got some Eddie hate, but... The laugh track was even a bigger fan than I was. I don't notice the laugh track almost ever. Oh my god, it came in so hard for Eddie's yawn reaction. They're like, that is the greatest yawn in the history of TV. It's like they woulded jackasses like me to notice it. It's like they designed it for that. I think so, yeah. I literally didn't hear a laugh track the rest of the episode. I don't usually hear it. This one, loudest I've ever heard. I did not notice the laugh track. I did think that the yawn was a fun bit. What other reaction is Eddie going to have but be bored by Frasier? We all are. But, you know, it worked for me. I was mad he cut off the speech. I was in on the speech. I was out on the dog yawn. You know what I was out on? I don't even remember exactly what they said. I just wrote in my notes, so mean to Daphne. Like, there's clearly more fat shaming. So much fat shaming. Oh my God. There's a small but reasonable chance that it started here. This might be our first episode of fat shaming. You know what the comment that was so messed up is Frasier says to Marty, did she gain weight since breakfast? Yeah. Then he follows it up with which breakfast? Yes. That was intense. The fat shaming is just next level. They go hard on it. And they don't get comeuppance for it. Like, it's just people talking about her getting fatter. For what? Eight episodes? Nine episodes at this point? And that's why it's the majority of the season. Something we haven't talked about and I haven't thought about is that, like, if you take, for example, the slut shaming that Roz takes, like, there's so many jokes at Roz's expense about how she gets around. But they're all to her face. And it's sort of in good fun because she usually laughs along or gives as good as she gets. Like, she's involved in that. I feel like every single one of these is behind Daphne's back, which I think makes it so much. I mean, not that it would be nice for them to do it to her face, but it is, like, just this horrible thing they're saying to this person that's, like, clearly a big part of their lives. Really cruel. I feel like in other episodes, she was involved in that storyline. She's really not even involved in the storyline. They just call her fat. She's not involved in the fat storyline. This is a really strong point, Curt, is that we've seen them do behind people's back jokes, but it's about people that aren't in, you know, in the group. It does feel so much worse that it's, you know, it's one of our six. Like, why are you talking behind her back? Why are you being shitty and shady about this? It does make it worse. What a lot of the humor in this show is sniping. It is, like, you know, ribbing on each other in one way or another. This is more than ribbing. But I'm saying, like, it's not in good fun because it's not with her. It's at her. We did also see when it is at her, and that didn't feel great either. So there's really no winning on this storyline, but at least we're dealing with it. Yep. Yeah. I hope you're right, Ryan. I hope that this is the end of this entire run. It felt like it could be. Yes, I think Ryan could be right, but we'll see. You know, we definitely will not get more of. This is clearly the Tewksbury intro, so that's exciting. Yes. Were you surprised at how little Tewksbury we get? We get a couple of references and one episode that he's actually in after this. This felt very close to the Ann zone from C's. Is it Ann? The annoying girl that he took on the date? Good thing you didn't walk in front of my car on the streets, or I would have just gotten out and given you a good kick. It's not a back-to-back episode. They're spread out a little bit. It's like a little bit of world-building type of thing. It's interesting when they do that, but we've seen it before. At this part, I actually thought that Marty giving Niles the gift was actually good. Like, I liked this part. I won't say that in future scenes, but I liked the start of this when he gave him the world's greatest psychiatrist mug. Interesting. Yeah, I think you're right. It was kind of fun. It was kind of fun during this scene, yes. There is something to it that's like a friendly father gesture. It's not as overbearing, but right away, Niles is like, what are you doing? I don't want this. I don't need this. He reluctantly accepts it in this scene. I think that's a good way to describe Niles throughout the episode. Yeah. I love Fraser's excuse to go down and talk to Dr. Tewksbury, where he's just like, oh, I need to go familiarize myself with the dance. And then Marty goes, tell Dr. Tewksbury, say hi. He knows his son. Yeah, I did like that Marty didn't bat an eye at it. Fraser confronts Dr. Tewksbury, who admits to delegating the note writing to his assistant. But Fraser cannot let it go, so the professor will be late to dinner. A familiar place where in Tewksbury's office it felt good, you know? I was very impressed that they actually used the same office. Very impressed. That is something that would very impress you. Well, in this show, yes. Yeah, I feel like if it was more than a season apart, they probably would not have kept this standing. But I assume they knew they were going to bring him back later in the season. And I doubt they, in a sitcom schedule, that they would have filmed both episodes near each other. Like, they probably had to bring the actor back and bring the set back. But I'm sure they kept the set standing for the in-between episodes. Yeah, that's just not something I think about, Curt. Fair enough. Doesn't keep me up at night. I don't know. Look, let's cut the bowl. There you go. You must be very proud. Why not I'm proud of you? My assistant wrote the card. I'm afraid you've been overanalyzing. Then again, perhaps in that order to your assistant, you subconsciously communicated an emotion that you couldn't or didn't want to acknowledge. Or perhaps your subconscious assigned you meaning to the words to reflect your own self-doubt. But all art is self-portraiture, and that includes the written word. However, we can only view art through the lens of our own psyches. Then there is no pure art. How would you know? I have a psych-off. That was really fun. I want more of that. The psych-off was weirdly invigorating and fun. Especially because Niles and Frasier are in the show. We should have more of these kind of exchanges. It felt tenuous. They have this sort of sparring match, and it seems like it's getting a little more tense. They're starting to butt heads. And then at the end, he's like, oh, it's great to see you. And they have this big hug. I thought that was tons of fun. You know what it is? It's the platonic version of Frasier fighting with a woman, and then they kiss. That is one of my notes was, are they fighting or about to make love? And it turned out neither. Turns out they were just friending. There was some sleuthing to be done here. Tewkesbury's married. Yes. Is that significant? I'm sorry? Well, he dates Roz. He's Roz. Six episodes from now. Oh, you're right. Holy fuck. You're right. Oh, my God. And I don't think he was addressed this. No. I don't think it came up in that episode. No, they completely ignored it. I'm trying to think if they've made some sort of allusion to him having troubles or anything. This really took me off guard. I think they literally were like, yeah, we'd rather have him fuck Roz. Can you imagine what I might have done with that? The one line, that's the whole reason he has to call his wife to say he's going to be late because of Frasier. Well, and that's probably what led to the divorce. I think they're doing a show don't tell here. Frasier monopolized all of his time. If you're going to spend extra innings on Frasier, who's a well-adjusted rich man, what do you think he's doing to people that actually need help? He's probably in there for days with some people with real problems. Imagine if he sat down with Brad. It's not out of the realm of possibility that he is still very much married and just having an affair with Roz. Like, that's in play. Very in play. But I feel like they would have addressed it in some way, shape, form if that was the case. I would think so. I would think it would be a plot point. I think this is just a case of the writers straight up forgetting they wrote that part. I think they realized that it happened and were like, you know what? This is a better storyline. We're just going to ignore it. I don't think they forgot. I think they had a conversation was like, should we explain this? Like, who cares? He's in there for eight minutes. 100%. We're also like, that's why we have like 10 episodes between them. So any of that institutional memory is gone 10 weeks later. Like we remember because we're like watching in a rewatch, but you're just watching casually every Thursday night. Well, and also I think going in reverse kind of, it's one of those things that helps, right? Where you key in and go like, oh, it's weird that he's married. I know he's going to not act on that later. Yeah, you're not going to remember that he had a reference to a wife when he's dating Roz, but you definitely remember an entire plot line of dating Roz when you hear the reference to the dating of the wife. Exactly. Yep. Why did we have a break in the action and then stay in the office for like 10 seconds of scene? What was the point of that? I was like, what is the point of this? I was like, why don't they just do that part in the hallway? Just to recap, there's this scene where they, Fraser confronts him and then Fraser leaves. And shortly after he leaves, Tewksbury finds him sitting in the stairway and he's like, what is wrong with me? And then they go and have this very short scene back in the office where he basically says, I need your help or whatever. Why didn't they just do that in the hallway? I'm pretty confident that the stairwell scene is a commercial break. They wanted the drama of going to commercial on Fraser is in a crisis. And then they had to sort of address it briefly in the follow up scene before cutting to the Seabees. Oh, so the binge edit throws off the flow is what you're saying. Yeah. Okay. That helps a lot, actually. At the Seabees, Marty overcompensates with Niles and Roz worries about Daphne's weight. Everyone wins the award for Gil's category, except Gil. We've reused the Seabees set, I believe, right? It's very similar, if not the same. Yeah. This is definitely like the restaurant. And we used this a number of times this season, even. But this is where they host the Seabees. It's the same hotel conference room that the Cheers people were. Definitely. Very clearly. But still, it's interesting to be back to the Seabees. It's more interesting to be back here than it is to be back in Tewkes-Berry's office. I know that I was sort of middling on the Seabees episode. I didn't think it was that great. I recall you really liking that one. You like the Seabees as a concept, correct? I like awards as a concept. Is that the question? I don't know. You seem really excited about the Seabees the last time around. And I feel I'm sensing some energy from you now, too. I was going to go re-listen to the pod and I could not find which episode it was. Episode 15 of the podcast. So it was a season 11 episode. Yes. That is correct. But yeah, I don't remember. It was pretty early in my Frasier run then. You know, it was probably the first time I saw Kenny even for a second time. On episodes Kenny's in, I think he does elevate scenes. I kind of wish he was in more episodes. Yeah, the actor's really good. He's got good timing. Delivery. Yeah, he was in heavyweights. Yeah, he was in heavyweights. Yeah, he was in heavyweights. I do love a good award. I don't know. I don't remember my energy of that episode. To long answer your question. I'll be the one that says it. Roz looks good. She looks pretty attractive in this episode. Oh, good. The Roz heat index. We haven't had that in a while. The Roz heat index is pretty high on this one. Not too high. If you're going to keep doing this, you need to come up with some sort of scale or something. Okay. My first celebrity crush was Tara Lipinski. Of course, that's the most proud answer I've ever heard. The figure screener. I'll give her in this scene. She gets a three and a half Tara Lipinski's out of five. She's three fifths as hot as Tara Lipinski. Is that what we're saying? In this episode, yeah. Which is still a big crowding achievement. I mean, it's Tara Lipinski. Okay. Well, that was crazy as hell. I love it. So I got a real kick out of Gil is up against two other dudes for the award. And it's a tie. Both of those guys won the category. They share the award. Gil's the only one who doesn't win. This is when we find out why his wife isn't there, right? Deb's on maneuvers with her reserve unit. What does maneuvers mean? I don't know. Does that just mean on the move? I feel like I intuitively know what it means, but I can't explain it. Maybe you don't intuitively know what it means. Maybe you just kind of feel like you know. A period of military or naval training exercises involving the movement and deployment of troops and equipment or a series of coordinated strategic or tactical movements. Yeah, that's what I thought it was. Military logistics. Your favorite. Of course you're in on it. Logistics pod. We had a title card. He wore his first smoking jacket at 12. Tewksperian covers that as a boy, Frazier's mom used psychiatry to make him feel safe through emotional distance and that this Lifetime Achievement Award is a reminder that someday his career will end and he would still just be a frightened boy. I love when Tewksperian says, It's no accident that you're going through this on the day that you receive your Lifetime Achievement Award. Well, duh. An elite duh. Yeah, that was good. This scene was pretty intense. I didn't think it was going to get this dramatic. Was it? It's getting pretty deep about his relationship with his mother, calling him a frightened eight-year-old boy? You get to see Angli Frazier? He explicitly says he's not an eight-year-old boy. I think this was a ramp-up scene and I think they're doing an okay job here. Yeah. I didn't get like a super intensity out of this one. They're clearly digging, right? They're starting to try to get to what's going on with Frazier emotionally. And it does get very personal. Frazier does tell the story of how he first kind of became enamored with psychiatry. And I like Tewksbury's sort of quick analysis that he says, Psychiatry gives you objectivity. Objectivity gives you emotional distance. Distance makes you feel safe. I was like, that seems really astute. Like, I don't know anything about psychiatry. I don't know if this is like well-written from a scientific perspective or if it's all just writer bullshit. But that really felt real to me. This felt like the best psychiatry we've had in the series by far. And it wasn't being delivered by Frazier. Also, they're ramping up, right? Like, they don't just diagnose him immediately, right? Like, we're doing the digging. There's astute observations and we're going at it slower than a normal sitcom pace would be. We're still getting some jokes in the scene too, so it's not all serious. Well done. Yeah, I like when he's like, have you ever met Loleth? Then she's warm. Even if you've never seen Frazier, this is your first episode. You could tell from his delivery how, like, oh, it's just all beautifully done. Yeah. We did learn something. I guess Frazier hasn't had any real serious flings to this point in Frazier. That was another funny answer. Yeah. But it's an interesting reveal, right? Like, no one serious is going to show up for eight seasons? Yeah. Especially with how little romantic engagement he has through the rest of the series. You'd think he'd have something at some point. But no, they really only just go for that with like six episodes to go. Apparently, yeah. I like that Dr. Tewsbury points out what a shitty father he is. Any children? Yes, I have a wonderful son with whom I'm very close. You live with him? He lives in Boston. Distance. I did like that line. I like how artist Frazier is with some of these responses. You know, he lies about Loleth and that's about it. What I wonder, because the episode we just did was the one where he is with Freddy and they go camping and he's desperate to have a bonding moment with his son. And I did wonder if this episode influenced that a little. Let's just be a bit, because that helps. Yeah. Having said that, I feel like most of the intensity of all this emotional stuff that he's doing, we don't really see much investigation by Frazier to like know himself. Like we get that episode, we get this episode. And the only other Tewsbury we actually see has nothing to do with Frazier. Well, he does try to get in a car repair not long after this. Like he has like a brief but intense spiritual journey. Self-improvement phase. Yeah, it doesn't last because it's wildly unsuccessful, but if you want to draw some lines, there's dots that you could draw them from. Roz tries to connect with Daphne to find out why she is overeating. Instead, Daphne brags about how great her life is, and it drives Roz to eat. All the fat shaming we've had to deal with from Daphne's perspective, I actually thought it was worse hearing what Roz does to, I guess, maintain her figure. That's a beautiful dress. Thank you. And after two weeks of eating delicious fat-burning cabbage soup, it finally fits. And how she can't even look at some food. You're gonna eat your quiche. Are you kidding? It's to be like pulling the ripcord on my thighs. It's nothing but cheese and butter and pastry. I'm baking. Yeah. I thought some of those comments have felt even worse. See, I hear what you're saying, and I get that. That rang true to me, though. Like, I've known women who are very careful about what they eat because they don't want to have weight issues, and they know that their body is going—like, if they eat that quiche, they're gonna have a problem. Yeah, and that's perpetuating that shit, right? It's okay to have a quiche of all the things in the world. You'll be all right. But, like, today, if they had an episode like that on TV and a scene like that, everyone would be talking about how wrong it was. You would rip it up, and justifiably they should. Yes. It's like, yes, that does exist. You don't need to perpetrify it or whatever Ryan said. Yeah, you don't need to perpetrify it. I don't watch a ton of modern TV. I feel like there's so much media out there today about being thin and perfect, and I'm not convinced that you're right, that this is crossing a line you can't cross today. It wouldn't do it like that. It literally got skewered because the dad pinched some fat and was like, oh, I'm eating bad. Curtis, the point is, they may have scenes like that. It wouldn't be a comedy like that. Yeah, it would be on Fox. Yeah. Tim Allen would be involved. So, we know Daphne's going through something. Then to get this really earnest, I'm in the happiest days of my life speech, that also kind of rang not true with what we see. I don't think she's realized that she's in a bad place. I think she's getting to the peak of her happiness. She hasn't gone over the hill yet. Which confuses the plot line further. Like, we don't know when it's going to start, but we're running out of runway here, right? This is what, episode nine? Yeah. So, I think they get together this season. I don't know when the trouble is going to start. It hopefully is this episode. But, like, Roz is hitting a depression, or he's stating it outright. And we know something's happening that she has to deal with it psychologically. So, to hear how earnest she's like, this is the greatest I've ever been in my life, it did ring a little hollow. Are you saying that it sounded like the way the actor portrayed it, it sounded hollow? Or just knowing the context, it seems like she can't be telling the truth, because we know she's eating for a reason. I think it did sound a little hollow from the way she delivered it. But it's hard to tell how much I'm discoloring the fact that I know what's coming. Right. Yeah, I thought it was delivered a little even. She kind of stares off. She delivers it in an unusual way for her. She seems very focused on the food and nothing else. Yeah, a little bit. And I don't know if that's just another fat joke, or if that's, you know, if they are doing some really good acting, it's getting really hard to tell with some of this. They must have had conversations. They must have been able to say to her, like, this is where it's leading to. Maybe this is just one of those cases where she's an actor, she's a paid worker, she just has to say the lines that she's given. But I just, I can't imagine they didn't go to her and say, we want to do this, this is how it plays out. Like, she must have had some sense of what her character was going through when she delivered this lie. I hope so, anyway. I hope she at least was asked if this was okay, and she went along with it. They're getting paid a lot at this point, right? She's probably like, whatever. I got a baby coming. Fair enough. But did you guys think the line was delivered strange, or am I reading into it? I mean, you're definitely reading into it, but you could be right. I was looking a little bit for there to be some, you know, English on the performance, but it came off to me as fairly sincere. Like, when Roz believes her at face value, I kind of did too. And it's almost more confusing, isn't it? Well, no, because I think it's possible for her to earnestly say, look, on paper, this is perfect, so I'm happy. And, you know, pass the butter. But we know that what she's going through is subconscious. It is deeper than a surface level. Like, she is not able to reflect on this and understand why she's eating. Interesting. A frustrated Frasier turns to the DSM to explain away his issues. When pressed to confront his emotions, he hides behind therapy exercises. In the end, he admits to Tewksbury and himself that he feels empty, and he does not know why. I gotta tell you, top to bottom, I loved this scene. I love the setup work we did before. This was a good one-two scene, if we're talking about the previous Tewksbury scene and this one. I think my favorite string of scenes, maybe, in the whole series. It's really good work, and I love the choice. Like, in the last episode, we saw Dr. Tewksbury, he was in kind of a goofy role. You really see why they hired an actor of that caliber when you see this episode. Because, my God, the way he just keeps, like, almost nonchalantly saying to Frasier, get to the emotions. Like, stop deflecting, stop hiding. I know your tricks. Just get to the emotions. Like, he does that repeatedly in the scene in such an effective way. It's what Ryan said earlier, they're finally showcasing a good psychiatrist. Like, we're finally seeing someone who actually is being portrayed good at their job. So I think that's part of it, too. It felt like that earlier, it felt even more like that in this scene. Yeah. And I don't know if this was their intention, and I don't know if they realized they were doing this, but they sort of reveal Frasier to be kind of a fraud. Like, as a therapist, we see good therapying, at least in terms of a TV show, happening with Dr. Toothberry. And Frasier, he just keeps, you know, wasting the quote-unquote caller's time with, you know, exercises. And he's like, that's all I have. All I have is, like, go journal. Like, he doesn't have real insight. It is funny that go journal is his response to making his family go camp. But next thing we do. Yes. Yes. You know, it rings true that he's probably not the best psychiatrist. You don't really need to be on the radio, do you? Well, and crucially, like, if you're in a therapy session, like, it might only last an hour, but it's a full hour, and then you're going to come back next week. On the radio, these people probably don't call back very often, if at all, and he gives them, like, five minutes. So, yeah, he's not going to be able to do real therapying in that time. I don't think people are really listening to the psychiatrist to be like, oh, let me fix my life. Like, maybe they think that, but they're tuning in for the entertainment. I am disappointed we didn't get more Tewkes-Barre after this one. He felt like kind of a throwaway character in the other episode, but seeing the range he's exhibited, oh, man. We missed out a little bit. Maybe we'll somehow wrong, and he will be in more episodes. I don't think so, but, you know, let's hope. It would be confusing. I feel like in a modern show, the whole theme of the season would be Frasier working through this stuff, and they kind of do that. Like, they have references to him, and they have, like, little tiny beats where he's like, remember how I'm working on myself? Well, here's a line about that. But they don't really, like, they mostly just go for the hijinks of the random episode. They don't really stick to that in this 2001 show. No, and it never felt like he was improving himself. That didn't feel like a runner that was happening. Because he didn't. Right. Kenny is too nervous to introduce Frasier at the awards ceremony. So Marty does. Frasier's speech is short and sweet. Thank you for honoring my life. Just wish I knew what to do with the rest of it. Elite speech. Elite. If someone said that as a speech, and you were in the room, you'd be like, you'd be like, oh my god, that's so profound. It was funny, but it didn't really show the audience's reaction. So we don't know exactly how they even took the speech. That's just factually untrue. We absolutely see the reaction. Really? We see specifically the table of the people who know him. Roz is like, what the fuck was that? Oh, I didn't. I guess I missed that. Both because it seemed like too short, but also it's like, what does that mean? Like, what's wrong with you? Like, are you okay? Which he wasn't, but we also won't address that. Ever. That will not get resolved. Yeah, I think that's the thing that's sort of a bummer about the way this ends. It ends in such a mic drop. Like, it ends with Frasier declaring, this is a real problem for me, and I am having an existential crisis, and it is ongoing. It is not like the next Tewksbury episode where Frasier's got this problem and it gets resolved in the end. He has a heart-to-heart with Roz and everything's okay. This implies, like, he's got a real, ongoing, major, life-changing problem, and we never really get it resolved. It just sort of quietly disappears. This felt like the mic drop we get from Niles when he's gonna have his heart issues. Right. It felt like that level of seriousness was in play, and then we just don't do anything with it. And, like, the Niles thing kind of came and went, too, but at least they dedicated, like, three whole episodes to that. Yeah, why didn't we get a three-episode arc of him coming to a realization? That could have been fun. Well, you kind of addressed that we did. We have this episode, followed by him connecting with his son, followed by him learning a new skill. And that was it. I wish it was more unhinged, at least. And more obvious that this was happening, yeah. Well, I mean, we even saw, like, in season 11, there's the whole runner about how he is trying to open a practice, get back into private practice. That's his passion. And that, we thought, was going to be this thing that comes out of something. And it just sort of appeared one day. It wasn't really, it was never clear why he was doing that. Yep. And it wasn't talked about a lot. Yeah. Did you guys catch the really weird dubbing issue that happened when Marty went to be the fill-in guy? I don't think so. Well, Kenny's panicking because he doesn't know how to stall as he's actively stalling, which was kind of fun. And Marty goes, I'll do it. And he gets up and he's going to go waste all of our times like he normally does. And instead, Frazier happens to walk in right about then, which is great. Thankfully, we get to avoid the Marty speech. But then, like, he goes to intro Frazier and something, at least on Hulu, something crazy with the thing happens. It sounded like when you accidentally skipped past a podcast. It was one of those things. It was super weird. Oh, you're saying, like, there was an audio artifact. I'm not in the industry. I don't know what the fuck you just said. You said a dub. Yeah, like, Marty, like, dubbed poorly, basically. Like, he kind of moved and then words were happening and it sounded blippy. It was weird. Are you saying that it sounded like he, like, re-recorded the audio later and tried to match his voice and didn't do a great job? Or are you saying that there's, like, weird audio sounds that don't sound like a person talking? I think both. I think both happened. Okay. Okay. His mouth is not matching what's being said and there's some weird sounds that lead into it. Like, I keyed in on it without, I think, even looking at the screen. That's not uncommon. That is a thing that happens a lot. Either because they decide to change the line and do it after it's been shot and just deal with the existing video and add different lines. Oftentimes, if you see, like, some character on a show talking but you only see the back of their head, it's their way of editing it out so that you don't see the mouth move but you get to overlay the new audio. Oh, fun. Once you are aware that that is a thing, it is very common. They do that a lot on reality TV shows. A lot. I don't need to realize I'm in the Matrix. I don't care about that. This was so bad that I caught it. I don't normally catch that kind of stuff. I can't believe you guys aren't all over it since you know about artifacts or whatever the fuck you're talking about. We didn't really talk about it but the Niles subplot in this whole thing is all about, like, Marty's speech to introduce Frasier. It's wild because it's supposed to be Kenny and then Marty takes over for Kenny and then instead of talking about Frasier, Marty talks about Niles and how great his son Niles is and only mentions Frasier when Frasier is, like, literally standing there and about to go talk. Brad was hitting on this earlier, right? If you think this is funny, maybe it's still fine here. If you were annoyed earlier, you're going to be very annoyed when he's doing his speech. I hated it at this point but I loved the looks Niles gives throughout most of this episode and especially here. He's just horrified and you feel it for him. I think it's one of those things that sometimes, like, we'll call this the C-plot, gets better as the episode gets in. This one gets way worse as it goes on. Because it's the same joke over and over with no nuance and it's not even really clear why he's doing it or why. Like, it's not motivated. I don't think. That's true. They don't do the work to explain it. Like, if the previous episode, like, Niles has a really bad day, which could really make this work. But unless it's, like, the worst day he's ever had, this is extremely annoying. I feel like the way to make this work better is if somehow you worked in, like, it seems like Niles is annoyed. It seems like Marty's out of touch. But then, like, when Frasier goes up to talk, Niles is, like, annoyed that the speech about him got cut off. Like, if somehow it turns out Niles actually kind of loved it and wanted the attention, I feel like maybe that would have been a payoff that would have worked better. That's a good point. I mean, it's funny that it comes out of nowhere, but, yeah, to know payoff is also annoying. That's the problem with it. Yes, you've nailed it, Curt. We can leave. Frasier plays this out with Gil receiving a standing ovation. In his dream, in reality, he's drunk, alone, and asleep at the table. That was weird. Like, I'm not sure if I liked it or if I didn't like it. It was just kind of weird and not like anyone had ever seen before. I don't think I'm a fan of it, but it was just bizarre. This is actually the second dream scrambled egg sequence we've seen. Correct. The last one was a dog. Yeah. So some of the irrelevant characters really getting dream nods. Yeah. I mean, what were your thoughts of it? Well, it actually, my thought is it begs the Twitter question of the week. If you were to pass out in an awards ceremony, what do you think you would dream about, Curt? I mean, I'd be naked, probably. Naked and afraid. Okay, good. Is that it? Are you giving a speech naked? Is that your dream? Or are you just sitting in the audience naked? It would be the case where I was supposed to give an important speech, and then I looked down and realized I forgot to get dressed. You know what's bad is that the older I get, the less those are nightmares. I still have those dreams. Oh, man. You are on course to be that old guy in the sauna. I can't wait. Brad, what's your answer? You know, usually I'm dreaming of either the 2001 Baltimore Ravens team, where we still had a team, or the 1983 Baltimore Orioles, or my imaginary wife and kids. One of the three of them. And it's for the audience to figure out which one. It's not for the audience to figure out which one. It's for the audience to come up with significantly better answers, because those were terrible. So please reach out to us anywhere but ask that you can tweet us. For the Twitter question of the week. One last thing I want to say about this scene is I would not want the KCL crew to be my co-workers, to be my friends. Like, they leave Gil, like, sleeping at the table. Like, they are not good colleagues. The idea here is that he got hammered, right? Yeah. Because he didn't win his award? Yeah. I don't know. He lost in a time. Do you have, like, vivid dreams when you're hammered past that? No. No, I do not. I'm sure I dream, but... I don't wake up and be like, oh, I thought I won a Lifetime Achievement Award. I wake up and I think I'm still in the dream. Yeah. Well, was this episode a dream or was it a nightmare, Brad? I'm going to go more on the dream side. I did like the episode. I'm very curious to see what my co-hosts think. I'm going to give it a B+. Why are you considering us co-hosts? We're the hosts. I don't know what you are. You're whatever card assigns you at the beginning. I said my co-hosts. Oh, yeah. I guess that's true. Like saying you're supervisors? Yes. You're co-hosts? Okay. Yeah. Rescindance. Apologies. For me, I put this kind of right in the middle. 49 out of 98. I thought this was better than Cheerful Goodbyes, but worse than the 200. And I think that's another episode of Frasier as an Existential Crisis. When you say, Ryan, those scenes are like some of the best of the series, I agree with you. I think there's some amazing work done in this episode. And it ends in such a mic drop. The thing that kind of kills it for me is that nothing comes of it. Like it's kind of a bummer to see all this great work done to put together this really compelling story. But that it just ends and falls flat and never gets followed up is just a huge bummer. But yeah, what did you think, Ryan? We're in a similar boat. There was two extremely strong scenes that I wish we built around a lot better. And again, maybe we'll lead into it strong. But the fact that we do nothing with it is so disappointing. The rest of the episode is also not like incredible. Easily the best sincere moment we've ever had, right? I thought it was so, so well done. The fact that it doesn't pay off is tough. This was a low Niles episode. Kenny was there, but he was actually kind of reasonable, which was annoying. And Gil's there for, I think, no reason. I don't know why this was a Gil-checking episode. We have so much good going on and we undercut it in weird ways. So it's still a high-ish score for me this season. I gave it a 6-6. But I get where you're headed with that, Curt. Well, we dodged a bull. It was one six away from being the devil. Look, if they would have tried a little harder, they could have got there. It's the annual Mid-Season Reverse Psychology Awards. We have gathered here to honor the best and brightest this season has to offer. Presenting our first award of the night, it's Ryan Sansone. I'm sorry, what's the awards? Mid-Season Reverse Psychology Awards. It's snappy. The Mid-Sies. The Mid-Sies. Okay, I like that a lot better. What is your award? Well, I'm presenting first the Loose Change Award. So this was the person who tried to do something different for a change, whether or not it paid off. We kind of hit on it, right? Fraser tried to expand his bounds a little bit this season. I have, uh, oh, no, no. Yeah, you have to say it now. My thing was going to be last season, so I'm not going to... Oh, you're going to be like, oh, it's Hitler. No, no, no. I haven't talked about him in two seasons. I would shake Hitler's hands? I thought Isla Niles was this season. It was last season. Oh, it was right on the border, though. Yeah. Fair. Good pick, though. Curt, do you want to go first? I would like to nominate Daphne. Oh. Uh-oh. I think that Daphne is trying something new, clearly this season, with Niles. To get through that, she's choosing to eat, which is, I think, all things considered, a pretty healthy choice. So she is trying something new. Are you saying dating Niles or eating to overcompensate for dating Niles? All of it. She starts by dating him. She realizes that's terrible, so I'm going to eat. Eating's great. Who doesn't love quiche? Like, delicious. And so she eats and eats. And by the end of the season, like, she's figured... She's gone to therapy. She's figured her shit out. Like, she's trying all kinds of new things. Thank you for the Niles experience. Yeah. Brad? I have to go with Dr. Toosbury. He went from being married to not being married when he met Roz. I thought about that one. Dr. Toosbury, 100%. Not just trying being divorced. He's trying Roz. Yeah. He's dating Roz 10 episodes later, however many episodes later. And he tries on her fits. Yeah. He's into that, too. So... Yeah. It's mostly about the robe that he's trying. Yeah. And he knows what he likes. He's offered a different robe, and he doesn't want it. He doesn't put it on. Yeah. That's a good answer. That's really strong. Much better than your Twitter question of the week answer. Ryan? Well, obviously, Niles for becoming a sports hero. Incredible moment. It's a great moment, but I would say that he's not really trying something new. He's just something happened to him, and it went well. I'm sorry. You don't think going into a blue-collar bar being a sports hero is something every day for Niles? You think that's not something new for him? Giving basketball advice to the locals? I suppose. Niles. I'm soft on that one. Okay. I'm sorry you're not hard on it. Brad, you're a sport-o. Do you think that's a great answer? No, because it's Niles, and it's not like it totally changed him. It did change him until he proved he wasn't a sport-o. It was less about digging into sports and basketball. It was more about collecting praise, which is not something Niles is new to. He wants that always. All right. And the winner is Dr. Tewksbury for an incredible robe experience. Thank you. Thank you, my esteemed colleagues. Being a psychological adonist like I am, I am able to use my rigorous psychological practice to get into your brains and make you think I am the best person for this job. So thank you for letting me mold your minds and putting you in that direction to pick me your psychological visit. Honestly, pretty good acceptance speech. Honestly, pretty good. He molded our minds. Yeah. Which, I don't, that's not usually how award ceremonies work, but interesting. Presenting my next award, this season turned Niles into a certified jock, but it's also done a ton of fan service for the nerds. So my question is, who will you nominate for the best nerd moment? Oh. I feel like there have been a lot of nerd moments in this season. All right. I'm looking at the rosters that deep. I'm going to go with Freddy. Real nerdy throughout this whole series, but especially in this episode. And he gets the girl going camping, you know, from game boy to smooching. Gets the girl is not usually the nerd trademark. Is this why you don't get girls? Because you think it's nerdy. No, it's like the ultimate nerd victory. Like he was a nerd and like he got rewarded for his nerdiness. Yes, you could definitely go Freddy route, but not because he made out with a girl. What are you talking about? Brad, you're so not a nerd that you're like, the only way to win as a nerd is to break out of nerddom and kiss a girl. The point of this award is to pick the person who is going to the computer fair and playing the game boy, not the person who gets the girl. If there's anything I'm hearing, I'm hearing Curtis call me a jock, right? If I'm not a nerd. Oh, definitely. You're a real Niles, Bradley. You're the classic American pretty boy jock. Thank you. Classic, Brad. Ryan, who do you nominate? How do you get out? I'll beat the Bradster. It was very easy. I'll just use any other scene in the whole season. My nomination will be the same episode. I will give it to Niles for getting jealous of Freddy for getting invited to book discourse with Frasier. Specifically Walden's book. The book is called Walden, but good job. By Thoreau. Walden sounds like a name. I don't know. And it was boring. We've tried to read in high school. It's boring. It's very nerdy to read it. If any of our listeners love Walden the book, not the person, it's boring. I'm sorry. Maybe show me why I'm wrong. Honestly, I'm surprised you both went to that episode. Are you? There are so many moments in this season. You've got Frasier tutoring Kirby. That's some nerdiness. You've got the John Glenn space doc. You've got the multiverse episode. In fact, I'm going to give it to Frasier. I think Frasier wins this season for nerd because he participates in a multiverse saga. The sweater saga. If you want to destroy my... Work of our life. Spain's fabled master weaver Diego. So interesting. You're giving it on like the meta of that episode. Saying that Frasier's some nerd. So weird. Well, he kicks the whole thing off with his choice of sweater or suit. Which is nerdy. That alone is nerdy. Yeah. The fact that it's a multiverse saga, I don't... It's not really up to the character, certainly. But it is a nerdy introduction to the multiverse saga. So interesting. My runner up was going to be him talking to a Klingon at Comic-Con. I should have just gone with Noel. Noel's the obvious answer. I can't believe you didn't say that. Why is Frasier talking to a Klingon nerdy? He just needed directions or whatever. He still did it. Anyway. He was at a Klingon. I don't think you two know what nerds are. And the winner is Niles for being jealous and wanting to read Walden. Yes, I don't see why it's nerdy to want to read Walden. I think anyone should. Anyone dignified American who has got red blood in their veins would want to read about a nice stroll in the woods with their brother. And want to discuss it. Of course. What else is there than being American and reading a book to Walden? Hear, hear. Tonight is a night of celebration. Of joy. But let's take this moment to halt any and all festivities and instead talk about those we've lost this year. For this year's In Memoriam segment, we pay tribute to our fallen brother, Bradley Kirkston. Keen listeners may remember he died earlier this year, came back as an apparition, and ultimately returned as the unholy golem that haunts us to this day. Brad, would you like to say a few words? I'm back, bitches. You all missed me, and I'm back. And I'm back. And I ain't going nowhere, cause I'm back. And I'm Brad. He said say a few words, not sing a few. I'm sorry. I'm just, you know, so excited to be alive. So the music pumps to my soul. I'm just glad somebody's excited that you're alive. In long card note, he would not like to say a few words. Dead men rarely do. Well, Brad, since you are back with us, why don't you present the next award? So this is a new category. Why don't you sing it, though? This is a new category. Everyone can win. And the category is Best Crane Family Meltdown. Best Crane Family Meltdown. This is a character who has a ridiculous meltdown for no reason. I'm kind of in on the Crane Family Meltdown. So the category is who has the biggest meltdown? They have to be a crane, which is extremely annoying. He said everyone can win it, but it's a crane family meltdown. No, you just have to have a meltdown like a crane would. You don't have to be a crane. Oh, okay. That helps. That helps a lot, actually. But if it's a crane style meltdown, then you can be nominated. Oh, man. There's a lot of opportunity here. This is a fairly meltdown-y season. Why do you think I picked it? You picked well. You picked well. I mean, I hate to give another one to Frasier, but I got to nominate Frasier. Crane's Go Caribbean. This man on vacation, melting down repeatedly because things don't go his way. I don't think there's anything more crane than that. It's a good one. I mean, it is a good one. That is a good pick. I think Niles having a meltdown at the dog park to the point that he engineers a way to never go back to the convenient, closed dog park is pretty up there. That's interesting because it is a meltdown for sure, but it is a very composed meltdown. It's not the blow up and which I think is a very crane thing to just quietly like your eyes dart and then you like try to find a way to overreact. Yeah, that's a good one. Yeah, they got multiple meltdowns. Bradley? It was Daphne once she finally goes and gets the help. There was at least emotional build up to a terrible, terrible plot. I think her smashing the pig in the fridge, that's as meltdown as she gets here. I don't know if I agree that this is a crane meltdown. Like she just is actually going through a significant problem. Is that a meltdown? I don't know. I don't know. I just feel like she cranified it. I don't know if I agree. I'm with you, Ryan. I don't think this one quite qualifies. I think the Niles pick is a great one. Yeah, I mean, I think Niles is better than your Frasier pick. And seeing Curtis 2, Niles impersonation will be entertaining. True. And the winner is from Chicago, Illinois. On the weekends, he likes to go birding and canoeing. He is Curtis. That's very cute. But remember, Niles won. Didn't you want to hear the impression? Like you specified that. Let's do it again. And a winner of this award, and this was the first time I tried this, is Niles Gray. Oh, I'm so glad that you picked me for this. I feel that this was a wonderful moment in my life, because not only did I manage to get out of the risk of my lovely Daphne being around a man that I felt threatened by, but also, I never have to go to that dog park again, and neither will she. And in the end, isn't that what a meltdown is for? To get your way. Thank you. And thank you, Vika. Personal meltdown here. I don't know if I regret not doing an accent. I heard a lot of Danny Radcliffe in there, though. Sprinkled it. I mean, obviously, you were all over the map, but like, the one I keyed in on for you was Danny. Well, should I try to do a Danny Radcliffe? Yes, please. G'day, govna! Oh my god. And now, the moment we've all been waiting for. The man of the hour, Martin Crane. He is being honored tonight for his remarkable achievement. In fact, a lifetime of achievement. That's right. He's this year's recipient of the Lifetime of Being a Dick Award. Let's look back at some of the key moments that built to this landmark distinction. It's extinction. I thought you were saying extinction, yeah. Distinction. I asked you to help me, Martin, not take over. You're acting like my mother. Yeah, how she talks to me. After all I've done for her, this is the thanks I give. Give him to me. No. You know what they say about people who protest too much? I know what you used to say. They should all be tear-gassed. I still think that, you know. I get it. You can't stand your kids. No. No, no. They can't stand me. Kids that age don't want to talk to their dad. I never stopped talking to you. I know, buddy. You know what? We should get married. Really make them suffer. Dad just said you would help me with this. Well, that's because you said we were going to do a practical joke. I thought it'd be fun. I know I always told you boys that sports aren't important. But they are. He kissed you. Well, he's a man of the theater. He kisses everyone. One of my sons just got picked up by a guy. My other son is jealous. Yep. Life is good. Fathers and sons should do fun things together. No, Grandpa don't do fun things together. Hey, leave me out of this. That's why he's coming along as well. Good work, Freddy. I'm going to have to go through her unmentionables. Mama likes an audience. Good. His daddy likes to watch. I thought you brought her here for me. Since when do I bring you women? Hello. Who's Dad? Dad, for God's sake. Isn't there enough on your plate as it is? What can I tell you? Daddy's got a big appetite. Is it my imagination that she gained weight since breakfast? Which seat is? Eight, nine, or ten. Yeah, no cracks, old man. I know I've gotten heavy and I've resolved to do something about it. I just thought of something funny. It took three cranes to lift you. There are professionals who can help. Yeah, they can wire your jaw shut, staple your stomach, put a balloon in your gut. I was getting pretty big, wasn't I? Big? You were ginormous. You're so beautiful. And they'll stay like that as long as she keeps breastfeeding. All right, that's enough. Marty's been a horrible dick for the entire season. And now we've officially labeled him a lifetime of being a dick. So whatever we see in the future, this is going to stick. So for all of our Marty-loving Frasier fans out there, you're wrong. I think we should celebrate the fact that he's such a dick and we all agree now. This is a thing that you guys, for a long time, were like, no, he's not a dick. He's a good person. And then it's like, the more we get into this, the less that seems to be true. We are not at the halfway point, but we're getting there. And there's never even really been a hint that he's a good person. There's not even like the slightest inkling that he might be. We get a few moments sprinkled throughout of him being normal. Like not, like very neutral. Like not good, not bad. Just like a normal person. We get a few moments of him being kind of sweet and good to his sons or to son or to doubt. Like we get some moments of him being nice, but we also get a ton of episodes where he's stealing a dog, for instance. I forgot about the dog thing. Oh my God. That was, that was a bottom tier moment for him. Even for Marty, that was tough. I thought I was in the wrong, but it's very clear that maybe he has a strong season one and you guys all have the warm fuzzies from that. But it's very clear that everyone is very wrong about Marty. I mean, there is such a thing as like Flandersization. Like I know in the show Friends, which I haven't really watched in a long time, but it's my recollection that Phoebe starts out as this sort of quirky, weird, kind of aloof girl. And by the end of the series, she's actually quite mean and like always being mean to people. And I feel like that can happen where a character kind of evolves and they start writing them differently. And I, I'm hoping that's what happened. Like I'm, I'm still hopeful that we're going to get some early seasons, Marty, that is like charming and folksy and nice and sweet and thoughtful. But none of the evidence we've gotten points to that, unfortunately. I mean, we are well, well past a third of the way through this thing. And there's, there's not even a hint of it so far. Like you said about, he's, he's normal sometimes. And that's not even that often. It's crazy actually how little that comes. He felt more normal in season 11 than he has the next three seasons. Even when he's not being like a monster in terms of being mean to people, sometimes he's just a monster in his takes, like ketchup in chili. Oh my God, I forgot. What are you doing? What are you doing? Obviously it's going to have to turn around. Like you guys are all hypnotized into thinking he's a good guy. Like obviously something will happen at some point. I thought we would be there already. You guys certainly did. You thought I would be there by like season 10 and it's, I mean, we're not there yet. I thought your opinion would change by now. So now, now I'm starting to second guess that. So it's going to be interesting. Well, Brad, Brad, you've been a little bit quiet here and I feel like you've been less eager than me to sort of co-sign this whole feeling around him. I am leaning towards Ryan more than I expected to be. And I do, but I do still have faith that he will, he will come to the dark side of Team Marty eventually. I like that you call it the dark side. I think that's the correct view of it. Very strange framing, but yes. Like there's just not that much time. Like we're, you know, we're obviously we've got a lot of Frasier to go, but less than I would have thought. I mean, seven and a half years is not a short amount of time for a television show. Let's be clear. There's a lot of Frasier left. Yeah, but just to flip it around at this point. I mean, I don't know. I don't see it. I don't know that he can do enough. Like, I don't, he's going to have to start a charity for, you know, AIDS or something. I don't know what's going to happen that's going to flip him, but it's hard to imagine. It'll probably be an AIDS charity. Well, Ryan, we don't know what's going to change Marty, but do you know what to expect tomorrow when we cover the previous episode at season eight, episode eight, Merry Christmas? Frasier has a magical LSD Christmas dream about Mary Tyler Moore. I mean, are you suggesting that Mary Tyler Moore is going to guest on Frasier from her own show? Like, Frasier's going to LSD dream that he's in the Mary Tyler Moore show. That is 100% what I'm saying now. Yes. Didn't Roseanne do that, Brad? Correct me. Didn't Roseanne do basically that? A very similar thing. Not exactly, but yes. What do you mean? I think there's an episode of Roseanne where she has some kind of a dream sequence where she meets other famous, like, women in television. And it's like, I don't know if it's Mary Tyler Moore, but it's definitely like Florence Henderson. Yeah. Exactly. The Leave it to Beaver Mom. Barbara Billingsley. Yeah. Barbara Billingsley. Good pull. I mean, it makes sense that Roseanne would do a direct rip off of Frasier. That feels in play. Never mind. Roseanne ended before this season of Frasier, but sure. Are you? Is that real? Yes. Roseanne ended in the 90s. I only watched the reruns, I guess. That's crazy. Closes out, Curtis. That will do it for us. Big thanks to our wonderful listeners. They sprang to Apple Podcasts to leave a review. And away they all posted to Facebook, Insta, and Sky Blue. But I heard them email reversepsychpod at gmail.com. Happy Christmas to all who enjoy this sitcom. Oh. Marty overcompensates with Niles and Roz. Marty overcompensates with Niles and Roz. This sentence doesn't make sense. Oh. At the Seabees, Marty overcompensates. Oh, I see what I did. One more try. At the Seabees, Marvy... Oh, Marvy. Oh, Marvy.