Frasier: How it Rectified One of its Worst Storylines

For 11 seasons Frasier was one of the most popular comedies on TV, mixing smart humour with genuine heart and a cast of some of the finest comedy performers ever gathered together. It’s my second favourite TV show of all time and I adore it. However, as many people agree, it lost it’s way in its 8th season.

After Niles and Daphne finally got together, some say that the show lost its spark. I don’t agree, the show may have been a little iffy in its 8th year but I feel like with every subsequent season it improved on the prior, eventually returning to its former glory in its final season.

Yet it was the one story in this 8th season that presumably gave it its bad reputation. When Jane Leeves (Daphne) became pregnant the writers were faced with the fairly common problem of having an actress be pregnant during the recording of a show in which the character wasn’t.

Throughout TV and Film, writers have had some good and bad ideas to work the real life pregnancies into the story but with Frasier, the solution was to have Daphne gain a lot of weight due to overeating. It was a storyline that happened gradually from the start of the season and built up to when she went away for a few episodes to a spa to lose weight.

Despite the best efforts of the cast, it was a rather embarrassing story with a number of good and bad jokes about her weight and a rather unimaginative course of action for her character. It was far too early for Niles and Daphne to have a baby and to have it be Donnie’s would have been a far too hefty dramatic storyline.

Yet, despite the poor storytelling, I think that the episode in which Daphne returned from the spa, having lost weight, managed to rectify the story with a poignant and well-written conclusion.

In ‘Daphne Returns’ the drama comes from Daphne telling Niles about a therapist she had whilst at the spa who gave a theory on why she overate. Niles laughs at the notion and puts down the therapist, only turning Daphne against him in a tense argument in the middle of the episode.

Frasier confronts Niles at his office and proceeds to help Niles analyse his relationship with Daphne, going through Niles’s memories of Daphne.

“Niles: Help me understand. Why is everyone acting like I’ve done something wrong? The only thing I am guilty of is loving Daphne, and that’s all I’ve ever done.
Dr. Frasier Crane: Yes, and how did you love her? From afar. You were never in love *with* her, you were in love *at* her. Now, you’ve been given a chance to experience her in a real relationship and yet for some reason, you’re resisting it. Rather than see her as she really is, you keep holding on to the memory.
Niles: No, that’s not true.
Dr. Frasier Crane: Niles, the woman gained sixty pounds! And everyone in the world saw it but you. All you ever saw was a perfect woman in a red dress.
[long pause]
Niles: Okay. If you’re right, and that’s a big "if”, why would I do that?
Dr. Frasier Crane: Maybe Daphne’s not the only one who’s afraid she won’t measure up. Maybe you’re afraid too. After all, if it turns out she’s not perfect, then there’s a chance things won’t work out. Then not only will you lose Daphne, but you’ll have wasted the last seven years of your life chasing an illusion“

This is the key quote from towards the end of the episode and it’s the one that has the most resonance. The analysis of the Niles and Daphne’s relationship is excellently written and underlines some of the issues between the couple that might not have been as obvious.

After 7 years of longing, this is the moment that gets these things out in the open, bringing the two of them down to each other’s levels. Instead of either person feeling inadequate with each other they talk about the others flaws and become a more grounded couple.

This also coincides with their first time having sex, which brings their relationship to a more mature and adult place, as they move past the almost fairytale true love aspect that defined the beginning of their romance.

With these dramatic conflicts and resolutions, I feel like the writers managed to turn an uncomfortable story into a remarkably affecting and important one. The relationship between Daphne and Niles helped to define Frasier and with this episode, it managed to bring a poor story back from the brink of poor taste.