Frasier – Blind Date

By: Atiya Irvin-Mitchell

We open with Olivia (Toks Olagundoye) and Corny (Nicholas Lyndhurst) at the bar being served by Eve (Jess Salgueiro). Eve asks them both if they’d be willing to do her a favor and Olivia agrees. When she steps away for a moment Olivia is annoyed, saying Eve will probably want help moving or a ride to the airport. As it turns out it’s neither: Eve is in a play.  It’s a very bad play written by a friend, but Eve is the star and she wants Olivia and Corny to come see it. Since they’ve already admitted that neither of them are busy Saturday night there’s no way out and they’ve got to see the play. After Olivia wishes for a way out, Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) and Freddy (Jack Cutmore-Scott) walk in looking happy. Corny comments on the happiness and Frasier says that between work and his relationship with Freddy, he has never felt more content.

Since he wants for nothing, Eve says then she won’t bother setting him up with one of her friends. It turns out that Fraiser isn’t so content that he doesn’t want to date. Corny thinks it’s brave that Frasier is still willing to look for love despite love punching him in the face for three decades. Frasier has had two failed marriages and one aborted wedding. This time though Eve says Frasier has nothing to worry about because she is a great matchmaker. Freddy disagrees and when Eve doesn’t know what he’s talking about he says the last girl she set him up with was a dud. Eve is annoyed and points out the girl in question won an Olympic medal. Freddy admits it was only a bronze medal, so she wasn’t good enough – an assertion that the professors agree with.

Still, Eve says that whenever she tries to set him up with someone he picks them apart and talks himself out of it. After some needling about his lack of willingness to be vulnerable, Freddy agrees to be set up too. Yet, Eve has some conditions. Since Freddy picks women apart when given info Eve wants to make it a completely blind date, this means he’ll know nothing in advance. This includes not even getting the woman’s name before meeting her. Frasier thinks the idea sounds romantic and he wants a truly blind date as well. Eve says the deal is the deal and they’ll both have amazing dates for Saturday night. Corny wonders if Eve could find him a date as well since he has a thing for mean teachers.

Saturday night comes and a woman named June (June Diane Raphael) arrives for dinner. Frasier is excited to meet her and she likes his choice of opera music and wine. Then, Freddy comes down he and June meet and bond over baseball. They also bond over a sandwich no one else likes. Freddy thinks that June is his date and Fraiser thinks June is his date. Both of the Crane men like her, but they can’t agree on whose date she is. The obvious solution is to call Eve and ask, but unfortunately Eve is on stage for her play and still playing a very incompetent detective.

In place of an explanation from Eve, they both give their reasons for why June might be their date. Freddy thinks June is too laid back for his father. But Frasier responds that June is too refined for him. Together they try to think of a tactful way to figure out whose date June is. They ask questions, but there’s a lot of overlap so they don’t get a clear answer. So, for a stretch of time they both end up on the couch with June.

When Freddy and Frasier have another sidebar Freddy points out that they’re both supposed to have dates. When the second date arrives, Freddy says that it’ll be obvious which date is which. There’s a knock at the door and a much older woman named Ida (Annie Abbott) is there. She says she’s looking for Frasier, much to Frasier’s disappointment. Then, she tells Frasier that Eve said he would have exactly what she needed much to his horror. They head into the kitchen and she demands milk. Frasier is confused and asks her if she’d prefer wine but she says a baby can’t drink wine. At that, Frasier realizes that she isn’t his date but Eve’s babysitter. She just came over because she ran out of milk and the baby will be up from his nap soon. With that Frasier hustles Ida out of the apartment and Frasier is happy that he’s still in the game – something Freddy already knew when he pointed out Frasier was there when Eve hired Ida a month ago.

Eve goes to the powder room and Freddy and Frasier realize this has all gotten a bit silly and agree to a truce. The truce doesn’t last long because Frasier sabotages what he’s cooking. When June is making a phone call Freddy finally gets an answer. June is telling her friend that she had a date with a firefighter but she’s been clicking more with the firefighter’s father. Freddy is a little hurt by that and shares the news with his father. He’s worried she might’ve picked up on his commitment issues. Frasier tries to reassure his son and points out that Freddy has been very committed to his job, Eve and John. Freddy thanks him but decides to bow out and let him have the date with June. He says he and his father will be great together. Frasier says that he’s sick of getting in his own way and then there’s a knock at the door Frasier’s date answers.

Frasier feels at first that this must be some sort of cosmic joke. Freddy offers to get rid of her, but Frasier resolves to be honest with the woman. When he meets Siobhan (Jacqueline Obradors) the opera singer, he wants to go out with her instead. Then, he begs Freddy to go out with June instead which confuses him, but Fraiser says she could be the one. Freddy tells his father that when it comes to love Fraiser is his own worst enemy. Instead of absorbing that he tries to bribe Freddy with a big-screen TV to take June out.

Both women overhear this and are offended by the Crane men’s behavior. Freddy tries to explain, but they decide they’ve had enough and go have a drink together. Somehow, Frasier isn’t too broken up at the end because he’s taken this all as a sign that he still “has it.”