Frasier – Freddy’s Birthday

By: Atiya Irvin-Mitchell

We open at the bar, Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) and Corny (Nicholas Lyndhurst) walk in and upon spotting Freddy (Jack Cutmore-Scott) and Fraiser recalls that he didn’t tell him he had plans earlier. Frasier says he wanted to spend time with Freddy, but when he notices that he’s not alone he figures that Freddy told him he was busy on account of a date. When Frasier and Corny approach Freddy’s booth they expect to see a beautiful woman; however, they just don’t realize until they get Freddy’s attention that the beautiful woman is Freddy’s mother (Bebe Neuwirth). Lillith and Frasier have been divorced since the 1990s, but as soon as they see one another they fall into a familiar pattern of snipping.

Frasier says he didn’t expect to see her because no one said her name into a mirror three times. Lilith replies by saying she’s never bothered to watch his TV show. Corny is happy to see Lilith, but she has no idea who he is. In response to the snipping, Freddy asks them both to stop as it brings back bad memories. When Frasier asks why he didn’t tell him he was having dinner with his mother, Lilith celebrates the idea that Freddy chose her over Frasier. Freddy says he didn’t tell him because he doesn’t like the drama that their being in the same room brings. Frasier denies that they have any drama, but Freddy says that’s only because there are usually thousands of miles between them.

Changing the subject, Frasier inquires about Freddy’s birthday plans only to be disappointed. Freddy’s friends are throwing him a birthday party and Lilith is invited where Fraiser isn’t. Since Lilith lives in Boston, she’s used to coming to his party. But since Frasier lives there now too, he thinks he deserves to be there. Freddy offers to celebrate the day after with Frasier, but Frasier finds that unfair.  Lilith thinks it’s unreasonable to ask Freddy to make his birthday all about Frasier. The exes start bickering and Freddy says that since they can’t stop fighting neither of them is invited.

When Freddy leaves the booth Lilith and Frasier talk. Once they put their pride aside, they realize they need to fix this. They reason that if they refuse to be in the same room until the end of time that they’ll miss a lot of major events in Freddy’s life. Will only one of them get to spend time with future grandchildren? Or will Freddy decide neither of them should come to their wedding? They decide they need to use this party to show Freddy they can be civil and attend events together.

At the bar Freddy fills Eve (Jess Salgueiro) in and decides that banning both his parents from the festivities is a gift to himself. Eve says maybe he should invite them both because it’d give him a chance to work things out with his parents. Freddy doesn’t think it’s worth it and asks for one good reason to subject himself to his parents’ antics. Eve explains that because Freddy can share his birthday with his parents and her son John will never get the opportunity. With that Freddy concedes and Corny notes that using her dead boyfriend is a great trump card. She responds that she’s never lost an argument yet using it. Before Freddy can take back his ban Frasier and Lilith promise they’ll be on their best behavior if they can come. So, Freddy uses their desperation to get them to pay for an open bar at his party and agrees to let them come.

The birthday party is being held at a bowling alley and things are already weird. Frasier is determined to show Freddy that he and Lilith can be amicable exes. Corny is in a completely white suit because it’s exactly like the one he wore to Frasier and Lilith’s wedding way back when and he hates that she doesn’t remember him. David (Anders Keith) has deemed himself the birthday coordinator even though Freddy asked him not to. And Fraiser struggles to be chill enough to wear other people’s shoes. But we do learn that Lilith knows Freddy’s friends pretty well. He got Moose (Jimmy Dunn) into art therapy to deal with his anger towards his cheating father. Eve seems intimidated by Lilith and is trying very hard to get her approval. Also, Chip (Michael Saltzman), the manager, is so afraid of her that he doesn’t ask her to leave her shoes as collateral. And, no, Lilith still doesn’t remember Corny despite the numerous stories he tells her about being at her and Frasier’s wedding.

Frasier is trying not to get worked up, but he thinks Lilith is flaunting how much better she knows Freddy’s friends. Still, he thinks when it’s gift-giving time it’ll be his time to shine. He shows Corny that he got Freddy a pen previously owned by J.D. Salinger because Freddy was a big Catcher in the Rye fan growing up.  Corny jokes about all of the author’s unfinished work, but Frasier is confident that Freddy will love it.

While this is happening, Freddy meets a pretty girl named Kara (Stefanie Yunger). They bond over being attractive college dropouts. Then gift-giving time comes, and Lilith goes first. When she gives Freddy a football Frasier feels even more confident that his gift will be better. Then, Lilith points out that the football is supposed to be signed and brings out Vince Wilfork to autograph it for Freddy. For the non-football fans out there, Vince Wilfork is a retired football defensive tackle. And Frasier’s gift gets wrecked when Vince is trying to autograph the ball.

Frasier feels like Lilith showed him up in front of Freddy and his friends. Even Corny wants a picture with the football player. They’ve reached the drowning of their sorrows portion of the evening and when Corny orders a dirty mojito Lilith finally remembers him. He got drunk at the wedding back in the day and gave an inappropriate toast and then broke into a petting zoo and fed the animals two thousand dollars worth of caviar. He never paid the once-happy couple back for it.

Back to the Crane-Sternin family drama David has the bright idea to play a trivia game about Freddy. Freddy is not so into it, but unfortunately his parents are very into it. Lilith gets a lot of the questions right and we learn Freddy had a goth phase. And when Frasier gets upset that she keeps getting the questions right, she says he’d know his son better if he’d been around more. Frasier states he’s around now and when he mentions making Freddy’s favorite breakfast every morning it’s revealed that Lilith didn’t know that Freddy and Fraiser were living together. Frasier gloats about Lilith not knowing and the two start arguing which upsets Freddy. It turns out that Frasier and Lilith wrecking Freddy’s birthday parties by fighting was a common theme throughout his childhood. Also, for some reason three years in a row Frasier and Lilith thought their elementary schooler would want to spend his birthday at the opera. Anyway, having had enough of their behavior Freddy tells both Frasier and Lilith to leave.

Later, Lilith comes by the apartment to see where Freddy’s living, and she and Frasier talk. She admits that the apartment is nice and that she did lay it on a little thick with Freddy’s friends. And points out that Freddy lied to both of them because they tend to cause a scene when they’re in the same room. Frasier admits he doesn’t know why since they’ve been divorced for thirty years, so it shouldn’t be this hard. Lilith thinks they both overcompensate when it comes to Freddy because they both feel guilty about divorcing. Frasier feels guilty for not being around enough for Freddy. Lilith appreciates that he’s here for Freddy now.  When they think back on their marriage, they both agree that they had their good times and they had Freddy. The reminiscing leads to them making out on Freddy’s bed and Freddy walks in. This upsets him and sends Kara, the cute girl from the bowling alley, running. Freddy thanks them for yet another “fun” birthday and walks out. Lilith and Frasier look embarrassed and agree they’re just going to split the holidays and Lilith leaves.