Frasier – Reindeer Games

By starrymag | December 13, 2023

By: Atiya Irvin-Mitchell

 

 

Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) is opening a box of Christmas decorations. Most of them belong to his father, Martin, when Freddy (Jack Cutmore-Scott) sees the dancing Santa he remembers seeing it as a kid. Frasier admits that he misses Christmases in Seattle, now his father’s gone, and everyone is scattered. Freddy suggests they invite some people over and Fraiser wants to have a big party. Freddy tells Frasier that since Christmas is only a few days away there isn’t enough time to plan a big fancy party, which means it’ll be a disaster. Frasier agrees, but later he shows up to the bar and invites everyone to the Christmas Eve party. Freddy points out that they just discussed why that would be a terrible idea, but Frasier is undeterred.

 

At the apartment Freddy runs into Eve who looks pretty sad. She tells Freddy she doesn’t think she will make it to the party. When Freddy asks why she says it’s because it’s the first Christmas since Adam died and she’s having a pretty hard time. If she went to the party Eve thinks she would bring everyone down. Freddy points out that they are talking about a group of people who are free for a Christmas Eve party days before Christmas. Jokes aside Freddy understands because he misses David, too. When he asks if Eve (Jess Salgueiro) will be okay, she says she has a Hallmark movie lined up. However, Freddy offers to keep her company. Eve reminds him that he promised his father he’d be there for his party. Freddy says he can help two people in one night.

 

Freddy goes back to the apartment and tells his father that his Christmas surprise isn’t here yet. Fraiser says it’s okay because Freddy is here, but he still wants him to change. David (Anders Keith) shows up because his flight was delayed, but he says it’s okay because now he gets to see his uncle’s reaction. To what? He planned to order one tree and twenty-four chairs, but he accidentally ordered twenty-four trees and one chair. His apartment looks like a Christmas tree farm as opposed to a place to have a sit-down dinner. Freddy suggests they make it a buffet, but Fraiser doesn’t like the lack of elegance. Freddy promises to fix it and he and David move the trees so that there is more room to mingle.

 

Fraiser worries that as Scrooge is visited by three ghosts, he’ll have three more mishaps that mess up the party. Freddy promises he’ll try to mitigate the damage. Corny (Nicholas Lyndhurst) and Olivia (Toks Olagundoye) arrive. Olivia says she can’t stay long as she has a lot of evaluations to do, but the bureaucracy doesn’t acknowledge holidays. Corny and David talk about how to spice up their interactions because they hate small talk. David suggests they find a way to slip the names of Santa’s reindeer into all their conversations. Corny agrees to it and they start with vixen.

 

Freddy goes to check on Eve and she is crying over the movie. When he sees this Freddy offers to send over Mouse and Nathan to comfort her. She thanks them and they all begin watching a cheesy Hallmark movie. Eve apologizes for her lack of decorations and Freddy promises he’ll be right back.

 

At Fraiser’s party there is another thing going wrong. Fraiser over whisked the eggnog, so it’s too thick to comfortably drink. Freddy suggests they try to repair the texture issues with brandy, which Fraiser thinks is a good idea. After the chat Freddy grabs a Christmas tree and takes it over to Eve who is starting to feel better. She and the guys have invented a drinking game where every time there is a Hallmark movie cliche in the movie they’re watching they have to drink. This means they’re running out of alcohol fast. So, Freddy goes back to the party to steal some. As he returns to the apartment Frasier is welcoming Provost Sharma (Parvesh Cheena) who still believes Frasier has a drinking problem. Freddy ducks out and bumps into Smokey (Renee Pezzotta). Smokey is there to see Eve, so Freddy hands off the champagne he swiped and tells her to take it to Eve. He then runs to get more Brandy. Unfortunately, Fraiser comes out into the hallway looking for Freddy and assumes Smokey is here for the party, so the champagne never makes it to Eve. Of course, Fraiser being so excited about the champagne doesn’t play well for the faculty members who believe that Frasier needs rehab.

 

David and Corny continue playing their reindeer game and Frasier accidentally booked a children’s orchestra. Since they’re all elementary schoolers they’re too busy playing so that not a lot of music is being performed. Because Frasier is due for another disaster, when his Christmas goose arrives, he is horrified upon realizing that the goose is still very alive. And he can’t return it and he can’t find Freddy.

 

On an unrelated note, Olivia is about to leave because she needs to finish her evaluations and she bumps into Moose (Jimmy Dunn). Moose is happy when she discerns that the reason people call him Moose isn’t because he’s tall but because of the dessert. When she tells him that she has to get back to the university, Moose says she can’t work all the time and convinces her to come to Eve’s party.

 

Inside the party continues to go poorly and Smokey is fed up. She tells Corny and David that she is going to Eve’s party. When other partygoers overhear this, they start going to her party as well. David and Corny reluctantly follow the crowd because otherwise they’d be alone. Frasier, who was trying to trade his live goose for a cooked goose, misses the migration so when he comes back from the kitchen he is upset when everyone is gone.

 

Freddy comes back and is talking on the phone with someone about Fraiser’s Christmas present. He overhears the commotion and is distressed to see all the partygoers from his father’s apartment with Eve. Freddy wasn’t the only person who overheard as Frasier comes over and takes in the scene and gets upset. He points out that Freddy promised and says Crane parties always go sideways but this is the first time an entire party has ditched him. When Freddy tries to apologize to Frasier, he says he needed him and Freddy disappointed him. Freddy explains that he has the gift that he got for him, but Frasier says he doesn’t want it.

 

Alone in his apartment Frasier stares at the dancing, singing Santa and mopes. Then, Fraiser gets a text from Freddy that says Frasier’s gift is at the door. He reluctantly answers it and sees Roz Doyle (Peri Gilpin). Roz was the producer of Frasier’s radio show before he became a talk show host and she became a good friend of the Crane family.  Frasier is really happy to see her, and we learn that Freddy arranged the surprise because he knew how hard Frasier’s first Christmas without Martin would be.

 

The part at Eve’s continues and things are going well. Olivia and Moose hit it off when he says her sister is probably jealous. David and Corny agree they had a lot of fun and start another game. Eve points out that Freddy likes distracting himself by making other people happy and it’s okay if he’s sad too.

 

Once inside Roz and Frasier go to a bar and talk a little about Martin. Roz recalls that Martin was a father to him and shares that her daughter is spending Christmas with her boyfriend’s family. Fraiser comments that Roz has been abandoned too. When he explains the situation with Freddy, she points out that Eve and Frasier are in the same boat. Meaning they’re dealing with their first Christmas without someone they loved very much and he’s upset with Freddy for wanting to comfort both him and Eve. Plus, Roz points out that while Eve loved David and Fraiser loved Martin, Freddy loved David and Martin and lost them too.  Fraiser realizes that he was too hard on Freddy and they decide to go to the party.

 

When Fraiser returns to the apartment everyone sits down for dinner. He and Freddy apologize to each other and Fraiser tells Freddy he’s a lot like his grandfather. Frasier explains that it is not just because they both like sports, but like Martin he thinks about everyone else first. Still, he’s probably not going to help him kill the goose.