Frasier – The Founders’ Society

By: Atiya Irvin-Mitchell

We open with a birthday party that Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) wasn’t invited to but Corny (Nicholas Lyndhurst) was. He tells Frasier to buck up because without him to exclude there’d be no in crowd. Frasier doesn’t feel comforted by that and says he can’t believe that he’s having so much trouble fitting in at Harvard. In other situations, Frasier would say he was being excluded due to his fierce intellect, but he can’t tell himself that at Harvard. Corny points out he’s still new and not everyone was invited and then Olivia (Toks Olagundoye) who was invited walks in with a party hat. After that, Olivia reveals she was invited to a Founders Society party to be considered a member. The Founders Society is very exclusive and the last three Harvard presidents started out as Founders Society members.  At first, Frasier shames them for caring so much about getting into a glorified clique, but then he gets an invitation and he’s as excited as they are.

Later Corny, Frasier and Olivia prepare for the party at Frasier’s house. When they explain their alliance to get in together Freddy (Jack Cutmore-Scott) and Eve (Jess Salgueiro) don’t get the hype. However, they say that if they mutually agree to brag about each other, they’ll seem impressive and not pretentious. When Freddy points out that the Founders Society sounds snobby, they all agree that that’s part of the draw.  And Frasier mentions that Corny’s antics at a party kept him out of a similarly exclusive club at Oxford, so this is a chance for a do-over. The professors leave along with Eve and David (Anders Keith) comes in to talk to Freddy. He doesn’t pick up on Freddy’s hints that he wants to be alone and asks about his relationship with Eve. Freddy explains that he and Eve are just friends, and she was his best friend’s girlfriend so nothing could ever happen between them. If that’s the case, David wonders if he has Freddy’s permission to ask her out. Freddy thinks that’s an extremely bad idea for several reasons: 1) Eve is almost thirty years old and David is eighteen years old. 2) Eve’s boyfriend died. 3) Eve has a baby that Freddy is afraid to be around. David is undeterred, and if Eve and Freddy aren’t an item then he still wants to ask her out.

When Freddy realizes he can’t talk David out of it he figures that Eve’s rejection is the best solution to this problem and reluctantly tells him to go for it. In the apartment across the hall we hear Eve sound annoyed that Freddy gave David his permission to pursue her.

At the party Frasier, Olivia and Corny do a good job of sticking to the plan. They talk about each other’s career highlights and Dev Sharma (Parvesh Cheena) and other Founders Club members are impressed with their comradery. They congratulate each other on their teamwork, but the alliance hits a snag when they overhear that the club is only taking three members. Then, it’s every academic for him or herself.

Back to the lovesick college freshmen, Eve wants to know why Freddy told David to pursue her. Freddy says he thought it’d be funny, but Eve isn’t amused. She says how David asked her out was weirder than the fact that he asked. Freddy asks for a demonstration, and we learn that David got down on one knee and Freddy is as horrified as Eve was. David admits that he’s just not the suave ladies’ man his father was. (Note to viewers tuning in for the first time, Niles Crane was not a suave ladies’ man.) In the interest of preventing David from being slapped with a restraining order someday, Eve and Freddy decide to teach him how to get a date.

Keeping up with academics Olivia spots Dean Melvin but needs air before she speaks with him and instructs Frasier and Corny not to talk to him without her. They say they won’t, but the minute she’s gone they make a beeline for him. Fraiser and Corny start fawning all over the Dean, but that wasn’t the real dean. Olivia finds the real Dean Melvin (Don Lake) and impresses him with her Latin. Kevin the waiter (David Dean Bottrell) gets increasingly confused when Frasier and Corny keep asking him things a dean would know.

Back at the apartment Eve and Freddy keep trying to teach David how to talk to women. However, he’s not great at talking to humans. They have to keep reminding him to talk like other 18-year-olds talk and not be overly literal. Also, they tell him to never ask anyone if he can smell their hair. Eve tells him not to overthink it and that girls respond well to confidence.

When we return to the party Fraiser and Corny have devoted an unspecified amount of time to buttering up Kevin the waiter and Olivia has made a good impression with Dean Melvin. Frasier and Corny are very annoyed when they realize they’ve been had. Oliva is happy that Dean Melvin told her she’s a shoo-in and is open to her recommendation for the final Founders Society spot. Both men make her an offer to get into the society. Fraiser offers photos of Freddy showering (sounds illegal) and Corny offers to go ice skating with Olivia. She’s really into both offers. When she walks away to gloat to her sister, Frasier lays on a serious guilt trip. He brings up all the times that Corny’s silliness has cost him opportunities. At first Corny is defensive and then he agrees, but only if Frasier helps him catch a glimpse at the expensive alcohol. They go down to the wine cellar and get locked in.

Eve and Freddy take David to a bar to try to meet a girl and he’s nervous. He is so nervous that he bumps into a girl named Saara (Cheyenne Perez) working on her computer. She relates to being nervous and they swap self-soothing tips. He sniffs old books, and she recites state capitals. David suggests they go to an old bookstore around the corner together. Then, he apologizes for wasting Eve and Freddy’s time and resolves to do better next time. They’re amused that he picked up a girl without realizing it.

In the wine cellar Corny and Frasier bicker. Frasier doesn’t understand why Corny doesn’t take anything seriously. At first Corny laughs it off, but then Corny says in this life there are two things he values: Frasier and good wine. Frasier is touched by that and admits that, although it’s silly, he can’t shake the feeling of wanting to fit in and be accepted. Corny thinks “good enough” should suffice once you’re in your 60s, but it’s not for Frasier Crane. Still, Frasier does apologize for guilt-tripping Corny and they enjoy some stolen wine. With the bad blood aside Corny admits he was lying about the door being locked and they have a good laugh about it. Then, Frasier realizes he doesn’t need the club when he has a friend like Corny. Moments after this epiphany, Frasier gets the news that he’s been accepted into the Founders Society. That he hesitates for a moment, according to Corny, is a real sign of growth.