Frasier – Trivial Pursuits

By: Atiya Irvin-Mitchell

We open at a trivia night at Mahoney’s, the local bar, and Frasier (Kelsey Grammer), Olivia (Toks Olagundoye) and Corny (Nicholas Lyndhurst) are as excited about answering the questions as three academics can be. Eve (Jess Salgueiro) is MCing and casually annoyed by it. Frasier has tried to learn about sports. Even Freddy (Jack Cutmore-Scott) and his firefighter friends Smokey (Renee Pezzotta), Moose (Jimmy Dunn) and Tiny (Kevin Daniels) join the fun as their own first responder team. The questions are pop culture-heavy, so the psych department team gets creamed. Freddy does extremely well because his own interests combined with a childhood with Frasier made him well-rounded. He delivers a victory for his team because of the summers his father made him catalog his father’s wine cellar. And Corny is annoyed that Eve disputed his answer to the person who coined the phrase, “All’s well that ends well.” Wikipedia says Shakespeare, but he had a different name in mind.

Very begrudgingly Olivia congratulates the firefighters and Frasier accidentally insults them. He says he’s not surprised the firefighters won because Freddy is always been incredibly well-educated despite being “just a firefighter.” Fraiser tries to walk it back, but the next day when we see Freddy making chili it’s clear he’s still miffed. Plus, we learn that Freddy was a Mathlete. Freddy keeps bringing up the “just a firefighter” comment and Fraiser says he doesn’t understand why he decided to limit himself.

When  Eve comes over to drop off the bowel she notices the tension and wonders why Frasier’s comment bothers Freddy so much. Freddy feels like Frasier doesn’t respect him or his profession, so Eve suggests he take his father to the fire station. She recalls that she didn’t fully appreciate what firefighters do until her boyfriend took her to the station, so it might give Frasier some perspective. Therefore, Freddy suggests Fraiser spend the day with him at the station and make dinner for the crew. At first Frasier isn’t so wild about that idea but then Freddy points out Frasier said he came back to Boston to spend more time with Freddy so they should be spending time together. At that, Frasier acquiesces and they’re off to the station.

At the fire station,Freddy is trying very hard to prove to Frasier how serious and challenging his job is to Frasier, but it’s not the best day for that. He’s giving a speech about how firefighters have first aid training and respond to natural disasters when he gets pulled aside to do a sexy fireman calendar photoshoot. It doesn’t help his cause when he mentions that the money from the calendars goes to charity, specifically supporting orphans. He declines to take his clothes off for the children with his father in the room.

Then, David (Anders Keith) swings by with the groceries that Frasier asked him to pick up to cook for the crew and he’s looking pretty rough. Long story short, David got locked in the library overnight, so he never made it to bed nor did he get a chance to shower. David greets Freddy and when Smokey and Tiny ask how they know each other David says Freddy’s like a big brother to him. He adds that it’s true now more than ever because his parents aren’t around. Since sometimes orphans spend the day at the station, Smokey and Tiny assume David misses his parents because they’re not alive and not just because he’s a homesick college freshman. They resolve to give David the best day ever. And David keeps trying and failing to impress David.

Later Frasier meets a dog whose cuteness he resists. Freddy keeps hoping for a fire that’ll convey the seriousness of firefighting to his father. And Smokey and Tiny keep thinking David is a down-on-his-luck orphan. However, we do learn that Moose wasn’t nicknamed “Moose” because he’s tall – it’s because he makes a great chocolate mouse. He and Frasier bond over cooking and French cuisine.

Freddy continues being frustrated because he thinks Frasier thinks firefighting is silly. This isn’t helped by David sliding down the fireman’s pole and commenting on the bunk beds. When the crew gets a call to an emergency Freddy hopes it’s a serious case that his father will find eye-opening, but really it’s just a man who got stuck in his doggie door. He’s more interested in talking to Frasier than being helped by Freddy, as he owns Frasier’s book and everything.

Back at the station the David misunderstanding continues and dinner’s ready. Before everyone digs in Frasier makes a well-meaning toast about how much he’s enjoyed getting to know David’s “fraternity.” What Frasier’s going for is that Freddy shares a kind of brotherhood or kinship with his fellow firefighters, but Freddy thinks he means that they goof off like frat boys. Frasier tries explaining himself, but an alert interrupts him: there’s a serious fire that needs his crew’s attention.

While the firefighters attend to the fire Frasier is left to worry and lament that no one ate his dinner. So, he goes to the bar and talks to Eve. She tells him a little about her boyfriend Adam and how much she misses him. Eve says she knows what it’s like to worry and Frasier admits Freddy isn’t his first experience with worrying. His father was a police officer and when he worked late he and his brother were often afraid. To try and distract themselves from the worry, they’d reenact plays in their room. Eve comments that they were strange children, but says Frasier should talk to Freddy about how he’s feeling.

Later, Fraiser welcomes Freddy home with chili and wants to hear about the fire. This is atypical, but Freddy is pleasantly surprised his father wants to hear about his work. So, he starts explaining how he and the crew fought the fire and Frasier starts crying. Freddy tries to comfort his father by reminding him that he’s safe, but Frasier says it’s just the chili. Freddy keeps telling the story.

We get a brief intermission where Freddy asks why Smokey and Tiny want to know what David’s favorite color is. Frasier hasn’t a clue, but they keep talking and eating the chili.