The Hilarious Frasier Reference To The Original Series Only Hard-Core Fans Caught
Contains spoilers for "Frasier" Season 1, Episode 3 — "First Class"
Thanks to his constantly backfiring plans and schemes, Dr. Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer) is famous for eating crow just about as often as he dines on gourmet meals. Episode 3 of the Paramount+ "Frasier" revival shows that the man's own son, Freddy (Jack Cutmore-Scott), continues the long-standing family tradition of calling him out when needed.
Much of the tension between the father and son revolves around Frasier's inability to come to terms with the way Freddy has dropped out of Harvard and become a firefighter. When Frasier himself starts having second thoughts about his new teaching gig after he finds out Olivia (Toks Olagundoye) only hired him because he's a celebrity, his son has an absolute field day. In a scene that turns their usual guilt trip dynamic on its head, Freddy tears into his father for wanting to quit Harvard and proves that Frasier has a history of being a quitter by rattling out a list of things his dad has given up on. These include Frasier's radio show, his TV show ... and, as an out-of-the-blue example, a restaurant he very briefly operated with his brother, Niles (David Hyde Pierce).
The idea of Frasier and Niles as restaurateurs might seem strange to a casual viewer, but longtime fans are no doubt delighted to notice the line. This is because Freddy's referencing one of the finest moments of the original "Frasier:" Season 2, Episode 23, "The Innkeepers," which indeed depicts the brothers as enthusiastic yet utterly doomed restaurant owners.
The Innkeepers is one of the original show's finest hours
"The Innkeepers" ranks among the 30 best "Frasier" episodes and is an excellent example of the frantically-paced, almost cartoonish combination of verbal and physical comedy the show does so well. The restaurant's disastrous opening night alone is easily one of the funniest "Frasier" moments, made all the more amusing by the way every major character — and a whole bunch of minor ones — get their moment in the spotlight.
It all begins when Frasier and Niles learn that an iconic restaurant is about to shut down and decide to buy it — despite Martin's (John Mahoney) warnings. The brothers proceed to learn the hard way why the restaurant business is no cakewalk, as they lose staff to various calamities and eventually wind up taking care of chef and waiter duties themselves. The results are predictably absurd and unfold under the eyes of Seattle's elite — including Frasier's nemesis, restaurant critic Gil Chesterton (Edward Hibbert). There are other "Frasier" episodes that match this frenetic energy — such as the Season 5 classic, "The Ski Lodge" — but few of them feature the kind of extreme public humiliation that fans the flames of "The Innkeepers."
The Innkeepers and First Class share a theme
The way "First Class" sneaks in a subtle nod at "The Innkeepers" might be nothing more than a fun little Easter egg for fans, but it's also worth pointing out that the episodes share certain thematic similarities. "The Innkeepers" is all about Frasier's hubris, humiliation, and inevitable failure. While its angle and time frame are different, "First Class" deals in the exact same currency. Frasier's television career is far longer and more successful than his brief stint as a restaurant owner, but "Dr. Crane" ultimately becoming an expy of "The Jerry Springer Show" is very similar to the way the restaurant careens from an ambitious effort into a ridiculous slapstick circus. As Freddy points out, Frasier does ultimately walk away from both ventures, too.
Still, there's a marked difference between the episodes. "The Innkeepers" features a younger Frasier who does anything to keep up appearances and is considerably haughtier and less willing to take advice than the older, wearier Paramount+ version. On "First Class," Frasier not only listens to people and heeds their advice but also has moments of genuine introspection ... and even willingly drops the pretentiousness and revisits the clown act after understanding and accepting the teaching job's highly specific demands.
The "Frasier" revival might not be as lightning-paced as the original, but it can still be a pretty clever show. The way it references "The Innkeepers" in an episode that features a similar arc but a dramatically different outcome might just be a smartly concealed way of showing how far Frasier Crane has come since his Seattle days.