Frasier Season 1 Episode 10 Review: Reindeer Games

Sometimes, you just need a warm hug from an old friend during the holidays, and Frasier Season 1 Episode 10, delivers that and more.

The installment was the perfect combination of sentimental, sweet, and funny. It showcases why this series absolutely deserves to get renewed for a second season. 

And Roz’s arrival was the big hug that Frasier and the audience needed.

Because if anyone can tell Frasier what he needs to hear, especially if it’s that he shouldn’t be the lone man at his pity party, it’s Roz.

But Frasier had every right to feel melancholy. This was his first Christmas since Martin passed away.

Heck, it made my heart hurt a bit to see the silver tinsel Rudolph wreath and the singing and dancing Santa that, thank goodness, refuses to die.

Frasier: I used to hate Dad’s Christmas decorations, and now even this old Rudolph wreath is making me sentimental.
Freddy: Aw. Want me to hang it up?
Frasier: I said I was wistful, not insane.

This was also the first mention of Ronee in the new series, and I hope we get a visit from her at some point in the future. Any show is made better by a guest appearance from Wendie Malick. 

Knowing Ronee, I wonder if she sent those decorations to Frasier because she knew he’d both love them and be annoyed by them all at once.

Ronee sent over a box of Dad’s old Christmas decorations. I know. Where’s a package thief when you need one?

Frasier

But Frasier wasn’t the only one feeling a bit depressed this holiday. This is Eve’s first Christmas since Adam died.

It wasn’t really spoken about, but at least Frasier has years of Christmases to remember with his father. Eve can only mourn all the Christmases Adam will miss with her and their son.

No wonder the woman isn’t in a party mood.

Unlike Eve, Frasier’s way of coping is to go overboard with a Christmas Eve party he dubs The Crane Christmas Soiree, and in true Crane fashion, he announces it from a scroll while wearing a top hat.

As the party is thrown together at the last minute, it’s not a surprise when a few things don’t go as planned, but leave it to Frasier to make those mishaps both Christmasy and comical.

The biggest mistake turns out to be the most festive and a stunning visual. Instead of ordering 24 extra chairs and one decorated Christmas tree, Frasier ordered 24 trees and one chair.

Okay, well, the Christmas side of me loves it. The firefighter side of me is thinking, “Oh, this building’s gonna make the local news tonight.”

Freddy

And as silly as it is, Alan and David trying to make party guests unknowingly say the names of Santa’s reindeer was cute. I may just try that the next time I’m bored at a holiday party.

Freddy is the one who ends up running between Eve and Frasier, trying to make sure they’re both okay.

It’s easier with Eve. One moment, she’s crying while watching Hallmark Christmas movies, and the next, she and Freddy’s firefighter friends are turning those movies into a drinking game that has them all laughing.

And in an unexpected twist, Moose and Olivia connect over the old Hallmark Christmas cliche of the uptight businesswoman falling for the flannel-wearing everyman. It was hard not to smile at them, kissing with the fake paper snowfall.

But as with any Crane-hosted party, it was destined for some tribulations, if not all-out failure.

First, Frasier hires an elementary school string quartet instead of the grown-up version. It could have been cute if only the kids could actually play.

And then the Christmas goose showed up very much alive. Good for the goose, not so much for Frasier’s Christmas feast.

The stuffy party, like many before it, has guests running for the door and straight into Eve’s where the laughter is loud and the alcohol is flowing.

Leave it to this stellar Frasier quote to help us remember all of the Crane festivity fiascos that have come before this.

You know, Crane parties have always had their little setbacks. A dead seal, a bird on the head, a bed through the ceiling. A corpse. But never has a party of mine snuck across the hall and gone to another party without me. Never, in the history of parties, has there been one with so much betrayal since the Donner party.

Frasier

Just as Frasier is feeling sorry for himself, his son sends him the perfect holiday gift.

It’s Roz at the door.

One look at Peri Gilpin as Roz Doyle had me grinning almost as much as Frasier and hearing about her daughter, Alice was the icing on the cake. 

Frasier: So, how’s little Alice?
Roz: She’s good. She’s good. She’s been dating the same guy for, like, four years. You know how many boyfriends I could have had in that time?
Frasier: You’ve raised an underachiever.

There’s so much history between these two. They’ve been friends, colleagues, and lovers. Roz was like a daughter to Martin, and she and Niles argued like siblings.

So Roz was the perfect person for Frasier to vent to about feeling abandoned and the one person who could put him in his place.

What Frasier, with all of his intellect and psychological education, was failing to see was that he wasn’t the only person grieving this Christmas.

Freddy lost his grandfather and his best friend, yet he was running around trying to take care of everyone else.

Freddy and David getting everyone back to Frasier’s for a more formal yet festive sit-down dinner was the perfect ending.

Frasier: I’d like to apologize for Frasiering all over everything.
Freddy: I just wanted to give you a good Christmas, Dad.
Frasier: You know, you’re a lot like your grandfather. You look after everybody else before looking after yourself. But are you okay?
Freddy: I’m okay. And I know I can come to you if I’m not.

Father and son have come a long way since Frasier first came back to Boston during Frasier Season 1 Episode 1.

They have a real relationship now, and seeing them reconnect and rebuild their bond has been fun.

I’ve enjoyed seeing cousins Freddy and David become friends as well as family. Alan’s ties to both Frasier and now David are also entertaining.

And, although I can’t say I love Olivia, she has grown on me over time.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when Kelsey Grammer decided to resurrect Frasier, but Frasier Season 1 has reminded me how much I love the character, that I’ve missed him, and how good it is to see him growing along with his family and friends.

So what do you think TV Fanatics? Did you enjoy this sentimental Frasier Christmas? Are you rooting for a Frasier Season 2?

Hit that SHOW COMMENTS button below to let us know.

Frasier airs on Paramount+.

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C. Orlando is a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow her on Twitter.