Frasier Online Episode Guide -> Season 10 -> Episode 10.04

Kissing Cousin

Roz's cynical and opinionated younger cousin, Jen, arrives in "lame" Seattle, and proceeds to antagonise Frasier by telling him that London was a parody of itself and Florence is over. Roz, on the other hand, was the most fun person in their home town and Jen is expecting their time together to be as fun as it was when Roz was 20 - meaning that she and Jen go to an all night disco on her first night in town. We also discover that Kenny still hasn't unpacked the boxes in his office, despite being in his job for 4 years - apparently, it's a superstition that as soon as he unpacks he gets fired from his job. Jen further antagonises Frasier by dissing the art museum he suggests Jen visits, and then buys him a bust of Freud because every theory of his has been disproved!

Roz finally palms Jen off on to Kenny, who tells her that her planned visit to Vietnam is a great idea and wishes he could go. Jen then manages to convince him that he should free himself from the shackles of his corporate job and do something adventurous. In fact, Kenny and Jen are so taken with each other they end up smooching with each other on Kenny's couch! However, his enthusiasm wanes somewhat when his planned trip to Vietnam for the both of them receives a knowckback when Jen tells him she travels alone because of a bad experience once but says he should still go on his own. Roz finally has to act her age when she is left exhausted from constant all night parties and tells Jen she can't go - she's old! She also lets a 47 year old caller who refuses to grow up have it as well, which prompts Kenny to finally unpack his boxes. Also, Frasier and Martin are finding it difficult to cope with keeping the apartment tidy now that Daphne is no longer there so they takes advantage of both Niles and Daphne's goodwill to get the place tidy.

- Jen doesn't like Seattle, London or Florence:
Jen: That's why I'm going to Vietnam - Americans have never heard of it!

- Kenny explains that his not unpacking the boxes in his office is a healthy superstition:
Frasier: There's no such thing as a healthy superstition
Kenny: Oh yeah - what do you call washing yourr hands after you've been to the bathroom

- After Daphne starts tidying up Frasier's apartment:
Martin: You're not our slave anymore.

- Frasier introduces Jen to Niles:
Jen: Niles - whoa! Thanks Mum and Dad right?!

- Roz objects to Frasier saying she's old:
Roz: There's still a lot of candy left in this pinata!

- Niles can't believe Daphne is tidying up for Frasier and Martin:
Daphne: Don't forget - I've drawn baths for both of you.

- Martin is trying to get Niles to make dinner, so has a unique suggestion of how to cook seabass:
Martin: I'll just nuke it with some ketchup.

Although Zooey Deschanel plays Roz's rather cynical cousin quite well and there are a number of funny one-liners along the way, I found the Jen storyline to be quite dull overall - we'd seen the 'Bring in someone to rub Frasier up the wrong way' plot before as well as Roz being made to feel old, not to mention Jen's cynicism being aired at every available opportunity. Giving Kenny more screen time was definitely a good idea - we'd hadn't really seen his office before this episode - it's just a pity it was in this episode as his scenes with Jen didn't really work at all. Thankfully, the sub-plot about Frasier and Martin's inability to keep Frasier's apartment clean was great - I loved the fact that Martin managed to get the better of Niles, Daphne and even Frasier in the end to avoid doing any chores. It wasn't enough, though, to keep the episode as a whole being rather disappointing.

Rating

66 %

Avg. Viewer Review: 80.5%
Total Number of Reviews: 6