Frasier Online Episode Guide -> Season 10 -> Episode 10.05

Tales From The Crypt

Bulldog, still working in the archive room at KACL, plays a great practical joke on Frasier - his buddy finds a exact copy of his car in the scrapyard and Bulldog has Frasier's car towed away to be replaced with the crumpled up one. This leaves Frasier very annoyed - even though he protests he really knew what was going on. So in retaliation, he dreams up a typical Frasier practical 'joke' - he is going to tie a red balloon to Bulldog's car every time the Seattle Seahawks lose so that, over time, he will assocaiate red with losing and will slowly drive him insane (!). Abandoning this idea, he decides on a better one - he will create a spooky atmosphere in the archive room complete with smoke and sound effects and have zombies appear out of the mist - hopefully scaring Bulldog in the process. He ropes in a couple of young actors to play zombies, and Martin and Roz to help too but thanks to Frasier constant critiquing of the actors, as well as having to practice it 4 times make Martin and Roz complain he is taking the fun out of it and leave.

They return when Frasier is about to put his zombie plan into action as he has rigged up a camera in the archive room to a monitor in his radio studio to watch and tape Bulldog's reaction. Kenny also joins the gang watching on the monitor, and when Bulldog arrives and Frasier's plan swings into action it seems to be going marvellously as Bulldog seems truly scared. Things go awry when Bulldog pulls out a gun and shoots one of the zombies, causing Frasier to rush down to the archive room. As Kenny phones for an ambulance, Roz and Martin tell him that they colluded with Bulldog to get him to shoot one of the zombies, and have a laugh at Frasier's expense. The table are turned, however, when one of the zombies 'dies' after scissors are stabbed into his back, leaving Roz and Martin aghast, compounded further when a dead Noel Shempsky is found hanging inside a cupboard. Frasier and Bulldog then spill the beans - they teamed up to make Martin and Roz the true victims of the joke. Although Bulldog gets Frasier to agree he needed him to pull off his prank, it is Frasier who has the last laugh......Meanwhile, Mrs Moon and a kid from Niles' building play practical jokes on each other.

- Frasier's reaction to Bulldog's car prank is mistakenly broadcast on KACL:
Frasier: My car! Not my car!

- Niles and Daphne blame each other for not buying the Halloween candy, but it ends with them kissing:
Mrs Moon: If this is what you two call a fight, you're not fit to be married!

- After Frasier shows Roz his idea for getting Bulldog back using a red balloon tied to his car:
Frasier: I've got to show Bulldog he's dealing with a superior intellect.
Roz: Show them the balloon car!

- Martin can't believe Frasier is getting them to rehearse for a fourth time:
Martin: You said you were going to play a practical joke on Bulldog. I thought it'd be fun
Frasier: Whatever gave you that idea!

- Martin tries to explain why he thinks Frasier's prank won't work:
Martin: Bulldog's good at jokes and fun, you're good at reading and telling people about what you've read.

- Frasier prepares to play his zombie prank on Bulldog:
Frasier: Prepare to see a man brought to the edge of madness.
Martin: I think he's already there (!)

- Jason White's parents come over to apologise to Niles and Daphne:
Mrs White: It seems our children have been feuding - I'm so embarrassed.
Niles: You're embarrassed - meet our daughter!
[points to Mrs Moon]

Playing pranks on Frasier has been done not once, but twice already during the lifetime of the series but it was a refreshing change to see Frasier finally get the better of everyone (even Bulldog) in this episode. I also liked Frasier's 'balloon car' idea for getting Bulldog back - a brilliantly typical piece of Frasier overthinking something. Equally as enjoyable was Mrs Moon's prank war with one of their neighbour's children, it was nice to see her being given something else to do other than just moan at Daphne. All of which plus a welcome cameo from Dan Butler as Bulldog makes for an all round enjoyable episode, all the more surprising given that the episode is written by one Saladin K. Patterson, the writer of some of the show's worst episodes.

Rating

77 %

Avg. Viewer Review: 82.0%
Total Number of Reviews: 4