Frasier Online Episode Guide -> Season 10 -> Episode 10.08

Rooms With A View (2)

Niles is in hospital preparing to undergo heart surgery, and the rest of the Crane clan and Roz are there as well to help him through it. Frasier has come prepared - he has researched the procedure thoroughly and made booklets for everyone so that they too can understand what Niles will go through. Martin is dealing with it the same way he always does when one of his sons is in hospital - pretend there's nothing wrong while Daphne is obviously concerned about her husband but is being strong for him. Frasier then gets into an argument with the surgeon who is about to operate on Niles when he thinks that there is a better procedure than the one he is explaining to Niles. Finally, Niles is ready to go into surgery, high on painkillers, and wonders whether hospitals have memories as we are born and are sick in hospitals.

This sets everyone thinking and we are treated to memories of everyone's experiences in hospitals - Niles and Frasier in hospital, Maris after surgery, the day Martin is told his wife may be dying - while they are waiting to hear about Niles. Martin then wants a Chunky bar from the candy machine and after finally getting some change, the bar gets stuck. Daphne then takes a fire extinguisher and smashes the glass to get Martin his chocolate bar, and breaks down crying, explaining she is scared out of her mind. Thankfully, the doctor comes round and explains that the surgery went very well and Niles will be fine. We finish with Daphne seeing her husband after surgery and walking out of the hospital, accompanied by Daphne and Niles after she has given birth to their children.

- Roz visits Niles in the hospital:
Roz: [whispers to Daphne] Whe is he so pale?
Niles: [whispers to Roz] He's always this pale!

- Maris phones Niles in hospital:
Niles: Dr Ling - give me drugs!

- Frasier gets into an argument with the surgeon, who retorts by saying Frasier can operate on Niles:
Martin: Frasier - you're not operating on your brother!

- Niles is high on drugs as he is about to go into surgery:
Porter: Ready to take a little trip?
Frasier: I think he already is!

- Frasier reels off information about Niles' surgery:
Martin: How come you know all this stuff but are stumped by an electric barbecue fork?
Frasier: Because the human heart was not designed by some idiot in Japan!

- Martin's chocolate bar gets stuck in the machine so Frasier tries to retrieve it:
Roz: What's going on?
Martin: We have a stuck Chunky.
Roz: Why did chunky stick his hand up there?

Any episode that deals with Niles undergoing heart surgery was never going to be a laugh riot, but it showed that 'Frasier' is definitely better at comedy than drama. Indeed, this is a hard episode to review as purely on comedic grounds it would fail although there are a few bright spots such as Frasier learning everything about Niles' procedure and arguing with the surgeon when he feels it could be done differently. However, this episode was more about how the Crane clan dealt with Niles' operation and in particular their prior experiences in hospitals that were nicely integrated into the show by having them come to life as rooms in the hospital - the one featuring Maris was great, while the one showing Martin finding out his wife's prognosis wasn't good was quite moving. On the whole, though, this is not an episode I would relish seeing again as it all comes over as a bit suger-coated and sentimental.

Rating

71 %

Avg. Viewer Review: 93.2%
Total Number of Reviews: 13