Frasier Online Episode Guide -> Season 11 -> Episode 11.21

Detour

Frasier joins Roz in Cafe Nervosa and just can't hold back from telling her that Charlotte's dumped Frank for him - leaving Roz stunned that she would dump "super-hotty" Frank, but is pleased for Frasier anyway. Charlotte then arrives, only to tell Frasier that she can't stay as she has to catch a train to give a speech in Portland, so Frasier offers to drive her to the station as he's always been a sucker for the romantic train station goodbye. As they pull up, Charlotte seems somewhat distant and finally admits to Frasier that she's moving back to Chicago in three weeks and thinks they should break up as neither of them wants a long distance relationship. Their converstaion leads to Charlotte missing her train, forcing Frasier to drive her to the next station - which, thanks to Frasier's slow but steady driving - she also misses. He then misses his exit thanks to talking to Niles on his cellphone, and then the car finally breaks down in the middle of nowhere forcing them to seek refuge at the nearest house.

There they discover Sue, Harbin and Jonathan - quite possibly the weirdest family Frasier and Charlotte have ever come across - they learn that they are preparing for Harbin's mother's wake but as Harbin is still trying to fix their car, Frasier and Charlotte end up having to accept their offer of sleeping on the fold out couch in the living - precisely where the open casket of Harbin's mother is currently residing! After Frasier and Charlotte are iterrupted as they try to get some sleep, first by Jonathan, telling Grandma their secret is safe with him, and then Harbin himself who just wants "one more hug" from his mother, they eventually decide to carry on seeing each other until Charlotte leaves for Chicago.... Back in Seattle, Martin, Niles and Daphne get the interviews for a stripper for Martin's party, a nanny for Niles and Daphne's baby and a replacement physical therapist for Martin all mixed up.

- Roz is taken aback by the news that Charlotte has dumped Frank for Frasier, and starts listing his qualities:
Roz: His eyes, his chin, a bod that wouldn't quit.
Frasier: It didn't have to quit - it was fired!

- Roz tells Frasier the stripper she has found Martin's party has done films in the past:
Frasier: Would I be familiar with her work?
Roz: I don't know - have you sen "Grinding Nemo"?

- Charlotte tells Frasier he's going to have to drive faster if they're going to make it to the next station:
Charlotte: You do realise we got passed by a schoolbus and a pre-fab home!

- Niles is on his cellphone to Frasier complaining that he has to meet the stripper for Martin's party:
Niles: I'm already developing some sort of aversion based mouth dryness as we speak. This is Niles by the way.

- Niles is looking over the clients on the CV of what he thinks is the stripper, who is actually one of Martin's prospective physical therapists:
Niles: The Mayor?!
Becky: I started with him and now I do most of the city council!

- Martin thinks he is interviewing his new physical therapist, but she is actually the stripper for his party:
Martin: Lately she's been having me up on the table, but I prefer the floor!

- Sue, Harbin and Jonathan lead Frasier and Charlotte into the living room where they'll be sleeping:
Jonathan: This is Grandma.

A weird old episode this - in more ways than one - as Charlotte finally tells Frasier she is leaving for Chicago in 3 weeks, but thanks to Frasier's inability to get Charlotte to the station on time, find themselves stuck in the middle of nowhere in the company of a very strange family as they decide whether to spend their final 3 weeks together. This particular plot device wasn't particularly original, and although I found some of the scenes with the family quite amusing (Todd Louiso in particular giving a very creepy performance as Jonathan), I felt the whole plot really add up to much - almost as if was if the writers had decided to put the weirdest people they could dream up for Frasier and Charlotte to meet, and seemed to detract from the episode rather than add to it. The other plotline with Niles, Daphne and Martin mixing up their interviews with a nanny, a stripper and a physical therapist certainly had potential and I found it more amusing than the Frasier/Charlotte plot, but the show has done this kind of farce better in other episodes - though I did like Martin's "You're hired" reaction to seeing his "physical therapist" in a nurses uniform. So while this developed the Frasier/Charlotte story further, this would rank for me one of the more middling Season 11 episodes.

Rating

75 %

Avg. Viewer Review: 59.4%
Total Number of Reviews: 5