Frasier Online
home About The Show Episode Guide Merchandise Forum Reviews Gallery Contact

Frasier Online Episode Guide -> Season 8 -> Episode 8.22

Cranes Go Caribbean
Episode Details

Written by: Mark Reisman & Rob Hanning

Directed by: Kelsey Grammer

Original US airdate: 22nd May 2001

Original UK airdate: 15th June 2001


Cast Information
Main Cast
Frasier Crane .... Kelsey Grammer
Niles Crane .... David Hyde Pierce
Martin Crane .... John Mahoney
Daphne Moon .... Jane Leeves
Roz Doyle .... Peri Gilpin
Recurring Cast
Lana .... Jean Smart
Claire .... Patricia Clarkson
Dr Lilith Sternin .... Bebe Neuwirth
   
   
Guest Cast
Hotel Manager .... Regi Davis
Waiter .... Bernard K. Addison
Hostess .... Terri Hoyos
Guest Callers

Episode Synopsis

Frasier is planning a romantic break to Belize with Claire, and is discussing it with Niles. Daphne overhears them talking about the break to Belize and believes Niles is planning to take her there. When Claire arrives, Daphne tells her about Niles's 'plans', adding that she's glad they didn't rush into going away together. This has the effect of making Claire question whether to accept Frasier's proposal of a trip away to Belize. Niles meanwhile is shocked when Daphne announces that he is taking her to Belize, leaving Niles to beg Frasier for his tickets. Claire however, changes her mind when Daphne says it is romantic to be surprised with a trip away. So with Frasier, Claire, Niles and Daphne now off to Belize, Martin surprises everyone by announcing he is going fishing with Duke - in Belize!

Lana drives Frasier to the airport but she hits another car, meaning Frasier misses his flight. This is only the start of a run of bad luck - his ears get blocked up on the plane, he gets a bad room at the hotel, and he has to wait ages for a seafront table at the restaurant. All of this is putting Frasier in a very bad mood, but he is looking forward to a nice evening with Claire. However, he is troubles by a dream he has involving Lana not Claire, and phones his ex-wife Lilith for advice....

Episode Title Cards
  • Getting There Is Half The Fun

Episode Highlights

- Niles tells Frasier what his plans for a romantic time with Daphne involve:
Niles: A Victorian bathtub filled with champagne, us and a non-slip mat.
Frasier: Romantic and prudent!

- Thinking Niles is taking her to Belize, Daphne asks what the temperature will be when they go away:
Niles: I keep the thermostat at a steady 71, but I'm flexible within a degree or two.

- Niles now wants to go to Belize with Daphne:
Frasier: Niles, this isn't Cranes go Caribbean - I want to be alone with Claire!

- On the way to the airport, Lana says Frasier doesn't know how to be happy then crashes into another car:
Frasier: At least whoever gets my seat on the plane will be happy (!)

- Everyone's at dinner after a hellish day for Frasier where nothing has gone right:
Martin: I haven't seen Frasier this happy in a long time.
[Waiter whispers into Frasier's ear]
Frasier: Out of swordfish too!

- Claire wonders whether Frasier can be fun:
Frasier: 'Fun's been my nickname since Math Camp!

Frasier Online Episode Review

This is the Season 8 Finale and while it harks back to other season's by trying to include everyone, I found it left me wanting. The script failed to make much of the comic potential on offer, with only Frasier's frustration that his 'perfect' holiday with Claire fails to go right the only real source of laughs. There's a dreadful scene early on between Frasier and Claire where they change their mind about going to Belize where they end each sentence with 'I don't know', and while it was certainly nice to see Lilith again in the final scenes, even her appearance can't lift this rather pedestrian episode.

Season 8 started with such high hopes, coming off the back off the excellent conclusion to Season 7, but this has been a very disappointing season to be honest - losing both Christopher Lloyd and Joe Keenan has had more of an effect than I thought possible, and the writers brought in to replace them have delivered episodes of very variable quality, and there have been moments this season which have left me wondering just what the hell has happened to the show. I have been equally disappointed with the way the writers have handled the Niles/Daphne relationship - they have changed both characters so that Niles has lost a lot of his snobbishness, while Daphne has lost almost all of the quirkiness that made her character so amusing previously. Both of them now come across as giggling schoolchildren - which sometimes makes me long for when Niles hankered after Daphne from afar. I hope the next Season can improve on the writing situation, and find ways of making the show seem less stale than it does after 8 years.

Rating

72 %

Latest Viewer Episode Review

Avg. Viewer Review: 61.5%
Total Number of Reviews: 4


Don't be a hero, put down the coconut, May 20, 2013

Reviewer: Sammy J from Melbourne, Australia


An uneventful end to the season that sort of misses the point.

While I adore Patricia Clarkson, Claire is a character who was written as a woman with some perfect qualities seen only offscreen and now, after only agreeing to date Frasier in her previous appearance, seems to be going quite strong. There's just not a lot here to convince us of the relationship, which is a shame because - while obviously the series couldn't give Frasier his perfect woman with three seasons to go - there's not a lot of thought put into the construction of the characters. The writers are just aiming for the endgame. Admittedly, the follow-up - "Don Juan in Hell" - is quite satisfying, but that doesn't justify ending a season on such a sour and confusing note. After a ponderous amount of set-up (seriously, for a half-hour episode that's grounded in the previous three episodes, this is a lot of work), we finally get the characters en route to Belize, even if I don't buy for one second that Martin would go on holiday without telling the kids. (The only things that work in the first half of the episode are Claire and Frasier's uncertainty about the trip and then the jaw-dropping look on Niles' face when Daphne asks if they'll snorkel.) At this point, the recurring appearances of Lana just seem a little odd. I know she's here so that the moment at episode's end can be tied in, and it is nice - if we're honest - to have a character with a different approach to Frasier. But the scene in the car is terribly written. Is the audience on drugs?

Once we reach Belize, things remain quite dull. "Cranes Go Caribbean" reminds me of that dire "Wizard and Roz" in that it disguises the actual point of the conflict - there, Frasier's concern about his own attractiveness; here, his inability to be content - by giving us 20 minutes of another plot altogether before dropping the surprise. There, it was a nightmare involving a robe. Here, it's the idea that Frasier's holiday is going terribly wrong. Only, it's a very half-arsed attempt. Frasier loses his luggage. His ears pop and he has to yell for a while. Nothing remotely funny or insightful comes from this. If it weren't for the reliable cheekiness of Niles' delight about public nudity, there would be nothing to approve at all. As is traditional, the season finale is less outright comic than the rest of the season but here the tension feels manufactured. Is the tone of the series changing deliberately? I could've supported that notion except once we hit season 9, things will be back to normal again. This is just clearly creative fatigue.

So, after 20 forgettable minutes, we reach the crux: Frasier has a sexual dream about Lana. In and of itself, this makes sense. If he's thinking of Claire as "The One", of course his mind will cast itself back over the things he won't have once he chooses her. Lilith, unfortunately, makes a wrong diagnosis here - the idea that he may really have feelings for Lana because she challenges him is laughable! He escaped from her as a dating option quite early, and nothing since then has suggested otherwise. (In fact, the season 9 premiere will back me up on this.) Simply put, this is a mistake of a cliffhanger. It's terribly structured and exists primarily as set-up for "Don Juan in Hell". Obviously season finales often leave things dangling, but here we're not entirely sure what's being left dangling. To a longterm viewer, perhaps this makes sense: the issue is Frasier's own crippling self-doubt. To a casual viewer though, it seriously seems as if the series is asking us to wait several months for the lead character to choose between a loudmouth he doesn't like very much or a perfect woman who has never been anything more than bland onscreen. (With no disrespect to the two brilliant actresses who play those poorly-scripted characters.)

Season 8 has been a distinct step down from the first seven, however it has still had some character highlights and some very enjoyable episodes. At least it ends with Frasier and Lilith saying "I love you". Their relationship is a beautiful, honest portrayal of characters who have known each other for nearly two decades, filled with poignant moments but also frequently hysterical. Why couldn't the writers of these last few episodes apply those techniques themselves?


Rating: 58%

 

Read more viewer reviews of this episode.

Write your own review of this episode and share your thoughts with other's.