Frasier Online Episode Guide -> Season 9 -> Episode 9.23

Moons Over Seattle

Niles is still in England trying to convince Mr Moon that he should come to Seattle with him and reconcile with his wife. Mr Moon responds again by throwing him out of the pub again, but when Niles introduces himself as Daphne's fiancee and says she is desperately unhappy that her father won't be at her wedding to give her away, he relents. When they arrive in Seattle, Niles introduces Mr Moon to his father and brother, but Niles also has a favour to ask Martin - he believes that Mr Moon may be more willing to get back with his wife if he thought someone else was interested in her. Martin refuses at first but agrees when Niles says that if they get back together, she'll be going back to England. So Martin makes out that he is interested in Mrs Moon, but Mr Moon doesn't seem too bothered by it.

Daphne and her mother arrive back from Hawaii, with Mrs Moon in as good a mood as ever. Both of them, however, are shocked when Mr Moon makes an appearance - Daphne is overjoyed, but her mother storms out saying she never wants to see him again. Daphne's mood soon changes though when Niles tells her how he got his father to Seattle, saying she would have never interfered, but Niles manages to convince Mr Moon to stay one more night in a hotel. The next day, Niles decides to take Mr and Mrs Moon to a restaurant in the vain hope of reconciling them - it seems to be going well, but when Niles pops out to get a bottle of champagne, he comes back to face Daphne's parents, at each other's throats and being restrained with their table on fire. As Mr Moon prepares to fly back to England, Daphne finally accepts her parents will never get back together, but her father tells her to hang on to Niles. So Daphne goes over to Niles' apartment and tells him she wants to marry him not in a few months but right this minute........ Meanwhile, Roz fills out a comment card rating Frasier's performance in bed that causes Frasier some consternation.

- Niles is trying to convince Mr Moon to fly back to Seattle with him:
Mr Moon: I can't have you buy me a first class ticket all the way to Seattle!

- Roz has filled out a comment card rating Frasier in bed:
Roz: As you can see, I will recommend you to friends and family members.

- Frasier goes to get Mr Moon a beer:
Mr Moon: Get a man a beer, he drinks for five minutes - show him where they are, he drinks all day!

- Niles tries to convince Mr Moon to stay in Seattle another night:
Mr Moon: I can't let you buy me a suite in a five star hotel!

- Frasier explains he wants to improve his performance in bed, after Roz has given him 4 coffee cups out of 5:
Frasier: My committment to sexcellence, if you will.
Roz: You just lost a cup.

- Roz can recall that Sting was on Letterman that she overheard on the TV while she and Frasier were having sex:
Frasier: I'm glad that my woefully inadequate performance didn't distract you from your ecology lesson (!)

- Henri from 'Chez Henri' call Frasier after the Moons public brawl:
Frasier: Henri, you can't ban me from your bistro - it's my chez away from chez.

- Mr Moon liked the hotel Niles put him up in:
Mr Moon: The towels were so fluffy, I could barely close my suitcase!

The Season 9 finale and certainly an improvement on the previous episode which this one continues the story of. I thought that Brian Coz as Mr Moon was rather good - there were some great laughs from the way he tried to con and connive his way through everything, although Mrs Moon was as irritating as ever. The scene in the restaurant was also quite fun as Niles goes outside of the bistro for a moment and comes back in to a brawl between Mr and Mrs Moon, while using a comment card for Roz to rate Frasier in bed was rather inspired even if it only produced one great moment: when Roz can tell Frasier exactly what was happening on Letterman from the TV in Martin's room while they were having sex. This leaves us with another moderately enjoyable epiosde, and the ending where Daphne told Niles she wants to marry him right now was rather good and sets up a promising opener to Season 10 (10! Can you believe it!)

Only the whole though, while an improvement over Season 8, this Season still seemed some way off from 'Frasier' at it's peak, with a few too many deeply average episodes and some some boring and at times desperate plot lines (I'm thinking Roz's relationship with Roger, and having Frasier and Roz sleep together). Sadly, it was also the last season that Channel 4 broadcast in it's traditional Friday night at 10pm slot as the show would find itself shunted to Monday nights for Season 10 and Wednesday nights for Season 11 at ever later timeslots - a move that would see the shows audience diminish even further in the UK.

Rating

74 %

Avg. Viewer Review: 85.0%
Total Number of Reviews: 4