Mixed Doubles (Frasier)

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“Mixed Doubles”
Frasier episode
Episode no. Season 04
Episode 06
Written by Christopher Lloyd
Directed by Jeff Melman
Guest stars Kevin Farrell (Rodney Banks), Allison Mackie (Adelle Childs)
Production no. 40571-079
Original airdate 19 November 1996
Episode chronology
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"Head Game" "A Lilith Thanksgiving"
List of Frasier episodes (Season 4)

"Mixed Doubles" is the sixth episode in the fourth series of the American television sitcom Frasier.

Contents

[edit] Main cast and characters

Kelsey Grammer – Dr. Frasier Crane
David Hyde Pierce – Dr. Niles Crane
John Mahoney – Martin Crane
Jane Leeves – Daphne Moon
Peri Gilpin – Roz Doyle

[edit] Plot outline

Frasier and Niles admiring a piece of rare furniture
Frasier and Niles admiring a piece of rare furniture

As Niles and Frasier use Martin's telescope to eavesdrop into another apartment (to admire their rare furniture), Daphne comes home after a date with her boyfriend Joe. After a lengthy discussion of the potato dish they ate, she reveals that Joe, having felt that they weren't going anywhere in their relationship for too long, suggested that they break up. Martin praises her for her calm reaction to being dumped, at which point, Daphne promptly bursts into tears. Niles is extremely eager to comfort her, but is prevented from doing so by Frasier, Martin and, when she enters the apartment, Roz. As Roz takes Daphne out to comfort her, Niles decides to tell Daphne how he feels about her. Frasier, over a brandy, persuades Niles to wait for a day in order to consider it. The next day, Niles arrives at the apartment with a large bouquet of flowers and some high hopes, which are unfortunately dashed; the previous night Daphne met a man called Rodney whom she intends to go out with. Niles is despondent, but determined not to let it get him down, and asks Roz to take him to the same singles bar, where after a brief tutorial in the ways of dating he meets a woman called Adelle, and they connect.

Some time later, Niles brings Adelle to Frasier's apartment. Seemingly over Daphne, Niles' musing about the unpredictability of life is interrupted when Daphne and her new boyfriend Rodney enter the apartment. Much to Martin and Frasier's dawning astonishment, it soon becomes apparent that Rodney is in almost every way a doppleganger of Niles, and neither Daphne nor Niles seem to realise it. Niles is initially dismissive of Rodney, calling him a 'pretentious fop', but his eyes are soon opened after Rodney makes a picky list of instructions for how his coffee should be made in a similar fashion to Niles. Aghast, Niles blames Frasier for dissuading him from approaching Daphne on the same night she met Rodney, and even attempts to attack him with a plastic spatula. Niles' fury only grows when he learns that Rodney even shares his love of smelling Daphne's hair.

The next time Frasier and Niles meet, Niles is not speaking to Frasier. Frasier attempts to mollify his brother, pointing out that he is now in a happy relationship with Adelle. Just as Niles begins to feel better, Adelle and Rodney, clearly quite intimate with each other, enter the coffee shop on a date. Upon seeing them, Niles is enraged by the betrayal - "No one treats Daphne like that!!!" - and confronts Rodney and Adelle. Adelle and Rodney confess that they have fallen in love, and that Rodney was planning to break the news to Daphne that night. Seeing an opportunity to confess his feelings, Niles meets Daphne later that night at the singles bar, only to learn that Daphne has already found out. The two commiserate with each other and lighten each other's spirits, and Niles, seeing Daphne's vulnerability, decides to wait until she is ready to confess his feelings.

[edit] Trivia

Rodney is made to bear a remarkable resemblance to Niles, although neither notices it at first (Frasier and Martin think it's hilarious). Niles catches on when Rodney asks for his coffee with "Just a dollop of foam, such as might give the impression of a cumulus cloud reflected over a still pond", a phrase originally used by Niles.

[edit] See also