Niles and Frasier begin to suspect their father of cheating on their mother years earlier after they discover him in a rendezvous with an old friend.
Tropes:
- Armor-Piercing Question: When Frasier insists that Martin should have told him the truth about Hester and Dan, Martin asks him if he'll tell Frederick that Lilith cheated on him. Frasier has no answer.
- Call-Back: Frasier brings up Lilith's affair with Dr. Louis Pascal ("Teaching with the Enemy" and "The Girl in the Plastic Bubble") when he tries to get Martin to open up about Hester's affair.
- I Have No Son!: Inverted for laughs: Frasier struggles with Martin's revelation that he cheated on Hester, and is surprised that Niles seems to have accepted it fairly quickly, (inadvertently) revealing where his biases lie in the process:Frasier: Doesn't it bother you that your father cheated on my mother?
- Lying to Protect Your Feelings: Martin lies to Frasier and Niles about cheating on Hester with Marion, because he knows that it would ruin his sons' memories of their mother if they learned that she had cheated on him.
- Mistaken for Cheating: Frasier and Niles spend part of the episode thinking that Martin cheated on Hester with Marion Lawler while their families were vacationing together. While there was an affair, it wasn't between Martin and Marion - it was between Hester and Marion's husband, Dan.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Once the dust has settles, Frasier notes that the revelation that Martin was the one who was cheated on has somewhat ironically given the two of them something in common; they were both victims of adultery. Martin dryly retorts "Wish it was a birthmark."
- Parking Problems: At Anya's, Niles frets over parking in a customers-only zone across the street, and nearly leaves to buy something to avoid getting his car towed. Cut to the end of the scene, where Niles's car does indeed get towed.
- Purple Prose: Niles's childhood diary, revealing just how purple the Crane boys can be, even when they're kids:Frasier: [reading] "Though summer at the lake seems but a vapid, vacuous experience, it is a necessary tonic for my troubled youth..." Niles, how old were you when you wrote this?
Niles: Almost nine. Which explains the redundancy - 'vapid' and 'vacuous.'
Frasier: Well...
Niles: By ten, my writing had gotten considerably tighter.
Frasier: Amongst other things… - Removed from the Picture: Subverted - Niles brings over a scrapbook with cut-up photos of Martin with someone else, who he assumes is Marion Lawler. After the truth comes out, Frasier asks about the photos, and Martin reveals that the missing woman was Hester, and that she cut up the photos herself after Aunt Vivian made a crack about her weight.
- Sarcasm-Blind: At KACL, Niles takes Roz's sarcastic quip about how she is trying to start a career at face value.
- Wham Line: After Frasier's spent most of the episode grappling with Martin confessing to an affair, he meets up with the supposed other woman, Marion Lawler, and tells her he learned what happened.Marion: I know you must be upset...but if it's any consolation, in time your father and I forgave them!
