Over coffee at Cafe Nervosa, Niles asks Frasier if he thinks Niles and Maris are meant to be together and in typical Frasier fashion, he over-analyzes the question.
Tropes:
- Armor-Piercing Question: "Do you think Maris and I are meant to be together?"
- Bait-and-Switch: In The Tag, it looks like we might be about to see Maris' face... then it turns out Marta is just delivering breakfast to Niles, so he can deliver it to Maris upstairs.
- Blatant Lies: Niles insists Maris ringing the bell doesn't mean he has to answer to it.
- Downer Ending: Frasier spends days agonizing over his response to Niles's question, and eventually comes to the conclusion "no". However, when he comes to tell Niles, Maris is already there, and despite Niles's assurances, she's treating him worse than ever.
