Daphne thinks Frasier is in love with her when she overhears his therapeutic ramblings following an injury.
Tropes:
- Alone Among the Couples: At least some of Frasier's pain is psychosomatic, as he admits when talking to Eddie and expressing frustration that he's getting older and, unlike Niles or Daphne, has no special someone in his life.
- Birthday Episode: The episode is set on Frasier's birthday, though the focus is less about celebration and more about pains (both physical and emotional) that come with getting older.
- Feeling Their Age: The episode starts with Frasier celebrating a birthday, only to injure his back while blowing out a candle on a cupcake.Frasier: I am not "of a certain age," Niles. I am smack dab in the middle of "not a kid anymore." I won't be "of a certain age" for another ten years.
- Internal Reveal: Daphne finally learns what the audience has known for some time: that Niles is secretly in love with her.
- Mistaken for Romance: While Frasier is expressing to Eddie how he's going to miss Daphne once she's married and left, Daphne walks in and mistakes it for a love confession. The confusion isn't helped when she relays this to Martin and he assumes she found out about Niles' six-year crush on her, though Frasier later clears things up.
- Mood Whiplash: Even with the Status Quo being forever changed with Frasier's confession, the episode still finds time to be funny.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Frasier is absolutely aghast at himself for admitting that his father's chair was actually comfortable while sitting in it during his back injury.
- Poor Communication Kills: Daphne’s tendency to use formalities comes back to bite her in the butt when she says that ‘Dr.’ Crane is in love with her to Martin but does not say which. ‘Dr.’ Crane.
- Oblivious Guilt Slinging: While at the radio station despite his injury, Frasier expresses how he's looking forward to a birthday speech he was planning to give on-air, saying that he'd already announced it twice earlier in the week and only a fool would have forgotten about it...while Roz is rooting through her purse looking for a last-second gift after forgetting Frasier's birthday.
- Sneeze of Doom: Frasier's radio broadcast ends up going wrong when he takes too big a sniff on some flowers he received as a birthday gift, leading to a sneezing fit that agitates his pained back.
- Wham Line: The status quo is changed towards the end of the episode, when Frasier (under the effects of painkillers) says this in response to Daphne wondering what Martin meant about keeping his son's secret for six years.Daphne: When I said to your father "Dr. Crane's in love with me", he said it's been going on for six years now. What did he mean by that?
Frasier: Oh that. He meant Niles.
Daphne: What?
Frasier: Niles. He's crazy about you.
