Frasier encounters his ideal woman, sportswear designer Madeline Marshall.
Tropes:
- Big, Screwed-Up Family: And in the latest episode of "how on Earth did Daphne survive childhood?":Daphne: Oh, I love to see a man with a cigar. It reminds me of my grandfather. Morning to night, he used to sit with a great big stogie dangling from his lips. Oh, the hours we kids used to spend sitting on his lap, playing with the yellow whiskers beneath his nose. Then he'd take out his teeth with the cigar still in them and chase us around the room! We'd all laugh and laugh... then suddenly Grampa's mood would change, and we'd all have to run for our lives... You can't buy memories like that.
- Chalk Outline: Martin recounts the story of how he and his late wife met standing over an outline at a crime scene. Apparently they celebrated this every year by making gingerbread men in the same shape as the outline.Martin: Didn't you ever wonder why the legs were funny and the head was kinda crooked?
Niles: (horrified) We thought they were dancing! - Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys: An embarrassing scene occurs while Frasier and his date are dining at a French country restaurant:Madame Degas: As if I wasn't pregnant when we got married, eh?
Etienne Degas: Oh, I wish I'd been killed in the war!
Madame Degas: Oh, it's hard to get killed when you run the other way! - Cigar Chomper: Martin, Niles, and even Daphne, to Frasier's annoyance.
- Divorce Is Temporary: This apparently happened the last time Madeline dated a divorced man, which is why she's cautious about going back to Frasier after he and Lilith reunite.
- Hypocritical Humor:
- Martin receives a box of illegal Cuban cigars from a buddy in U.S. Customs, who confiscated them from a schoolteacher trying to smuggle them into the country.Martin: I mean, when are people going to learn? Rules are only rules when they apply to everybody! (lights one up)
- Fraiser attacks Lilith for bringing a new lover to Bora Bora, which was a special holiday they had while still married. It doesn't take him long to realise the irony.
- Martin receives a box of illegal Cuban cigars from a buddy in U.S. Customs, who confiscated them from a schoolteacher trying to smuggle them into the country.
- I Have This Friend: Niles gets sidetracked when he counsels Frasier on handling his ambivalent feelings towards Madeline:Niles: If you ask me, Frasier, your trepidation is well-founded. It is possible to move a relationship along too fast, and ultimately marry too hastily. You could find, a few years down the line, that the person isn't really right for you, and then what happens if you meet the right person, someone who really excites you and makes you feel alive, but you can't act upon it because you're trapped in a stale, albeit comfortable Maris!
[Everyone stares at him; Daphne looking confused, Frasier and Martin looking apprehensive.]
Niles: ...marriage. [picks up his coat] I have to go now. - It's Cuban: Martin receives a box of authentic Havanas from a buddy who confiscated them from a smuggler. Niles and Daphne quickly get in on enjoying them, to Frasier's annoyance.
- Not What It Looks Like: Frasier enters and sees Niles and Daphne in something very close to, but not quite, a lip-lock:
- Poor Communication Kills: In the second part, this is what kills Frasier's chances with Madeline. Lilith shows up and acts like her coming around without warning is normal, causing Madeline to assume they're getting back together. At no point does Lilith think she should have explained she was there to tell Frasier she was getting married to someone else.
- Special Guest: JoBeth Williams as Madeline Marshall.
- Vacation Episode
- Wham Shot: The woman on the balcony next to Frasier and Madeline's hears his name being called and turns around, revealing that it's Lilith.
