The Crane brothers take opposite sides in a court of law after Niles is hired by the family of a wealthy octogenarian to testify that he is mentally unfit during a televised trial. Frasier is sought out by the man for a second opinion, and determines that he is simply eccentric, deciding to testify in his defense.
Tropes:
- Attention Whore: Niles is elated at the concept of testifying in a televised court case. When the day comes he puts on makeup and obsessively plays up for the camera to the point of humiliation, and while he doesn’t actually get a chance to testify we can see that it was ridiculously long-winded, dramatic, and apparently only tangentially related to the case.
- Bad Liar: When called out on the fact that he's wearing make-up in an effort to look good for the cameras, Niles tries to pass it off as dermatological medication he's been prescribed for a skin complaint ("By Dr. Revlon?").Frasier: Oh, by the way: your 'medication' is rubbing off onto your collar.
- Big "WHAT?!": This hilarious exchange between Frasier and Niles:Frasier: Just after the show today I was visited by a man named Mr. Giroux. He asked me to represent Mr. Safford.
Niles: What?!
Frasier: Given your involvement with the case, I naturally declined.
Niles: Oh, thank God.
Frasier: But, I did agree to see if I concurred with your analysis and speak to Mr. Safford.
Niles: What?!
Martin: Hey, keep it down!
Frasier: I just have to tell you that I found Harlow Safford to be of completely sound mind... [Niles is clearly on the verge of exploding again] ...and don't say "What"!
Niles: ...Why?! - Big "WHY?!": See above.
- Both Sides Have a Point: Niles ridicules Frasier's diagnosis that Harlow Safford is perfectly sane, because Niles has seen Safford at his worst; Frasier argues that Niles's diagnosis was colored by his zeal to testify in a televised hearing, and given Niles's antics in front of the camera, it's hard to argue.
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: The entire conflict between the Cranes could have been avoided if, in any of their conversations on the subject, Niles had bothered to mention the part about Safford taking off his pants and trying to put them on the cat. Largely justified since it really is Niles' jealousy and desire to be publicly proven as right (and, once it arises, right over Frasier) that is fuelling his side of the conflict; he likely doesn't bring it up to give himself the opportunity to humiliate Frasier publicly.
- Courtroom Antics:
- Did Not Think This Through:Martin: Why are you walking funny?
Frasier: Well, suffice it to say that today I learned that it is unwise to slide repeatedly down a fire pole wearing woolen trousers. - Dumbass Has a Point: Downplayed, since Frasier isn't really dumb. However, once the hearing is over, he is naturally beating himself up over his inability to diagnose Safford's obvious dementia and asks Niles what the clue that gave him the insight into Safford's mental state was. Niles, by this point having suffered his own humiliations throughout the hearing, admits that the main reason he was able to diagnose Safford wasn't due to some penetrating psychological insight, but because Safford suffered an episode during their interview where he tried to take off his trousers and put them on the household cat. He defends Frasier against his own self-rebuke by acknowledging that Safford is clearly still capable of significant moments of lucidity which could look make his mental deterioration look like simple harmless eccentricities to someone who hadn't seen him at his worst.
- Failed a Spot Check: Averted. Frasier beats himself up for not noticing that Harlow Safford really is demented, and asks Niles what "subtle clue" he noticed that tipped him off. Niles deadpans that during their interview, Harlow took off his trousers and tried to put them on the house cat. Frasier feels better, as he is reasonably sure that if anything similar had occurred during his interview, he probably would have picked up on it.
- Growing Up Sucks: Pretty much the theme of the episode, although focusing on becoming elderly and not general adulthood. Frasier doesn’t like the idea that growing old is necessarily bad, and so interprets Safford’s oddities as him finally embracing his inner child after decades of hard work - and not the unfortunate reality that he’s regressing to a child-like state because of dementia.
- After the hearing, Niles compliments Frasier on his positive outlook, wanting to see ageing as a graceful maturity rather than an inevitable decline.
- Hollywood Law: In Real Life, Niles would have been required to prepare a full report explaining his diagnosis for Frasier to review before appearing in court, so Frasier would have known about Safford trying to put his pants on a cat before embarrassing himself with his misdiagnosis.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Once the chaos of the hearing is over and both Crane brothers have experienced their humiliations, they admit the other had a point despite their petty behaviour; Frasier concedes that Niles' diagnosis of Safford was correct, while Niles admits that he really was just in the case because he was looking to be on television. Played With in the case of Safford's son, who we never meet and so never learn whether he was just a greedy jerk looking to secure his inheritance (as Martin believed) or whether he was genuinely worried about his father's alarming behaviour (as Niles claimed); however, either way it turns out he really did have cause for concern.
- Large Ham: In The Tag, Niles is delivering the oration he never got to do during the hearing, complete with rolled-up sleeves and fist waving - to a courtroom that's empty except for the bailiff, who reminds Niles that he's being paid to sit in the judge's chair and listen to him.
- Meaningful Echo: In their pre-hearing verbal joust, Niles gloats that his testimony cites half-a-dozen gerontology studies and includes quotations from sources ranging from the Bible and Herodotus — "you might want to take notes!" Unfortunately for him, Frasier is nominated to speak first, and he immediately undercuts Niles by declaring that he has no intention to waste the time of the court with "dry statistics, gerontology studies, obscure literary references."
- Pyrrhic Victory: Niles is technically proven right when Safford has a mental breakdown during the middle of Frasier’s testimony. But this happens before he has the chance to testify on TV, which was what he actually wanted, so he ultimately just humiliated himself by whoring himself to the camera. Lampshaded, when Niles enters the courtroom while Frasier is brooding over events:Frasier: Now, Niles, before you say anything let me just say this: you were right, I was wrong.
Niles: Big deal. No one got to see me being right. - Scatterbrained Senior: Safford has very childish and alarming obsessions - he eats candy and wears a firefighter hat, has a giant train outside his mansion, and prior to the episode he had been selling assets for a fraction of the price and rode across the country in a freight train with a group of bums. Understandably his family wants him committed. But when Frasier meets him the man is lucid enough to convince him that he’s just trying to have fun in his twilight years and that his family are being unreasonable. Everything falls apart in the actual courtroom, when Safford breaks down and starts randomly acting like a train conductor before Niles can even present his findings.
- Wrongfully Committed: Martin believes Safford’s heirs are attempting to wrongfully commit him so they can gain control over his estate. Frasier also believes this after speaking to the man and believing that he is merely eccentric and that he’s being punished simply for not acting how an adult “should” act. It turns out that no, he really is insane.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Frasier and Niles give this to each other at the end. Niles has a Jerkass Realization about what an Attention Whore he let himself become. Frasier assured him that there is nothing wrong with wanting to be seen for what you're good at, and Niles is an excellent psychiatrist. Frasier was beating himself up for misdiagnosing Safford. Niles told him that Safford is capable of being lucid for extended periods and that if Frasier was biased by anything it was his "desire to see old age not as a time of inevitable decline, but a time when your childhood dreams and wonders can be rediscovered" and it was good to have such a positive outlook.
