Frasier Season 1 Episode 7 Review: Freddy’s Birthday

Lilith is back!

With Frasier’s return to Boston, it was only a matter of time before Dr. Lilith Sternin returned, and it finally occurred during Frasier Season 1 Episode 7.

Frasier and Lilith’s relationship dates back to the 1980s, when they met, married, and divorced during Cheers.

Despite their split, Lilith has always been one of Frasier’s most entertaining romantic matches and sparring partners.

Even with all of the ongoing jokes about Lilith being ice cold to the touch, there has always been a fire that’s burned between these two characters, and even between Lilith and Frasier’s brother, Niles, during an ill-advised one-night stand on the original Frasier.

Although Lilith traded in for her conservative tightly pulled bun for a semi-conservative bob cut, Bebe Neuwirth still brought her A-game and slipped into this extraordinary character seamlessly.

Lilith: Hello, Frasier.
Frasier: Lilith. Dear God. Who looked in the mirror and said your name three times?

I’d been waiting for Lilith’s return since the series began. With Freddy playing such an important role on the show, it would make sense if Lilith was around for more than one installment.

But leave it to Nicholas Lyndhurst’s Alan to come close to stealing the show in that white linen suit and fedora.

The sight gag managed to bond Frasier, Lilith, and Freddy together, even if it was for only a moment, as they mocked Alan’s getup.

Good Lord. What were you doing? Lowering someone into a pit of alligators? Trying to raid a lost ark? Maybe romance a stone?

Frasier [to Alan]

The family joking about Alan’s suit was priceless. I loved Freddy and Frasier bouncing the joke back and forth and then Lilith referring to Jurassic Park.

But kudos to Alan, who not only is in on the gag, but ends it with quipping he has a riverboat to catch.

Lilith and Frasier have always been highly competitive and it appears nothing has changed.

Perhaps Frasier is drawn to competitive people, as he and Niles were always trying to one-up one another, and that was likely the closest friendship in Frasier’s life.

With no knowledge of his and Charlotte’s relationship, Lilith may be the most significant romantic partnership for Frasier. It’s also the only one that produced a child, and that bonds Frasier and Lilith together for life, even if Freddy’s not thrilled about that fact.

I like books about orphans. Wonder why?

But Lilith’s turning up just heightened Frasier’s sense of guilt and failure as a parent. He moved to Boston because his relationship with his son had suffered.

Frasier and his adult son weren’t close. Heck, they were practically estranged, even though neither was calling it that.

Freddy not returning to Seattle for Martin’s funeral, as we heard in Frasier Season 1 Episode 1, was a wake-up call to Frasier about how little he knew about his only son.

Frasier: You don’t know him better than I do.
Lilith: Of course I do. I’ve been present almost his entire life. You were never around.
Frasier: Well, I’m around now.

As much as Frasier might hate it, Lilith is right. She raised Freddy. She did the heavy lifting.

Frasier was the parent Freddy visited on odd holidays and summer vacations, and it wasn’t the same as being there for the day-to-day stuff.

Freddy may have thought that David’s Who Knows Freddy Best quiz was embarrassing, but it gave us a fantastic throwback to the original series where a pre-teen Freddy went through a goth stage that shocked and dismayed his father.

But it sounds like Lilith rolled with that phase pretty well. Not only did she remember the name of the nail polish young Freddy requested, Sabbath Black, but she went into a Hot Topic to buy it. Good Mom!

There’s never been any doubt that Lilith and Frasier love their son, and that’s the point that Eve was trying to drive home to Freddy in this Frasier quote.

Eve: Freddy, maybe this is a chance for you and your parents to work things out.
Freddy: Give me one good reason I should try.
Eve: Because my son will never be in the same room with both his parents, but you have an opportunity here.

Frasier and Lilith drive Freddy crazy, as most parents do from time to time. But Freddy doesn’t want to be dealing with their bickering for the rest of his life, which is why he separates them whenever possible.

But there is a pull between Lilith and Frasier that always draws them back to one another, whether they are kissing, arguing, or talking psychology, and every moment of it is fun to watch.

Frasier: We were in rare form today, weren’t we?
Lilith: Doing what we do best.
Frasier: Strange that in the middle of our sniping, I thought to myself, “Ah, the good old days.”
Lilith: I felt that, too.

As I’m not a football fan, Vince Wilfork’s appearance didn’t mean much to me other than to highlight how well Lilith knows her son and that she was pulling out all the stops to win this contest with Frasier, even though she’d clearly had him beat before it had ever begun.

At least she was self-aware enough to figure that out and to admit it to Frasier.

Lilith and Frasier aren’t a lost cause, at least not as parents. But they’re so good at sniping at one another that, on some level, they’ve grown to enjoy it. If only Freddy liked it as much as I love watching it.

Once again, Eve was Freddy’s sounding board and friend. I don’t know if their relationship will eventually turn to romance. It’s possible, but I hope it’s a ways off.

Of course, that requires that Paramount+ greenlights Frasier Season 2.

There were no scenes having to do with Harvard, and I found I didn’t miss them. I prefer the father/son scenes on this show, as Kelsey Grammar and Jack Cutmore-Scott have wonderful chemistry.

I know the original Frasier was more of an even mix of Frasier’s home and work life, but so far, I much prefer his home life in this series with him interacting with Freddy and Eve.

I’d also like to see David become more than the caricature who gets the bit scenes of awkward comedy. I really think that if Daphne would visit, she and David could shine.

So, Frasier fans. What did you think of Bebe Neuwirth’s return? Was it everything that you’d hoped it would be?

Hit that SHOW COMMENTS button below to let us know. Then check back in for our review of Frasier Season 1 Episode 8.

New episodes of Frasier air Thursdays on Paramount+.

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C. Orlando is a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow her on Twitter.

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