The new “Frasier” actually employs a similar character dynamic to its origin series, in terms of smarts. Frasier is flanked by two Cranes — one brainy (nephew David, played by Anders Keith), and one contemptuous of braininess (son Freddy, played by Jack Cutmore-Scott). Even though the supporting cast includes other brainiacs like Alan, Frasier’s close colleague (Nicholas Lyndhurst), and Olivia, his Harvard psych department boss (Toks Olagundoye), the episodes rarely turn on Frasier’s smarts, but rather his snobbiness. Alan is more interested in booze than brains, Olivia is more interested in outdoing her sister, and David is more interested in … well David doesn’t doesn’t have much in the way of a clearly defined personality or set of motivations yet. Frasier is essentially alone in his cognitive castle, like a sweater-vested Rapunzel who enjoys a nice Beaujolais, and the series so far has essentially abandoned his brains to skewer instead his taste.
Not so with the latest episode. “The B Story” features two plots. In the A plot, Frasier seeks a fast track to professorship, a “Crane lane,” as he puts it, so he aggressively shmoozes the university provost (Parvesh Cheena). In the B plot (or “B Story,” if you will), David seeks help in an unlikely place after receiving a shockingly low grade in his uncle’s class (it’s a B+). It’s not Frasier himself who helps Niles’ anxious progeny, nor Olivia, and naturally not Alan, who’s always happy to shirk his professorial duties under the safe cover of tenure. It’s Freddy who helps him. Freddy the everyman firefighter, who slams back bruskis with the squad each night and would rather play air hockey than read Aristotle … or so we thought.