Frasier Online Episode Guide -> Season 9 -> Episode 9.06

Bla-Z-Boy

Martin mentions to Frasier at breakfast that that day marks the eight anniversary of he moving in with Frasier, which leaves Frasier a little disheartened. He mentions this to Niles at Cafe Nervosa, adding that he is disheartened by the fact that the whole long time relationship he is going to have is with his father. Martin's complaints about the same things time and time again ( flavoured coffee, etc) just add to Frasier's attitude of annoyance towards his father. Things come to a head that evening when Frasier sits down to watch a TV programme, and is joined by Martin who - thanks to some noisy food and his squeaky La-Z-Boy - makes Frasier even more angry.Frasier storms out, so Martin decides to oil his chair but accidentally steps on the bottle and squirts oil all over Frasier's carpet!

Frasier returns home to see oil all over his precious carpet, and vents his anger at Martin, proclaiming there are no accidents but that this was Martin's way of getting back at him. Martin is so annoyed at Frasier for not believing that it was an accident that he squirts oil all over Frasier!! All this leads to some high tension in the apartment, and Frasier having to replace his carpet. Having moved Martin's chair on to the balcony to take the carpet up, Frasier fails to notice the telescope reflecting the sun's rays on to Martin's chair, setting it on fire, until it is too late. When he does, Frasier manages to accidentally move it and it falls off the balcony and smashes on to the pavement below - just as Martin walks by! Now it's Martin's turn to be angry at Frasier, accusing him of always having it in for his chair, but Frasier can only apologise and say it was an accident. Finally, Martin decides to buy a new chair, but Frasier goes one better and gets a restorer to build Martin's chair from some old photographs together with the same fabric it originally had that Frasier has had specially weaved ..... Meanwhile, Niles attempts to teach Roz and Daphne to play the piano but soon realises people learns at different speeds.

- Daphne is recalling her families sing songs after her brothers rugby matches:
Daphne: Once, one of Michael's teeth fell out, right in the middle of "Four Old Whores!"

- Roz is sorry her friend wasn't right for Frasier, saying she has plenty of others much better:
Frasier: Thanks for starting at the bottom and working your way up (!)

- Martin complains about the way Frasier talks to him:
Martin: See how he talks to me - and on our anniversary too (!)

- Martin suggests Frasier watch his programme somewhere else:
Frasier: Just what do you suggest - that I find a documentary bar and watch it on their big screen (!)

- After Frasier refuses to believe Martin spilling oil on his carpet was an accident:
Martin: That was an accident....
[Squirts Frasier with oil]
Martin: .... This is malicious !

- Martin is distraught after what happened to his chair:
Martin: I accidentally spill oil on your carpet, and you set fire to the to the one thing I care about and heave it off the balcony!

- Daphne relates the tale of her previous piano teacher, who took his own life:
Daphne: I was the last person to see him alive.

- Frasier unveils Martin's new chair, an exact replica of his old one:
Frasier: As for the material, I tracked down the original manufacturer and once I got them to admit to it, I got them to re-weave it!

My original review of this episode was way too harsh, as I have recently re-watched it and found it much more enjoyable than I remember - I guess I was having a bad day when I wrote it. Anyway, Martin's chair has long been the source of many jokes and antagonism from the moment it was introduced in the very first episode of the show, while in 'Give Him The Chair' we see how much it means to Martin. Of course, Frasier has always wanted to get rid of it, so in this episode when it accidentally gets destroyed, it provokes some very entertaining exchanges between Martin and Frasier, plus the sight of Martin's chair crashing down in front of Martin and Daphne was very well done and it leads to Martin then ending almost every conversation with Frasier with "If you don't like it, you can set fire to it and throw it off the balcony". The sub-plot of Niles teaching Roz and Daphne to play the piano was quite amusing, and does contain probably the only erection joke in the whole of the series, plus the episode is rounded off nicely as Frasier unveils an exact replica of Martin's old chair, all of which helps make this a highly enjoyable episode.

Rating

81 %

Avg. Viewer Review: 93.1%
Total Number of Reviews: 11