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Episode reviews for Episode 11.21 - Detour

Avg. Viewer Review: 66.7%
Number of Reviews: 7

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She's been doing me for ten years, Jun 06, 2013

Reviewer: Sammy J from Melbourne, Australia


"Detour" is an amusing enough episode, but I'd have to agree with other commentators that it has been oddly placed in the season. The development of Frasier and Charlotte as a couple has been quite believable, although weirdly enough by colouring so much plot around the character (her role as matchmaker, her intrusive boyfriend, and now Jonathan's family) we actually don't know all that much about how she fits with Frasier on any level other than visceral chemistry. Still, Linney and Grammer play the various beats of the relationship so well: their shared delight, the earnest developments once Charlotte admits she's leaving Seattle, and the gradual sincerity and enjoyment they experience on their little detour. I very much enjoy the staging and development of the crazed family they come across, played with gusto by Stephen Root, Celia Weston, and Todd Louiso in a wonderfully unnerving performance as Jonathan. While they're certainly far from typical "Frasier" characters, this trio are hilarious.

Unfortunately, from my point of view, I feel that "Detour" is misplaced. Nothing in the guest characters reflects anything in our regular characters, meaning this feels like an indulgence so close to the end of the series. There is a palpable sweetness in Frasier and Charlotte's interactions, from their breakup to the sweet understanding they reach at episode's end. I'm uncertain about a decision to ground so much of the antepenultimate episode in a trio of guest stars, but at least the script is structured very well.

The subplot with the Crane family getting their nannies, physical therapists and strippers mixed up doesn't develop very far - again, feeling a little like we're shortchanging the bulk of the main cast. But it provides some essential comic moments for John Mahoney, David Hyde Pierce and Jane Leeves, and if nothing else, it suggests what I always want final seasons of TV series to suggest: that life will go on, comedically, long after these people have left our TV screen.


Rating: 82%

 

A fine detour for fans, Jun 13, 2012

Reviewer: Tid from SW England


I thought this episode lived up to the high standard of Season 11. The
mix-up between the interviews for a nanny and a stripper, were (despite
their predictability) absolutely typical of Frasier farce at its peak.

However, the highlights were the atypical second half, where - after
Frasier's typical incompetence with all things mechanical especially cars -
he and Charlotte are forced to stay the night with a hicksville family;
somewhere between the Beverly Hillbillies and the Addams Family, with
a dead grandma in a coffin, where Frasier and Charlotte must spend the
night sharing the dead woman's bed.

An offbeat episode certainly, but with some high comedy, and a
delightful "detour" from the usual set pieces of apartment and radio
station.


Rating: 88%

 

Absolutely hilarious!, Dec 14, 2010

Reviewer: Claudia from Saginaw, MI, USA


Kept chuckling a lot; a classic comedy of mistakes plus the weird family parts reminiscent of cheap horror pulp fiction books. Recommend to anyone with a sense of humor!


Rating: 85%

 

Terrible. . . ., Feb 09, 2010

Reviewer: Alexandra Reed from New York, New York, USA


As a 13 year old girl, I found this episode slightly strange, never funny, and almost disturbing. All of the outrageous inuendo with Martin and the stripper was disgusting, and I am surprised that the writers thought people would find this funny!!
As an avid fan of the show, I couldn't really remember this particular episode, but showed my parents anyway. I was quite embarassed and uncomfortablewatching that with them. I didn't finish it because it was TERRIBLE.
As for Charlotte (who I find annoying anyway) and Frasier. . . .
The storyline was odd and slightly confusing. Who would want to know that the father would keep his dead mother in their bedroom, and what was with that creepy son Jonathon.

This is possibly one of the worst episodes, and I thoroughly disliked it.


Rating: 20%

 

great episode, Nov 15, 2007

Reviewer: harry from canada


I agree that some of the secondary story-lines were not the greatest, but I still love this episode for the simple reason that in the midst of all the unfortunate events, Frasier and Charlotte are able to still enjoy themselves and agree to have a three-week relationship. Even though they know the final outcome can only be pain, they are still willing to go through with it because both are in such great need of a wonderful, healing, and passionate experience. You can feel this in a personal way while watching the two great actors.



Rating: 90%

 

'Detour' review, Nov 13, 2005

Reviewer: Jocelyn from London, UK


After three consecutive episodes spent developing Frasier and Charlotte's relationship, this one feels like an episode too many when, driving to Portland to give a speech, Charlotte finally reveals to Frasier that she will be moving to Chicago in three weeks time, only for the pair to miss her train and find themselves having to spend the night with an extremely weird family - Harbin, Sue and their creepy son Jonathan. I found it hard to care much about this bunch of oddballs, especially at such a late stage in the series' lifetime when surely the principal cast members should be the only priority, and the antics of Harlin and Jonathan talking to their dead mother/grandmother in the casket are clearly far more amusing to Frasier and Charlotte than to the viewer. However, the episode is lifted by the funny, if rather too brief, subplot concerning Martin, Niles and Daphne mixing up the auditions for Martin's new health care worker, Niles and Daphne's new nanny and a stripper for Martin's stag party. Cady Huffman is great as 'Amber Licious' and, although not as funny as Frasier's exploits with 'Officer Nasty' in Season 7's 'To Thine Old Self Be True', the scene with a dry-mouthed Niles nervously talking to what he thinks is a 'sex-worker' plus Martin's exclamation of 'You're Hired!' give the episode some much needed laughs. Overall though, while the ending does see Frasier and Charlotte making a decision to spend the next three weeks together, this is a rather disappointing affair which feels a bit of a wasted opportunity for an episode only three away from the end of the show's run.


Rating: 72%

 

Not good..., Jul 30, 2005

Reviewer: Bad Ambassador from UK


Despite some fine scenes at the beginning of the episode, this soon descends into rather an unfunny mess. At this stage in the series' life - only two episodes away from the very end - quite why they decided to centre an episode around a rather tiresome set of guest characters is beyond me. Kelsey Grammer and Laura Linney of course put in good performances once again, but on the whole this isn't an episode to treasure by any means - unlike many of the classics which surround it.


Rating: 30%