Within moments of her appearance at Frasier’s new apartment door, Roz utters a line that will surely send fans of the series tripping through a loop of nostalgia — “Damnit, Frasier!” The two go for a nightcap at Frasier’s new local haunt, a still unnamed bar, and talk through how unfairly he’d been treating everyone in the episode, especially Freddy (Jack Cutmore-Scott). In their usual, symbiotic way, they process each other’s baggage, face some tough truths, and settle into the snug security of enduring friendship. But then you have to watch the rest of the episode.
The episode’s B- and C-plots consist of Alan (Nicholas Lyndhurst) and David (Anders Keith) trying to get party guests to say the names of Santa’s reindeer and Olivia (Toks Olagundoye) suddenly and improbably falling for Freddy’s coworker, Moose (Jimmy Dunn). Actually, I can see the opposites attract angle they may be going for with Olivia and Moose, but there was zero build-up or indication over the course of the season, and plenty of instances where the two were in the same place where there could have been. Alan and David’s game is, honestly, teeth-grindingly dull. But you have to sit through it to get to the good stuff with Frasier, Freddy, and Roz.
Herein lies the problem that Roz’s very appearance encapsulates: it’s impossible to know how good the series is on its own merits because it’s been so weighed down by nostalgia bait, but without that bait, it’s unclear how many people would be watching at all.