I can’t think of a single thing to write for a while now.
Late night was on hiatus for a week. I am pacing through Breaking Bad, which is
not exactly recent news. It has not necessarily been a cheery week, which once
again seems to fall on said late night hiatus. Curious. Anyway, when things are
a little gloomy, I turn to my favourite forbidden pastime; re watching my
favourite shows. Why forbidden, I hear you ask. Mostly because when I allow
myself to re watch my favourite shows I end up watching Breaking Bad five to
ten years later than I should have!
I must have seen Frasier about five times from start to
almost finish; I have seen the very last episode only once. I would love to
know if I am the only idiot who sometimes refuses to watch the last episode of
a series, as if that will magically create new episodes. But Frasier is a safe
choice to watch when you are down. Hell, it is a safe choice to watch
regardless. It is hilarious, witty, improves your vocabulary (no joke), allows
you to namedrop Copernicus during certain psychology lectures (again, no joke)
and while the characters are incredibly loveable, it is not an emotional series
(provided you steer clear of that last episode – all showrunners want you in
tears for their finale. Drama queens). But this time round, I found myself
reaching for an episode that I often think about, but more because of certain
well-placed one liners. Death and the dog. It is an absurd episode where
Frasier’s dad’s dog has not been his cheery self for a couple of days and,
despite Frasier and his brother’s mockery, they call a dog psychiatrist. The
dog psychiatrist makes an appraisal that Eddie (the dog) is picking up
negativity from someone in the household and that is what is causing his
depression. After this diagnosis, everyone in the house begins contemplating
whether its them that’s causing Eddie’s depression. Which inevitably leads to
everyone finding reasons to feel depressed. This might not sound like a great
comedy show, but you just have to trust me. While melancholy takes over the
human counterparts of the household, Eddie spots his favourite missing toy and
immediately cheers up. Our superior intellectuals laugh it off, as, after all,
humans are much more complex than dogs and could not just get over a slump by
retrieving their favourite toy. And then a bell goes off. Daphne, the
housekeeper, had forgotten she was baking cookies! Needless to say, the smell,
the prospect, the sugar gets everyone out of that negative trance and racing for
them cookies. And so Frasier, who is narrating this story to a caller on his
radio show, gives out the following advice:
‘So Alice, even the
happiest of us can find reasons to be unhappy if only we look for them. So don't look for them. Take a tip from our
dog friends - treat yourself to your favourite toy, whatever that might be.’
For me that was Frasier. And then Greek MasterChef, which
may sound like a cooking show but it is clearly a comedy. And then Conan clips.
Oddly, it was not Breaking Bad. Maybe it had something to do with the emotional
and ethical breakdown of everyone you know and love and the confusing,
misplaced feelings of empathy. I mean he is a monster, why am I crying? I
always thought dogs were superior beings, but I had never thought about this
episode this way before, so I thought it might be something worth mentioning.
In case anyone is looking for a freshly baked cookie. And while this post is
clearly a filler due to lack of pop culture developments, I hope it is a
pleasant two minute read. If only, for the picture of Eddie. Who is dead now.
Which I had no reason to mention. But he is.
And here are a couple more cookie clips in case anyone wants
a pick me up:
Frasier – Three Valentines
No comments:
Post a Comment