Frasier and Niles skip out on a family wedding and it greatly upsets Martin. They aren't speaking with one another until they surprisingly begin to bond over 'Antiques Roadshow'. Martin brings a Crane heirloom to be appraised and it turns out it is a rare bear clock that went missing from the Romanovs. Frasier and Niles begin to hope that they are heirs to the Russian throne. The big joke is that they are actually the heirs of a Russian prostitute who stole the clock and now the Russian government is taking it back.
It is an episode that used to be played a great deal in syndication and it relies on a joke that we all know is coming in some way. There is no way the Cranes could be descended from the Romanovs and so the joke has no surprise to it. And yet this is an episode that shows what a talented cast this show had. 'Frasier' engaged in a lot of sitcom tropes like this but it's timeless factor is due to Kelsey Grammar and David Hyde Pierce and how they are so in tune with their characters. Frasier and Niles never know they are being dealt a sitcom trope and so their reactions are still kind of funny despite it not really being a funny joke. I love the ending line from Niles
"You know, I remember reading that Henry James once had a liaison with a Russian prostitute in New York."
It is an episode that used to be played a great deal in syndication and it relies on a joke that we all know is coming in some way. There is no way the Cranes could be descended from the Romanovs and so the joke has no surprise to it. And yet this is an episode that shows what a talented cast this show had. 'Frasier' engaged in a lot of sitcom tropes like this but it's timeless factor is due to Kelsey Grammar and David Hyde Pierce and how they are so in tune with their characters. Frasier and Niles never know they are being dealt a sitcom trope and so their reactions are still kind of funny despite it not really being a funny joke. I love the ending line from Niles
"You know, I remember reading that Henry James once had a liaison with a Russian prostitute in New York."
