Daphne Hates Sherry

Tensions are rising in the Crane apartment; a heatwave is sweeping Seattle, Frasier is battling the oncoming of a bout of the flu, Sherry is staying over with Martin more frequently, and she and Daphne are finding themselves embroiled in minor clashes over Martin's breakfast. Frasier, feeling under the weather, is in a sour enough mood without Martin's inane morning conversation about the weather, Martin and Sherry's 'single entrendre' greetings and Sherry's attempts to set him and Daphne up. All he wants is some quiet to read his paper, and when everyone acts in exaggerated silence around him, it only irritates him even more. Over the day, the tension between Daphne and Sherry continues to rise; irritated by Sherry's constant undermining of her attempts to get Martin to do his exercises and eat healthier food, Daphne is in a sour enough mood when she receives a phone call from a complete stranger, asking her out on a date. When she finds that Sherry has been giving her phone number to strangers to try and set her up, Daphne is furious - although Sherry protests that she meant well, Daphne is livid by this unrequested and unwelcome intrusion into her life, and the two women are soon engaged in a heated argument. Frasier - feeling worse with his illness and having had to put up with Roz and Bulldog sniping at each other at work - is in no mood to negotiate between the two, and the argument increasingly becomes a vicious shouting match. Attempting to keep the peace, Martin only makes things worse; when he tries to persuade Daphne that Sherry meant well, Daphne bitterly attacks him for taking Sherry's side and storms out of the apartment. Unable to stay with friends, she is forced to resort to staying at Niles' apartment, and Niles is thunderstruck when she asks to stay the night.

Reviving from his faint, Niles is more than willing to accommodate Daphne; but his apartment is scorching hot, as his building does not possess air conditioning. Daphne fills him in on the details of the argument, and Sherry's apparent reasoning that all Daphne needs is sex to solve her problems, although she does acknowledge that Sherry might have a point, as it has been a while since she was last in a sexual relationship. Making themselves comfortable as possible in the apartment (with Niles not hesitating to break out the champagne and passionfruit), the conversation returns once more to sex; it would seem that Daphne has sex on the brain that night, and the steamy heat of the apartment certainly isn't helping matters. And there's only one fan, meaning they'll have to share the same room. Transfixed by the possibilities playing themselves out, Niles and Daphne are within seconds of giving in to lust... when an alarm goes off on Daphne's watch. It is time for her to take her thyroid pills, which are back at the apartment. Eager for Sherry and Daphne not to make up "...more reasons to fight with one another!", Niles agrees to go back with her to get the pills; back at the apartment, Niles tries to sneak in and out, but is caught by Martin. During Daphne's absence, Sherry has cooled down, and is willing to talk with Daphne again. Over Niles' objections, Daphne returns to the apartment - but she is still incensed by the liberty Sherry took with giving her number out to strangers, and it isn't long before a fresh argument breaks out once again. Fed up with the arguing, Martin bursts in on Frasier - who is taking a relaxing, therapeutic bubble bath - and demands that he resolve the problem. Over Frasier's protests, soon everyone in the apartment has joined him in the bathroom, completely obliterating his relaxation.

Snapping, Frasier diagnoses the problem in a matter of minutes. The situation resembles the trials of the Roman Emperor Tiberius and his relationship with his mother and his wife - or, in layman's terms, a squabble over Martin. As Daphne's primary role in the household is to take care of Martin, she feels undermined and underappreciated by Sherry's presence and occupation of that role; Sherry, for her part, unconsciously wants to get Daphne out of the way and have Martin all to herself, hence her attempts to set Daphne up with other men against her will. At root, both women merely feel insecure, and Martin's know-it-all agreement with this diagnosis is soon punctured when Frasier points out that, in the end, it's all his fault; had Martin been sensitive enough to make both women feel needed, none of this would have happened. It's Martin's turn to feel incensed, but by now both women are friends again, much to Niles' disappointment. He rails against his brother, who in turn points out that Niles knew unconsciously that it would be wrong to take advantage of Daphne when she was feeling vulnerable, which was the reason that Niles brought Daphne back to the apartment. Niles objects, but is soon aghast to realise that he could have avoided Daphne and Sherry's reconciliation entirely merely by using his prescription pad.

[edit] Memorable quotes

Frasier: As we speak, hordes of viral Visigoths are hurling themselves over the battlements of my immune system, laying waste to my... Oh, dear God, you see how weak I am? I can't even finish a simple Visigoth metaphor.