Season synopsis
Contains spoilers for this season and earlier seasons.
Frasier's second year in Seattle brings fresh professional scrapes and a more tangled family life. He alienates listeners by criticizing Seattle on air, then has to repair the damage, while his rivalry with Niles pushes them into ill-advised schemes such as buying and running an old restaurant. At home, Martin and Frasier make progress in understanding each other, although Frasier still tries to manage his father's feelings as if they were callers on his show. Roz's growing friendship with Frasier also becomes a steady source of frank advice and comic disagreement. During a night stranded in an ice-fishing shack, Frasier also tries to draw from Martin the affection his father rarely says aloud.
Romance gives the season one of its clearest turning points when Frasier falls for sportswear designer Madeline Marshall and takes her to Bora Bora. His ex-wife Lilith and her new boyfriend Brian are staying next door, and Frasier's jealousy spoils the trip; back in Seattle he tries again with Madeline, but Lilith arrives to say Brian has proposed and she has accepted. Frasier gives her his blessing and decides to take Madeline on the proper romantic getaway he had promised. The season ends at Martin's birthday party, where Frasier invites a disappointed Roz to join the family; their bickering and a citywide blackout turn his attempt to cheer her up into a test of his mediator skills.