Don Juan in Hell (Frasier episode)

Infobox Television episode | Title = Don Juan in Hell
Series = Frasier
Season = 9
Episode = 01
Airdate = 25 September 2001
Production =
Writer = Sam Johnson & Chris Marcil (Part I)
Lori Kirkland (Part II)
Director = Kelsey Grammer
Guests = Brian Kerwin (Bob Gardner)
Dina Waters (Nanette)
Morgan Nagler (Kristi Mulvehill)
Prev =
Next = The First Temptation of Daphne

"Don Juan in Hell" is the first episode in season 9 of American sitcom "Frasier". It is an hour-long episode, and continues the storyline of the final episode in season 8, "Cranes Go Caribbean".

Cast and characters

Main cast and characters

*Kelsey Grammer – Dr. Frasier Crane
*David Hyde Pierce – Dr. Niles Crane
*John Mahoney – Martin Crane
*Jane Leeves – Daphne Moon
*Peri Gilpin – Roz Doyle

Recurring cast

*Jean Smart – Lana Gardner
*Brian Klugman – Kirby Gardner
*Patricia Clarkson – Claire French
*Bebe Neuwirth – Lilith Sternin
*Shelley Long – Diane Chambers
*Rita Wilson – Hester Crane

"Every woman Frasier has ever dated"

Plot outline

Part I

Frasier and his family are still with Claire in Belize. Niles and Martin think Claire is wonderful (although Daphne resents this), but Frasier is troubled by a dream he had about Lana, and wonders if he is with the right woman. On returning to Seattle, he meets a man at a lost luggage office who is torn between two women, and who asks Frasier's advice as a psychiatrist. Frasier says he must consider whom he would spend the rest of his life with, prompting him to choose his ex-wife over his new woman. This sets Frasier thinking, and on returning to his apartment he finds Claire and breaks up with her, to the indignation of the rest of his family (and also Daphne, surprisingly). He then attends Kirby's graduation party with Roz, hoping to discuss his feelings with Lana, but is astonished when the man from the luggage office also turns up.

Part II

It turns out that this man, Bob, is Kirby's father, who left Lana for his dental hygienist. Now he wants her back, acting on Frasier's advice. Lana throws him out, and then retires to her bedroom. Kirby begs Frasier to talk to her, and in the end he takes the honourable course by advising Lana to talk to Bob, since she clearly still has feelings for him. Returning home later in a state of distress, Frasier finds his family totally unsympathetic, and something Martin says particularly upsets him: "It isn't easy coming up with happy talk every time you can't make it work with a woman." Frasier takes a drive by himself to think about this, and his thoughts manifest themselves on screen as a discussion between him, several former partners (including Lilith, Diane and Nanette) and even his late mother, as he searches for a reason why his relationships often fail. Before the search is over, he is confronted with a crowd consisting of "every woman he ever dated".

Episode title cards

*"Hell on wheels"
*"One week earlier in Belize"
*"Cheese and sympathy"
*"Head trip"

Cultural reference

The episode title refers to the fictitious libertine Don Juan. George Bernard Shaw used the title "Don Juan in Hell" for Act 3 Scene 2 of his drama "Man and Superman", which is based on the same legendary figure. The act is often performed separately as a play in its own right.

Memorable Quotations

"Frasier is waiting to retrieve some lost luggage. Bob Gardner walks in. This is the first time they meet"
Bob: Have you been waiting here long?
Frasier: Time is irrelevant here in the Seventh Circle of Hell.

"Kirby's ex-girlfriend has just arrived unexpectedly at his graduation party, and is furious when she meets his “other lady”"
Roz: I was never his lady.
Kirby: Damn, baby, that’s cold!
Kristi: She’s old enough to be your mother, practically.
Roz: Damn, baby, now "that’s" cold!

"Frasier is consoling Lana after Bob leaves"
Lana: You are a really good f…
Frasier: Don’t. Don’t use the F word.
Lana: "(laughs)" I wasn’t about to! I was gonna say we’re "friends"!