Frasier's lead writers left the show between Seasons 8-10, and it absolutely showed. These seasons were a slog to watch. They had some good episodes, but most of these seasons were either depressing, unfunny, or just plain destructive to the characters. Thus, I won't be reviewing each season in their entirety since I feel the same thing can be said for a lot of them:
Season 8: This is my least favorite season in the series just because of how oddly downbeat and mean-spirited it is, and it shows in the season premiere. Niles and Daphne are together as of Season 7, but both Donny and Mel try to ruin their lives because of it. I like that they needed to work out the ramifications of the events of the finale, but it came at the cost of the comedy. That's my big problem with most of this season, there's no comedy, it's more of a drama than anything else. It also feels like the new writers were trying to be way smarter than they actually were with introspective episodes like Frasier's Edge and Cranes Go Caribbean that feel more pretentious than they are actually insightful. Not to mention, Jane Leeves' real-life pregnancy being brushed off as her getting fat, the completely attitude 180 that Donny faced, and unnecessary characters like Daphne's family that seriously overstayed their welcome. Season 8 is just plain bad, a shell of what Frasier used to be.
Season 9: While this season doesn't really have any highlights, I also don't think it did anything all that bad either. It's nowhere near as offensive as Seasons 8 & 10 at points, and it's actually kinda funny sometimes. My favorite episode from the season is probably The Proposal, which isn't anything amazing, but it feels like more of a Frasier episode than anything in the last one and a half seasons. I think Season 9 does Niles and Daphne getting engaged justice, along with Roz's dating life. Her relationship with Roger was great, especially the episode that deals with their breakup. The penultimate episode even deals with Frasier and Roz sleeping together in a surprisingly tasteful way that doesn't betray the characters. I think it still isn't an amazing season, the Moon family still has too much focus, but it's an improvement on Season 8, for sure.
Season 10: This season is my favorite of the three, but mostly because it has the most good episodes. I liked the premiere where Niles and Daphne get married three times, along with the arc where Niles gets heart surgery for being one of the seasons' few attempts at drama that actually kinda got to me. I also like how the season deals with the show's lingering questions like why do Frasier's dinner parties always fall apart? and how is Martin the father of Frasier and Niles?, while using them to further strengthen the family dynamic. However, I think the season completely botches up the ending with the Julia arc, which pretty much destroys Roz's character. What I liked about Roz and Frasier sleeping together last season is that they both acknowledged it was a bad idea, so having Roz suddenly be jealous after Frasier's many girlfriends just feels so out of character. It's an awful finale with an awful cliffhanger (thought I did like Daphne and Niles's subplot where they get rid of the Moon family once and for all).
There aren't many amazing episodes in these three seasons, but there are a few I liked:
Daphne Returns: This was the one good episode of Season 8 for me. While I hated Daphne's fat camp storyline, I'll admit that her return and subsequent argument with Niles had some of the sharpest writing in quite some time. It's the only episode of the season that made me consistently laugh, so I thought it's worth noting for that alone.
Star Mitzvah: Easily my favorite episode of these three seasons and one of my favorites in the series, Star Mitzvah is just so inventive and funny to me. The final sequence where Frasier accidentally delivers the Bar Mitzvah speech in Klingon is predictable, but oh so hilarious. And there are a ton of other cute moments like Lilith actually getting emotional for once and Eddie finally going to KACL for the first time.
Rooms With A View: I already discussed my opinion of the heart surgery arc. It might be a bit on the emotionally manipulative side, but I think the show deals with Niles's situation in an incredibly respectful manner that gives all of the cast their own ways to cope. It's not a funny episode or one I'd like to see anytime soon, but I'd glad I saw it.
Daphne Does Dinner: The opening scene in this episode was probably the funniest in all of the these three seasons, we get to see the climax of one of Frasier's typical farcical dinner parties with zero context whatsoever. I kinda wish the episode went in a In Medias Res route so we could see what happened, but I like what the episode ended up being, a meta commentary on said disastrous dinner parties as Daphne tries to hold one herself.
Overall, Seasons 8-10 ain't good. They have some solid episodes and interesting plots, but the writing and comedy is just poor, and at their worst, they have too many awful side characters, assassinate the good pre-existing characters, and include poorly thought-out drama that feels like a drag to watch.
Generally around 1-2 Stars out of 5
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