Frasier and Niles infiltrate Maris's mansion in order to get a note Niles left begging for her to take him back.
Examples:
- Angry Guard Dog: Maris's mansion is, naturally, guarded by them. As Niles realizes, this is why Maris never bothered changing the locks or the alarm code. She didn't need to, she just replaced the dogs with ones that don't know Niles.
- Bait-and-Switch: When Niles goes into Frasier's bathroom to freshen up after a panic attack, a gunshot sound goes off. Fearing the worst, Frasier opens the door to reveal Niles covered in hot foam, on account of Martin's shaving cream dispenser exploding.
- Captain Obvious: On both sides with the hot'n'foamy. Niles at least has the justification of being pretty stunned.Niles: I'm fine. Just a little hot. And foamy.Martin: You know what must’ve happened? My hot'n'foamy must've exploded!Daphne: He was a detective, y'know.Martin: (nods)
- Chekhov's Gag: Martin's collection of ridiculous and unnecessary gadgets, and his attempts to stop Daphne throwing them out.
- Dumbass Has a Point: Martin turns out to be right about not letting Daphne throw out the box full of old junk. Despite the trouble they cause in the episode, the Cranes probably wouldn't have wanted to lose Hester's old lab notes.
- Epic Fail: Once more, a task requiring physical dexterity from Niles results in several fails. Eventually, Frasier suggests rather than trying to aim at the dogs, he just drops the meatballs.
- G-Rated Drug: Niles uses sleeping pills doused in meat to knock out Maris's vicious dogs who are keeping them from escaping the house.
- Mood Whiplash:
- Having sedated the dogs, Frasier prepares to leave. Niles gives a speech on how he plans on leaving with his head held high. Frasier congratulates him, then declares he's planning to "run like Hell!"
- At the end of the episode, Niles cracks a quip about being married to Maris, but his laughter suddenly turns into a full-blown meltdown over the destruction of his marriage. Frasier's attempt to reassure him backfires when they fully read Hester's journal and he reads how "Frasier died". Niles's Freak Out gets worse when he realizes he's just filed for divorce proceedings based on a misunderstanding, and appears to be about to commit suicide. For a few seconds, it actually does seem like Niles has killed himself, thanks to the sound of Martin's Hot & Foamy exploding, but the scene then whips back around to hilarious when Frasier opens the door, revealing Niles covered in shaving cream.
- Pet the Dog: Maris at the end of the episode decides to go into marriage counseling with Niles to reconcile.
- Poor Communication Kills: The plot kicks off when Frasier and Niles read a diary made by their late mother Hester, which states that Niles is incapable of being assertive to females. Near the end, it turns out she was talking about pet lab rats she had whom she named them after, but Frasier never got to that part beforehand.
- The Tag: A neighbor of Frasier's, Mrs. Foster, gives Martin a suit for Eddie, like she did earlier, and when Eddie doesn't like it, Martin puts it in a box. Eddie proceeds to get it out of the box and tear it up.
- Un-person: Niles and Frasier see an offscreen painting of Niles painted out of the picture. Well... almost.
- We Named the Monkey "Jack": After Frasier and Niles learn that the Frasier and Niles in Hester's diary were a pair of lab rats (with rat-Frasier having died shortly before Frasier was born), Frasier realizes that he and Niles were likely named after said rats.
