‘Frasier’s’ Scariest Halloween Episode Will Make You Rethink Your Costume Choice

Halloween sitcom episodes aren’t meant to be scary scary. “Stevil” aside, we tune in to Halloween episodes because they’re a fun twist on the ol’ sitcom format. The characters you love step out of their comfort zone and get a gentle jolt before returning to the status quo. Bob’s Burgers has an episode where the family tries to give Louise the one thing she’s never had: a good scare. Home Improvement showed the horrifying awkwardness of dating in middle school. Bewitched conjured up some storybook critters to run amok through the neighborhood. These are all the right kind of spooks and scares! They’re fun, superficial, and not at all meant to make you think about your own issues! Twenty years ago, though, Frasier looked at all of those Halloween sitcom tropes and said, “But how does Halloween really make you feel?” The answer was—and is—terrifying.

“Room Full of Heroes” is a scary good Halloween episode because it stitches the show’s premise to Halloween rituals. In the episode, pompous radio psychologist Frasier Crane devises a surefire way to turn a holiday that’s all about dressing outrageously and pounding pumpkin ales (for adults, at least) into a night of cerebral introspection. His party game requires all attendees to dress as someone that they admire and then answer randomly selected questions in the voice of their hero… and I’m dozing off just explaining the plot.

It’s not a bad idea for a party theme, if the questions are more Cosmo and less Myers-Briggs. And Frasier makes things worse by being the biggest party-pooper at his own easily poopable party. True to Frasier’s character, he’s portraying Sigmund Freud and he’s snootily annoyed at every attendee’s choice of costume. Roz comes as Wonder Woman, Daphne dresses up like Elton John, Frasier’s dad Marty comes as Joe DiMaggio, and Frasier’s brother Niles is—much to Frasier’s chagrin—Marty.

No one misunderstood the assignment, either. Everyone’s dressed as someone they legitimately admire. Niles takes it a little too far by drinking beer like his dear old dad—but he doesn’t have the same tolerance as Marty. Frasier asks Niles about his—re: Marty’s—greatest disappointment. Niles—answering as his father—starts off harmlessly, saying he’s disappointed he never got to take his sons to see Joe DiMaggio play baseball. And that leads Niles, his inhibitions dulled, to bring up the fact that neither he nor Frasier care about sports. And if that’s true, and Niles’ dad is literally dressed up like a baseball legend in front of him, then it stands to Niles’ drunken reasoning that Marty’s greatest disappointment has to be the fact that he has two sons that “didn’t learn how to be regular guys” and don’t care about what Marty loves.

Marty’s response, as himself and not Joltin’ Joe: “You stop right there. You will not put these words in my mouth. I was always proud of you boys, and I will not be portrayed as some drunken, judgmental jackass.” And he storms off.

Halloween just got too real—and that is terrifying! It’s scarier than a Steve Urkel dummy murdering the Winslows. This Frasier episode Trojan Horsed some Grade-A father/son issues into an episode that was supposed to be about how, like, Frasier’s annoyed by Daphne’s weird Elton John accent. But this exchange, aside from being unbearably relatable, exposes the truth about what should be Halloween’s most frivolous and flamboyant tradition. Those costumes we wear don’t always hide who we are. They can actually reveal who we are, more so than anything we wear the other 364 days of the year.

Niles is dressed up like Marty because he wants his dad’s approval, and he wants his dad’s approval because—as he literally says—he feels like a disappointment. Frasier’s dressed as Freud because he wants to be perceived as important, smart, groundbreaking, etc. Roz spells out what she admires in Wonder Woman: she’s smart, beautiful, and fiercely independent. Daphne’s choice of Elton John makes sense, too; she’s the eccentric Brit of the group, even though her eccentric edges have been sanded down through 9 seasons of will they/won’t they with Niles. Marty chose Joe DiMaggio because what you see is what you get with Marty. He’s not gonna surprise everyone by dressing up as Prince or George Washington or Superman. He’s a straightforward, average Joe hero—a regular guy’s hero, as Niles points out.

The thing is, Frasier’s “Hero Worship” game worked exactly as intended. Everyone came as an exposed part of their true selves—and this is the kinda Halloween plot that can actually shake up your real life. You’re probably never going to find yourself in an elaborate Dracula fantasy or unknowingly involved in a relationship with an evil witch who looks a lot like D.J. Tanner. But putting on a costume? After watching “Room Full of Heroes,” you may start to wonder what your costume choices say about who you really are. This is going to be my fourth year going as Gomez Addams for Halloween which, trust me, would take a whole ‘nother 1,000 words to unpack!

So have fun and be safe and vaccinated this Halloween—and fingers crossed none of your friends make you play a game specifically engineered to bring out your innermost feelings in front of everyone.

Stram Frasier's "Room Full of Heroes" on Hulu