Drama
The Tattooist of Auschwitz
The Tattooist of Auschwitz is a little like its titular character. It’s painful. It gets under your skin. And it just might leave a mark.
Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name.
Well, not everyone in Boston knows who Frasier Crane is. Sure, he spent quite a bit of time there in a certain bar. But by his own admission, he wasn’t his best self the last time he was in the Red Sox’s hometown.
So he moved back to his own hometown of Seattle for many years, hosted a radio talk show offering advice as a psychiatrist, and reconnected with his estranged father, Martin.
Martin has passed now. Frasier’s brother, Niles, and sister-in-law, Daphne, have their own life. Their son, David, is attending Harvard University. And Frasier’s own son, Freddy, is a firefighter in Boston.
Despite all those Boston connections, it wasn’t Frasier’s plan to return. In fact, Frasier was hoping to move to Paris in order to conduct research for his latest book. But then the head of Harvard’s psychology department offers him a job. And after that, he realizes that Freddy needs him, too.
Frasier isn’t sure how he’ll repair his strained relationship with Freddy. But if this fussy, snooty psychiatrist can learn to connect with the late Martin Crane, who was about as much as an “everyman” as you can get, then maybe there’s hope for him and blue-collar Freddy, too.
Frasier ran on television from 1993 to 2004, a spin-off of the sitcom Cheers—becoming one of television history’s most lauded shows. It won 37 Emmys during its 12-year run, making it the most decorated sitcom ever. Now it’s being rebooted on Paramount+. And much like the original, the heart of this reboot is about a father and son.
Audiences will find the same type of comedy and content as before. Frasier is still as uptight and high maintenance as ever, adding to the laughable absurdity of his character. He and his peers like to poke fun at their “low-brow” cohorts. But underneath those narcissistic exteriors are warm, caring people.
However, there’s some mild language. Sexual relationships are often casual. And, like the original, those relationships are pretty openly discussed (and sometimes involve LGBT characters). Freddy’s roommate, Eve, had a baby with her boyfriend. It seems the pair planned on raising their son together and possibly even marrying before he tragically passed away.
And, by the nature of Frasier’s profession, we also hear some pretty serious discussions surrounding mental health. While some of these situations are played for comedy, the show also tips its hat to folks who face these struggles. Freddy tells Frasier how losing his best friend while fighting a fire left him with survivor’s guilt. Martin, as a former police officer who also lost friends in the line of duty, helped him work through that. But after Martin died, Freddy felt quite alone again, putting a further strain on his relationship with his own father.
Is the Frasier reboot going to satisfy all the former fans? I can’t really say at this early juncture. But I will say that content-wise, it doesn’t seem to be any more problematic than the original, which comes as a bit of a relief in today’s TV landscape.
When Frasier visits Boston, he’s offered a job at Harvard. And he decides to take it after realizing how disconnected he’s become from his son, Freddy.
We hear about the death of Martin Crane, Frasier’s father, whom many characters mourn. We learn that Freddy’s best friend died while serving as a firefighter. And we hear other conversations about grief and survivor’s guilt.
We learn a woman had a child with a man she wasn’t married to. However, it’s also revealed that they were in a committed relationship and were planning to raise their child together.
Many characters drink alcohol and express their love of it.
Characters lie, insult each other and are sometimes rude. Frasier’s expensive tastes are a bit off-putting to his son, who prefers humbler settings. Freddy is also upset when Frasier implies that Freddy’s choice of profession is beneath him. A character’s klutziness is played for laughs. A woman says she has a fake gun.
God’s name is abused a handful of times. We also hear a few uses each of “d–n” and “h—.”
Emily studied film and writing when she was in college. And when she isn’t being way too competitive while playing board games, she enjoys food, sleep, and geeking out with her husband indulging in their “nerdoms,” which is the collective fan cultures of everything they love, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and Lord of the Rings.
The Tattooist of Auschwitz is a little like its titular character. It’s painful. It gets under your skin. And it just might leave a mark.
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