My own cabin—in the New York Fingerlakes, not Cicely, Alaska.
It’s been a mild winter so far, here in upstate New York. But just as I sat down to re-watch Episode 4 of Northern Exposure we got smacked with a solid storm. Single-digit temps, a foot of snow and most of Trumansburg shut down to dig out.
I’ve been running the wood stove flat out, and struggling to keep snow off the solar panels. Off-grid living is wonderful, but it can also be difficult. A winter-rewatch of Northern Exposure was supposed to bring a little bit of solidarity.
Yet Episode 4 is one of those warm-weather episodes and opens with Joel playing golf in a t-shirt. So much for solidarity. Ah well. … Let’s jump into “Dreams and Schemes and Putting Greens.”
After the golf-related opening sequence, we get into the main thrust of this episode: A pair of Japanese investors are visiting Maurice and are considering parterning with him on the development of a major resort in Cicely. Joel wants in on the deal, offering to help wine-and-dine them, and work as the property’s part-time physician, in exchange for “a reduction of my sentence.”
The writers are continuing with the idea that episodes will focus on Joel’s efforts to leave Cicely as soon as possible. There is also a second story, and this one is given equal weight: Shelley is pregnant, and Holling has proposed. So Cicely will get a wedding, with Joel and Maggie as the maid of honor and best man—again putting them in close contact.
With one Japanese businessman translating for the other, we get to see Maurice’s racism in full bloom. And again, the show struggles with any sort of contrast, rebuke or acknowledgement.
Maurice: “I’ve got to hand it to you people. 45 years ago we bombed you into a pulp. Now, you practically own the whole Pacific Rim.”
At the same time, Holling vanishes and leaves Shelley waiting at the alter.
A minor arc is introduced: Maurice, who originally brought Shelley to Cicely after she won a beauty pagent he judged (she was crowned Miss Northwest Passage), still pines for her despite the fact that she loves the much-older Holling. He refuses to attend the wedding.
While Episode #4 is a marked improvement over #3, structurally it isn’t anywhere near the tight masterpiece of #2. Rather than three acts, this is essentially a tale told in two. Conflict resolution happens quickly, and without the seamless theme integration that marked the show’s very best writing.
Least-interesting: Maurice’s resort deal falls through. No real reason is given, though it turns out that both businessmen speak English. Perhaps the underlying idea is that Maurice’s racism is to fault, but it’s not explicit.
Maurice also agrees to sing at Shelley and Holling’s wedding, a sign that he is trying to put aside his own feelings for her (and no, he can’t really sing; it’s kind of a throwaway joke—I don’t recall him ever singing again during the show’s five seasons).
Chris, ordained thru an ad in the back of Rolling Stone, is officiating the wedding and gets the best line of the episode: “It’s ocassions like these, that my thoughts turn to marriage.”
All of this would set Episode 4 up to be fairly mediocre—but in the end we do see a glimmer of what made Northern Exposure exceptional. Holling reveals he is terrified of marriage because of the longevity in his family. He expects to live to around 100, and doesn’t want to do that without Shelley if she should pass away first (and the Vincour men have never remarried).
Of course, Shelley is 18 and Holling is 63, and therein lies the joke (or at least, one of them). The age difference between Shelley and Holling is frequent tool in Northern Exposure, but in this episode the writers go a step farther. In front of the entire town, Holling pulls Shelley away from their second attempt at a wedding. .
Shelley: “You promised! No backs-ies. You crossed your heart and you hoped to die!”
Holling: “I know I did, but if you could just see your way to letting me say what I have to say.”
Shelley: “Ok, fine. What do you have to say?”
Holling: “Well, it’s no secret that I’m not very good at expressing myself in words. But … there was a moment in there when friends were smiling at us, Maurice was warbling, you looked at me, and we became one. And I can tell you this: You are the most beautiful thing that has ever happened to me. And I will love you, Shelley, and cherish you, and protect you and our little pup til death do us part. No matter who goes first. But, don’t make me do this.
Shelley: “Do we still get to keep the presents?”
End scene.
It’s a well-established idea in television writing, that things don’t change. Viewers tune in to see the characters they know and love, and change would complicate that relationship.
Cicely can’t get a big resort because it would change. Joel can’t leave. Holling and Shelley can’t get married. Change is anathema to this type of storytelling.
But Northern Exposure often found a way of using this construct to its advantage, and at its very best could be outright Zen about the whole thing. It’s not that change was shunned, but things were ultimately accepted As They Are.
Episode #4 isn’t one of Northern Exposure’s best, but it is a good one. And more importantly, you can start to see the beginnings of what would ultimately make the show truly excellent.
The view outside, today.
