I don't think I watched much of Highway to Heaven when it was originally broadcast but now that it has it's own streaming channel , it's easy to catch the episodes anytime. I caught this episode a few minutes in ,
It stars Brian Kerwin as Barry Rudd, the son of a wealthy hotel owner who gives him the task of managing the hotel hoping it will give his son some meaning to his life. Mark and Jonathan get involved by taking jobs as bellhops to help . This episode does have several subplots involving Rudd's class reunion , a snooby socialite ,an unscrupulous front desk manager ,a kid who creates havoc in the hotel and a maid who takes a shine to Rudd. You have to almost have a scorecard to keep track . In the first subplot Rudd finds out that the snooty soclaiite. Allison Rutledge was one of the rude. Snotty kids in high school dubbing him Rudd the dud , she does not remember him until he shows her the yearbook and of course unlike what she claims , she is still the same snotty jerk. By then he has started to notice Elena the maid and asks her to the reunion.
Allison tries to sabotage the date by planting one of her rings in Elena's locker to which Jonathan intervenes by having the ring show up on Alison's hand when searching Elena's locker , she then burns Elena's dress to which Jonathan again intervenes by going to a dress ship and unknown to Alison orders the same dress that Alison will be wearing to the reunion. So at the reunion when Alison approaches Barry Rudd stating that they are both without dates and that her dress is one of a kind to which he says , i dont think so and turns around and sees Elena in the same dress , looking so much better in it than Alison. Alison is obviously livid being humiliated , in my opinion she deserved far worse a comeuppance like have something dumped on her or have her dress ripped off.
The front desk manager subplot has him get caught letting guests pay under the table for better rooms and gets fired , he needed a kick to the rear too as he sided with Alison as well trying to get Elena fired for stealing.
The little boy ends up being neglected by his dad who leaves him all day at the hotel in a room full of toys and gadgets ,causing him to play pranks and do other despicable things for attention. One of his pranks where he causes the sprinklers in the hotel to go off by holding a lighter to one of them was beyond despicable - that would have caused thousands of dollars in damage to the carpets ,paintings on the walls and furniture in the hallways and rooms. Not to mention guests belongings .
I would have brought his dad up on charges and spanked that kid senseless but on typical fashion, Mark ends up befriending the kid and finding out about the situation. Jonathan also intervenes by having the father suddenly want to spend time with his child, that seemed too contrived since Jonathan used his powers to manipulate the dad , the dad couldnt get over the death of his wife causing a rift between him and his son ,would have been better if Jonathan had influenced the dad without powers to come around since once the powers wore off , the dad might go back to his old ways.
The episode wraps up the story of Rudd by having his parents arrive at the hotel as Elena and he are walking out . Evidently some time has passed because Paul tells his dad that he and Elena are now married, talk about Disneyesque fairy tales, they go run off to their honeymoon and Dad asks , what about the hotel and Rudd says " Don't worry , Roberto will handle it " Roberto was another front desk employee that the snooty ex front desk manager tried to pin the guest room scam on who ends up getting promoted by Rudd to manager. All in all a good episode , just a little too convenient of and ending , the whole wrapped up in a bow thing. Oh , of curiousity, the subplot of the maid , a wealthy man and a snooty soclalite was used as the plot of the movie "Maid In Manhattan" - I wonder about that.
Allison tries to sabotage the date by planting one of her rings in Elena's locker to which Jonathan intervenes by having the ring show up on Alison's hand when searching Elena's locker , she then burns Elena's dress to which Jonathan again intervenes by going to a dress ship and unknown to Alison orders the same dress that Alison will be wearing to the reunion. So at the reunion when Alison approaches Barry Rudd stating that they are both without dates and that her dress is one of a kind to which he says , i dont think so and turns around and sees Elena in the same dress , looking so much better in it than Alison. Alison is obviously livid being humiliated , in my opinion she deserved far worse a comeuppance like have something dumped on her or have her dress ripped off.
The front desk manager subplot has him get caught letting guests pay under the table for better rooms and gets fired , he needed a kick to the rear too as he sided with Alison as well trying to get Elena fired for stealing.
The little boy ends up being neglected by his dad who leaves him all day at the hotel in a room full of toys and gadgets ,causing him to play pranks and do other despicable things for attention. One of his pranks where he causes the sprinklers in the hotel to go off by holding a lighter to one of them was beyond despicable - that would have caused thousands of dollars in damage to the carpets ,paintings on the walls and furniture in the hallways and rooms. Not to mention guests belongings .
I would have brought his dad up on charges and spanked that kid senseless but on typical fashion, Mark ends up befriending the kid and finding out about the situation. Jonathan also intervenes by having the father suddenly want to spend time with his child, that seemed too contrived since Jonathan used his powers to manipulate the dad , the dad couldnt get over the death of his wife causing a rift between him and his son ,would have been better if Jonathan had influenced the dad without powers to come around since once the powers wore off , the dad might go back to his old ways.
The episode wraps up the story of Rudd by having his parents arrive at the hotel as Elena and he are walking out . Evidently some time has passed because Paul tells his dad that he and Elena are now married, talk about Disneyesque fairy tales, they go run off to their honeymoon and Dad asks , what about the hotel and Rudd says " Don't worry , Roberto will handle it " Roberto was another front desk employee that the snooty ex front desk manager tried to pin the guest room scam on who ends up getting promoted by Rudd to manager. All in all a good episode , just a little too convenient of and ending , the whole wrapped up in a bow thing. Oh , of curiousity, the subplot of the maid , a wealthy man and a snooty soclalite was used as the plot of the movie "Maid In Manhattan" - I wonder about that.
