It was a hard decision giving this one only seven stars. On the one hand, it is part of that exceptional first season of Northern Exposure. But, on the other, it's also an example of how even a show of this caliber can succumb to lazy writing and hackneyed plot devices. Furthermore, even though this show was just a slight bump in an otherwise stellar season, it was also, possibly, a portent of numerous episodes to come (mostly after season three) that would also suffer from similarly poor writing. The most glaring shortcomings revolve around the two separate storylines involving Maurice and Holling. In the former, as Maurice considers making Chris his heir and sole beneficiary of the Minnifield fortune, we're treated to the rather worn-out "odd couple" trope that, at times, almost smacks of below-average sit-com writing. And in Holling's story, the writer's make that truly annoying blunder of essentially negating and contradicting all the development they've put into a character up to that point. For six episodes, we've been treated to stories of how seasoned and formidable of an outdoorsman Holling is; how numerous times, in the wild, he's stared death in the face and lived to tell the tale. So what are we treated to in an episode that is supposed to feature the titanic showdown between Holling and Jesse The Bear that almost killed him years earlier? Nothing more than a gimmicky plot, played mainly for laughs, about how when he takes Shelly into the woods with him to hunt for Jesse, he ends up completely ignoring the bear in favor of two days of canoodling with Shelly in his tent. The only aspect of the episode that seems to retain the real spirit of quality Northern Exposure is the near-always enjoyable acrimony between Maggie and Dr Fleischman. Certainly a long way from the worst Northern Exposure episode you'll ever see, but pretty far from the best as well.
3 Reviews
A Bit Much
Hitchcoc4 February 2024
There are such outrageous things in this episode that they stretch even the normal madness. Early on Maurice gets a phone call that his brother has died. Besides the remorse from the death, Maurice realizes he no longer has an heir. After a short search of availability, he decides that Chris should be the one. Of course, that means he should adopt Chris, a guy in his thirties. Chris decides that "What the hell!" The guy is rich and it's no skin off his nose (or so he thinks). It's obvious that Maurice is going to treat him like a fifteen year old. In the second plot (from the title) Ed announces that Jesse is back. This is a grizzly bear that ripped Holling up pretty badly and our bar owner wants revenge. He and Ed and Shelley head into the woods to look for the bear and finish him off. But Holling and Shelley spend all their time in a tent cavorting. Finally, Maggie and Joel fly off to some backwoods town to give instructions to pregnant couples. Maggie does all the work until Joel is finally called upon. Once again, the best stuff in this episode is the chemistry between Maggie and Joel as they fire rockets at each other.
Marks Time, but Still Time Well Spent Anyway
darryl-tahirali2 December 2023
Big themes such as birth, death, family, legacy, and revenge get exposed in "A Kodiak Moment," which also reveals Alaskan atmosphere and continuing character development, but its uneven blending of dramatic depth and comedic shallowness produces mixed results as "Northern Exposure" seems unsure how to combine emotional resonance with the need for laughs. Those big themes seem only to be used as set-ups for flippancy, and yet the performances evince enough sincerity to give "A Kodiak Moment" credibility.
As deejay Chris fields a call from a transplanted Cicelian and, apparently, former lover now down in the Lower 48, he watches two Air Force officers enter the KBHR studio. Over the strains of Glen Campbell's "Rhinestone Cowboy," the caller's birthday request to her father, the officers inform Maurice that his brother Malcolm has died. (A deleted scene, available on DVD, imparts details of how Malcolm was killed in a plane crash, which should have made the final cut to provide a much fuller context.)
Barry Corbin's expression upon hearing the news, then conversing with Chris, only confirms that the industry veteran was the series' secret star. He displays that ability again while meditating on his brother alone in his rustic if stately manse before deciding on a course of action to preserve his legacy. Childless, Maurice decides to adopt an heir---and turns his sights on Chris, already orphaned but, as an ex-convict and countercultural loose cannon, seemingly not up to the Minnifield caliber, as the succeeding vignettes, with their alternating degrees of eye-rolling and hilarity, merely magnify a concept that can only turn sour. Still, John Corbett, handsome and personable but limited in range, holds his own with Corbin as the pair would establish a lasting rapport over the course of the series.
Similarly, Ed arrives at the Brick to solemnly inform Holling that Jesse the bear is back in the area. The career outdoorsman turned placid tavern owner becomes grave and glowering as Holling abandons his vow not to hunt again, then sets out to confront his old nemesis---but when Shelly insists on coming with him and Ed, the hunt becomes a secondary concern as Ed is left as a thankless third wheel to tend the campfire and stay alert to Jesse's presence while Holling and Shelly cavort in their pup tent.
Minor in comparison but much more effective is Joel and Maggie's thread. When Joel is required to journey to another remote town to teach a hygiene seminar, he reluctantly hops into Maggie's light plane, only to land and discover that the participants, many clearly pregnant, were expecting a course in prepared childbirth. Alternately clashing and collaborating, Rob Morrow and Janine Turner deliver the episode's highlight as this thread births the biggest laughs.
Indeed, Steve Wasserman and Jessica Klein's lively but glib script produces its share of laughs but at the expense of the situations overall, undercutting their gravity---especially Maurice's---with comedic twists that cheapen the initial emotional hook.
What is encouraging is how Morrow and Turner click, comedically and otherwise, as they develop depth and texture to make Joel and Maggie's mutual antagonism dynamic, unpredictable, and believable. But perhaps the biggest leap is made by Darren Burrows, whose Ed seems destined to be the comedic sidekick, but Burrows also gets the spotlight near the end during the most resonant moment in "A Kodiak Moment," which marks time but it's still time well spent.
REVIEWER'S NOTE: What makes a review "helpful"? Every reader of course decides that for themselves. For me, a review is helpful if it explains why the reviewer liked or disliked the work or why they thought it was good or not good. Whether I agree with the reviewer's conclusion is irrelevant. "Helpful" reviews tell me how and why the reviewer came to their conclusion, not what that conclusion may be. Differences of opinion are inevitable. I don't need "confirmation bias" for my own conclusions. Do you?
As deejay Chris fields a call from a transplanted Cicelian and, apparently, former lover now down in the Lower 48, he watches two Air Force officers enter the KBHR studio. Over the strains of Glen Campbell's "Rhinestone Cowboy," the caller's birthday request to her father, the officers inform Maurice that his brother Malcolm has died. (A deleted scene, available on DVD, imparts details of how Malcolm was killed in a plane crash, which should have made the final cut to provide a much fuller context.)
Barry Corbin's expression upon hearing the news, then conversing with Chris, only confirms that the industry veteran was the series' secret star. He displays that ability again while meditating on his brother alone in his rustic if stately manse before deciding on a course of action to preserve his legacy. Childless, Maurice decides to adopt an heir---and turns his sights on Chris, already orphaned but, as an ex-convict and countercultural loose cannon, seemingly not up to the Minnifield caliber, as the succeeding vignettes, with their alternating degrees of eye-rolling and hilarity, merely magnify a concept that can only turn sour. Still, John Corbett, handsome and personable but limited in range, holds his own with Corbin as the pair would establish a lasting rapport over the course of the series.
Similarly, Ed arrives at the Brick to solemnly inform Holling that Jesse the bear is back in the area. The career outdoorsman turned placid tavern owner becomes grave and glowering as Holling abandons his vow not to hunt again, then sets out to confront his old nemesis---but when Shelly insists on coming with him and Ed, the hunt becomes a secondary concern as Ed is left as a thankless third wheel to tend the campfire and stay alert to Jesse's presence while Holling and Shelly cavort in their pup tent.
Minor in comparison but much more effective is Joel and Maggie's thread. When Joel is required to journey to another remote town to teach a hygiene seminar, he reluctantly hops into Maggie's light plane, only to land and discover that the participants, many clearly pregnant, were expecting a course in prepared childbirth. Alternately clashing and collaborating, Rob Morrow and Janine Turner deliver the episode's highlight as this thread births the biggest laughs.
Indeed, Steve Wasserman and Jessica Klein's lively but glib script produces its share of laughs but at the expense of the situations overall, undercutting their gravity---especially Maurice's---with comedic twists that cheapen the initial emotional hook.
What is encouraging is how Morrow and Turner click, comedically and otherwise, as they develop depth and texture to make Joel and Maggie's mutual antagonism dynamic, unpredictable, and believable. But perhaps the biggest leap is made by Darren Burrows, whose Ed seems destined to be the comedic sidekick, but Burrows also gets the spotlight near the end during the most resonant moment in "A Kodiak Moment," which marks time but it's still time well spent.
REVIEWER'S NOTE: What makes a review "helpful"? Every reader of course decides that for themselves. For me, a review is helpful if it explains why the reviewer liked or disliked the work or why they thought it was good or not good. Whether I agree with the reviewer's conclusion is irrelevant. "Helpful" reviews tell me how and why the reviewer came to their conclusion, not what that conclusion may be. Differences of opinion are inevitable. I don't need "confirmation bias" for my own conclusions. Do you?
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