Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Thursdays, I will be reviewing Highway to Heaven, which aired on NBC from 1984 to 1989.  The entire show is currently streaming on Freevee and several other services!

This week’s episode made me cry.

Episode 2.16 “Keep Smiling”

(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on February 5th, 1986)

One night, seven year-old me asked my mom, “After someone dies, will they be able to come back to visit us?”

My mom told me that they would but that we wouldn’t be able to see them.  But we would know that they were there.  We would feel it in our hearts.  And maybe we would see them in our dreams.

I relate this anecdote because I think it’s important to understand my current state of mind as I watch and review this show.  My mom passed away nearly 16 years ago.  My Dad passed away nearly a month ago.  I’m still very much in mourning right now.  My logical side can look at an episode of Highway to Heaven and say that it was an extremely sentimental and, at times, rather manipulative show.  But my emotional side,  the side that leads with my heart and that hopes to see my mom and dad every night in my dreams, that side watches this show in tears.

And there’s nothing wrong with that.  Sometimes, it’s important to cry.  For someone like me, who tends to put up walls whenever I’m upset, watching a show like this can actually be very helpful.

This week’s episode features Jonathan and Mark helping out Jane Thompson (Dorothy McGuire), a lonely widow who has never really gotten over the death of her husband, Arthur.  Arthur died of lung cancer nearly forty years ago.  Now, Jane lives alon in their house.  It’s been a while since even her daughter has come to visit.  Jonathan and Mark stop by the house, looking to rent out Jane’s spare room.  Jane says she would prefer a woman to be her roommate.  Jonathan says he understands and then tells her, “Keep smiling.”  Hearing the phrase causes Jane to change her mind about renting the room to Jonathan and Mark.  “Keep smiling,” was something that Arthur always used to say.

That’s because, before he became an angel, Jonathan was Arthur Thompson!  (Jonathan explains to Mark that angels come back in a “different form” than how they appeared when they died.)  While Jonathan tries to cheer up the depressed Jane and get her to embrace life, Mark tries to convince Jane’s daughter to pay her a visit.  When Mark doesn’t have any luck, Jonathan throws on a white jacket and a pair of ray-bans and, pretending to be a gigolo, he tells his daughter that he’s going to marry Jane for her money.  That may sound a little extreme but hey, it works!

This episode made me cry.  What can I say?  Right now, emotionally, I’m just at a point where anything that is sentimental and well-acted will bring tears to my eyes.  This show may be a tad manipulative but, at its best, there’s an aching sincerity to this show that simply cannot be dismissed.  Sometimes, that type of sincerity is exactly what is needed.