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 Tubi and several other services!

This week, not even the presence of the great James Earl Jones can save Highway to Heaven.

Episode 3.16 “A Song of Songs”

(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on January 21st, 1987)

Mark and Jonathan are driving out in the middle of nowhere, waiting for their next assignment.  Mark is annoyed.  He says he’s been driving for ten hours.  Personally, I think Mark has every right to be annoyed.  I’ve noticed that Jonathan never drives.  Are angels not allowed to drive?  Did he never learn how?  It seems a bit self-centered to make Mark do all the driving.

Eventually, Jonathan and Mark stop off at a roadhouse.  Mark order a huge amount of ribs.  Jonathan smiles, even though Mark is going to give himself a heart attack if he’s not careful.  By an amazing coincidence, an old friend of Mark’s is also at the roadhouse.  Gabe (James Earl Jones) is a blind jazz pianist.  He’s also this week’s assignment.

Jonathan and Mark are hired to work at a storefront church that is led by Eleanor (Rosalind Cash).  Eleanor is strict and demanding and when her daughter (Akosua Busia) wants to go off on her own and perform her own type of music, Eleanor accuses her of only caring about “the devil’s music.”  It turns out that Eleanor is also Gabe’s ex-girlfriend!  Eleanor was not always so strict.  Can Jonathan and Mark bring these two back together and also repair the relationship between Eleanor and her daughter?

Eh, this episode didn’t do much for me.  I hate to say that because James Earl Jones was one of our best actors and he’s definitely the strongest thing about this episode but overall, the plot was a bit too predictable and both Rosalind Cash and Akosua Busia gave such over-the-top performances that it was hard to take their storyline seriously.  This was Highway to Heaven at its most predictable and the episode didn’t even benefit from Michael Landon’s trademark earnestness.  It just fell flat.

Oh well, there’s always next week.  Maybe Mark will finally get a break from always having to do the driving!  I wouldn’t count on it, though.