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, a conman seeks refuge in a church.

Episode 3.14 “All that Glitters”

(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on January 7th, 1987)

There’s a fire raging in the city and elderly homeowners are being forced to evacuate.  “Father” Jonathan and “Father” Mark open up an abandoned church so that the people have some place to stay while the fires are burning.  Good for them and also good for this show for finally acknowledging Catholicism.

Also hiding out in the church and disguised as a priest is Charley Trapola (John Pleshette), a con artist who, despite his criminal profession, actually has a good heart.  Charley has a briefcase with him, one that is full of money.  A group of criminals want the briefcase back but, at least initially, they know better than to try anything in the church.  Instead, they decide to wait for Charley to come out.  Inside the church, Charley gets to know Wanda (Didi Conn), a shy but kind-hearted woman who goes to Confession every day.

This episode was okay.  Usually, when Jonathan and Mark go undercover as clergyman, they’re portrayed as being wishy-washy Episcopalians or vaguely liberal Methodists so I was happy that they were Catholic for this episode.  John Pleshette and Didi Conn were both well-cast as this episode’s guest stars.  They eventually made for a very sweet and likable couple.  My main issue with this episode is that it tried to do a bit too much.  Not only did we have Charley being chased by the gangsters but we also had Wanda dealing with her shyness and Mark and Jonathan dealing with the people were seeking shelter and looking for their loved ones.  This episode — and not that weird marriage counseling episode — would have benefitted from an extra hour.  As it was, it just felt a bit overstuffed.  As well, this is another episode in which Jonathan reveals early on that he’s angel and, oddly enough, Charley has no hesitation about believing him.  I always prefer the episodes where Jonathan doesn’t reveal who he really is.  When Jonathan reveals that he’s an angel, it almost seems like cheating.  The show is always more effective when people decide to open up their hearts on their own as opposed to doing so because they feel they’ve been ordered to.

There’s an odd scene where the three thugs break into the church and pull a gun on Jonathan.  After Jonathan gives them fair warning about “the boss,” the main thug attempts to shoot Jonathan.  Needless to say, the bullets don’t have any effect on an angel.  However, a sudden blue lights fills the church and suddenly, the three men are apparently zapped out of existence.  Jonathan later jokes that he’s not sure where the three men are but that they probably aren’t happy.  So, did the three men go straight to Hell?  Are they dead?  I understand the logic behind the scene but it’s not really something you expect from a show where the main theme is usually that everyone has a chance for redemption.

Next week, Dick Van Dyke plays a homeless puppeteer …. uh oh.  This sounds like it could a little bit cringey …. well, we’ll see.