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, Lee dies.
Episode 4.22 “A Dolphin Song For Lee Part 2”
(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on March 23rd, 1988)
Remember how, last week, Lee (Bess Meyer) was told that her cancer had gone into remission and she was going to live? Well, this week, the cancer comes back and Lee dies after a month.
What a depressing episode!
Lee gets to do a lot in that month. She goes out on a boat and saves a group of dolphins from some hunters. She testified before Congress and, through emotional blackmail, gets them to pass a bill protecting the dolphins. She swims with a dolphin! And then she dies and its suggested that she’s been reborn as a dolphin.
Normally, I would complain about how shamelessly manipulative this all is but you know what? I like dolphins. I’ll forgive a lot when it comes to dolphins.
And, also, I am going to give some credit where is credit is due. Not every story has a happy ending. Sometimes, people die. It’s not fair but it happens. Highway to Heaven admitted that in this episode and I was in tears by the end of it.
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, Mark finally gets the stuff.
Episode 4.21 “A Dolphin Song For Lee: Part One”
(Dir by Michael Landon, March 9th, 1988)
After he complains for the hundredth time about not having “the stuff,” Mark finally gets the boss’s attention in this episode. Suddenly, Mark is the one who doesn’t need to eat, who knows where to go for the assignment, and who instinctively realizes that the young woman they’ve been assigned to help — Lee (Bess Meyer) — desperately needs a bone marrow transplant. Meanwhile, Jonathan becomes human yet again.
That’s not a bad idea for a story, though it’s hard not to notice that this is the second time that Jonathan’s gone from being an angel to being mortal during season four. One would think that either Jonathan or Mark would have noted this fact but neither one does. Maintaining continuity has not been season four’s strong point.
As for the story itself, it’s pretty simple but then again, it’s only Part 1 of a two-parter. Lee refuses to get the bone marrow transplant because she fears her parents won’t be able to afford it. Using “the stuff,” Mark essentially commands a local news producer to do a story on Lee and her need for a transplant. In a scene that feels like a fantasy today, we see people apparently all across the country watching the news story on Lee. One guy in a bar yells at everyone to be quiet so he can hear the story. It feels incredibly dated and almost too earnest for its own good, if just because it’s hard to imagine people actually sitting around the TV and watching a network newscast nowadays. (It’s also hard not to wonder if Mark essentially zapping the producer and taking over his mind is a good example of what the Boss wants done with the stuff. That’s not something that Jonathan has ever done, even though it would have made things a lot simpler.)
People across the country donate money so that Lee can get her operation. Lee’s cancer goes into remission but the “To Be Continued” announcement at the end of the episode feels a bit ominous. If Lee’s going to be okay, why does the story need to be coninuted?
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!
For this week’s rather sad episode, Jonathan confronts a reverend who has lost his way.
Episode 1.18 “A Child of God”
(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on February 6th, 1985)
After spending years away, Marsha Stearns (Coleen Maloney) has returned home. She wants her parents, Sarah Stearns (Patricia Smith) and Rev. David Stearns (William Window), to take care of her young daughter, Amy (Natalie Gregory). The Reverend Stearns wants nothing to do with Marsha or his granddaughter because Amy was born out of wedlock. He considers Marsha to be an embarrassment to his church and a sinner who cannot be forgiven.
(Yikes! It looks like Rev. Stearns kind of missed all of the important stuff dealing with forgiveness. “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven.” That’s Luke 6:37.)
What neither the Reverend nor his wife knows is that Marsha is terminally ill and only has a few weeks to live. However, Marsha’s new neighbor — Jonathan Smith — does know and he confronts the Reverend and rather forcefully denounces him until Reverend Stearns forgives her daughter and visits her in the hospital right before she dies.
This was a pretty sad episode and it did bring some tears to my eyes, largely because it made me think about my mom. That said, the most interesting thing about this episode was how angry Jonathan got at Reverend Stearns and his unforgiving attitude. For the past 17 episodes, Jonathan has been a mellow and peaceful angel who has always recognized that everyone has some good in them. But in this episode, when he confronts the Reverend, there is no way not to notice that Jonathan is truly pissed off. For once, Jonathan doesn’t even hide the fact that he’s an angel. He wants Rev. Stearns to know that he’s in trouble with Jonathan’s boss. And really, it makes sense. Why wouldn’t Jonathan be especially angry at a reverend who is failing in his duties? He and Jonathan both work for the same company and Jonathan obviously sees the Reverend’s attitude as being a personal insult. Jonathan is working hard and Rev. Stearns is screwing everything up.
Rev. Stearns does learn his lesson and embraces humility, though that doesn’t make up for all of the years that he refused to even acknowledge his granddaughter’s existence. The episode ends with him giving a rather lengthy sermon, in which he suggests that maybe he got to hung up on the whole idea of condemning sin when he should have been focusing on loving everyone. It’s a bit of a dull ending. William Windom has the right look for the role but, whenever he has to pretend to preach, he comes across as being a bit dry and stiff. Fortunately, Coleen Maloney is much more convincing and poignant as his estranged daughter.
The latest “AMV of the Day” is one that should elicit more than it’s fair share of “awwwwwws” and may even bring some to happy tears.
“Maya and Companion” is the latest AMV which has caught my eye and I’m glad that it had. I’ve been awash in blood and violence for the horror-theme month of October so coming across this video more than balances out all of October. The video takes scenes of the Azumanga Daioh character Sakaki and her pet kitty Maya. Those scenes alone would be enough to bring a smile to my face (this anime is one of my favorites), but editing the scenes together and pairing it with the song “Good Company” from the late 80’s Disney animated film, Oliver & Company, just sent the video into sweetness and big smile overload.
I must give thanks to this amv’s creator, kireblue, for making this video and I wasn’t surprised to read and hear that it was a huge hit with the con-goers at this year’s Otakon 2011 anime convention in Baltimore.This amv would’ve been one I wish I could’ve seen live with a full audience.
Anime: Azumanga Daioh
Song: “Good Company” – from Oliver & Company (sung by Myhanh Tran)
Through the Shattered Lens 