From: kimi@newsance.att.com (Kimiye Tipton;ball of confusion)
Subject: NX Premiere "Northwest Passages"
Organization: AT&T IMS, Maitland, FL
Distribution: na
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1992 14:03:51 GMT


Well, this was vintage Northern Exposure-- not too exciting, not too
outrageous-- just a typical quality episode.  Sort of a relief after
all the gangbusters season premieres, where most shows seem to be 
going as sensationalistic as possible to grab ratings.

On to the details...


So, it turns out Maggie was trying valiantly to have a great birthday,
and everyone else was dumping on her.  This is great-- real life!
Although it didn't quite go along with previous stories about her
character (remember when she learned she was going far-sighted?),
we can accept that she would try to be adult about it.  And that
everyone else would, in their narrow, self-centered ways, project
their fears onto her.  Funny that Fleischman is the only one who
stops to think that she might really be okay (except Ed, who knew
all along).

And the dream sequence-- YES!  Just what I asked Santa for.  Followed
by the best line in the whole show (see my .sig).  That whole
troup of boorish jerks-- instead of idealizing her lost beaux with
those little dioramas ("And what does the glued-on macaroni stand
for, man's inhumanity to man?"), Maggie sees what those guys were
like at their worst.  

I really liked one-night-stand Steve Scanlon-- they've now
clarified that it isn't the relationship that matters, it's whether
Maggie has sex with the guy.  Or at least, that's what's in the back
of her mind.  So, she doesn't have to moon over these guys anymore,
but she still has to get over thinking she's a black widow.

It looks like Maggie and Joel are back to status quo, almost.
Interesting that they completely dropped the plot from the Juneau/
Wedding episodes.  On the other hand, once I thought about it, that
is what people really do.  You have some huge confrontation, get it
all out in the open (well, most of it), and then the next time you
see each other, you both act like it didn't happen.  Later, much
later, you finally talk about it again.

I really hated Maurice's storyline, even though I understood it as
contrast to Maggie's sincere self-examination.  The final blow was
his reference to "Japs", a term most Asian-Americans find as offensive
as any other racial epithet.  At least it was immediately followed
by Ruth Ann's salient comment (POW!).  I don't mind hearing Maurice
air his prejudices as part of character development, but this little
dig bordered on gratutious.  He doesn't use nasty terms to refer to
his own Korean-born son, does he?  Seems like Maurice keeps going
backwards.  A more colorful phrase pompously praising Japanese 
business acumen while pumping himself up would have fit better 
with his character and the atmosphere of the show.  And it wouldn't
have felt like a cold bucket of water in the face to me.  

Marilyn's driving lessons were fun, and we got to see more of
Chris' own version of pomposity and Ruth Ann's impatience.  All
in all, it rated about a 7 on the NX scale (compared only to itself),
with occasional peaks into 9, like the last scene with Maggie and
Joel in the hospital.  If I'm ever lying around in a hospital, please
have Rob Morrow come in and give me one of those crinkly smiles, 
and I'll be just fine.

Whew!  I'm glad NX is back.  Now I can sail through these blue
Mondays again.


Kimiye Tipton  kimi@kokomo.att.com or kimi@newsance.att.com  Maitland, FL
"Now, I'm going to unzip your pants and pull them down around your
                     hips-- try not to get turned on."