Product: Northern Exposure: "Seoul Mates" [VHS] (1990)
Rating: 5.0
The first and best "Northern Exposure" Christmas episode
"Seoul Mates" (First aired December 16, 1991) won the 1992 Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing in a Drama Series for Andrew Schneider and Diane Frolov. Jack Bender was also nominated for directing the third season episode, but he did not win. That year "Northern Exposure" copped six Emmys, including the first of consecutive wins for Outstanding Drama Series to go along with awards for Art Direction, Cinematography, Editing, and Supporting Actress (Valerie Mahaffey for playing Eve). More importantly for fans of the series, this is the show's best Christmas episode.Irony abounds once again in Cicely, Alaska as Christmas approaches. Maurice (Barry Corbin) is not happy about the prospect of spending the holidays alone when suddenly there is a knock at the door and there is Bong Joo (Chi-Moui Lo), who tells Maurice that his father, Duk Won (James Song), is Maruice's son and that his grandmother, Yong Ja (Kim Kim), was his lover when he was stationed in Korean during the war. The paternity test proves the blood relationship, which forces Maurice to balance the good news (he always wanted a son) with the bad (the boy is not an American and does not speak the language). But it is Christmas, and as much as he likes to bellow and bluster, Maurice neither Scrooge not the Grinch, and his heart will be the right size by the end of this one.Meanwhile, Maggie (Janine Turner) has been dreading going home for Christmas because her family will grill her about her life. Then her parents send a telegram announcing that they are going to the Caribbean and she has to deal with her family having canceled Christmas. Joel (Rob Morrow) decides that nobody in his family will know that he has a Christmas tree in Alaska, but this experiment does not work out like the thought. Finally, Shelly (Cynthia Geary) is missing the High Christmas mass she went to as a child growing up Roman Catholic, which leads Holling (John Cullum) to find a simply beautiful way to lift up her spirits.That last bit, when Shelly discovers Holling's gift, is one of my all time favorite "Northern Exposure" moments. The other great part of this one is when Joel attends the Raven Pageant. As Chris in the Morning (John Corbett) says, you can have your twinkling lights and such, but "There's nothing like the sight of a beautiful, black-as-pitch raven to get you in the Christmas spirit." Not only Joel but most of the rest of us who live in the lower 48 get an education about the Native American festival. In case you have forgotten, here is the story Marilyn (Elaine Miles) tells in the episode (happy holidays):"A long time ago, the raven looked down from the sky and saw that the people of the world were living in darkness.The ball of light was kept hidden by a selfish old chief.So the raven turned himself into a spruce needle and floated on the river where the chief's daughter came for water.She drank the spruce needle.She became pregnant and gave birth to a boy, who was the raven in disguise.The baby cried and cried until the chief gave him the ball of light to play with.As soon as he had the light, the raven turned back into himself.The raven carried the light into the sky.From then on, we no longer lived in darkness."