Song of the Wild West

Michele Greene as Sara Higgins

## Plot

Jonathan helps an aspiring singer follow in her late mother's footsteps despite her father's objections.

## Episode Details

Jonathan and Mark are driving when Mark chances a comment that it is "hot as hell." The moment the words leave his lips, the car overheats and Mark, of course, grumbles about unfairness and God needing to be more forgiving. They pull into a station and Jonathan hears a young girl named Sara Higgins (Michele Greene) singing out back. He listens and comments about her fantastic singing ability. The girl wishes a studio exec from Nashville would just run out of gas and hear her sing. She explains that her mother used to sing, but that she died a long time ago and her father doesn't like to talk about her mother, in particular her mother's singing. Just as Jonathan is telling her that it's good to have dreams, her father appears and orders her inside. When Jonathan compliments the father on Sara's ability, the father is clearly uncomfortable and tells Jonathan that the car is ready and he can leave. Jonathan and Mark head down the road and stop when Mark notices a sign on a saloon announcing that a former Country Western star, Patsy Maynard (Ronee Blakely) is performing there. Mark wishes that this place was their assignment and Jonathan confirms that it is. Mark cusses once again and the car overheats, but he's happy that at least they are already there. They get jobs in the place and learn from the cook, Trudy, that the saloon is merely a front for backroom illegal gambling that is silently condoned by the townspeople and the local sheriff, mainly because most of them owe money to the owner, Nick (Clifton James). Mark comments to Jonathan that the games are probably rigged. That evening, Patsy Maynard calls for a drink, a usual thing with her and the cause of her downfall in life. Jonathan brings her tea with lemon and honey instead and, much to her own surprise, she drinks it, eschewing her usual alcoholic binge. Mark, meanwhile, confirms his suspicions that all is not on the up and up with the games of chance. Later that evening, once Pasty has performed, the gas station owner and Sara's father, Tim (Jerry Hardin) talks to Patsy in the back alley. He calls her Evelyn and we discover that they are husband and wife and she walked out on him and her daughter to be a star. When she realized her mistake and tried to return, Tim had denied her and told her to stay away for good. Rather than have his daughter follow in her mother's footsteps and abandon him, too, for stardom, he lied to Sara and told her that her mother had died. But Sara wants very badly to perform in the upcoming talent contest and Tim begs Patsy/Evelyn not to reveal her true relationship to the girl. Jonathan, while talking with Trudy, gets her to reveal that her late husband and she were the original owners of the saloon and had a very good life together, but a gambling addiction on the part of her late husband resulted in him losing the saloon to Nick.

Sara arrives to sign up for the contest and meets Patsy, who asks the girl to sing for her before joining in on the harmony side of the song. Patsy doesn't reveal her true connection to the girl and, instead, makes plans to leave before the contest so that she doesn't have to face her daughter and reveal her role in leaving her family. She leaves behind her guitar and a note giving it to Sara, but without revealing their true connection. That night, Nick gets fed up with Trudy's complaining about the lack of help and fires her. She retaliates by telling Nick that she knows he cheated her late husband and her out of the saloon. When she leaves, she runs into Jonathan who "just found" her husband's lucky silver dollar (something she had tried to find for many years after her husband lost it the night he lost the saloon) and Jonathan convinces her to go play one time with the lucky dollar and try her luck at the roulette table. She does and, thanks to Jonathan, starts winning. Suddenly everyone is winning and Nick is upset and wondering what is happening. Sara gets ready to sing for the contest and discovers the guitar, but is told by Nick that Patsy left, even though Sara was expecting Patsy to be there. Jonathan appears to Tim and convinces him to take a stranded motorist call that turns out to be Patsy. The two hash out their differences and head to the talent contest together. When Sara has a case of stage fright brought on by her disappointment that Patsy wasn't there, Patsy appears beside Sara's father and starts singing the song, allowing Sara to join in a duet. We are left to assume that all lived happily ever after. One final joke as Jonathan walks out of the saloon is that he causes every bit of alcohol to vanish from the glasses and pitchers of the patrons who are too busy watching the show. "Couldn't resist," he says as he and Mark laugh about it.