5.23 Blood Ties

Original Air Date(1): May 16, 1994

Production Number: 77725

Written by(1): Mitchell Burgess and Robin Green

Directed by(1): Tom Moore

Log line(1): Maggie's childhood male friend from Grosse Points arrives in Cicely; Joel loses his confidence during the annual blood drive; Ed thinks he's finally found his mother.

Synopsis(1): Jed Fleming (guest star D. David Morin), a hometown friend of Maggie's, comes to hunt and catch up on old times. Joel get jealous when Jed offers him $30,000 to leave Alaska. When Jed proposes to Maggie, she explains, shocked, that she wants Joel. After Jed's hunting bird kills a pet poodle, Joel snaps, and the rivals have a punching match. Jed leaves town that night.

Maurice has a thousand-dollar bet that Cicely will beat neighboring Cantwell during Blood Week to win the coveted brass plaque. After nearly reaching its goal, Joel is dismayed when he can't find a vein, and Maurice disgustedly puts the drive on hold. After his brawl with Jed, Joel miraculously completes the blood drive, victorious in more ways than one.

Ed discovers that a woman in town has his extremely rare blood type and may be his long-lost mother. He enlists Reynaldo Pinetree, P.I. (guest star Ronald G. Joseph), to gather evidence, including a TRW report. Reynaldo takes Ed on a stake-out. Their subject sneaks up to the car and confronts them, convincing Ed that she is not his mother. He nevertheless gains a new father figure in Reynaldo.

Details(2): Reynaldo has a framed head shot of Nipsey Russell in his office.
Jed has a pet falcon, which kills Marsha Seepman's pet poodle, Chi Chi (off-camera, unfortunately).

Trivia(2): Gee, is there some sort of subtext I'm missing from the following dialogue?
JOEL: Man Why shouldn't I? Why shouldn't I go? Gimme one qood reason I shouldn't just get on that plane,go back to New York, forget this place, forget it ever existed.
EUGENE: 'Cause you'd be in breach of contract?
Right on, Eugene ...

MAURICE: 'course, looking further down the road, you don't snap to, I'm gonna have to send out some feelers, think about a permanent replacement.
JOEL: Replacement?
Yeah, Rob -- I mean, Joel.

ED'S MOVIE REFERENCES "Harper," "Chinatown".
WHEN DOES HE FIND TIME TO SLEEP?! Ed is offered another job opportunity, doing surveillance work for Reynaldo.
BRAVO to devoted writer Robin Green, who gave blood so she could more fully realize the experience in her writin. That's dedication!

Guest Stars: (7)
Hayden Keyes - James L. Dunn
Lloyd Hilligas - Don Davis
Jeannie Hansen - Barbara Dirickson
Reynaldo pinetree, PI - Ronald G. Joseph
Jed Fleming - D. David Morin
Marsha Seepman - Sharon Collar
(Also appeared in 2.3, 3.6, 3.23)
Eugene - Earl Quewezance
Charlotte London

Music: (3)
• Lonely Road - Bobby Darin

• When the Boy in Your Arms - Connie Francis

• Wrap Your Troubles in Your Dreams - Les Paul and Mary Ford

Shelly's Earrings:
Red bottles (ketchup? Blood?) [Talks to Ed about Jeannie Hansen.]

Additional Notes:
Jed has a Harris Hawk.


Footnotes and additional research:
1. The Revised and Updated Northern Exposure Book, 2nd Ed. by Louis Chunovic (1995)
2. Revised NE Bible: New and Improved fro 94-95 season! Memo from: Ursula Wendel and Cynthia Cohen- Gugisch
3. Print-out of Jude Shabry's music list from the Moose's Guide to Northern Exposure.
4. Intertain 2000 collection of NX music online
5. Geoff's Miscellany
6. Kevin Wright's Culture NX Quotes for Season 5.
7. MCA TV Promotional Kit dated 9/27/95
8.
The Northern Exposure Book, 1st Ed. (1993) by Louis Chunovic

Created 2/6/02 • Updated 5/18/02

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