4.1 Northwest Passages

 

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Original Air Date: September 28, 1992Production Number: 77602
Written by: Robin GreenDirected by: Dean Parisot

Shelly (to Maggie): Yeah, but 30! You get crow's feet and chicken chin. Your nips start heading south and your bum turns to yogurt!

Log line (1): To celebrate her thirtieth birthday, Maggie spends the weekend camping alone to reflect on her life and cleanse her soul. Marilyn asks Chris to help her learn how to drive. Maurice rambles endlessly into a recorder about his past in an attempt to write his memoirs.
Synopsis (1):

Maggie decides that her thirtieth birthday is the perfect time to cleanse her soul so she can begin the next segment of her life with a clean slate. To do this she acts upon an ancient Indian ritual that allows one to resolve issues with people in one's past, living or dead, by sending them a letter via the great river. While camping alone and after "mailing" letters to all of her dead boyfriends, Maggie is overcome by a sharp pain and a high fever, which cause her to hallucinate. In her delirium she visits with all of her past boyfriends before being rescued and treated for appendicitis.

Chris is amazed by the fulfillment he derives from being a teacher when Marilyn asks him to give her driving lessons, Maurice takes a stab at writing his memoirs and drives everyone crazy with his neverending note-taking and muttering into a pocket recorder. Eventually Ruth-Anne takes charge and stops his madness.

Details (2):

One of Maggie's best friends growing up in Grosse Pointe is Lynnie Lawrence, now a proud mother of two. Maurice is from Tulsa. Shelly is "looking down the snout of the big two one." Joel's grandmother's name is Lillian. During her hallucination, Maggie discovers another dead ex-lover, Steve Escandon. They went to see "Chariots of Fire" in their college years and slept together. Steve worked on an oil rig when he was struck by lightning.

Guests:

Camper - Brian T. Finney (Also appeared in 3.16, 3.23)
Richard 'Rick' Pederson - Grant Goodeve (also appeared in 1.1, 1.2, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.8, 2.1)
Glen - Patrick Warbuton
Bruce - Will Plunket [According to the IMDB.com listing, Will Plunket died in 2001.]
David - Ted Henning
Steve Escandon - Garrett Bennett
Dave the Cook - William J. White

Music:
(Note music listed is from the original TV airings. The DVD may differ.)

The Bird Dealer from "The Magic Flute" (Mozart)
[Maggie and Ruth-Anne talk about birthdays and babies.]

Queen of Memphis - Confederate Railroad
[Maggie sits at the bar and talks about her birthday.]

Time Flies - Sass Jordan
[Marilyn asks Chris to teach her to drive.]

Grand River - Byron Berline
[Maggie convinces a camper to move his campsite.]

Let Old Mother Nature Have Her Way - Carl Smith
[Joel and Ed drive to save Maggie.]

Layin' Back
[Maurice and Holling chat in the bar.]

Unfinished Blues - Bye Bye Blues
[Ruth-Anne smashes Maurice's tape recorder.]

Happy Birthday - Stevie Wonder
[Joel visits Maggie in the hosptial.]

Shelly’s Earrings: Thermometers [Shelly talks to Maggie about turning 30.]
Ed’s T-shirts:

*This is a new list I am starting. Please email me additions.

Footnotes and additional research

 

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