Ed trudges home through the snow, plastic bag full of rented tapes in hand. The lady he rents a room from invites him to dinner, concerned he’s not “getting enough to eat up there.” But he’s not interested; Ruth-Anne just got a bunch of Spencer Tracy tapes in. But a speech about the importance of having parents, from 1938’s Boys Town, clearly gets to him. Classic Ed: A movie gets through to him in a way a real-life person can’t.

[Cue moose strutting to funky jazz music.]

Chris is doing his thing on the radio when a beautiful stranger comes in, asking for directions. Chris barely squeaks out an answer and is afterwards rendered unable to speak at all.

Ed pops in on a Bingo game to ask the members of his tribe about his parentage. The uncomfortable elders try to stick to the story, but details vary. He was found in a blanket. No, a seal-skin coat. Up by the meadow. Or down by the river. In the bushes by someone’s cabin. His mother was a white woman, a teacher… or a missionary. But everyone knows Ed’s father’s name. “Smith,” they all say in unison. Ed is shortly after visited by One-Who-Waits, a 256-year-old spirit guide sent to help him on his quest.

The people of Cicely seem to have no trouble understanding or believing that Chris’ voice was stolen by a beautiful woman or that Ed’s being visited by a spirit guide. Dr. Fleischman can’t accept these things, of course. And in the real world, his skepticism would be justified. But this is Northern Exposure, where life isn’t constrained by silly annoyances like the laws of science.

Chris searches in vain for the beauty in the red parka while Ed tours the area with his spirit guide. Ed introduces him to laundromats and hamburgers. His spirit guide acquaints him with tribal history and the forces of nature. But they can’t seem to find Ed’s parents. Even the spirits of the wind and water don’t know, or don’t want to say.

One-Who-Waits has an answer to Chris’ problem. He must find the most beautiful woman in the village and “capture her spirit.” Maurice has similar advice, though based on Arthurian legend. Sir Gawain had to go to bed with a beautiful woman to get his courage back. Chris sees Maggie, and the gears in his head start turning. He has her over for a romantic dinner, using pre-written note cards to sweet talk, er… write her. Maggie is flattered by the attention… and completely oblivious of what Chris is trying to do. For all of her suspicion and cynicism towards Joel, she’s really got her guard down for the town lothario of all people.

Maurice, contemplating Chris’ condition and the effect love has on people, looks back on the time he met Shelly and realizes maybe he wasn’t in love after all. This shouldn’t really be much of a revelation; in the very first episode he asked Holling what being in love was actually like. But Maurice isn’t the most self-aware person so maybe lessons like this take a few tries to really sink in. Shelly says she felt terrible when they first got together. It’s pretty clear she’s talking about PMS, but Maurice takes this news with pride.

Joel explains what’s going on to Maggie, and rather than feel mad at or betrayed by Chris, she’s determined to prove that she’s woman enough to get his voice back. That night, Joel looks on in baffled disgust as townspeople gather around Maggie’s house to cheer on their, uh, date. Things are understandably awkward between the two, and Maggie decides she can’t do it after all. So they… make out, I guess(?)

Whatever. It does the trick, and Chris is back on the radio the next morning. Joel swings by, being nosey, but Chris lets him and all the other townspeople assume the most salacious.

One-Who-Waits has to leave, after apologizing to Ed for failing to find his parents. “Just remember to keep your eyes on the road. It will lead you where you want to go.”

Later, Ed pulls over to help a guy change his tire. He’s a middle-aged Native American man in a leather jacket. He’s not from around here, at least “not for a long time.” He thanks Ed for stopping and gives his name before taking off: “Smith.” By the time it sinks in for Ed, his dad is on his way out of town. Ed gets in his pickup truck and drives on in the same direction. Is he moving on, having come to realize he has all the family he needs in the people of Cicely, the members of his tribe, and in the natural world? Or is he following his father to Fairbanks? I guess we’ll see.

Miscellaneous notes, quotes, and anecdotes:

Is it just me or is barging into a radio station’s DJ studio pretty rude? I get that these were the days before smart phones and dashboard GPS devices, but for all she knew he was live on the air.

Holling’s awkward stage fright on the radio is fun. “Even though I couldn’t see them, I could feel the out there, listening. People sitting in their cars, gun shops, sweat lodges.”

It’s stated that white people can’t see One-Who-Waits, but it’s never made clear if the other Native Americans in town can. Marilyn says goodbye to him, but this could just be because of what Ed told her and because Marilyn is gonna Marilyn. I like that it’s kept ambiguous.

Maggie, on Rick’s whereabouts: “He had to fly a bunch of old guys up to Valdez. They’re trying to prove it didn’t happen.” The Exxon Valdez oil spill took place just a couple years before this episode first aired. I get that life is all about compromises and nobody’s totally innocent, but it can be a little hard to take Maggie’s self-righteous environmental stances seriously when as an Alaskan bush pilot she probably regularly takes part in stuff like this.

This was a big time for Floyd Red Crow Westerman, who was Ten Bears in Dances With Wolves just a year before, and a similar shaman/spirit guide in The Doors, released just a few weeks before this episode. There’s a scene with a half-dressed Ed getting out of bed, and if not for the timing not working out, I would have thought it was poking fun at the movie, re:

I don’t buy this “love is pain” stuff.

Maggie, defending her feminine charms: “I’m not some flat-chested, junior league, Grosse Pointe wimp!” I think she’s projecting some adolescent insecurities here. I’m catching shades of what Annie’s mother told her when she tried to quit cheerleading:

Fun Shelly earring alert: A bowling pin on one ear and a bowling ball on the other.

This country classic plays at The Brick in this episode:

I really enjoyed Ed’s plot in this episode. Once again, the show handles Native American spirituality with a balance of humor and dignity. Unlike The Doors movie.

I do not like the Chris/Maggie plot. It’s dumb and gross.

So if Chris doesn’t have another black eye the next episode, Rick is either completely out of the loop on the goings on in Cicely, or maybe he’s not the manly tough guy he’s portrayed as. I know I’d be pissed.