Today I watched
this. I recently went back to rewatch the old Northern Exposure episodes because I remember how much I enjoyed them but wasn't sure whether they would stand up still. Now that I'm on the second season the exciting things about the show are starting to kick in--that inexplicable stuff. In the episode I just saw, Chris, the radio dj loses his voice when a beautiful woman stops by the station to ask for directions. His voice was taken by beauty. Sounds like a Sarah Ruhl play, no? He eventually gets his voice back after Maggie, the most beautiful woman in town kisses him. The B story is that Ed is trying to find out who his parents are and a spirit guide arrives and tries to help him. Th fun thing about it is the clash of cultures--the New York Jewish doctor who is rational and scientific and the small town and american indian cultures who have different belief systems. Joel thinks both Ed is delusional and Chris can't have lost his voice for the reason he thinks he did. This is the episode for me when the characters finally became clear. Earlier, it felt like we (and the writers) were still figuring out who these people are but now, we have strong and clearly drawn characters. One of my favorite parts is Joel's increasing jealousy about Maggie who the town thinks is having sex with Chris to give him his voice back. The entire town waits outside her cabin to see if he will emerge with his voice.