The Good: Fun, EXCELLENT Acting, Decent plot/execution, Interesting characters
The Bad: Minutiae (A bit on-the-nose)
The Basics: When Joel accidentally hits one of the original settlers of Cicely, the town is treated to the full story of how the Alaskan frontier was settled!
One of the hallmarks of Northern Exposure that always worked well for the series was how it tried to have fun with narrative techniques. In the otherwise mediocre second season (reviewed here!), there is a remarkable moment in the episode "War And Peace" where the show suddenly turns on a dime and goes in a completely ridiculous and wonderful direction. In its third season, Northern Exposure was much more on episode to episode and it is somewhat surprising that it ended its season with an episode that did not advance any of the main characters. Instead, the producers tell a very different story, the story of "Cicely," the town in Alaska that the show takes place in.
When Dr. Fleischman hits an old man with his truck, he is mortified and deeply apologetic. He brings the man back to his cabin where he discovers the man is over a hundred years old and he was in Cicely when it was established around the turn of the century. Ned, the old man, begins to tell the story of how Cicely was founded.
What makes "Cicely" work so beautifully is that as he tells his story, Joel and his friends imagine it, transposing themselves into the roles of the residents of the area. And despite having heard about how Cicely was founded in prior episodes - Chris infuriates Maurice in an early episode discussing the sapphic love of Cicely and Roslyn on his radio program. Here, the viewer finally sees the story of Cicely and Roslyn (who are portrayed by guest actors while the rest of the cast takes over the other roles) as they band together, inspire locals who are living in the Alaskan frontier and settle the town to form a community.
Ned, a young man and aspiring poet, is virtually illiterate and carving out a living on the frontier as a virtual beggar where he is abused by the local crime lord, Mace Mobrey and his lackey, Kit. Cicely and Roslyn arrive in the area, fleeing the intolerance of the southern United States and they instantly treat Ned with kindness. Cicely, who is ill, and Roslyn, who is nurturing her back to health, instantly bond with the locals in Abe's pub. They include: Franz Kafka, a missionary names Mary O'Keefe, and Sally, Abe's young love. Roslyn and Cicely inspire Ned, Abe and the others to rise up against Mace and his oppressive tactics and claim the land as their own without paying patronage to him.
The regular cast is fit easily into the roles of their frontier counterparts and while the concept is not terrible heavy, it gives each of the actors a chance to step outside of their usual role. Rob Morrow (Fleischman) takes on the mantle of Kafka, Janine Turner (O'Connell) becomes O'Keefe, Barry Corbin (Maurice) is transposed into the villainous Mace, John Corbett (Chris) basically plays the same character as Kit (he's a bit highbrow for a thug's lackey!), John Cullum (Holling) becomes Abe, Darren Burrows (Ed) has a chance to stretch his acting legs as the young Ned, and Cynthia Geary (Shelly) tags along as Sally. The 1909 versions of each character are clever, though they seem to utilize many of the character conceits of the character who is imagining the story the older Ned is telling.
"Cicely" works (perhaps not as well as a season finale, but as a general episode) because it gives the viewer a real sense of a ride. The story is one that is pretty predictable: whatever happens in the impending shootout that Cicely and Roslyn arrange, we know Ned survives it and the town of Cicely is established. But this is one of those episodes where the journey makes all the difference. In other words, it's just fun! "Cicely" is a chance to watch a virtual actor's studio for a group of remarkably talented actors and unlike some episodes of Northern Exposure, which fall short on time and end up having filler, this is an incredibly tight episode (indeed, on the DVD version of it, this has possibly the greatest number of deleted scenes of any episode of the series!). In this way, "Cicely" becomes something of a gift to the fans.
The acting challenges that the cast live up to are almost impossible for the non-fans to appreciate because without the frame of reference, the performances as just roles that the actors are playing. And while it's easy to see someone like John Corbett playing the rogue Kit or Barry Corbin playing a character stripped of all ambiguity to be an outright villain, some of the cast gives shockingly good performances.
The highlight of these is Darren Burrows as the young Ned. Burrows has taken some slack from me as I review Northern Exposure episodes because it's hard to tell how decent an actor he truly is. Burrows plays Ed Chigliak as slow and subtle and his early performances were awkward and sometimes painful to watch because it was impossible to tell if Ed was supposed to be mildly handicapped, suffering from a language or cultural barrier or just off in his own little world. But in "Cicely," Burrows comes completely into his own.
In this episode, Burrows does not have any slowness to play, he is confident in the role and he takes the viewer on a wonderful character journey of a beaten boy who slowly gains his confidence and comes into his own. Burrows evolves the character with his performance such that by the end of the episode, the young Ned is speaking with the same cadences as the old Ned, played by Robert Blossom. That's a great acting challenge and Burrows lives up to the challenge well.
Robert Blossom gives a wonderful performance to lend credibility to the episode and Jo Anderson and Yvonne Suhor give good performances as Roslyn and Cicely, respectively. I was familiar with Suhor from her guest shot on Star Trek: Voyager's "Prime Factors" and was suitably impressed with her performance in "Cicely." She's a decent character actress and she plays off Anderson perfectly to create a believable couple.
"Cicely" won a boatload of awards for Northern Exposure and rightfully so. The episode takes chances, but it holds the attention of the audience and provides an entertaining story of people casting off their oppressors and fighting for love. That's a pretty classic story and it is told with humor and spunk on this episode.
While the acting and character quirks that transfer from the primary characters to their 1909 personas are likely to be more appreciated by fans of the show, this is a fun episode and a great entry point into Northern Exposure. Indeed, I'd recommend bypassing the first two seasons and starting with the third and because this episode establishes the setting of Cicely, it's a weird, but appropriate place to start. Worth it for any fan of dramadies!
[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Northern Exposure - The Complete Third Season on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the third season by clicking here!
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9.5/10
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© 2011, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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