Joel (Rob Morrow) is super-excited that his fiancée, Elaine (Jessica Lundy) is coming up to Cicely for a visit. Unfortunately, the pilot he hired, not Maggie (Janine Turner) has come down with a virus and it seems to be spreading around the town quickly.

Russian Flu was written by David Assael and debuted on 9 August, 1990.

Janine agrees to go pick up Elaine (and charge Joel double for it) but Joel is going to have other problems very shortly, not only are Elaine and Janine getting along, but the entire town is sick, and blaming Joel. They are accusing him of being a KGB agent and releasing a flu on them.

Things get even more complicated when he and Marilyn (Elaine Miles), his waiting room attendant, disagree on how to treat the virus, and she may end up healing the whole town.

Ed (Darren E. Burrows) takes over the radio for Chris (John Corbett) and has a great time doing it, that is when he’s not interrupting romantic moments between Joel and Elaine.

The whole town comes down with the flu, except for Joel and Maggie, even Elaine falls victim to it.

Joel has a great dream sequence that features all of the show’s characters in New York and it’s a lot of fun to watch. It’s goofy, funny, and shows that Joel is definitely having thoughts about Maggie, whether he admits it or not.

The town, of course, recovers and apologizes to Joel for their treatment of him and the episode also includes a wonderful collection of nods to Twin Peaks, which was also shot in Washington State. What a fun moment.

The series is really finding its groove, and maybe the shortened first and second season help with that?

Sex, Lies and Ed’s Tapes sees a check-in on Shelly’s (Cynthia Geary) pregnancy but things will get really complicated when to Holling’s (John Cullum) surprise, Shelly’s husband, Wayne (Brandon Douglas) arrives from Saskatchewan and wants a divorce so that he can get remarried. But he’s really harboring feelings for Shelly and wants her back.

Holling is uncomfortable to be living with a married woman, so the pair reside separately until the divorce comes through, which bums Shelly out and doesn’t do her much good, being pregnant and all. Or is she? Her blood test comes back with the reveal that she’s not pregnant.

Shelly has to figure out what she wants from life, and who she will end up with.

Ed is seeking inspiration for his movie script, which allows for some really fun moments, and nods to classic films (Raiders, Midnight Cowboy, and a John Wayne influenced Western). Maurice (Barry Corbin) doesn’t understand why he’s having such a hard time doing it, you just throw in a couple of fast cars and beautiful women and you’re set.

Janine’s boyfriend, Rick (Grant Goodeve) is afraid he’ll suffer the O’Connell curse following a check-up with Joel. It seems a large portion of Janine’s prior relationships. In fact, he’s so concerned about a possible tumor that he skips town to Fairbanks until Joel has news. But once the good news comes back, Maggie breaks up with him because he blamed her for it. Now, if we could just get Elaine out of the picture.

The series is really getting its feet under it, and it’s very enjoyable to watch the wonderful cast dig into their characters and bring them to eccentric life. Next time we finish off the first season, and gear up to see how the second season plays out.