Written by Rogers Turrentine, The Mystery of the Old Curio Shop first aired on 27 September, 1993.

Maurice (Barry Corbin) works himself into a state, bringing on a minor heart attack, over his age. He and Ed (Darren E. Burrows) are spending an evening together, seeing a movie and sharing a dinner as thanks for Ed’s continued work. But as the evening progresses he frets and stresses himself until he causes himself a heart attack.

Maggie (Janine Turner) gets swept up into a mystery as she seeks out a gift for her father’s wedding. She goes to the local antique, but when she can’t purchase the gift she wants, finds herself interested in what is going on behind the scenes with the family there.

This leads to a fun little discussion between Maggie, Marilyn (Elaine Miles) and a young patient about the joys of a good Nancy Drew mystery. In fact she gets a fun little fantasy sequence as the iconic character!

But all of this mystery could be of her own making. This ends up being a fun Maggie story, and it’s interesting to see Maurice deal with his aging. In fact he confronts it head-on at the end of the episode by going for a swim in the buff.

Joel (Rob Morrow) learns about a Jewish predecessor in Cicely and seeks out connections in language.

It’s a charming episode, and Turner is just a delight to watch. Wonderfully eccentric and well-told, Northern Exposure continues to charm.

Jaws of Life was written by Robin Green and Mitchell Burgess. It first aired on 4 October, 1993.

Terror is coming to Cicely… it seems the dentist, Dr. John Summer (Jay O. Sanders) is in town, and all the locals are scared of him. In fact, everyone is sharing horror stories except for Holling (John Cullum) who has never had a dental problem.

Summer is a likable guy, but no one wants to hang around him because of his profession.

Chris (John Corbett) is surprised to learn that he’s going to live past 40, something he hadn’t really thought about or planned on. Joel prescribes some high blood pressure pills for him, and he gets a longer life. But will that affect how he lives life? It sure does, and he seems to be spiraling because of it.

And Maurice, still dealing with his age, is cast in wax. Apparently Madame Tussauds is adding him to the collection. It’s overseen by Arthur (the wonderful Brian George). But as the wait to pick it up gets longer and longer, it seems everyone including Maurice begins to talk to it.

This episode may be one of my favorites of the series, there’s great character bits, arcs, and of course the wonderful performances by actors who seem really at home with their characters.