Season 1 Overview

And here it goes. The two-parts episode that people couldn’t care less about—except that it introduces an unsuspecting recurring character in the series. Also, it is the first episode to address disability and its associated fair of challenges.

Now, a couple of things before starting here: one, the episode will be divided in two parts — that’s the way it originally aired back in 1984, on two different weeks. Here, there’s just the first part, but next time it will be the second. Actually, in the original script it was supposed to have a single part, but during production of this episode they added some scenes and turned it into two parts. That’s probably why the episode is overstuffed with characters and small, random assignments here and there, besides the sport one.

Also, about the title: what the heck were the writers thinking when they set for this. I mean, there is nothing in this episode that is remotely associated with batches and lemons and so on. It’s not like a sport technical word or something. And it’s not even a quote from the episode, as no character ever says that directly.

Well, actually there is a moment Jonathan says something that sounds pretty similar: “When life hands you Lemon, you make lemonade” — which is supposedly an idiomatic expression, but it sounds so weird as a title when taken out of context, isn’t it.

Lastly, make sure to check out the glossary before continuing here, to have a better picture.

Assignment: Jonathan and Mark are assigned to help a promising athlete bound to a wheelchair after suffering a severe accident to come to terms with his new condition

First, the usual introduction, and nothing’s wrong here. Then, a long panoramic shot of trophies.

Seriously long.

Annoyingly long.

Alright, that’s enough. It’s been literally over two minutes just with these. We get it: there are a lot of trophies and medals and baseball stuff or whatever that all wants to make it clear it’s a sport-related episode. Now, please, move on.

Finally, there goes Deke —the main assignment — as he finds his father after a game.

This promising athlete is played by Ken Olandt, who appeared on various TV show. His most prominent role was likely in the TV show Super Force, which ran for 2 seasons in the 1990, and he played the main character.

Then he temporarely left acting and founded his own production company. Now, he’s back acting in mostly TV shows.

His father is Deke Sr. and he’s played by Jim Haynies, a very prolific actor in the 1980s and 1990s who died in 2021 after a career spanning forty years.

Deke Sr. tells his son to “walk like a champion” and informs him of a potential manager.

Anyway, Deke doesn’t stick around his father very long—because, you know, he’s young, he’s athletic, he’s in high school and he’s in the 80s, all signs leading to one thing: he’s very popular and has a date with his girlfriend.

Now, his idea of a “date” is reckless speeding on his motorbike while she drives alongside him in a convertible.

Of course, what could go wrong.

The next sequence exudes so much 80s TV energy it would embarrass even the most tolerant audience of the time: an incident.

What was Michael Landon planning to do with this, just a mystery.

It seems like a truck runs over Deke — supposedly. Or at least I think that’s what happens — it’s not clear at all. And then abruptly cut to a random guy in a gym. It all happens just so fast.

Next, Jonathan and Mark appear, now hired as physical therapists at a care facility for people with limited mobility.

Now, in these early episodes, the show always skips the job interview process and cuts straight to Jonathan and Mark already working on the job. Maybe the writers hadn’t figured out how to explain their references yet. But anyway, there’s to wait a few more episodes before seeing an actual interview—a moment that eventually becomes standard whenever they need to be hired somewhere.

Back to the episode: supposedly this nurse shows them around and introduces their most difficult patients, including newly-arrived Deke. So, Jonathan shows his bossy attitude and orders Mark to find Deke’s father while he will stay at the facility.

Mark, you know how angels can be patronizing sometimes.

In the meantime, Deke’s breaking up with his girlfriend during her visit.

Deke, that’s not polite.

Then, in his hospital bed, Jonathan introduces himself but Deke is resistant.

Well, maybe he can. He’s an angel after all.

Then, Jonathan leaves.

Meanwhile, Mark complies with Jonathan’s orders and visits Deke’s home. There, he only finds Deke’s mother tending the garden.

The dialogue in this scene isn’t strange in itself, but something feels off—confidently, it was looped (i.e., dubbed later), a common technique on tv when characters speak far from the mic or are moving around. Still, it’s jarring because this series (unlike Little House) almost never uses looping, and this marked the first scene looped in the show.

Anyway, inside the house, the audio returns to normal. Mark inspects a room full of trophies.

It’s a seemingly minor detail, though it hints at Mark’s fascination with other people’s sports collection — a kink that returns in a future episode.

Anyway, there appears Deke’s mother, and she’s played by Shelby Leverington, who is going to come back in another episode later on in the series, playing again the mother of an athletic kid who suffers a motorbike accident — although they are supposed to be different characters.

Anyway, Deke’s mom notices Mark’s obsession with the trophies and explains he’s actually looking at her husband’s. Because, apparently, father and son have the same name. Seriously, what’s with people giving their own names to their kids? And it always happens with boys; I mean, is there any girl named after her mom with a “Jr.” attached? Exactly.

That leaves Mark quite puzzled, even though French did the same with his own son.

You should have known better.

Anyway, Deke’s mother offers him coffee and tosses at Mark all her problems with her husband.

Basically, Deke’s father used to be a minor league baseball player who never made it to the majors. He projected his dream to his son, constantly pushing him to be a better athlete.

You know — just fathers’ obsession. Nothing new in here. And again, such obsession was already obvious because he’s Deke Sr. and he named his son Deke but the Jr. version

Anyway, the accident shattered the father’s dream, and now Deke Sr. can’t accept his son’s condition and barely visits him. In fact, he moved out, and she reveals she’s filing for divorce. So, this was all a very useless moment for Mark who came all the way there just to see the father.

Later, Jonathan is in a parking lot, where he scolds two pricks who parked in a reserved place.

But the guy defies Jonathan and dismisses him.

So, Jonathan might as well thump on his head or destroy him with the Stuff.

But, probably rememebering what happened the last time he got into a fight without the Stuff (because, he can’t use it anytime he wants — mind that), Jonathan simply walks away and gets into the store to buy a book, the old way.

Back in the days when you actually had to move your butt and get yourself out of home to buy stuff.

Then, when he goes out, he decides to use the Stuff to play a just one harmless trick.

He turned over the car of that prick.

And even mocks him.

Mark would have said: “Cute” right here.

Then, he returns to the facility and gives Deke his book.

Because, you know— he was the first wheelchair-using U.S. president. But most importantly, remembers the name of his wife, which will somehow return later.

Then, Jonathan and Mark randomly are in a gym, seemingly for no reason other showing some of the people there — because, you know, this episode is all about inclusion and representations, so there you see people you don’t always see on TV.

Either that gym only admits superheroes, or they seriously overdid the casting. What was the casting call like? “Wanted: extras for a Christian TV series. Minimum 200 pounds of muscle required.”

And they stage a comic scene where Mark gets outperformed by a woman doing chin-ups.

But there is another reason for this moment besides expanding the representation canon of women on television — and besides embarrassing the great Markie Gordon: to meet the father of the truck driver involved in Deke’s accident, who is played by a regular-looking actor.

Jonathan immediately introduces himself as a physical therapist (not as an angel) —and just hold on a moment: he shows zero reaction. No surprise, no suspicion, nothing. As if he was expecting this conversation all along. And the conversation goes on like that.

I mean, a guy approaches you at the gym and tells you that. Like, anywone would think: “How did you know my name and where to find me, have you been following me or something”. Just no way to justify his calm.

The man explains that his son feels awful about the accident, even though it wasn’t really his fault. This helps clarify the earlier, confusing car crash moment: apparently, it was Deke’s fault. The man conlcudes by saying his son is willing to do anything to help, and Jonathan replies he’ll stay in touch.

Then, Jonathan goes to pay a visit on Deke but notices a girl that looks like popped out of a 1980s nerd factory with those glasses.

Anyway, apparently she is a classmate of Deke who wants to bring him some schoolbooks and helps him keep up with his studies while he’s there.

When Jonathan walks away, she struggles with a very tough choice: glasses or no glasses.

Very 1980s, isn’t it. Then, she sets for no glasses and brings some schoolbooks to Deke.

Now, wait a minute, why is she bringing books to Deke: does she have a crush on him or something. Has she always had one, and does she know he broke up with his girlfriend. It’s all very random.

That doesn’t explain who you are.

In case it wasn’t clear enough, she’s a goofy nerd.

If you say so yourself.

Anyway, Deke believes she’s just there to have some school extra credits and that she doesn’t really care about him. So, he asks her to visit him on the night of the Spring Dance.

Of course, he anticipates she would turn him down, because it’s the night of the Spring Dance and everybody will be there. But, in case it was’t clear by her glasses and her “I’m so smart”, she is not like the other guys her age.

Deke, how could you not tell by now that she’s a nerd who doesn’t have an invitation for the Spring Dance.

Before leaving, she reveals her name is Eleanor. And Deke replies in a mysterious way.

Like, what does he mean by that —that he suspects Jonathan is an angel and gave him Roosevelt book for a reason? No, it still doesn’t quite add up.

Then, Jonathan knocks at Deke’s door and takes him to do what he’s supposedly paid for: physical therapy. Because, we get it you’re an angel, Jonathan — but you have to work sometimes, too.

That’s where the title came from. He didn’t say “Let’s go making some fresh batches of lemonade” though.

So, they get to the main room, and in the following panoramic there is a glimpse of Mark, too.

That old man that Mark is helping doing some therapy doesn’t talk here, but he will be coming back later in part two.

Anyway, on his first day of physical therapy, Deke meets Scotty — a quadriplegic man who dreams of becoming a lawyer. Enter James Troesh: a real quadriplegic actor who made his debut right here.

This casting was pretty groundbreaking. I mean, how often do you see a TV show with real quadriplegic actors—especially in the 1980s, and in a Christian show?

Moreover, Scotty would have a much more significant role in the series, appearing in five different episodes—making him the most recurring character on Highway after Jonathan and Mark. In fact, he’s going to be the first character to return for a future episode.

About him: Troesh reportedly became quadriplegic at 14 after being electrocuted while trying to fix an antenna. Then, as revealed in a 1984 interview with the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, at the age of 19 he dropped out of school and left home, until he realized he wanted to be an actor despite his physical condition (and lack of support at the time). So, he auditioned for Highway without any formal acting training, just a secondary role in a play as his only prior experience.

One fact: he mentioned in a video that he initially had a standard mechanical wheelchair, and the production rented an electric one — which is the one he used for the show — that he had to learn to drive. Later, he became friends with Michael Landon, who actually bought him an electric wheelchair using the funds of Landon’s company.

Well, just an example of Michael Landon applying Highway’s moral lesson to his own life. Just like French did when he helped former boxer Frankie Duarte recovering from drugs addiction — as it’s been mentioned in a previous instances.

Alongside his acting, Troesh also wanted to be a writer (by the time this episode aired, he was in the process of writing his own autobiography “Tragedy Transformed“, which he set to release within a year but remained unpublished for the rest of his life). With an encouragement from French (who was also a playwright), Troesh even wrote a script for a future Highway episode this season. Then, after concluding with his role in Highway, Troesh became a TV writer, and even created an autobiographical sitcom on YouTube, which was available for free. Sadly, he passed away in 2011, at the age of 55, and the project was cut short. As it’s been noted online, he died the same age both Michael Landon and Victor French were by the time of their own death some 20 years prior.

Now, back to this lemonade: after this introduction, Scotty accidentally pushes his book with a straw he was using to turn the pages and it falls on the ground. Mark asks Deke to get it, but Deke refuses because — you know, he’s the victim of the accident — he deserves to have people taking care of him and doing things for him all day.

And keep this in mind, because it’s the only moment of the episode Mark actually interacts with Deke Jr. —in both part one and two.

Eventually, Scotty turns and scolds Deke, believing the kid is using the accident as an excuse for doing nothing, and then gives him advice on how to live with a physical impairment.

Already dropping punchlines.

Then he turns with the wheelchair.

And leaves — very slowly.

He’s really slow, like it takes him 30 seconds — he probably wasn’t that confident with the electric wheelchair yet. At least, this gives the audience a chance to see who else is in the room full of patients.

Just look at that—a guy with no leg, i plain sight. I mean, this aired in prime time in the ’80s. Way ahead of its time.

On the night of the Spring Dance, Deke dances in his wheelchair and starts to fall for Eleanor, but Jonathan interrupts them and takes Deke out.

It seems like he’s taking him to the gym to make some more lemonade, but this time the angel has a different plan: he takes Deke to a room and shows him a video of a man on a pommel horse — in order to inspire him and take up the sport.

Of course, Deke won’t fall for it — simply impossible.

But he immediately changes his mind.

It seems like the accident also had memory loss as a side effect. Really, in this series it’s hard to find somebody who doesn’t have a change of heart any 30 seconds. Like, remember Estelle in the pilot.

Anyway, Jonathan reaches out to a pommel horse athlete, Richie, and the training begins next time. Then, very randomly, Jonathan and Mark asks Scotty to have dinner with them, so they all go to a restaurant. There, a random man looks at scotty and feels pity for him, so he offers a drink. However, Scotty politely declines, and the man takes it personally.

Then, Mark asks him to leave and that random man walks away.

So, this moment served for two purposes: it marks the first time in the series that a random guy offers to buy someone else a drink but he’s turned down (it’s weird, but it’s actually a recurring moment on future episodes). Not sure that would happen nowadays, mostly because people now wouldn’t see this as “charity” (which has a bad meaning for most people) but rather as simple kindness, which is impolite to turn away.

In this case, it seems like a way to point out the hypocrisy of those people that, seeing a man on a wheelchair, immediately feels pity or sorry, and they believe that offering supper will ease their conscience because “today I did a good action for somebody who needed it”, or something like that. But the whole point of this episode is that people with such impairments do not seek for this. It seems like generosity, it conceals selfishness instead.

But it was also important for a different reason: it feels so random that it may actually be the key moment of the whole episode. But, that will be clear at the end of this.

Or, by the second part of the episode. Because the first part of the story ends right here. So, will Deke reconcile with his dad? Will Scott become a lawyer? Will the random nerd get to win Deke’s heart? It will be revealed soon.

It’s basically an old-fashioned sports-related story— so it seemed like a recipe for success.

It was just partly the case: this first part got some pretty solid ratings the week it aired on NBC on October 1984, a similar result to the second episode of the series.

However, keep in mind this was also the first two parts episode of the series (the pilot aired on a single night), so the real test was seeing how many people among the audience felt engaged here and looked forward to seeing where the Highway would lead them. And that answer will come with second part.