Season 2 Overview

Highway To Heaven Cast: The Monster Part 2

Airdate: 12/11/1985

Directed By: Victor French

It’s the last episode of the second season divided in two parts, and finally Scotty and Diane get something too.

Complete show available here.

Assignment: Jonathan and Mark are assigned to help both a quadriplegic lawyer and a disfigured sculptor fulfill their aspirations.

The general assignment remains largely the same: a sculptor with some facial disfigurement falls in love with a blind woman, Rachel, thanks in part to Jonathan (who got them to know each other in the first place).

At the same time, Scotty, the quadriplegic lawyer and friend of Jonathan and Mark from season 1, was revealed to be having trouble both with his job—unable to find any client for his practice due to his condition—and with Diane, who apparently had to quit her own job and then unwillingly get it back just for her husband. And they broke up by the end of the episode.

But they weren’t really involved in the assignment, and the only purpose was to have a pretext to show them having domestic difficulties. Because even marriages made in Heaven are problematic—and Scotty and Diane wouldn’t make it, unlike what Mark said at the conclusion of that episode.

Anyway, Part 1 was basically about the love affair of Julian and Rachel, and it concluded quite dramatically: she hits her head on a rock after tumbling down a hill (like the random kid at the conclusion of the season 1 finale, or the way Carrie did on Little House, for that matter) and Julian is caught holding her body, so he is arrested for the accident and locked in jail.

If part 1 was mostly a love assignment (partially inspired by some fables, like the Sleeping Beauty), for part 2 the assignment is overturned and basically becomes a courtroom one (like A Divine Madness, at least in part).

So Jonathan finds Julian in jail, professing his innocence to the current attorney.

However, nobody cares about it.

Actually, manslaughter is charged when someone dies by accident, while Rachel is still alive. At least now.

That goes to show he doesn’t even know the difference between attempted murder and manslaughter, so he’s either an incompetent or a kook. Maybe he was hired without references, which shows that what Jonathan said in the pilot is wrong.

Anyway, Julian doesn’t want to make any bargain knowing he’s innocent, so he sends the attorney away. Now Jonathan and Mark have to find someone willing to defend Julian in the upcoming trial. And that’s where Scotty and Diane get in.

The audience should know him well by now.

And Julian will be the first case of his career.

The episode mostly revolves around helping Julian out.

In a way, Julian and Rachel (but mostly Julian) were the assignment in Part 1, while Scotty and Diane (but especially Scotty) become the new assignment, or at least part of it.

• Background

The episode picks up immediately after Part 1 (which seemingly lasted a couple of days), although the timespan of the assignment is unclear. There’s a case involved, so it has to be realistically of a couple of weeks at least, but there are no indications about it, nor specific dates.

Besides, the epilogue takes place at least two weeks later, as Diane reveals.

A couple of weeks are missing from the episode.

Instead, the settings remain California, around Murphys (as in part 1 too). Again, the town must be so happy to be depicted like a fearing, superstitious one.

• Characters

This episode marks the fifth appearance of Scotty and the third of Diane in the series—the two most recurring secondary characters. They will come back for another two part episode of season three and then permanently leave the show.

Anyway, the events of this episode lead up to that season three episode. Actually, this episode already drops some hints suggesting what comes next for the characters. In particular, after their reconciliation at the conclusion, Diane suddenly expresses her domestic plans for the upcoming future.

And what about your job?

Of course.

This line is not completely random or improvised: the episode in the third season in which Diane and Scotty are coming back is exactly about that—them attempting to become parents. And it wasn’t something they made just for this episode: in an interview with the Arizona Republic dated 1985, actor James Troesh (who plays Scotty) revealed that, after completing the production of A Match Made In Heaven (which he also wrote with his wife), he approached Landon with the idea for another episode featuring Scotty and Diane becoming parents (at the entry “Production and Setting” of that episode there’s more about this).

So Diane’s line wasn’t written just to dismiss the two characters—and then, when they decided to have Scotty and Diane back in season three, they recycled this idea—because making an episode about them becoming parents had already been considered by the first season. However, for some reason, they put it off and worked on this two-part courtroom episode instead.

Perhaps by the time they made this episode, the production was already preparing an episode about Scotty and Diane becoming parents but then realized it was too early—so they wrote this episode instead. It is also possible that the production was already working on such episode about them being parents, while this episode was originally written without them—but they later figured Scotty and Diane could be part of this assignment, so they made this episode and put off the one about adoption. Of course, it’s even possible the idea of the episode about Scotty and Diane becoming parents hadn’t been approved yet—and by the time this episode was made, the production didn’t know whether the two characters would ever come back in the series. If that were the case, Diane’s line is just a way to leave some ground for the future in case they’d ever decide to make an episode about that, but with nothing official yet. Either way, they will come back, and the third season will pick up immediately from here.

Instead, as for Mark, it’s important to point out how completely absent he is in the episode. I mean, his character was already irrelevant in the assignment on part one, he wasn’t even shown interacting with Julian nor Rachel a single time (actually, they don’t even know him), but now he’s in the background. Really, he has his first line of dialogue in the entire episode only after Julian is acquitted, which happens like five minutes before the conclusion. And it’s not even to Julian: he compliments Scotty for the success.

And he largely remains behind everybody for most of the time.

He’s there.

Actually, it wasn’t supposed to be that way: in the original script of the episode, there was an additional scene at the beginning of this Part Two. It was supposed to be like this:

Mark pays a visit to Scotty, who has just moved out of home from Diane, and tries to talk him into going back. However, Scotty believes that Mark is there just because he pities him and wants to pay for his bills; an argument ensues, Scotty brushes Mark off and Mark storms out. Upon being left alone, Scotty attempts suicide by jumping in the pool.

However, for some reason, this part was skipped and the episode begins when Scotty is already by the pool.

And jumps in.

And David Rose scored it like real horror stuff.

That shows that, in the script at least, Mark was actually meant to play a greater role than what he has in the assignment, but for some reason they scrapped his parts. Maybe it’s because they realized it was pointless (after all, Jonathan is the one who saves Scotty, and that argument with Mark didn’t lead anywhere), or maybe it’s because the episode was already too long, and they had to remove it. But it could have been realistic, at least: they never show the audience if Mark ever tries to save his cousin’s marriage; rather, they keep him in the background for 40 minutes and give him the first line only five minutes before the conclusion, when it’s time to go.

Curiously, even in the first episode set in court (it was A Divine Madness), his character basically disappeared for much of the assignment. However, it was likely because that episode was very early in the series, and by that time they still had to figure out what to do with him—whether he was a secondary character to Jonathan or a protagonist of the same importance. Eventually, they went for the second one, but in most episodes of season 1 (especially before Help Wanted: Angel and the Christmas Special) he mostly remains in the background.

Anyway, the odd part is that French, as director, had to be there on this episode. So, it’s not like he was unavailable or had schedule conflicts that prevented him from taking part on this show—by the time season two began, he was both the investor and the promoter for a boxing gym in Van Nuys, in addition to be teacher in drama acting classes—it wouldn’t be unlikely that he just couldn’t keep it all together. But that’s not the case here: now, he was actually there all the time. Yet his character isn’t, for some reason.

• Production and Settings

The production took place in Murphys, the town where Julian and Rachel live in the show. Instead, the court was set inside the Calaveras County Historical Museum of Calaveras, (the county of One Winged Angels too).

It still stands now.

The episode was written on early October, and production took place between October 17 and November 1, making part one and two at the same time.

Curiously, the production of this two part episode overlapped with Landon’s birthday — and he probably spent it working here. Anyway, this episode marks the conclusion of the first half of the season (there’s actually one episode left to air, The Good Doctor, which was already produced on September but for some reason got scheduled after this, for late December). Then—unlike what they did on season 1 — after completion of this part 2, the production didn’t even take a single week break before resuming for the second half of the season. Instead, they started right away (the next episode is Alone).

By then, they had been working almost every single day from July 21 (when they started A Song For Jason) and produced one episode a week, every week, with no day breaks between them—the only exception was a two week break in August and a three day break in late September. It was quite a hectic schedule, especially for Landon and French who appear in and direct basically every episodes (although it’s likely that Landon took a three day holiday in The Secret, at least).

Anyway, just like part 1, it was directed by French, his only two part episode as such. And that might explain why his character doesn’t get much time in the episode. Think about it: in the first season he directed six episodes, and in nearly all of them, his character was noticeably sidelined compared to other episodes — particularly in The Right Thing (where he never interacts a single time with the subjects of the assignment), and The Brightest Star as well. The only exception is in Plane Death, where he played a much more central role, but it’s basically just that. So, in almost every show as director, he doesn’t have to work much as actor—and the same occurs here, where he remains in the background for the entire episode.

Actually, expanding on this, something similar occurred for his directing works on Little House. Take for instance the first three seasons: in those occasions, he directed three episodes in the first season, and four episodes each in the second and third season. And of all these episodes he directed, he only appeared on two of them (The Bully Boys and Quarantine, both in the third season). However, across those same three seasons, he appeared in over twenty nine episodes that he didn’t direct. And even later, when he came back for the ninth season of the series and appeared in twenty episodes, he directed eight of them—including Marvin’s Garden and Sins Of The Fathers, two of the only three episodes of the season that are coincidentally the only one he didn’t appear.

So it is plausible there was a deliberate arrangement with Landon over that. However, it’s also probable that, unlike Landon who had no problem both directing and acting in the same episodes — maybe French wanted to focus either on acting or directing, not both at the same time. That could also be advanced because the episode The Bully Boys in 1976 was the first show he both acted in and directed, not just for Little House, but of his whole career. And even though by then his career as actor had started more than ten years earlier, his career as director only began in 1974, two years before that. So it’s likely that he just wasn’t that confident being both, and he didn’t want to be both.

And maybe Landon knew that French was more confident doing one thing at a time, or that he didn’t like doing both at the same time, and he gave him this episode because Mark didn’t appear much. Or maybe any episode French was tasked with directing was selected from those where his character doesn’t really appear that much.

Finally he has a line.

This preference to do one thing at the time could serve as an alternative explanation to the idea proposed in Part 1 that French directed this episode as a nod to his early career, being judged only for his physical appearance (more details about it at the Special: A Earthquake Called Callahan) and leading to him be called only to play the antagonist every time.

Or maybe it’s nothing, and he directed this episode because he had to direct something like one third of the season, so he was set to direct the episode scheduled to begin production by the end of October, and coincidentally this two part episode was it.

Glossary:

Bag: when Jonathan and Mark go to pick up Rachel from the hospital, there’s a bag there.

That’s the bag, again!

It’s the same bag Mark was carrying back on Part 1, when he was moving in.

It’s also the same one that Jonathan packed up for him in One Winged Angels back on Season 1 (more details at the entry of “Highway Of Mysteries” in that episode).

They can’t be two different bags, they look too much alike. Maybe the production had multiple bags looking alike, or didn’t have any other bag available, and recycled Mark’s one instead. Or maybe it’s Rachel that wanted to imitate Mark and stole his bag, even though she had never seen him before.

No, that’s yours.

Or maybe those were the bags people used to have in the ’80s. Except Jonathan, but he’s a probationary angel.

From Little House: it’s partly a recycle, but not entirely. The courtroom set might look quite familiar to the Little House audience, and that’s because it’s the same one they used on that series on multiple occasions, as either a law firm or a court, just like in here.

It hasn’t changed an iota in 100 years.

It was used for many episodes, including The Family Tree (as a law firm) in season six and Blind Justice the following season (as a court, just like Highway now).

So, if they look similar, that’s because those scenes in Little House were also produced in the Calaveras History Museum, although they are supposed to take place somewhere in Minnesota (at least a mountainous version of it).

But Highway doesn’t try to hide the setting as Minnesota or something different than the museum: they even show the sign outside the building which makes the setting clear.

That’s why it’s not really a recycle (if it were, they’d be trying to pass it as something else.)

It’s more likely that Landon knew them from Little House and just asked to go back. (It won’t be the last time Landon recycles an old set from Little House in Highway).

Also, in the a hundred years between Little House and Highway that place must have been equipped with an elevator, or it would be hard for Scotty to go upstairs.

Doozy: there’s still Ridley, the doozy kid.

Highway Actors: as in Part 1, the characters of Scotty and Diane playing by the same actors as in Part one. But there’s also a new Highway actor: Martin West, the incompetent attorney hired before Scotty at the beginning of the episode.

He will also come back in the third season, in yet another background role, but a different one.

Punchline: at the beginning, of the episode, when Jonathan saves Scotty from drowning, he then scolds him for the attempt and makes reference to a punchline from one season ago.

Nobody is an angel, so it’s hard to follow our own preaching in the first place.

Anyway, this punchline is a reference: it’s what Scotty told Deke in One Fresh Batch Of Lemonade part 1, and then he was reminded of that by a fellow random guy on a wheelchair in A Match Made In Heaven too.

Remember that?

The Job: none, apparently. Because after the accident Jonathan is not shown working as handyman anymore, but only spends time helping Scotty out.

Instead, Mark remains in the background, as in Part one, for that matter.

Ratings: 39 million audience. 8th Weekly program, 3rd TV genre show.

Despite airing in December and being nothing about Christmas, the audience probably liked Part 1 a lot, and tuned in for this. And it was even more successful this time. It also surpassed Bless the Boys in Blue, and became the most-watched episode of the series so far. At the same time, it also became the most watched episode directed by French on the series (and it would remain as such), late Little House included. It will be eventually surpassed next month, but it still holds the spot as the second most-watched episode in the entire Highway show. Remarkably good, especially by season one’s ratings just a year ago.

One curious, unrelated fact: this episode is the only one in the series that never had a rerun in Spring, after the end of the season (when the network reruns the old episode of the season from March until September, usually). The odd part is that Part One did rerun on June, but it was never followed by this part two. The people who missed this two-part episode when it aired on December and wanted to catch up in Spring are still waiting to see where it leads. And they had to wait three years for the series to be sold to syndication. Even then, the syndicated version of the show removed at least a scene from each episode (the broadcast can run between 46 and 50 minutes, the syndicated version has to be strictly 45 minutes). So this episode remained incomplete for years. But that’s how it used to be back in the days when you either recorded a show or it was lost forever. A very long time.