Airdate: 11/26/1986

Directed By: Michael Landon

It’s a very classic yet effective episode.

Assignment: Jonathan and Mark are assigned to help a man reconnect with his son.

At the beginning of the episode, Mark is contacted by Luke, an old friend he hasn’t heard from in years.

Whom he hasn’t heard from in years.

No, Jonathan, it’s not that: more likely, he needs a probationary angel.

So, Luke is yet another Mark’s friend. At least he’s not from the police this time.

Anyway, Luke asks for Mark’s help: he has grown distant from his son Gary.

So, he believes that an ex-cop might be able to help them reconcile by convincing him to go on a trip.

So, they all go camping in the lush California forest, like some happy blended family.

It sounds like a father and son assignment (part of the family issues ones), but that’s not all: about thirty minutes into the episode, it’s revealed that Luke is seriously ill, and wants to reconnect with his son, who is completely unaware of his father’s disease, before it’s too late.

And now, it turns into an illness episode—something the series has done many times before (A Child Of God had a similar assignment, except it threw in some Bonanza too).

Anyway, the key difference here is that Mark personally knows the people he’s assigned to help. This makes it one of the few episodes in the series where the assignment revolves around someone Mark already knows, as in Plane Death from season one, The Secret from season two and Love And Marriage in season three — all of them involving different Oakland colleagues— and A Match Made in Heaven, about his cousin Diane. Now, he has yet another best friend, who has abandoned him all these years.

Come on, how many best friends who are actually so negligent can a single person have?

Also, this episode is partly an improvised assignment: it starts with Mark taking some time off to help Luke, and only when Luke reveals he’s sick Jonathan confesses it’s become an official assignment.

So, that’s the third episode of the series where the assignment is revealed only after some time into the episode: the first time was Plane Death and the second The Secret, which both had Mark’s friends. There would also be the Birds episode and For The Love Of Larry, but they are too peculiar, and it seems that they didn’t have any assignment on those occasions.

• Background

As for the background, this episode is set in the summer; that is apparent because, at the beginning, Gary tells Mark that he’s taking computer classes, and Mark replies that he thought school was out in the summertime, implying it’s summer. That’s further confirmed when Gary tells him that he’s launching a product by fall.

That makes it pretty hard to place it: season three began in late spring or early summer 1986, and supposedly lasts one year like the rest of the season (here, the episode Love And Marriage doesn’t count, because its prologue was actually set later). Now, in the preceding episode, Jonathan and Mark were at a college at the beginning of the academic year, which means this assignment must take place before that one. However, it’s quite hard to believe it takes place in the summer of 1986 (making it chronologically the first episode of the season), considering that Jonathan and Mark spent most of that time working at the Special Olympics (in the actual first episode of this season), and that afterward there was the issue of Scotty and Diane having problems with adoption, which likely kept them busy until September at least. Even though it’s unclear how long that assignment lasted, it’s very likely it took at least two months, if not the whole summer.

Instead, it could be possible that the episode takes place the following summer, in 1987; if that were the case, taking it that season three spans one year, then this episode would be chronologically the last of the third season. That’s plausible, considering that the third season finale doesn’t specify when it takes place, which makes it possible that it were set earlier in the season, leaving this episode instead as, chronologically, the season finale.

Anyway, the timespan is about three days, which is shorter than the usual one week assignment, but it compensates other longer episodes.

• Characters

This episode makes some revelations about Mark’s background: apparently, mark’s sister Leslie called him at the beginning to tell him that his old buddy Luke needed him.

Maybe Leslie is the angel who gives Jonathan the assignments.

Curiously, that’s one of the few times in the series they mention Leslie, who appeared in the Pilot and then her character was only mentioned randomly (for instance, in the original script of Plane Death, she was supposed to tell Mark about his friend, and in the episode Love And Marriage she supposedly gave Marks’ friend his number to invite him at the wedding).

She’ll actually come back in the next episode.

Anyway, this episode introduces one of Mark’s friend.

Once again, it raises the question of how Mark seems to have far more friends than he ever mentioned to Jonathan (so far, Charlie in Plane Death, Wes in The Secret, Sam in Change Of Life and Frank in Love And Marriage) —and how close these friendships really were, considering that none of them appeared to be around when Mark was struggling with alcoholism before the Pilot, for five years. But that’s simply how the show handles it, and Mark seems content with these relationships.

And whose fault is that?

Actually, the only one who seems to be worried about it is Luke’s son Gary, who asks him that.

He’s a real friend.

Anyway, Mark also reveals that he is Gary’s godfather.

A detail to add to his biography.

• Production and Setting

.From a production standpoint, the script was written in August 1986 and the episode was produced in early September. It was written by Robert Schaefer, who is another Highwayman, though a peculiar one. Apparently, he started his career in the 1950s writing mostly for the Gene Autry show, and Lassie, for which he wrote over 100 episodes, including one episode in 1966 with French, then 32, making a guest appearance.

Then, Schaefer kept on working on various series until 1986, and this episode of Highway marked the last show of his entire career.

After its completion, at the age if sixty, he retired and moved to the Hidden Meadow, spending privately the last years of his life until his death in 2006, when he was 80 years old.

So, this episode is the only one he wrote for Highway, and also marked the conclusion of his entire 30 years career. In that way, he’s almost like the Highway Lifetime actors; actually, there’s another Highwayman who concluded his career with Highway (David Young for Heaven On Earth), but that was weird, because Highway is also his only script, while Shaefer had a longer career on his back.

One curious thing: the original ending of the episode was slightly different. In the script, Luke and his son were meant to have their final confrontation—the moment when Luke tacitly realizes that his son knows about the illness—while riding the roller coaster, and the episode was supposed to end with them reaching the crest and then plunging downward holding hands. In the finished episode, however, the final confrontation happens on the ground, and the episode abruptly concludes as the two characters are getting onto the roller coaster, without showing what happens next. Perhaps the production realized it would be too difficult to stage an emotional scene on a moving roller coaster. Or maybe the actors were uncomfortable and asked to cut the scene short—similar to what Landon did in Heaven on Earth, where he was supposed to go on a roller coaster with Mark but skipped it entirely.

While French did it.

As for the setting, it is sprawling: it’s one of the few episodes of the series that doesn’t take place in a single place. The characters travel all around the state—still California, of course, but without anchoring the story to one specific city.

So, the opening scene, with Jonathan and Mark on an elevator outside a building before meeting Luke, was made at the Huntley Hotel in Santa Monica.

They will recycle it in a future episode, though no longer as Luke’s workplace.

Then, Luke’s house is located somewhere near Kennedy Meadows, Sonora.

Much of the RV trip was filmed throughout the lush Stanislaus National Forest of Sonora, including the Donnell Reservoir and surrounding lake.

But they don’t always stay there: the episode ends with the characters going to an amusement park. And that should look familiar: it’s the Magic Mountain in Los Angeles, the same park featured in the first season episode A Child of God, when the characters visit it and Mark lies about disliking roller coasters.

Which turned out to be a lie in Heaven On Earth, but that’s not the point here.

Curiously, A Child Of God and this episode share several similarities: both revolve around father and child troubled relationship, both have a sick character trying to reconnect with a loved one before it’s too late—here, a father and his son; there, a daughter and her father. And both feature roller coaster scenes that were produced at the same amusement park.

Glossary:

Cute: there’s one cute, hen Mark tries to lift some weights believing he has the Stuff.

From Little House: this episode has some features from Little House, mostly in the settings.

If this Stanislaus forest where they go camping feels familiar—as familiar as a forest can feel to someone not from California—that’s because it is: Landon and French had already been there, and had used those locations extensively in Little House on the Prairie, including in season one’s The Lord Is My Shepherd (the episode with Ernest Borgnine as “Jonathan” before Landon played him), season two’s The Camp-Out (where Laura and Nellie go camping with their families), season three’s The Hunters (where Laura nearly kills Charles), and many others.

So this wasn’t unfamiliar territory for Landon and French at all. They had been there multiple times before—just in a life when they played two best-friend farmers. In fact, this isn’t even the first time Landon revisited Little House locations for Highway: back in season two, the courthouse used in The Monster was the same one featured multiple times in Little House (more details about it at the “From Little House” entry here).

Do you remember that?

However, it doesn’t really count as a recycle (just as the court on The Monster wasn’t one either), because this episode actually takes place in California, and the production isn’t disguising it as somewhere else. In fact, it was Little House that had to pass California locations off as Minnesota, so the issue lies with that series. Actually, it’s never explicitly stated that this episode of Highway is set in California (even though it’s certainly possible, since the characters are heading to an amusement park there); so, at the same time, it could also be that the characters are meant to be somewhere in Minnesota, which would explain why the forest looks the same. Either way, this isn’t a recycled location from Little House, but just a shared feature.

Recycle: there’s one recycle, when they all go to the amusement park at the conclusion. Again, it’s the same amusement park used in season one, but that’s not a recycle, because they are not pretending to be somewhere else (the same way the Stanislaus Forest isn’t a recycle from Little House earlier). Instead, David Rose plays something familiar.

That’s the same composition used for A Special Love earlier this season, during the time compressing part with Jonathan and Mark coaching kids for the Special Olympics.

Likewise, there’s another recycle, although not like Rose’s one: the composition heard in the background of the scene where Luke and Gary play the hammer game is recycled from the merry-go-round of the episode Help Wanted: Angel, when Mark proposed to Stella on the pier; and it had already been recycle for the merry-go-round of Heaven on Earth, when Jonathan and Mark were at the amusement part and Mark saved a child.

Perhaps every merry-go-round in this series uses the same music—or perhaps every park in the U.S. bought the same one.

Drugs: it’s not an episode about drugs (one of the three Landon’s obsessions), yet there’s a mention to them. It’s when Luke tells Mark he has a problem with his son, and Mark makes a hasty conclusion.

Not again.

Luckily, he is not. Mark couldn’t bear another one.

Highway Actors: this episode has a familiar actor. The subject of the assignment, Mark’s friend, is played by Joe Dorsey, who is an old Highway actor.

He had already appeared in the Pilot as the landowner at Leslie’s workplace, the one who wanted to sell her property.

And whom Jonathan tried to persuade to reconsider, breaking into his office and evading his security system.

The first “security” alarm of the series.

Curiously, the two roles are quite similar: in both cases, he plays a wealthy, well-known man in the construction business who struggles with personal relationships. And they both spend time staring out of the window from their building.

That’s how he built his empire.

Maybe they are meant to be the same character.

They aren’t, though—back in the pilot he was unmarried, and Jonathan scolded him for choosing wealth over the woman who loved him and died waiting for him. Also, if they were the same person, now he would recognize Jonathan, the angel who broke into his workplace evading his security.

You’re the one who creeped up on me three years ago?

Again, they aren’t the same character. Most likely, someone believes Dorsey is a good fit for portraying a wealthy man with family issues.

Quiet Quitters: the first instance of the season. At the conclusion, when Luke and Gary jump on a roller coaster and Jonathan pushes Mark away.

Where?

It’s completely unclear: now their assignment is done, but there’s no reason to leave like that, without even warning Luke about it. Like, he just went to a roller coaster, at some point he must come down, and his old buddy, that he hadn’t seen for years before this episode, will have left, for no reason. Maybe Jonathan is implying that his superior gave him an assignment, and they have to move on (it’s already been suggested that they don’t get as much time they want to conclude an assignment, and that their superior can give them another any time), but it’s also implausible Jonathan wouldn’t even wait until Luke and Gary get down from the roller coaster.

What a tough job.

Also, they went to the amusement park on Luke’s RV, not with Mark’s car. So, they’d still have to go get the car. Unless Jonathan wanted to use his vanishing power.

Fishing: during their camping, Mark and Luke go fishing.

The “Stuff” powers: Jonathan uses the Stuff a couple of times, and a particular one is at the beginning. In order to convince Gary to go on the trip with his father, Mark asks Jonathan to have some Stuff.

Now, that’s problematic: if Mark has a plan to convince Gary, then why would he keep it from Jonathan, instead of telling him what he intends to do. Of course, it’s possible that Mark had something general in mind, like beating Gary at a sport or something similar, but didn’t know anything specifically. Either way, he could have at least mentioned whatever he wanted to do, like having the otherworldly strength or something, instead of asking for the Stuff without adding anything.

But there’s another weird part: Jonathan first abruptly refuses, then glances up for a moment.

But after some seconds, he accepts.

It’s unclear what he does that for—whether he is asking his superior for permission (it’s possible that Jonathan can use certain powers only if he has it), or whether he’s worried about what his superior might think if Mark were to receive the powers.

Either way, it’s the first time in the entire series that Mark is invested with the Stuff not under Jonathan’s will (like when they entered someone’s dream in the first and second seasons), but rather by his own will. That could also be revealing about how the Stuff actually works. Mark doesn’t explicitly ask for otherworldly strength: he only tells Jonathan he needs the Stuff, and that he’s use it “within reason”; so, that means the some powers Jonathan has with the Stuff (including the otherworldly strength) are always there, and that Jonathan doesn’t need to ask his superior to use them every single time (more details about the Stuff here).

Ratings: 26 million audience, 30th Weekly TV programs, 5th TV genre show.

The episode aired at the end of November 1986 and wasn’t very successful in terms of ratings, especially compared to the episodes earlier in the season. However, it did improve on the preceding episode—which unexpectedly became the least-watched of the series so far. That’s positive, and it suggests the previous episode was likely, and hopefully, an exception.

Anyway, it’s also behind the ratings of the earlier episodes in the season (and of season one and season two as well). If the next episode marks a slight improvement, there’s a chance for the season to be successful, nonetheless.