9.0/10505 votesLoading...#1 - Cicely
Season 3 Episode 23 - Aired 5/18/1992
Joel meets an old man who's returned to Cicely after many years. The man tells him the story of two remarkable women, Roslyn and Cicely, whom transformed the town into ""the Paris of the North"" back in 1909.
Director: Rob Thompson
Writer: Diane Frolov, Andrew Schneider
8.8/10563 votesLoading...#2 - Aurora Borealis: A Fairy Tale for Big People
Season 1 Episode 8 - Aired 8/30/1990
The approach of the Aurora Borealis and the constant light produces some strange behavior among the residents of Cicely. Chris abandons the radio station to build an unusual piece of modern sculpture and to get acquainted with a new soul mate that has come into town on some predestined mission. Joel journeys into the back woods to visit an isolated forest ranger and, when he gets stuck coming home, remembers the stories of a strange Bigfoot-like creature named Adam rumored to be roaming the area. Joel is rescued by Adam, who turns out to be real and a damn good cook, only when he returns to town no one believes him.
Director: Peter O'Fallon
Writer: N/A
8.8/10467 votesLoading...#3 - Spring Break
Season 2 Episode 5 - Aired 5/6/1991
Things get a little crazy as the town waits for the annual ice breakup and the annual ""running of the bulls"" down the streets of Cicely. Joel and Maggie find themselves irresistibly drawn together, Maurice is attracted to a dominating state trooper sent to uncover the villain behind the annual rash of petty thefts and Holling challenges all the customers to a fight.
Director: Rob Thompson
Writer: N/A
8.7/10257 votesLoading...#4 - The Big Feast
Season 4 Episode 21 - Aired 3/22/1993
When Maggie distributes the invitations for Maurice's 25th Anniversary Bash for Minnifield Communications an event "everyone" is attending Joel doesn't get one. Shelly accidentally breaks one of Maurice's expensive bottles of wine and tries to find a way to replace it. Adam and Eve return with the baby, Aldrich, and Adam takes over the food preparation of a special dish.
Director: Rob Thompson
Writer: Mitchell Burgess, Robin Green
8.6/10246 votesLoading...#5 - Kaddish, For Uncle Manny
Season 4 Episode 22 - Aired 5/3/1993
Joel seeks out other Jews to help him mourn his uncle and Maurice calls out the troops to go out and round some up. Chris gets Bernard to help settle a 150-year-old feud between the Millers and the Stevens; something Bernard has some trepidation about participating in especially since it involves fighting, something he's never done. Marilyn drafts Holling to be her partner in a Cajun dance contest.
Director: Michael Lange
Writer: N/A
8.5/10383 votesLoading...#6 - Slow Dance
Season 2 Episode 7 - Aired 5/20/1991
The infamous O'Connell curse seems to have claimed another victim when a falling satellite hits Rick. Maurice has mixed feelings about selling some property for an outrageously high price to a couple he disapproves of, and Shelly becomes confused when Holling is really enjoying his reunion with an old lady friend from his distant past.
Director: David Carson
Writer: Diane Frolov, Andrew Schneider
8.5/10356 votesLoading...#7 - Seoul Mates
Season 3 Episode 10 - Aired 12/16/1991
The holidays in Cicely see Joel experimenting with an unfamiliar Christmas tree, a clumsy Maggie suddenly left alone, Shelly pining for the religious pageantry of her childhood, and Maurice meeting a family he never knew as everyone awaits the pageant of the raven.
Director: Jack Bender
Writer: Diane Frolov, Andrew Schneider
8.5/10331 votesLoading...#8 - Burning Down the House
Season 3 Episode 14 - Aired 2/3/1992
Maggie receives an unexpected visit and some unwanted news from her mother. Meanwhile, Chris searches everywhere for just the right cow to fling for his conceptual art piece and Joel becomes obsessed with a local chimney sweep that he believes is a former pro golfer.
Director: Rob Thompson
Writer: Robin Green
8.5/10345 votesLoading...#9 - Three Amigos
Season 3 Episode 16 - Aired 3/2/1992
The death of an old friend sends Maurice and Holling packing off into the snowy wilderness to bury him at No-Name Point. But the way is hard, including an unexpected run-in with the man's attractive widow.
Director: N/A
Writer: Mitchell Burgess, Robin Green
8.5/10295 votesLoading...#10 - Northwest Passages
Season 4 Episode 1 - Aired 9/28/1992
Maggie must come to grips with her 30th birthday and the ghosts of her dead boyfriends by using an Indian ritual allowing her to lay the past to rest. Marilyn decides it's time to learn to drive and gets Ruth-Anne and Chris to give her lessons. Maurice drives the citizens crazy when he begins to write his memoirs.
Director: Dean Parisot
Writer: Robin Green
8.5/10258 votesLoading...#11 - Crime and Punishment
Season 4 Episode 10 - Aired 12/14/1992
Chris is taken into custody for an extradition trial to bring him back to West Virginia, where he currently has a parole violation. Chris knows he is guilty and really isn't interested in his defense. Mike comes up with an angle that he can prove to the judge that the Chris Stevens that skipped bail is different from the Chris Stevens standing before her.
Director: Rob Thompson
Writer: N/A
8.5/10253 votesLoading...#12 - Ill Wind
Season 4 Episode 16 - Aired 2/15/1993
After breaking his nose, twice, Joel and Maggie have a wild fling in her barn. Chris saves Maurice's life, a debt that he is set on repaying. After witnessing that event and surrounded by psychic instability, Ed thinks about death in its many forms. A shepherd's flock wanders into town and he talk to the locals about his problems, Ruth-Anne thinks he is having a mid-career crisis.
Director: Rob Thompson
Writer: N/A
8.5/10227 votesLoading...#13 - First Snow
Season 5 Episode 10 - Aired 12/13/1993
As the town prepares for winter, a healthy elderly patient tells Joel she is dying, much to his disbelief. Maggie decides to redecorate her house before winter sets in and gets a new chair that no one seems to like. Holling must figure out how many plots to dig at the cemetery before the ground freezes. Shelly lies to Maurice about never saying she loved him and she thinks her nose has begun to grow because of it.
Director: N/A
Writer: Diane Frolov, Andrew Schneider
8.5/10221 votesLoading...#14 - Mr. Sandman
Season 5 Episode 12 - Aired 1/10/1994
The aurora borealis causes the residents of Cicely to swap their dreams, exposing secrets. Maggie has Holling's dream about being a cab driver in Quebec, driving his overbearing father around. Ron has Maurice's dream about blue pumps. Joel sleepwalks in search of candy, having a child's dream. Holling has Dave's dream about kayaking with a spatula. Walt has someone's dream (Joel's?) about climbing a never ending tower.
Director: Michael Fresco, David Chase
Writer: Diane Frolov, Andrew Schneider
8.5/10280 votesLoading...#15 - The Quest
Season 6 Episode 15 - Aired 2/8/1995
Joel finds a map and brings Maggie with him on a quest to find a mythical city. They meet a belligerent gatekeeper and when faced with a crossroads, Joel sees his future and departs. Phil cleans out some impacted earwax for Chris but Chris sues him for malpractice when his inner ear is damaged. Maurice lets Holling know that Michelle is writing an article on restaurants for Alaska Highways magazine but she can't find any good words to describe the food at the Brick.
Director: N/A
Writer: Diane Frolov, Andrew Schneider
8.4/10410 votesLoading...#16 - The Big Kiss
Season 2 Episode 2 - Aired 4/15/1991
Ed's wish to know who his parents were summons up a 256-year-old Indian spirit named "One-Who-Waits" who offers to help him find out. Chris finds his voice has been stolen by a beautiful woman passing through town, and comes to believe in a folk cure he hears about-that he must sleep with the most beautiful woman in town, Maggie.
Director: Sandy Smolan
Writer: Henry Bromell
8.4/10283 votesLoading...#17 - The Final Frontier
Season 3 Episode 20 - Aired 4/27/1992
Maurice becomes curious about the influx of Japanese tourists to the area during the Northern Lights, Holling sets out to discover if Jesse the bear is really dead, and Maggie leads the curious townspeople in trying to discover what is in a mysterious package covered with foreign stamps.
Director: Tom Moore
Writer: Jeff Vlaming
8.4/10274 votesLoading...#18 - Midnight Sun
Season 4 Episode 2 - Aired 10/5/1992
Joel is charged with energy as the sun hasn't set and he uses his pent up energy to try to coach Cicely's basketball team to victory. Holling is distracted by Shelly's cheerleading outfit. The traveling salesman/tailor comes back to Cicely to sell his wares and he romances Ruth-Anne.
Director: Michael Katleman
Writer: Geoffrey Neigher
8.4/10253 votesLoading...#19 - Northern Lights
Season 4 Episode 18 - Aired 3/1/1993
Joel goes on strike when the state of Alaska will not allow him time off for a Caribbean vacation he was planning. Chris has trouble seeking inspiration for his new sculpture. A vagrant's presence on Main St. outrages Maurice, when he learns the man is an ex-marine he tries to become his benefactor. Maggie debates about having sex with Mike. Holling spends his time in hibernation. The town of Cicely strikes back against Joel.
Director: Bill D'Elia
Writer: Diane Frolov, Andrew Schneider
8.4/10223 votesLoading...#20 - Up River
Season 6 Episode 8 - Aired 11/14/1994
Maurice sends Ed after Joel, who's moved up river; and Joel tells Ed of the few days he and Maggie spent together, where every time they got together, there was gunfire. Chris hires a contractor to improve the lot around his trailer and it turns his world upside down. When Walt goes away to check his traps, Ruth-Anne realizes that she's fallen in love and tries to fight it.
Director: Michael Fresco
Writer: Diane Frolov, Andrew Schneider
8.3/10386 votesLoading...#21 - All Is Vanity
Season 2 Episode 3 - Aired 4/22/1991
Holling decides to be circumcised to please Shelly, Chris and Maurice organize the town to keep watch over an anonymous man whom died in Dr. Fleischman's office, and Maggie persuades Joel to pose as her boyfriend to please her father.
Director: Nick Marck
Writer: Diane Frolov, Andrew Schneider
8.3/10308 votesLoading...#22 - A-Hunting We Will Go
Season 3 Episode 8 - Aired 11/18/1991
Joel decides to explore the fascination of hunting by accompanying Chris and Holling on their annual pilgrimage. Ed becomes worried and over solicitous when he learns that Ruth-Anne is seventy-five years old.
Director: Bill D'Elia
Writer: N/A
8.3/10296 votesLoading...#23 - Things Become Extinct
Season 3 Episode 13 - Aired 1/20/1992
The death of his uncle sends Holling out to his still and into an orgy of self-doubt, Joel feels isolated as he searches for proof of other Jews in Alaska, and Ed widens his own horizons when he films Ira Wingfeather producing his unique wooden flutes.
Director: Dean Parisot
Writer: Robin Green
8.3/10260 votesLoading...#24 - Our Wedding
Season 3 Episode 22 - Aired 5/11/1992
As their wedding approaches, Adam debates with Joel about women and Eve lets a gung-ho Shelly take over the wedding plans as she worries about more important matters. Maggie and Joel try in their own ways to come to grips with their experience in Juneau.
Director: Nick Marck
Writer: Diane Frolov, Andrew Schneider
8.3/10233 votesLoading...#25 - Duets
Season 4 Episode 13 - Aired 1/18/1993
One-Who-Waits returns and has positive information on the location of Ed's father and takes Ed to the construction site where he works. Ed gets a job and tries to come up with a way to tell the foreman that he is his father. Mike asks Maggie to fly to a mountain range where he thinks he will be able to identify the chemicals that were part of a container spill. A blind man comes into "The Brick" and offers to tune and rebuild the piano but begins to get on Holling's nerves. Maggie tries to hold off Mike's advances by telling him about her "curse."
Director: Win Phelps
Writer: Geoffrey Neigher
The Best Episodes of Northern Exposure
Every episode of Northern Exposure ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Northern Exposure!
After receiving a scholarship from the state, a recent Columbia University medical school graduate is required to set up his practice in an eccentric Alaskan...
Genres:ComedyDramaSci-Fi & Fantasy
Network:CBS
Best Episodes Summary
"Cicely" is the best rated episode of "Northern Exposure". It scored 9/10 based on 505 votes. Directed by Rob Thompson and written by Diane Frolov, Andrew Schneider, it aired on 5/18/1992. This episode scored 0.2 points higher than the second highest rated, "Aurora Borealis: A Fairy Tale for Big People".