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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!

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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 town.

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  1. #1 Fan Favorite
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    Northern Exposure Season 4 Episode 10 - Crime and Punishment
    8.5/10(320 votes)

    #1 - Crime and Punishment

    S4:E10

    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:Unknown

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  2. Northern Exposure Season 3 Episode 23 - Cicely
    8.2/10(595 votes)

    #2 - Cicely

    S3:E23

    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
    Writers:Andrew Schneider, Diane Frolov

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  3. Northern Exposure Season 1 Episode 8 - Aurora Borealis: A Fairy Tale for Big People
    8.0/10(645 votes)

    #3 - Aurora Borealis: A Fairy Tale for Big People

    S1:E8

    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:Unknown

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  4. Northern Exposure Season 3 Episode 2 - Only You
    8.0/10(402 votes)

    #4 - Only You

    S3:E2

    Maurice sulks over what he believes is an unflattering photo taken by Holling, Maggie worries about needing glasses and getting old, and Joel tries to explain Chris' uncanny appeal to women, who is busy chasing the one woman immune to his charm.

    Director:Bill D'Elia
    Writer:Ellie Herman

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  5. Northern Exposure Season 3 Episode 8 - A-Hunting We Will Go
    8.0/10(380 votes)

    #5 - A-Hunting We Will Go

    S3:E8

    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:Unknown

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  6. Northern Exposure Season 3 Episode 10 - Seoul Mates
    8.0/10(436 votes)

    #6 - Seoul Mates

    S3:E10

    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
    Writers:Andrew Schneider, Diane Frolov

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    7. Trending NowTRENDING NOW

    The 20 WORST Episodes of Northern Exposure

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  7. Northern Exposure Season 4 Episode 1 - Northwest Passages
    8.0/10(357 votes)

    #7 - Northwest Passages

    S4:E1

    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

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  8. Northern Exposure Season 4 Episode 2 - Midnight Sun
    8.0/10(333 votes)

    #8 - Midnight Sun

    S4:E2

    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

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  9. Northern Exposure Season 4 Episode 16 - Ill Wind
    8.0/10(299 votes)

    #9 - Ill Wind

    S4:E16

    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:Unknown

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  10. Northern Exposure Season 5 Episode 6 - Birds of a Feather
    8.0/10(253 votes)

    #10 - Birds of a Feather

    S5:E6

    Joel's parents come to Cicely and his father's know-it-all attitude gets on Joel's nerves and his mother gets back to nature. Holling's dislike of sports causes Shelly to ponder their baby's athletic future and his stature among the men of Cicely.

    Director:Unknown
    Writers:Robin Green, Mitchell Burgess

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  11. Northern Exposure Season 5 Episode 13 - Mite Makes Right
    8.0/10(247 votes)

    #11 - Mite Makes Right

    S5:E13

    A musician tries to stop Maurice from storing, in his safe, a 1.6 million-dollar violin he's just bought as an investment. Maggie becomes obsessed with ridding her house of dust mites after she develops an allergy to them. Chris struggles to find inspiration for his latest sculpture. Joel and Maggie have their first date, which ends early because of talk about things microscopic.

    Director:Unknown
    Writers:Andrew Schneider, Diane Frolov

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  12. Northern Exposure Season 5 Episode 18 - Fish Story
    8.0/10(252 votes)

    #12 - Fish Story

    S5:E18

    While fishing Joel hooks "Goony," Cicely's fabled sea-monster. Ruth-Anne takes Chris's motorcycle ride when customer demands get to be too much for her, then she joins a middle-aged motorcycle gang for a midnight ride. Holling gives up on his paint-by-numbers after Maurice ridicules his work. Joel meets his Rabbi in the middle of the lake after "Goony" takes him for a ride. The town, especially Maurice, demand action when it appears Ruth-Anne may not be coming back.

    Director:Bill D'Elia
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. Northern Exposure Season 2 Episode 2 - The Big Kiss
    7.8/10(479 votes)

    #13 - The Big Kiss

    S2:E2

    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

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  14. Northern Exposure Season 3 Episode 7 - Roots
    7.8/10(370 votes)

    #14 - Roots

    S3:E7

    Joel's former fiancé Elaine, now a widow, comes to visit. Chris' half-brother Bernard returns just as Chris is having dreams of Africa. The reclusive Adam takes a job with Holling to pay his insurance premiums.

    Director:Sandy Smolan
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. Northern Exposure Season 3 Episode 13 - Things Become Extinct
    7.8/10(361 votes)

    #15 - Things Become Extinct

    S3:E13

    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

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  16. Northern Exposure Season 4 Episode 3 - Nothing's Perfect
    7.8/10(318 votes)

    #16 - Nothing's Perfect

    S4:E3

    Chris kills a pet loving mathematician's dog; he falls in love with her and then while taking care of the rest of her pets, a parakeet drops dead. Maurice takes delivery of a clock he paid top dollar for and is delivered with the guy who will set it up. He becomes less than enamored with it when it doesn't keep the perfect time he expected.

    Director:Nick Marck
    Writers:Andrew Schneider, Diane Frolov

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  17. Northern Exposure Season 4 Episode 8 - Thanksgiving
    7.8/10(315 votes)

    #17 - Thanksgiving

    S4:E8

    The Indians in Cicely celebrate Thanksgiving by throwing tomatoes at white people. Joel is Ed's first victim and he is angered because in his words he is "definitely not white." The town gets decorated with skulls and pumpkins as they also celebrate "The Day of the Dead." Joel also gets bad news in a letter telling him that he must serve another year on his contract. Mike's latest reactions to the environment are caused by something he can't trace so he thinks about moving to Greenland. Chris waxes nostalgic and decides that the something missing from his life is "the joint" when he finds a can of beans that he remembers from Thanksgiving.

    Director:Michael Fresco
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. Northern Exposure Season 3 Episode 16 - Three Amigos
    7.7/10(429 votes)

    #18 - Three Amigos

    S3:E16

    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:Unknown
    Writers:Robin Green, Mitchell Burgess

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  19. Northern Exposure Season 3 Episode 20 - The Final Frontier
    7.7/10(349 votes)

    #19 - The Final Frontier

    S3:E20

    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

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  20. Northern Exposure Season 5 Episode 1 - Three Doctors
    7.7/10(256 votes)

    #20 - Three Doctors

    S5:E1

    Ed wakes up in strange places with no clues about how he got there. Joel contracts "glacier dropsy" which gives him the feeling of pins pricking his nose, a fear of shrimp, a tender groin and other strange symptoms. Shelly loses her singing voice just when she needs it. Leonard treats Joel's patients and Ed's "sleep flying" which maybe and indication of a greater purpose.

    Director:Unknown
    Writers:Andrew Schneider, Diane Frolov

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  21. Northern Exposure Season 5 Episode 9 - A Cup of Joe
    7.7/10(227 votes)

    #21 - A Cup of Joe

    S5:E9

    Chris suffers an anxiety attack during the written part of the exam, when he decides to become a pilot. Holling and Ruth-Anne's friendship undergoes a strain when a diary that Ed has found shows that his grandfather ate hers during the blizzard of 1897. Joel is in search the thief of forty dollars in petty cash.

    Director:Michael Lange
    Writers:Robin Green, Mitchell Burgess

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  22. Northern Exposure Season 5 Episode 10 - First Snow
    7.7/10(278 votes)

    #22 - First Snow

    S5:E10

    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:Unknown
    Writers:Andrew Schneider, Diane Frolov

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  23. Northern Exposure Season 5 Episode 11 - Baby Blues
    7.7/10(252 votes)

    #23 - Baby Blues

    S5:E11

    An agent stops by to see Ed about his idea for "The Shaman" but he wants a few "little" changes made to better sell the script. Chris seeks to discover his feminine side. Joel and Maggie "discuss" motherhood. Shelly flees her baby shower as all the pressures of motherhood begin to show themselves to her, when Eve and others tell their child birthing experiences.

    Director:Jim Charleston
    Writer:Barbara Hall

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  24. Northern Exposure Season 2 Episode 3 - All Is Vanity
    7.6/10(455 votes)

    #24 - All Is Vanity

    S2:E3

    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
    Writers:Andrew Schneider, Diane Frolov

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  25. Northern Exposure Season 3 Episode 17 - Lost and Found
    7.6/10(341 votes)

    #25 - Lost and Found

    S3:E17

    The hypochondriac, Eve comes to town to ask about her latest symptoms, but Joel is preoccupied with the ghost of a lonely old soul haunting his cabin. Maurice receives a visit from his old Army commander, who needs to borrow money.

    Director:Steven Robman
    Writers:Andrew Schneider, Diane Frolov

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Best Episodes Summary

"Crime and Punishment" is the best rated episode of "Northern Exposure". It scored 8.5/10 based on 320 votes. Directed by Rob Thompson and written by Unknown, it aired on 12/14/1992. This episode scored 0.3 points higher than the second highest rated, "Cicely".