The BEST episodes of Northern Exposure season 3
Every episode of Northern Exposure season 3, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Northern Exposure season 3!
Dr. Joel Fleischman (Rob Morrow) graduates from Columbia University medical school thanks to a scholarship from the state of Alaska. Though he was promised a placement at the large hospital in Anchorage, he is instead whisked away to the tiny town of Cicely, where he must work off his education debt as the local General Practitioner. The location is remote, the people are weird and quirky, and all Joel wants is to return to New York. The show thrived on this "fish out of water" storyline and the "will they or won't they" dynamic between Fleischman and Janine Turner's Maggie O'Connell.
#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.
#2 - 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.
#3 - Wake Up Call
Season 3 - Episode 19 - Aired 3/23/1992
As spring blossoms, Shelly suffers from a skin rash, Holling gives away eggs, Joel gets a new outlook on patient care from a tribal medicine man and Maggie experiences a spiritual and physical re-awakening with a handsome stranger.
#4 - 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.
#5 - 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.
#6 - Get Real
Season 3 - Episode 9 - Aired 12/9/1991
A stranded bus of carnival performers brings romance to Marilyn, doubts about her future to Maggie, the mysteries of magic to Chris, and a break to the studious Joel; Shelly however, is pained when Holling becomes fixated on her large feet.
#7 - The Body in Question
Season 3 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/4/1991
Chris' discovery of the frozen body of a Napoleonic Frenchman raises many questions for Joel, has Maurice dreaming of the economic benefits for Cicely, Shelly worrying over fertility and Holling confessing over his despicable ancestors.
#8 - The Bumpy Road to Love
Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/23/1991
Maggie is devastated when the unveiling of a statue in Rick's memory uncovers his life and loves away from Cicely. Maurice stumbles in his pursuit of Officer Semanski when she learns he favors tax loopholes. Joel is kidnapped and held prisoner by the reclusive Adam and his hypochondriacal mate Eve.
#9 - Animals 'R' Us
Season 3 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/14/1991
Maggie becomes convinced that the stray dog that's adopted her is Rick reincarnated. Maurice tries to convince Marilyn to join him in a multi-million dollar scheme to produce and market ostriches. Ed looks for help in making a movie about Cicely.
#10 - It Happened in Juneau
Season 3 - Episode 21 - Aired 5/4/1992
Joel foresees sophisticated delights when he travels to Juneau for a medical conference but winds up with good old Maggie, meanwhile back in Cicely, Chris finds himself tongue-tied with the return of Bernard, his cosmic doppelganger.
#11 - Only You
Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/30/1991
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.
#12 - Lost and Found
Season 3 - Episode 17 - Aired 3/9/1992
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.
#13 - 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.
#14 - 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.
#15 - Democracy in America
Season 3 - Episode 15 - Aired 2/24/1992
The mayoral incumbent, Holling, faces opposition from an old friend with a long memory. Chris grows eloquent over the democratic process. Ed worries over casting his first vote. Election commissioners Joel and Maggie argue over the décor of the polling place.
#16 - Dateline: Cicely
Season 3 - Episode 11 - Aired 1/6/1992
Maurice hires a colorful but questionable new investigative reporter for his newspaper, Maggie tries to enlighten Joel about the "talking" trees, and Chris becomes a co-owner of the Brick when Holling needs money to pay an unexpected tax bill.
#17 - Roots
Season 3 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/11/1991
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.
#18 - 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.
#19 - 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.
#20 - Jules et Joel
Season 3 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/28/1991
On Halloween Joel hits his head, presaging a visit from his twin brother Jules. Chris and Ed set out to meet a criminal from Chris' hometown in West Virginia, and Holling pays an old debt.
#21 - Oy, Wilderness
Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/7/1991
Maggie and Joel are forced to rough it when her plane is forced down by mechanical problems, and Shelly receives a visit from her former best friend, who is seeking a divorce for her boyfriend, Shelly's husband back in Saskatchewan.
#22 - Our Tribe
Season 3 - Episode 12 - Aired 1/13/1992
Joel agrees, under pressure from Marilyn, to be adopted by a grateful village elder, but wonders if he'll survive. Maggie becomes concerned when Holling shuts down the Brick while Shelly's away, ostensibly to wax the floors.
#23 - My Mother, My Sister
Season 3 - Episode 18 - Aired 3/16/1992
An abandoned baby gets attention from the whole town and helps awaken Adam's paternal instincts while Shelly's life is unsettled by a visit from her youthful, giddy mother and her new boy friend.