3.20 Final Frontier

 

 

 

 


Original Air Date: April 27. 1992 Production number: 77522
Written by:
Jeffrey VlamingDirected by: Tom Moore


Maggie: Fleischman, you are just not human! Humans have inquiring minds and a thirst to know! You're just a thing! A rock! A shoe! A two-by-four! A person with absolutely no imagination and curiosity!

Log line (1): Much to Holling's dismay Ed discovers that Jesse the bear has died; Japanese tourists infiltrate Cicely; a package that has traveled the world arrives in Cicely addressed to an unknown person.
Synopsis (1):

Ed's announcement that Jesse the bear is dead affects Holling very personally. After having been attacked by Jesse years before, Holling had vowed to kill the bear himself someday. Jesse's death means an end to that dream. Refusing to accept the bear's demise, Holling sets off to the cave where Jesse lived. He returns cut and bruised, but finally at peace, having realized Jesse symbolized all fears and proud of himself for having faced them directly.

A group of Japanese people come to town to see the Aurora Borealis and to meet their hero, Maurice Minnifield the famed astronaut. Although flattered by the attention, Maurice becomes upset they are staying at the bed and breakfast that he sold to two gay men.

A package with postmarks from around the world arrives in Cicely, addressed to an unfamiliar name. After trying many different ways to contact this unknown person, the townspeople become curious about what the box contains. After arguing both sides, they vote to open it.

Background
(Production Bible):

Maurice with the Mercury program, establishing; story about "the wheel" and the cocktail by Alan Shepard. Japanese folklore: copulate under the aurora boroalis and you'll have a gifted child. Erick was in the Marine.,.. a guard at the Tokyo embassy. When Holling met Jesse, he was hunting up on Nanek Ridge; Jesse was ten feet tall, 1800 pounds... knocked the Winchester out of Holling's hands; Holling grabbed his paw, bit his toe off; dragged his broken body fives miles back to camp; the only thought that sustained him was one day killing that bear.

Facts to Wax
(Production Bible):

Sourdough Inn out by Eagle Lake. Maurice's house . . . Edwardian touches, Regency, early Victorian furnishings . . . has a mogami-do, late Edo period, presented to him by emperor Hirohito. Jesse apparently died of old age; Ed, Milt and the guys mount Jesse's bones by the stairs in the bar, but Holling decides that isn't Jesse. Head of security at Sitka airport a friend of Maggie's. Richard McWilliams' letter dated June 8, 1988; he's eight yrs. old.

Guest stars (9): Bar Patron #1 - Paul Fleming
Bar Patron #2 - Wally Dalton
Dave the Cook - William J. White
Erick Reese Hillman - Don R. McManus
Ron (Ronald Arthur Bantz) - Doug Ballard
Japanese Tourist #1 - Akemi Namei
Japanese Tourist #2 - Rob Narita

Music:
(Note music listed is from the original TV airings. The DVD may differ.)

Running Behind - Tracy Lawrence
[Ed tells Holling that Jesse is dead]

Imperial Hotel
[Chris on the radio before Japanese tourists arrive] (1)

Don't Give Your Heart to a Rambler - Travis Tritt
[Maggie shows Ruth-Anne the package.]

English Tea Room
[Chris reads from "Paddle to the Sea."]

Honeymoon Suite - Byron Berline
[Ed and friends
reassemble Jesse's skeleton in the Brick .]

Pure Chintz - Layin' Back
[The group decides what to put in the box.]

Caribbean Blue -Enya
[Chris finishes reading "Paddle to the Sea," and the package is on its way. Holling buries Jesse's bones]

Literature:

Paddle to the Sea - Holling C. Holling

Ed's Movie References:

Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid (1969)
[Finding Jesse's bones .]

The Magnificent Seven (1960)
[They decide what to put in the box.]
(Thanks John!) 

Shelly's earrings: Pink Flamingoes (in bar listening to pig joke)
Japanese-style gongs and swords (in Brick when Japanese tourists are eating) or is a plate and silverware?
acorns (Jesse's skeleton is rebuilt in Brick)
bones? (something long and white - during town meeting about box)

Stars with people undermeath (When Holling returns)
Additional Notes:

Fan Nicholas L. spotted Jesse the Bear's bones at the Rock Pasta Brick Oven Pizza and Brewery in Tacoma, Washington. (Photo compliments of Nicholas, Thanks!)

Holling: You were a bear ... a great big bear. You were wild and you were free. God speed, Jesse.

The filming location for Jesse's reburial at the end of the episode is the same place where Ruth-Anne and Ed dance on her grave at the end of 3.8.

 

Jesse the Bear's bones
 

Fan Chas wrote:
"Esse is latin, and means "to be". For example, if something is "In Esse" it is
in actual existence.. Roget's has it listed under
BEING, IN THE ABSTRACT

#1. Existence.-- N. existence, being, entity, ens, esse, subsistence
reality, actuality; positiveness &c.. adj.; fact, matter of fact,
sober reality; truth; actual existence.

"j'-" as a prefix suggests "I", as in "je ne parle Francais" - 'I do not
speak French'

Therefore, j'Esse might mean "I, Being". This fits in with the theological
subtext of "A Kodiak Moment" - Jesse as the immanent representative of the
God/ess, Being Herself; the episode concerning the transformation of Holling
and his relationship with Jesse, ie. a new way of relating to Nature, man to
woman, husband to wife, soul to body, etc." (from the now-retired Kevin Wright's Culture NX site).

Previous Episode Footnotes and additional researchNext Episode

 

© Copyright, 2007 • Northern Exposure is Copyright © Universal City Studios. All Rights Reserved. • Created 12/20/01 • Updated 10/21/07