MC Notes: 4.10 Crime and Punishment

4.10 Crime and Punishment

Chris: Mike and I, we've been over what I'm supposed to say and I've got to tell you, it's pretty persuasive stuff, but is it the whole truth? It's a slice of truth, a morsel, a fraction. It's a piece of the pie, certainly not the whole enchilada, and now that I've been thinking about it, I don't think I could tell the whole truth about anything. That's a pretty heavy burden, because we all just view the world through this little piece of coke bottle. Is there such a thing as objective truth? I wonder. (6)

Original Air Date(1): December 14, 1992

Production Number (7): 77612

Written by(1): Jeff Melvoin

Directed by(1): Rob Thompson

Log line(1): Chris' past finally catches up with him and he is apprehended and tried for breaking parole in the state of West Virginia many years earlier.

Synopsis(1): When Chris-in-the-Morning is suddenly arrested for breaking parole many years before by leaving West Virginia without the consent of his parole officer, the townspeople immediately come to his aid. Maurice hires Mike to defend Chris. Mike, who was formerly a corporate attorney, is challenged to find a solid defense for Chris. After having everyone testify to the good person that Chris has become and painting the picture of his dysfunctional childhood, Mike attempts to prove the Chris Stevens currently before the court is not the same Chris Stevens who hot-wired a car at the tender age of eighteen.

Guest Stars: (7)
Barbara Semanski - Diane Delano
Bernard Stevens - Richard Cummings, Jr.
Judge Elizabeth Percy - Anne Haney
Assistant District Attorney Sizemore - Matt Skerritt

Details (2): Chris is arrested by Officer Semanski. Maurice feels betrayed by his old flame.

Mike went to law school at the University of Illinois.

The crime that put Chris in the slammer: Grand Theft Auto. He and Dickie Heath hot-wired a '71 Firebird. Chris did eighteen months in prison.

Teddy Miller was Chris' parole officer. The Millers have been jailing the Stevens' since the Civil War.

Chris' bad influence uncles are names Bob, Roy and Stan. They were known collectively as the Stevens boys.

Music: (3)
• Born to Lose
[Semanski arrests Chris.](8)

• Rock My Baby - Shenandoah
[Joel and Holling talk in the Brick.](8)

• Nocturne No. 2 (Chopin)
[Maurice asks Mike to represent Chris.](8)

• Whiskey If She Were a Woman - Highway 101
[Shelly and Ed talk about Chris' fate.](8)

• Brandenburg Concerto-- Allegro Movement (Bach)
[The Judge and Ruth-Anne talk about books.](8)

• If I Could Bottle This Up - Paul Overstreet
[Maurice and Holling watch Semanski eat.](8)

• Under a Stormy Sky - Daniel Lanois

• Won't You Let Me Go? - Buckwheat Zydeco
[Holling throws a party for Chris.](8)

Shelly's Earrings:
Statue of Liberty(?) [Talks to Ed and Joel about the judge being a woman.]
Gold revolvers [On the stand for Chris.]

Footnotes and additional research:
1. The Revised and Updated Northern Exposure Book, 2nd Ed. by Louis Chunovic (1995)
2. Revised NE Bible: New and Improved fro 94-95 season! Memo from: Ursula Wendel and Cynthia Cohen- Gugisch
3. Print-out of Jude Shabry's music list from the Moose's Guide to Northern Exposure.
4. Intertain 2000 collection of NX music online
5. Geoff's Miscellany
6. Kevin Wright's Culture NX Quotes for Season 4.
7. MCA TV Promotional Kit dated 9/27/95
8. The Northern Exposure Book, 1st Ed. (1993) by Louis Chunovic

Created 2/10/02

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