MuffinMixer

My husband and I both laughed heartily many, many times throughout this episode. I would have to say it's one of the most solidly entertaining episodes, and definitely the funniest one, in the series thus far.

Robert Picardo's acting is superb here--he conveys so well both the exuberant overconfidence he feels during his grandiose daydreams, and the shameful humility he experiences when his fantasies become known to the entire crew. The rest of the cast too, do a wonderful job of stepping out of character while playing their roles in his daydreams. I particularly enjoyed the sultry facial expressions of Janeway and Seven. Top-notch humorous acting here.

The best part of the episode though, is the way that the embarrassed doctor is able to regain his pride when en element of his daydreams actually does save the day--for real. It ties everything together beautifully in a way that makes sense but is still funny and delightful.

We are currently watching through Voyager for the first time, and it's a sure bet this is one episode we will revisit in the future.

I'm not going to say this is the worst episode of Highway to Heaven, but it's definitely near the bottom. It tries to mix absurd and comical moments (such as the ridiculous scenes of Bob White in heaven as a kind of angel director) with the serious theme of a man contemplating cheating on his wife.

Overall, the storyline felt strangely juvenile and simplistic to me, like it was written by a highschool student and not a professional writer. And the ending was not really satisfying, as it felt like the story just suddenly ended, without anyone really growing or changing much as a person. Furthermore, we were told in the beginning that the problem in this household was that she wanted a baby, he did not, and it was putting strain on their marriage. Okay, but throughout the entire episode the characters never once talked about having a baby. Huh?

What bugged me the most though, is that certain elements of this episode are highly inconsistent with the rest of the series, which is bizarre because Landon himself wrote and directed this episode. For instance, since when do all the angels go around telling people they're angels? And since when can angels do really bad things, and encourage people to commit adultery, and get away with it? In past episodes, Jonathan was taken off assignment any time he didn't follow the Boss's orders.

I am truly surprised that this episode was written and directed by Michael Landon. It's definitely not his best work!