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The Best Episodes of Northern Exposure Season 3

Every episode of Northern Exposure Season 3 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Northern Exposure Season 3!

Binge this in 17h 15m•Peaking at 9.0/10

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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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    Northern Exposure Season 3 Episode 1 - The Bumpy Road to Love
    8.2/10(413 votes)

    #1 - The Bumpy Road to Love

    S3:E1

    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.

    Director:Nick Marck
    Writers:Sybil Adelman, Martin Sage

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  2. Northern Exposure Season 3 Episode 2 - Only You
    8.0/10(392 votes)

    #2 - 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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  3. Northern Exposure Season 3 Episode 3 - Oy, Wilderness
    8.0/10(375 votes)

    #3 - Oy, Wilderness

    S3:E3

    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.

    Director:Miles Watkins
    Writer:Robin Green

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  4. Northern Exposure Season 3 Episode 4 - Animals 'R' Us
    8.0/10(376 votes)

    #4 - Animals 'R' Us

    S3:E4

    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.

    Director:Nick Marck
    Writer:Robin Green

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  5. Northern Exposure Season 3 Episode 5 - Jules et Joel
    7.6/10(397 votes)

    #5 - Jules et Joel

    S3:E5

    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.

    Director:James Hayman
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. Northern Exposure Season 3 Episode 6 - The Body in Question
    8.1/10(384 votes)

    #6 - The Body in Question

    S3:E6

    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.

    Director:David Carson
    Writer:Henry Bromell

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  7. Northern Exposure Season 3 Episode 7 - Roots
    8.2/10(358 votes)

    #7 - 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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  8. Northern Exposure Season 3 Episode 8 - A-Hunting We Will Go
    8.3/10(368 votes)

    #8 - 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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  9. Northern Exposure Season 3 Episode 9 - Get Real
    7.9/10(363 votes)

    #9 - Get Real

    S3:E9

    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.

    Director:Michael Katleman
    Writers:Andrew Schneider, Diane Frolov

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  10. Northern Exposure Season 3 Episode 10 - Seoul Mates
    8.5/10(426 votes)

    #10 - 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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  11. Northern Exposure Season 3 Episode 11 - Dateline: Cicely
    7.9/10(333 votes)

    #11 - Dateline: Cicely

    S3:E11

    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.

    Director:Michael Fresco
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. Northern Exposure Season 3 Episode 12 - Our Tribe
    7.9/10(340 votes)

    #12 - Our Tribe

    S3:E12

    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.

    Director:Lee Shallat Chemel
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. Northern Exposure Season 3 Episode 13 - Things Become Extinct
    8.2/10(351 votes)

    #13 - 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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  14. Northern Exposure Season 3 Episode 14 - Burning Down the House
    8.5/10(389 votes)

    #14 - Burning Down the House

    S3:E14

    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.

    Director:Rob Thompson
    Writer:Robin Green

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  15. Northern Exposure Season 3 Episode 15 - Democracy in America
    8.0/10(351 votes)

    #15 - Democracy in America

    S3:E15

    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 decor of the polling place.

    Director:Michael Katleman
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. Northern Exposure Season 3 Episode 16 - Three Amigos
    8.5/10(416 votes)

    #16 - 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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  17. Northern Exposure Season 3 Episode 17 - Lost and Found
    8.1/10(330 votes)

    #17 - 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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  18. Northern Exposure Season 3 Episode 18 - My Mother, My Sister
    7.4/10(308 votes)

    #18 - My Mother, My Sister

    S3:E18

    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.

    Director:Rob Thompson
    Writer:Mitchell Burgess

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  19. Northern Exposure Season 3 Episode 19 - Wake Up Call
    8.0/10(346 votes)

    #19 - Wake Up Call

    S3:E19

    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.

    Director:Nick Marck
    Writers:Andrew Schneider, Diane Frolov

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  20. Northern Exposure Season 3 Episode 20 - The Final Frontier
    8.3/10(339 votes)

    #20 - 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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  21. Northern Exposure Season 3 Episode 21 - It Happened in Juneau
    8.0/10(329 votes)

    #21 - It Happened in Juneau

    S3:E21

    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.

    Director:Michael Katleman
    Writer:Unknown

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  22. Northern Exposure Season 3 Episode 22 - Our Wedding
    8.2/10(311 votes)

    #22 - Our Wedding

    S3:E22

    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.

    Director:Nick Marck
    Writers:Andrew Schneider, Diane Frolov

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  23. Northern Exposure Season 3 Episode 23 - Cicely
    9.0/10(581 votes)

    #23 - 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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Season 3 Ratings Summary

"The Bumpy Road to Love" is the best rated episode of "Northern Exposure" season 3. It scored 8.2/10 based on 413 votes. Directed by Nick Marck and written by Sybil Adelman, Martin Sage, it aired on 9/23/1991. This episode is rated 0.2 points higher than the second-best, "Only You".