Soapy Sanderson

Summary
After the of one of Cicely's most-loved eccentrics, Soapy Sanderson, Joel and Maggie battle over the proper handling of his 100 s of land, left to them in his.

Plot
Early in the morning, Maggie lands her plane outside a cabin near the woods, where she picks up Soapy Sanderson, an elderly man who lives alone as a with a. There is an obvious closeness between Soapy and Maggie from a long friendship. Maggie brings Soapy in to Joel's office, and Joel is upset that they are several hours late. In addition, Joel is bothered to find that Soapy hasn't been doing his for his broken, which is not healing very quickly. After Joel tells Soapy to think about his future, Soapy leaves, a bit more somber than before. Later that day, Ed delivers a note from Soapy, telling Joel and Maggie to meet him at his cabin the next morning. When they arrive, they find Soapy's body, along with a gun, a, a nice , and an for his ashes. Joel is visibly shaken, but Maggie accepts Soapy's death as part of life's cycle.

At The Brick, Holling reads the will, and Joel and Maggie are shocked to find that they have been names co-s to Soapy's estate. Joel is especially confused, since he barely knew the man. At the bar, Joel suspiciously interrogates Maggie about the reason, and Maggie accuses him of being.

At Joel's office, a local Ronkonkoma shows up and offers to buy Soapy's land from Joel for $50,000, in order to use it as a. Hoping to use the money to help shorten his in Cicely, Joel tentatively accepts the offer, provided he can convince Maggie to agree. He meets Maggie later in The Brick, and rather duplicitously tries to convince her to give the land back to the Indians, despite her wanting to create a instead. Maggie hesitantly agrees, and is actually impressed with Joel for coming up with such an original idea.

Ed drives two strangers into town, who have arrived to make a. At the same time, Joel is in his office talking to Elaine telling her to get an expensive to get him out of his. However, he is interrupted by Maggie, who introduces him to Laurie and Kim, the two filmmakers from who are shooting a documentary on Soapy's life because he earned two s from the college and was a major. Joel is a little uncomfortable with the attention, and begins feeling guilt over his decision to sell the land. Meanwhile, Maggie is beaming, and has apparently overcome her previous dislike of Joel.

In the evening, Maggie stops by Joel's place with dinner and wine to celebrate their decision to give the land back to the Indians. Joel, who hasn't told Maggie about the money, is a little nervous, but invites her in. The attraction between Maggie and Joel heightens as they pour the wine and, as they finish off the bottle in front of the fireplace, Maggie apologizes for misjudging Joel. Joel's discomfort grows and, as he tries to tell her about the money, she begins him. Suddenly, Maggie realizes what she is doing, becomes very uncomfortable, and starts to leave. Joel, who is by now thoroughtly confused, asks her what is going on. Maggie admits that she was hitting on him, kisses him on the cheek, and leaves, while Joel stands alone, flustered and confused.

In The Brick, Laurie and Kim are filming footage of townspeople who knew Soapy. When interviewing Maggie, Laurie shows her a picture of Soapy's dead wife, who looks exactly like Maggie. Maggie starts with the realization that Soapy's affection for her could have been related to the love of his deceased wife. Later, on a walk with Holling, Maggie brings up her past relationships and the fact that every man she has ever gone out with ends up dead. Holling explains that maybe she is simply putting out into the. Unfortunately, their conversation is cut short as Maggie spots workmen the land to prepare for drilling. Her anger escalates as she realizes who is responsible.

In Joel's office, he is being filmed by Laurie and Kim, with Ed assisting with the camera. As Joel uncomfortably begins reading Soapy's for the camera, Maggie storms in an accuses him of  the land for his own benefit. Joel chases after her and tries to defend himself but Maggie remains unconvinced.

As Joel stops by KBHR to talk with Chris, Chris tells him to make the best of wherever he is, a possibility that Joel had not yet considered. For the first time, he ponders accepting his place in Cicely, instead of rejecting it out-of-hand. He goes to patch things up with Maggie, and Maggie pours out her feelings about Soapy, and her connection with his dead wife. They resolve their disagreements, Joel agrees not to sell the land, and they fly over the s to drop Soapy's ashes, which end up blowing back in the. Through all the arguments, they have emerged slightly closer than before.

Quotes
Joel (to Maggie): I don't like people committing. All the ethical considerations aside, it's just plain bad for business.



Maggie (to Joel): A man--a dead man--puts you in his, and naturally you would think there's some.



Maurice: Chris, you play this crap at 6 in the morning and you'll be looking down so many, you'll think you landed in an.



Maggie: All you care about is you, and New York, and your precious career! Joel: Look,, I did not get off the plane and say that I am , kindly physician, and all around swell guy! Okay!?! I was fully prepared to do my time in Anchorage, but I am contractually bound to this under false pretenses and against my will. So if I resort to some unscrupulous practices to right a greater wrong, look, where's when it comes to Joel Fleischman?!?



Chris (on-air): Soapy once told me that the thing he loved most about was its sense of. There's heroes and villains, good and bad, right and wrong. The strolls into a, which he sees as a  of the big picture. He contemplates his existence and he asks himself,



Ed (to Laurie): I don't think you should Dr. Fleischman because he's from New York and they have a thing about.



Chris: (to Joel) Well, you know the way I see it, if you're here for four more years or four more weeks, you're here right now. You know, and I think when you're somewhere you ought to be there, and because it's not about how long you stay in a place. It's about what you do while you're there, and when you go is that place any better for you having been there?



Joel (to Ed): I just don't like having in my mouth--I mean, even people I know.



Joel (to Ed): The only consequence of all this will be, that whenever I open a nice, there will be the distant, distasteful memory of a nutcase who tried to kill me because I allowed her to kiss me on the cheek under false pretenses. I can live with it.



Ed (to Joel): I don't think I'm ever gonna look at life the same after this.

Music

 * "Unity" from The Rhythm of the Caribbean by Dermot Stewart
 * "" by Kitty Wells (performed by on Ausgerechnet Alaska, the German soundtrack)
 * "" by
 * "" by Patsy Montana
 * "Take an Old Cold (and Wait)" by

Trivia

 * Maggie reminds Soapy of his wife, physically and, they both "sang their own song." Soapy's doctorates are in and.
 * Maggie says Cicely is a town of 815 with 16 hours of.
 * quote.
 * Shelly's earrings: gold dangles with beads
 * Ed's film career debutes.
 * Film references:  (1956)
 * Soapy leaves Maggie and Joel a bottle of 1975 wine.
 * Goof: in the scene where Joel and Maggie are pouring the wine, Maggie's hair changes from scene to scene.