Tales From Avonlea: Season 03 (1992)

The early 20th century Canadian village of Avonlea is a busy place indeed during season three of the popular series Road to Avonlea (aka Tales From Avonlea). The first of the season's 13 episodes is "Ties That Bind," in which the domineering but lovable Hetty King (Jackie Burroughs) oversees the marriage of her younger sister Olivia (Mag Ruffman) and erstwhile inventor Jasper Dale (R.H. Thompson) -- however, her well-meaning interference not only puts a strain on the couple's relationship but also causes dissension in the marriage of her brother Alec (Cedric Smith) and his wife, Janet (Lally Cadeau). Elsewhere, Alec and Janet's insecure son, Felix (Zachary Bennett), has trouble saying goodbye to his beloved horse Blackie; when schoolteacher Hetty resigns, her replacement, Mr. Dimple (Christopher Lloyd), wins over his pupils with his delightfully unorthodox teaching methods -- until he is exposed as a fraud; and in the series' only two-parter, "And When She Was Bad," Hetty's headstrong niece Sara (Sarah Polley) tries to duck out of her family duties by trading places with a lookalike street waif named Jo Pitts (also Sarah Polley) -- leading to a not-so-fine mess when Jo turns out to be an accomplished thief, and Sara and her friend Gus (Michael Mahonen) are kidnapped. Also, Janet drives her husband and kids to distraction when she embraces the Woman's Suffrage movement; Christopher Reeve appears as the hero in a gothic novel in which Sara is hopelessly engrossed in the delightful episode "Dark and Stormy Night"; Ned Beatty plays traveling shoe salesman Wally Higgins, who jauntily begins a-courting the highly resistant Hetty; and in another romantic development, low-born Gus decides to campaign for the heart and hand of Alec and Janet's haughty daughter Felicity (Gema Zamprogna). The season ends on a disturbing note, as the sudden death of Avonlea's unofficial matriarch, Marilla Cuthbert (Colleen Dewhurst), leaves a multitude of fates hanging tenuously in the balance. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi