"Father Dowling" may have jumped the shark after only a few episodes, when they introduced Frank's evil twin brother Blane ("The Face in the Mirror, season 1, episode 6); but the show produced a few good episodes before its timely demise, and this is a fun one.
The good Father is surprised by a visitor who his parish, who fell asleep during his sermon. He can apparently do amazing things, but is he an angel with poor fashion sense, or is he a clever trickster? Either way, what is he really up to? "Father Dowling" on television made several changes to the original books by Ralph McInerny. For instance, the good Father's original first name isn't "Frank." Probably to keep the show from having older, "Murder She Wrote" demographics, they introduced a modified version of a nun from other McInerny stories called Sister Steve. With her suitably tomboyish name, Sister Steve (Tracy Nelson) is young and street smart, with the ability to drive any vehicle, pick any locks, pocket any pool balls. She has an obvious (perhaps too obvious) appeal for young women; and the actress has weirdly attractive looks that might appeal to otherwise elusive young men.
SPOILER BELOW: But however far the characters strayed from McInerny's original (which is fine as I don't care for the Father Dowling novels), the show obviously asked for little input from McInerny. A philosophy professor at Notre Dame, McInerny was a notable scholar on Thomas Aquinas who would never make the fundamental mistake of this program of making the "angel" a former human being given angelic status.
But if you're not interested in theological quibbles, the "angel" presence helps this prove an enjoyable episode of a show dying on its feet.
The good Father is surprised by a visitor who his parish, who fell asleep during his sermon. He can apparently do amazing things, but is he an angel with poor fashion sense, or is he a clever trickster? Either way, what is he really up to? "Father Dowling" on television made several changes to the original books by Ralph McInerny. For instance, the good Father's original first name isn't "Frank." Probably to keep the show from having older, "Murder She Wrote" demographics, they introduced a modified version of a nun from other McInerny stories called Sister Steve. With her suitably tomboyish name, Sister Steve (Tracy Nelson) is young and street smart, with the ability to drive any vehicle, pick any locks, pocket any pool balls. She has an obvious (perhaps too obvious) appeal for young women; and the actress has weirdly attractive looks that might appeal to otherwise elusive young men.
SPOILER BELOW: But however far the characters strayed from McInerny's original (which is fine as I don't care for the Father Dowling novels), the show obviously asked for little input from McInerny. A philosophy professor at Notre Dame, McInerny was a notable scholar on Thomas Aquinas who would never make the fundamental mistake of this program of making the "angel" a former human being given angelic status.
But if you're not interested in theological quibbles, the "angel" presence helps this prove an enjoyable episode of a show dying on its feet.