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Final Approach 1

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Final Approach (Part 1) is the twenty-third episode of the eighth season of Wings, the first half of the series finale, and the 171st episode overall in the series.

Synopsis[]

To cheer Helen up, Joe restores her old cello and makes a music room for her in the attic. Joe and Brian find a secret message from their father inside the suitcase that they found the "You're Rich" photograph that leads them on another scavenger hunt. The hunt takes them to a pawn shop in Boston then to Surfside Beach back on Nantucket inadvertently recruiting Fay, Antonio, and Casey along the way. The hunt next takes them to a locker in Penn Station in New York then to a lamp post in New York then to Albion Bank in Boston then to a sewer in Providence then to an office building (street number 599) where they find a locked trunk. Although the trunk is only full of miscellaneous keys, Fay recognizes one key as belonging to the lockers at the airport; the same lockers where they found the photo eight year earlier. When they open the locker they find one final suitcase filled with cash. Meanwhile, Helen practices her cello and auditions for the New England Chamber Ensemble but does not get the position.

Credits[]

Main Cast[]

Guest Cast[]

  • Roger Eschbacher as Passenger

Quotes[]

  • Helen Hackett - "So, what's the surprise?"
    Joe Hackett - "Well, look, I couldn't help noticing you'd been a little down since this whole thing with you signing your lease, and I wanted to do something to cheer you up."
    Helen Hackett - "Well, a trip to the attic always lifts my spirits. I'm going to go fry some eggs."
    Joe Hackett - "No, no, no, wait. You ready? Come here. Ready? Ta-da!"
    Helen Hackett - "Oh, my God. My cello."
    Joe Hackett - "That's right. I cleaned it up, got it restrung. It's as good as new."
    Helen Hackett - "Oh, Joe that's so sweet. But gould I ask you to do one more little thing for me?"
    Joe Hackett - "Yeah, sure."
    Helen Hackett - "Can you get it the hell out of here?"
    Joe Hackett - "Helen, I've been picturing all the ways you might react this and I gotta tell you that didn't even come close to being one of them."
  • Brian Hackett - "That suitcase isn't mine. Dad left that eyesore to both of us."
    Joe Hackett - "Listen, if you don't take this stuff, I swear, I will throw it out."
    Brian Hackett - "Throw it out."
    Joe Hackett - I'm tossing it."
    Brian Hackett - "Toss."
    Joe Hackett - "I'm chucking it."
    Brian Hackett - "Chuck!"
    Joe Hackett - "How can we throw this out? It's the last thing of Dad's we have left."
    Brian Hackett - "What am I going to do with it? Look at it, it's burnt, the latch it busted, the lining is ripped, and there's money in it...A thousand bucks! Keep looking, maybe Dad left something for you."
  • Joe Hackett - "Look, all right, Fay, you can come, but do not breathe a word of this to anyone."
    Fay Cochran - "Well, of course not. What does he think I'm that big, blabbermouth redhead who's been messing around with Walter from the tower behind his wife's back?"
    Joe Hackett - "Walter's cheating on his wife?"
    Fay Cochran - "Oops."
  • Antonio Scarpacci - "You know, in Italy, when three people with a shovel make you drive them to a place with soft ground...Well, that's...That's never a round-trip fare."
  • Helen Hackett - "Boy, they sucked me back in. Made me think I had a chance. Lifted my hopes up and then dropped me on my head."
    Joe Hackett - "Just when you think you're too smart to ever fall for it again something draws you back in."
    Helen Hackett - "The promise, the hope..."
    Joe Hackett - "It's arr a scam. An illusion. You always wind up a loser. What was I thinking?"
    Helen Hackett - "Why do I do it?"
    Helen Hackett and Joe Hackett - "Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!"

Trivia[]

  • Final Approach, the series finale, originally aired as a one hour special episode. However, in syndication and streaming, the episode was broken into two parts.
    • When this episode first premiered the original opening credits were played in full for the first time since season three (though they were edited to reflect the departure of Thomas Haden Church and the additions of Tony Shalhoub and Amy Yasbeck to the main cast). Although the opening credits are absent in syndication, they are still part of the episode on Wings Final Season DVD.
    • Two scenes was partially edited out of the syndicated episodes. The first depicts Helen counting the money in Joe's office with Joe and Brian. After counting up the $250,000, Joe reveals that while their father was institutionalized he mentioned winning quarter of a million bucks at the track and that he would be leaving it to his sons in a suitcase. Then Helen grabs a fist full of cash and leaves saying she is going to buy a "big...something". The second scene is a short exchange between Fay and Joe about her new job with Aeromass and wishing death on Roy. Although these scenes do not appear in syndication, they are still part of the episode on Wings Final Season DVD.
  • The producers asked Thomas Haden Church to make a cameo appearance in the series finale, but he declined the offer. However, Church was in the audience for the taping of these episodes.
  • Joe on behalf of Sandpiper Air happily receives his "NiFTY" (the Nevers Field Tenant of the Year) award and implies that this is just the most recent of many.
  • Helen's cello was seemingly lost in the same fire that destroyed her home.
  • The scenes of the plane in taking off are of the Cessna N121PB not the Cessna N121PP.
  • While trying to attest to their ability to keep a secret, Fay reveals that Walter has been cheating on his wife with a mouthy redhead and Antonio reveals that Ernie the baggage handler had slept his way through the Gardening Club (including Fay).
  • Fay reveals that she grew up next to a chop shop.
opening the locker in

Lowell opening the locker in Legacy

and opening the exact same locker in Final Approach (Part 1)

Joe and Brian opening the exact same locker in Final Approach (Part 1)

  • The locker where the Hacketts finally find the suitcase full of money is the exact same locker where they found the suitcase containing the "You're Rich" photograph in Legacy.
  • The $100 bills in their father's suitcase appear to be the design used by the U.S. Treasury from 1996-2013, but the bills should have looked like the design used from 1914-1990 or the design used from 1990-1996 since their father hid the money before his death in 1989 or early 1990.

Gallery[]

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