Maggie O'Connell

Mary Margaret O'Connell, known as Maggie, is a fictional character in the television series Northern Exposure. She was played by Janine Turner. Maggie was born in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, to the youngest CEO in automotive history. She became a bush pilot at an early age and went to Alaska with her boyfriend Dave, who was writing a book on mountain climbing. He fell asleep unprotected on a glacier and froze to death. Maggie remained in the small town of Cicely, Alaska, flying an air taxi and supplementing her income as the local real estate agent. She served a term as mayor of Cicely. She has a love-hate relationship with the town's resident physician, Joel Fleischman, to whom she was even engaged at one point. However, in the end, Maggie ends up with Chris Stevens.

Victims of the "Curse"

Maggie's boyfriends have all died in improbable accidents, giving rise to the rumor of the "O'Connell Curse". Her most recent beau, fellow pilot Rick Pedersen, was hit by a falling satellite.

• Steve Escandon was hit by lightning while photographing an oil rig for a corporation's annual report.
• Harry ate tainted potato salad on a picnic.
• Bruce had an unspecified fishing accident.
• Glen took a wrong turn (in his Volvo, according to Chris Stevens) onto a missile test range.
• Dave took a nap on a glacier.
• Rick Pederson was hit by a falling satellite.

She had a brief relationship with Mike Monroe, an ex-lawyer with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity [MCS] during the fourth season. Mike inadvertently fell victim to Maggie's curse, but only in the sense that it wasn't fatal, but actually cured him of his condition and inspired him to practice environmental law.