"The Visitor" is the fourth episode of season 1 of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.
Michaela's estranged mother, Elizabeth Quinn (Jane Wyman), visits Colorado Springs after receiving a letter from Matthew about how ill Dr. Mike had gotten during the recent influenza outbreak. Mrs. Quinn takes an instant dislike to Dr. Mike's home and makes no effort to hide her disapproval of her daughter's recent career choices and hard life as a frontier physician. The bank forecloses on Dr. Mike's clinic, formerly the town boarding house, and refuses her offer to buy the property with cash and a loan. Robert E and Hank Lawson both require Dr. Mike's services. Mrs. Quinn eventually recognizes her daughter's commitment to medicine and newly adopted family. As she is leaving on the stagecoach, Mrs. Quinn gives Dr. Mike the rest of the money she needs for her clinic and asks Brian to call her Grandma.
This episode provides examples of:
- First Period Panic: Colleen gets hers and is frightened and confused by what's happening (she thinks she's dying) as neither her mother (a midwife) nor Dr. Mike herself (a medical doctor) explained it to her, since her mother died before she could give Colleen "the talk" and Dr. Mike assumed she was too young to start. When Dr. Mike brings this point up, Dr. Mike's mother (who is visiting) has to gently remind her that she got her first period at the same age as Colleen.
- No Periods, Period: Averted when Colleen gets her first period and thinks she's dying.
- The Talk: Dr. Quinn's visiting mother explains how things work to Colleen, who is essentially her adoptive granddaughter. Poor girl just got her first period and thinks the bleeding means she's gonna die.
