Touched by an Angel

Episode 104: “Tough Love”

Episode 104: “Tough Love”
Original Air Date: October 12, 1994
Written by: Del Shores
Directed by: Tim Van Patten
Produced by:

Martha Williamson
Jon Andersen
Robert J. Visciglia, Jr.

Guest Cast:

Elizabeth Jessup               Phylicia Rashad
Sydney                                  Erica Gimpel
Anita                                     Donna Bullock
Adam                                    Charles Rocket

Monica serves as the personal assistant to Elizabeth Jessup, a prominent journalist, and the angel soon learns that her new assignment has a serious drinking problem.  At a birthday dinner for her granddaughter Beth, Liz has too much to drink, which prompts her own daughter Sydney to take the child home.  Soon afterwards, the newswoman makes a spectacle of herself while giving a speech at the Mayor’s Centennial kick-off.  This incident causes Sydney to stage an intervention for her mother with the help of Anita, a counselor at the New Hope Center.

But this action backfires and an enraged Liz orders her guests to leave.  The next day, Monica returns to work and learns that the journalist started drinking to fit in with her male counterparts.  The angel convinces her employer to visit the New Hope Center.  However, upon seeing Anita, Liz loses her temper and storms out of the building.  Although Sydney refuses to let Beth have contact with her grandmother, the child sneaks out to see Liz anyway.  While Beth is playing, Liz accidentally sets the house on fire with a cigarette.  Monica rescues the little girl, whose grandmother was too drunk to comprehend what happened.

At the hospital, an irate Sydney confronts her mother for leaving Beth inside the house to die.  Returning to the wreckage to find a music box her granddaughter cherishes, Liz encounters Monica, realizing the angel was the one who saved Beth.  Encouraged by Monica’s revelation, Liz returns to the New Hope Center and attends a counseling session where she learns that Sydney herself is a recovering alcoholic.

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