Touched by an Angel

Episode 703: “Legacy”

Episode 703: “Legacy”
Original Air Date: October 22, 2000
Written by: Jennifer Wharton
Directed by: Bethany Rooney
Produced by:

Martha Williamson
Jon Andersen
R.J. Visciglia, Jr.

Guest Cast:

 

Rafael Alexis Cruz
Sam Jere Burns
Max Jacob Tierney
Jamie Eric Jungmann
Greg Chris McKenna
Zach Joel Berti

Max Rigney shows up for his first day of college with his father, Sam, who is proud to show him the frat house of which he was once president–the PIG House.  Rafael meets them and introduces himself as a student.  Tess and Andrew join Rafael, noting that Sam is paying for Max’s education–but only if he goes to this school, pledges this fraternity, and takes all the right courses.  Walking around campus, Sam is greeted by Monica; he recognizes her voice and has a troubling flashback.  He later discovers that Monica is a visiting philosophy professor, and secretly determines that Max will have to stay away from her–which shouldn’t be a problem since he, Sam, has chosen Max’s coursework.  But that night, Rafael helps Max make a decision of his own and take one class his father hasn’t chosen for him–Monica’s philosophy class.

He tells his mother about it on the phone, and mentions that he might not pledge PIG.  He likes being his own man–but that night, his father drives two hours back to campus to demand Max drop the philosophy class and join the fraternity.  So Max pledges PIG and goes through all of the hazing rituals, but Monica is able to convince him to stay in her class.  That night, Max and Jamie and Greg are locked in the clock tower by two frat brothers.  Security guard Andrew shows up and spends some time talking to Max.  After Greg and Max help Jamie through an asthma attack, the boys become fast friends.  Their last hazing ritual demands that if a pledge fails any of the other challenges, he must drink 21 shots of tequila.  When Jamie fails the PIG history quiz, he decides to take the drinking challenge.  When he can’t finish it, Greg finishes for him–drinks the rest of the shots–and immediately passes out.  The PIG brothers convince Jamie to take the rap for the frat by saying he bought the tequila.  Jamie does so, knowing that if he doesn’t he won’t get in.  Greg is raced off to the hospital, and the next night, just after Jamie and Max have been accepted into the fraternity,  Jamie is arrested.

Max discovers that Greg is in a coma–and that when his father was president of the fraternity, there was another controversy, which Sam won’t say much about (it is the troubling night he remembered in his earlier flashback).  Max visits Greg in the hospital and receives a revelation from Rafael, who explains that just like in the popular movie “The Matrix,” there is more to this world than what we can see.  The other three angels appear, too, and encourage Max to make his own decisions–right decisions, based on truth, not on going along with his dad.  They explain that the controversy Sam lied about involved attempted rape and that his father has been lying ever since.  Max decides to confront his father, speak the truth to get Jamie out of jail, and live in the truth–even if that means paying for college himself.

(); ?>