Touched by an Angel

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Episode 507: “Beautiful Dreamer”

Episode 507: “Beautiful Dreamer”
Original Air Date: October 25, 1998
Written by: Glenn Berenbeim & Martha Williamson
Directed by: Peter H. Hunt
Produced by:

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

Guest Cast:

Sam                   Paul Winfield
Booth               Reg Rogers
Lincoln            David Selby
Mary                Christine Healy
Calvin              Mitchah Williams

Tess substitutes at a school in Washington D.C. and asks the students what they want to be when they grow up. One of the children, Calvin, tells the class he wants to be an assassin. Tess tells Calvin that being an assassin is nothing to be proud of and to prove it Tess tells the class the story of John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Abraham Lincoln. On April 14, 1865 Sam and Andrew arrive in post-Civil War Washington. Sam tells Andrew, then a caseworker, of his next assignment, Mr. Booth. Andrew meets Booth backstage at Ford’s Theater, where stagehands are busily preparing for the evening’s play. At the White House, Abraham Lincoln and his wife Mary make plans to attend the play.

Monica, currently working in Annunciations, arrives as Mrs. Lincoln’s seamstress. While Monica fits her dress, Mrs. Lincoln confides in Monica her worry for her husband’s health, especially in light of a recent dream the President has had. That afternoon Andrew approaches Booth in a saloon outside the theater, and after a political discussion, comes to realize the depth of Booth’s hatred for Lincoln. Andrew realizes Booth plans to kill the President.

Meanwhile, Monica speaks to the President about his dream. Lincoln realizes that Monica is an angel and he tells her of the dream, in which he sees his corpse laying in the White House. Monica comforts Lincoln, and assures him that, whatever lies ahead, his work will be continued. The Lincoln’s go to the theater. Booth, having a few drinks before the show, is delighted to learn that Lincoln’s bodyguard is also in the saloon. Andrew struggles over stopping Booth from killing Lincoln, but Sam tells him they cannot interfere with a human’s free will. Booth shoots Lincoln and flees the theater.

Later Andrew appears to Booth in the barn he is using as a hideout, revealing himself to be an angel, and tells Booth that he did not act according to God’s will, but that God offers Booth forgiveness. Booth is shot by a soldier and dies, unable to ask God for forgiveness. Andrew reports back to Sam, who informs him that God has a new job for him. God wants Andrew to be An Angel of Death, and his first assignment is to escort Lincoln home. Back in present-day, Tess takes young Calvin to the Lincoln Memorial, where he admits what he really wants to be when he grows up – the President of the United States.

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