Touched by an Angel

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Episode 415: “The Trigger”

Episode 415: “The Trigger”
Original Air Date: December 7,1997
Written by: Rosanne Welch & Christine Pettit
Directed by: Peter Hunt
Produced by:

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

Guest Cast:
Holly Elizabeth Berridge
Linda Craig Gabrielle Carteris
Ray Craig J.C. Mackenzie
Alex Craig Joe Pichler
Michelle Craig Alexandra Artrip

As Monica gives Tess an ice skating lesson we meet the seemingly happy Craig family at the rink where the son, Alex, is finishing hockey practice.  This family is Monica’s next assignment as she gets a lesson that things aren’t always what they seem.  Linda and Ray Craig bring their children home to welcome Linda’s sister Holly, who is in town for Linda’s graduation from law school.  Holly is overwhelmed to be back in the house of her childhood, a house that the Craig’s recently bought back.

Andrew, Alex’s hockey coach, arrives at the house to return Alex’s hockey gloves, which he left at the rink.  This upsets Ray, abnormally so, and it becomes clear that there is a tension in this family when Ray grounds Alex for the whole weekend.  Holly questions this, but Linda covers for Ray, explaining that he’s had a bad day.  Holly also finds a gun in the hall closet, and questions the safety of having a loaded weapon in the home.  Later that night Holly wakes up to hear Linda and  Ray having a heated argument.  She goes downstairs to find Linda on the floor bleeding from the head.  Monica arrives as a policeman to investigate an anonymous domestic disturbance call, but Linda and Ray both agree that Linda fell down the stairs and bumped her head.

Later at the hospital Linda explains that Ray has been upset recently, after losing his position as head of the emergency room, a consequence of endangering a patient’s life.  Tess arrives as a family counselor and encourages Linda and Ray to seek counseling, but Linda will not admit that Ray has been violent with her.  The situation seems to improve when Ray is really sweet to the kids, but when Alex gets into a fight during the hockey game, it is clear that he is taking after his father.  When Holly suggests that the family needs counseling, Ray becomes furious and starts beating Linda and Holly with a hockey stick.  Believing that Ray will kill her sister, Holly gets the gun and shoots Ray, ultimately killing him.

Because Linda won’t admit the abuse, Holly is arrested for murder.  Linda is also angry at Holly for killing her husband, who she claims was just trying to “scare” her.  Back at the house Monica offers to pray with Linda, and they do, in hopes that this will clear Linda’s mind about the events.  Monica reveals herself to be an angel, and this triggers Linda’s memory about her childhood, when her father beat her in the same house, and about how Holly saved her by hitting him with a stone.  Linda digs the stone out from under the closet floorboards and brings it to her sister, thanking her for her protection.  The murder charges having been dropped, the two sisters are reunited and resolve to ask God to help them pick up the pieces of their lives.

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