Touched by an Angel

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Episode 417: “Breaking Bread”

Episode 417: “Breaking Bread”
Original Air Date: March 8, 1998
Written by: Burt Pearl
Directed by: Peter Hunt
Produced by:

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

Guest Cast:
Matt Colletti Michael Chiklis 
Derek  Todd Rulapaugh 
Jeffrey  Willard E. Pugh 
Dutch Wilson  Cyril O’Reilly 
Kerri  Mary Donnelly-Haskell
Denny  Steve Monroe 
Carl  Jeff Cahill 
Gary Stein  Alan Oppenheimer
Stan (Copy Man) William Hubbard Knight
   
   
   
   
 

A timid baker named Matt Coletti is closing up his bakery one evening when two white men attack his black assistant in the street.  Matt witnesses the crime but is too frightened to come forward.  Tess tells Monica that it is their job to help him make a stand against the criminals, members of a white supremacist group.  Andrew poses as a representative of the state attorney’s office, asking questions about the incident, trying to determine if it was a simple robbery attempt or a hate crime.   Monica is hired as Matt’s new assistant and dons an apron.

Matt goes to the local church where Tess, the visiting preacher, unveils a beautiful new stained glass window which Matt has financed.  The next day the two criminals show up at the bakery to ensure that Matt remains quiet about the incident, but a young mechanic named Derek threatens them and they leave the store without a fight.  When a swastika-covered rock is thrown through the stained glass church window, it is a sign that the community must take action.  A town meeting is held and the people decide to form a community group to respond to the crimes, but Derek, reminding the group of the risks this could entail, convinces them to give up the idea.

Matt, under pressure from Tess to finally admit his role as a witness to the crime, tells the people his story.  Matt, in fact, had seen three people the night of the beating, the two white men and another figure riding in the backseat of the mens’ car, a figure Matt realizes was the devil himself.  Of course no one believes Matt, not even his wife and the two separate.  To make matters worse a bomb explodes in the bakery, and Matt, though not hurt, laments the loss of his reputation, family, and business. Monica, Tess, and Andrew reveal themselves to Matt, and explain that God wants to use him as a prophet who will lead the townspeople against the satanic forces in the town.  Matt rises to the challenge and rallies the people to confront the physical manifestation of the devil, Derek, and the two criminals.  Matthew breaks a loaf of bread and passes it among the group, and vows never to be frightened by the devil again nor to give in to his own prejudices.  The two men are arrested and the devil, defeated by Matt’s moral stand, disappears.

 

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