Twice in a Lifetime

Episode 1

Fallen Angel

60 mins

Paramedic and fireman Ray Patterson pulls a man out of a burning church, the body which was underneath a statue of a guardian angel. The man does not survive. In death, the man cannot remember who he is, and in life the body had no identification. Othniel dubs him "Mr. Smith". The fire chief recovers a lighter from the fire scene, Ray who knows to whom the lighter belongs: his father, taken by his delinquent sixteen year old son, Ritchie. Before Ray can approach Ritchie, Ritchie fires a gunshot through the closed door, on the other side being Ray. Ray dies from his gunshot wound. Although an accident, Ritchie and his mother, Lindsay, lie to the police about the nature of the gunshot. Mr. Smith is directed by Othniel to be Ray's guide in the afterlife, Mr. Smith's mission from God for his own possible redemption to a second life. Ray was a good man, but needs a second chance to change the course that Ritchie took into delinquency. Ray sees that turning point as being a fight in which Ritchie was involved four years earlier, one for which his parents covered up Ritchie's involvement and for which Ritchie never took any responsibility or thus learned the consequences of his actions. Ray is sent back to the day before the fight as Dr. Goode, Ritchie's substitute psychiatrist, Mr. Smith his nurse. As Dr. Goode, Ray learns that Ritchie had been feeling unloved by Ray for quite some time prior to the fight and had been overcoming his loneliness through illicit drug use. Ray also learns that although he was a good and brave man to the public, he was a non-existent husband and father, whereas Lindsay was Ritchie's enabler as a surrogate for Ray's non-presence. Ray not only has to try and stop Ritchie from getting into that fight, but also to change his and Lindsay's own attitudes about family and love. Meanwhile, Smith learns that his mission for God before his final judgment is extended, but he's not sure what he needs to accomplish before this judgment is made.