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Episode 505: "I Do"
Original Air Date:
November 1, 1998
Written by: R.J.
Colleary
Directed by: Victor
Lobl
Produced by: Martha
Williamson, Jon Andersen & R.J. Visciglia, Jr.
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Guest Cast:
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Nancy |
Patty Duke |
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Michael |
Mark Kiely |
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Stephanie |
Hillary Danner |
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Eddie |
Maury Sterling |
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Dr. Evans |
Richard Penn |
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Monica tries to determine
God's greatest gift to humans and hypothesizes that it might be
marriage - the wedding of two people. Tess reminds her that a
marriage is much more than a wedding ceremony. Stephanie and
Michael are planning to elope with Michael's younger brother,
Eddie, in tow, when Nancy, Michael's mother, finds out and demands
that they have a traditional wedding. Stephanie and Michael
relents and Monica and Tess note that this family runs like a
dictatorship. While Stephanie is trying on dresses at
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Tess' dress shop, Eddie gives
Michael a special gift, their deceased father's favorite tie,
reworked as a bowtie so Michael can wear it at the wedding. At the
bachelor party, Monica pops out of the cake, and befriends Eddie,
who asks her to be his date for the wedding. On the day of the
wedding, Stephanie and Nancy receive news that Michael and Eddie
have been in a car accident. They rush to the hospital, Stephanie
still in her wedding dress, to find Eddie fine, but Michael in a
coma. Nancy scolds Eddie because he was driving the car and Monica
suggests he work through his guilt and sorrow through prayer.
Nancy makes Michael's medical decisions on her own, angering
Stephanie and Michael. As surgery begins Andrew takes Michael's
soul out of the operating room and into a forest where they
discuss his future. Andrew tells Michael that if he lives, he will
be handicapped. Not wanting to burden his family, Michael asks
God to let him die. In the chapel, Monica helps Eddie to pray,
putting his brother's fate in the hands of God. Stephanie sits
with Michael after surgery, speaking her marriage vows to him.
Andrew allows Michael to see this and he decides he wants to live,
and gives Stephanie a sign. But at Nancy's request the doctors
disconnect the life support system. Nancy tells Stephanie that she
is doing what is best, that she kept her own husband on life
support for three months, and she has always regretted prolonging
his pain. Tess helps Stephanie to forgive Nancy for always keeping
her at arms' length, a defense she created when her husband shot
himself. Stephanie goes to the chapel to pray for Michael. Nancy
goes to Michael to say goodbye. Andrew appears to her in the
hospital room, and Nancy breaks down, proclaiming that she hates
God, and asking what he wants from her. Andrew tells her that God
wants her to give up control of her and everyone else's lives.
Nancy joins Stephanie and Eddie in prayer for Michael. Others from
the hospital join them in the chapel to pray. A doctor reports
that Michael is going to live. Stephanie and Michael, in a
wheelchair, finally marry.
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