"Finger of God"
A review by Jenni:
Totally zonked. And it's only 10:30 AM... Here's
hoping this all makes sense. And just a warning... I get
real swoony when zonked. Wanna bet I spend the majority of
this episode thinking about how Andrew's basement is LJA's storm
shelter in Dyeland?
What I love about this episode:
Monica talking to the cow as Andrew is very seriously
contemplating the tornado is cute. And really says a lot
about the two of them. He's sturdy, she's flighty-ish.
I like Tess' short and to the point "That would not be inaccurate"
when the sheriff characterizes her as a God person.
Sometimes I wish I had the angels' power to just give short,
dignified responses and not want to rage at people who
mischaracterize me. Much better than just stewing.
I have family in Norman so it's cool the town got a shout out on
TBAA! Too bad it was with a severe tornado but still!
I like these episodes set in these lil towns where people gather
together at a diner or similar and everyone knows each other and
is friendly. I like living in a city but it's kinda nice to
imagine a different, less frenetic, cozier reality. But I
spose it's a "grass is always greener" thing.
JJ's reluctance to seek shelter is really, really typical for
people who live in Tornado Alley. At least in my
experience. I'll admit even I'm not as quick to go to the
basement as I used to be cause the warnings just cease to mean as
much after a while. But this is a good reminder to *always*
be vigilant and keep safe.
I'm definitely a long, boring life person. Not a big fan of
diverging from routine! But I do think that conversation
between Monica and Calvin illustrates some of the haughtiness that
can sneak in when people fail to realize that not everyone wants the
same lifestyle and that's okay.
While I'm not a huge fan of Tess' garden pruning/tornado metaphor,
I do very much agree that God can take anything and turn it into
something good. And it's definitely not always clear but I,
like Tess, believe someday we'll understand.
And while I can't really wrap my mind around why people die in
natural disasters... maybe Joe is right. The blame does lie
partly with humans. We continuously build where we know
disasters repeatedly happen. And we don't always enforce the
building codes that may prevent loss of life. Or we don't
have affordable housing and, thus, some of our fellow humans are
forced to live in dangerous places because it's cheap. So...
it's not entirely "Why does God allow this?!?"
That would be so awful to be that sheriff and see Joe's wife's car
crash in front of you. And then poor Joe... It's a
well-played, upsetting scene. The way the others join
together to come up with the most optimistic explanation is sweet
and sad.
"There's nothing more satisfying than working for God." Nice
quote from Tess to the ever-jaded JJ.
I like it when an angel, particularly Andrew, just briefly enters
a scene to drop a hint and lead to someone being aided. That
happens here when Andrew simply asks about local shops and prompts
JJ to consider where Joe's wife may be.
"Every once in a while a day comes along when I don't like human
beings very much. Get in!" Awesome! Maybe not
Monica at her best but Calvin deserved to have his car hijacked by
a ticked off angel. Plus, the quote makes me feel better
cause it's kinda an excuse to not like certain angels
sometimes. :-) Although her actions do make one wonder
about whether Calvin's free will was respected...
While I get people feeling rage after suffering due to natural
disasters... Monica makes a good point in her revelation to
Calvin. We don't always take the time to thank Him for
nature's beauty and comfort.
Calvin looks like an action hero when he rounds the truck and
beams and lifts Emily out of her car seat. Nice.
The sheriff calling his wife to say he wouldn't trade their life
for anything is adorable.
What I didn't love about
this episode:
This isn't a complaint. But it's kinda sad when Monica does
something like hitch-hiking and a little voice inside of me says
"She can only do that because she's an angel and immortal."
Right now we're having a very scary local case where a girl
disappeared after hitching a ride. Another terrible
situation occurred over the summer when a girl took a ride home
with an alleged friend. It's sad when reality morphs a light
scene into something almost taunting though certainly that was
never the intent of the writers.
I'm not sure I buy Tess' explanation of tornadoes. When
gardeners prune, they don't let their sheers and such kill
people. Tornadoes kill people. I don't know why they
happen. But I think I'd prefer to leave it as a mystery of
life and death to be explained in Eternity than to make a weak
metaphor of it.
I like Kathy Mattea a lot. Her Christmas CDs just may be my
favorites. The season doesn't begin without "Good News" and
"Brightest and Best" and the rest. But JJ is just too biting
for me to take much of. I'm really glad when she becomes a
bit more sympathetic in the last third of the episode.
At points it seems a lil too reminiscent of Twister but maybe
that's unavoidable.
Calvin referring to Joe's missing baby as "it" is revolting.
Lingering questions:
Is it just me or does the musical score in this one seem
like older TBAA episodes?
Umm... couldn't Calvin get salmonella from Tess' hangover cure
concoction?
Parts that made me feel
swoony:
White shirt...
Andrew kills me when he prods Monica or another angel to be
somewhere or do something so he doesn't have to take someone
Home. Especially when it's a kid. And here, though we
don't yet know it during the opening sequence, he's talking about
a baby.
Okay... apparently I don't have a thing for jeans and
flannel. I have a thing for Andrew in jeans and
flannel. Calvin is wearing such an ensemble and it took me a
while to even notice. And then it was just like "Huh, jeans
and flannel. All right." Although actually the
material looks lighter. Maybe gingham?
Andrew looks so elemental as the tornado starts up and he just
stands on the side of the road.
Hullo. There's nothing particular striking when Andrew
enters the cafe but I'd started to miss him. And he actually
drinks quite a bit of coffee I've noticed. He's no Monica
but he does order it with some frequency.
Joe's
baby reminds me of Lily... which makes me swoony cause then I
think of the largely unseen (in this episode) Andrew's time with
her. Sigh... our poor love wasn't in this much.
I feel sorry for him when he answers Monica's question about more
tornadoes with a somewhat wearied "Always." I wonder if
he'll ever be able to simply rest and not have to wonder about
where he's going to need to go next and under what circumstances?
Random thoughts:
Music: Male country singer at
JJ's cafe. It leads into a solo banjo or similar
piece. More instrumental country in Tess' car.
This episode kinda makes me want to watch Christy which was my first
major TV show. Cause Randall Batinkoff was one of the male
leads. I really liked him and the guy who played Neil.
But promptly forgot about them when Andrew appeared... A
romantic preacher and moody Scot have nothing on an increasingly
studly AOD. So sayeth I.
Scenes Hallmark cut:
-So... these are probly not all-inclusive for a few reasons.
1. While I don't dislike this episode, it's not really
personally a big one for me so not as memorable as far as
scenes. 2. Because of Christmas busyness, it took over
a week before I could rewatch so my memory wasn't as good as when
I watch the next day. and 3. I was crafting while
rewatching so not as focused. But I have some semi-complete
ornaments so that's cool! (Yeah... I'm only now, on the
26th, getting to some of my personal Christmas to-do items.)
-THC keeps one scene of Joe's wife driving but I think they cut a
second, more scary-looking one during which Emily is sleeping in
the backseat.
-After Monica hijacks the truck, there's a scene of her
frantically driving and telling Calvin that the baby's name is
Emily. He's irate about the entire hijacking situation and
insists it's hopeless. She refuses to stop the truck and
insists there's hope then races into the field. THC starts
the segment with them arriving at the field and has nothing of
them in the truck.
-Following Emily's rescue, there's a brief scene of Calvin calling
the sheriff to say he has a surprise. The sheriff asks what
it is and Calvin says he has the baby but interference on the
phone prevents the officer from hearing it. The call ends
and the sheriff drives to the diner where he learns it's
destroyed. THC just begins with him arriving at the diner.
Further on down the road...
Pretty much given up on any type of schedule now. It's
Sunday afternoon as I'm watching this. I'm not sure why but
Friday night viewings just haven't been appealing to me
lately.
I find it really surprising that in thousands of years, Monica's
never experienced a tornado.
Andrew seems a bit supervisor-ish here in this opening
scene. I like it!
It's kinda jerky to be sitting in a neighborhood cafe bemoaning
the fact that said neighborhood did not get hit by the "big one"
like you hoped... Why do none of these people go off on
Calvin? Are my people just more sarcastic than the average
bunch?
When next we see Andrew, it's the 16 minute mark. Naturally,
he looks good stormy. ;-)
I dunno why but I've always felt like this lil baby looked like
her eyes were old. Like she knew things. I wonder why
some babies give that impression?
"I know that God can take anything that happens in this world and
turn it into something good. Now, it may not be exactly
clear right away how He's going to do that but I believe one day I
will understand." That quote from Tess should be a
mantra... And I think it also shows just how much faith the
angels have. "I believe" implies faith.
These people need a clue... What's JJ thinking gloating
about her cafe still standing when Joe's worried about his wife
and child?
And there Andrew is again right before the 31 minute mark.
Won't be doing tons of screen shots today, obviously!
I still don't get why it's okay for Monica to order Calvin into
the car she basically stole... I mean I'd applaud someone
for doing that but I don't get why she can ignore free will then
but the angels can't at other times. The thing is, I'm sure
there are times Andrew would really like to commandeer a drunk
driver's car or throw the weapon of a would-be attacker into a
field. But he can't. Why is it okay here?
Back
to
the Episode Guide
(The photographs used on this
page are from "Touched by an Angel" and owned by CBS Productions,
Caroline Productions, and Moon Water Productions. They are not
being used to seek profit.)