Episode 7: "A Girl's Life"
First Aired 11/12/99

Michael walks out wearing a shiny, metallic suit. Dr. Theo is looking very proud. He asks Michael to flip the suit on. The suit will allow Michael to "be seen from distances as far as 50 miles away and from altitudes as high as 30,000 feet." When Michael asks what he will be doing at 30,000 feet, Dr. Theo coolly replies that Michael will be jumping from an airplane. The news does not sit well with Michael.

Later that night, Michael is at 30,000 feet, in an airplane, while Dr. Theo and influential men, who paid for this top-secret project, look on through video monitors from below. It’s a stormy, ugly night, but what worries Michael more than the weather is that he has not been given a parachute. When he demands one and is denied by Dr. Theo, Michael refuses to jump. He is then forced to when men carrying guns "convince" him to.

Michael jumps, screaming as he falls, while Dr. Theo listens in on a microphone. Michael abruptly stops screaming when he has stopped falling. He realizes that the suit allows him to hover over a protective dome. Dr. Theo can see the lit-up form that is Michael Wiseman from on the ground.

Meanwhile, Heather is in the back seat of her friend Gretchen’s car with (her on-again-off-again boyfriend?) Nick. Gretchen is in a heavy make-out session with her boyfriend in the front seat, while Nick obviously wants to do the same with Heather in the back. But Heather is distracted. She is looking out the window at a low-hanging bright spot (unbeknownst to her – it’s her father, Michael).

In a bad mood, Heather opts to leave the car and decides to walk home. The wind and thunder pick up. Meanwhile, Michael is done hovering and wants to come down. Unfortunately, the severity of the storm is preventing that from happening. Dr. Theo warns Michael that if anything goes wrong and Michael should fall, the impact may kill him. As Michael wonders how long he can last with the wind factor, Dr. Theo loses radio contact with him.

Heather, walking through a wooded area, still looking at the bright spot, is struck by lightening. At the same time, Michael is thrown to the ground.

Dr. Theo shows up as Michael comes to. Michael half-jokingly suggests that next time, he be given a parachute. Dr. Theo, interrupting, trying to tell Michael that Heather has had an accident.

At the hospital, Lisa rushes in and is told the news by the attending doctor. He tells her that Heather is in a deep coma, that she may have brain damage and that there is a possibility that she may never regain consciousness. He asks if there are any other family members that can be called to help Lisa and Heather through this difficult time. Lisa replies, "No. There's no one to call. I'd just like to go in with my daughter now."

Outside the hospital, still sitting in the limo, Dr. Theo tells Michael that he can not just walk in and see Heather. Dr. Theo promises that if things get bad, he would find a way for Michael to have one last look at Heather.

As Lisa talks to Heather, Dr. Theo is monitoring the situation in the limo via the phone. The more Dr. Theo says nothing, the more impatient Michael gets. Suddenly, upstairs, Heather starts to flat-line. When he’s told this, Michael breaks off the door to the limo and resolutely walks toward the entrance to the hospital.

Dr. Theo tries to talk Michael out of doing anything rash, but Michael won’t be deterred. Upstairs, the reverend is saying a prayer and Lisa, sitting beside the reverend, attempts not to fall to pieces as she watches doctors and nurses try to save her daughter.

Downstairs, Dr. Theo suggests that Michael climb up the side of the wall up to the fourth floor where Heather is. As Heather’s situation worsens, Michael, still wearing the special suit, climbs up and peeks through the window. The reverend continues his prayers. Michael accidentally flips on the switch to the suit and lights up. Heather comes to in time to hear the reverend speak of angels and sees a bright, shiny man floating outside the window.

Michael quickly turns the suit off and climbs back down. Lisa rushes to hug her now-conscious daughter. Heather asks about the man outside her window. She believes she has seen an angel that night. Lisa is just relieved that Heather appears to be fine.

About two weeks later, Michael is going through his workout routine, chopping blocks of wood with various parts of his body. He tries to convince Dr. Theo to call the hospital and find out about Heather’s condition. When Dr. Theo refuses, Michael taunts him, asking if he has any children of his own. He believes that Dr. Theo does have children but wonders whether Dr. Theo "made them the old-fashioned way or put them together from some kind of kit."

In retaliation, Dr. Theo asks Michael to break a particularly thick block of wood. With Michael’s head. Promising Michael that if he does, Dr. Theo will tell Michael about Heather. Michael breaks the wood, with his head, and then falls to the floor. Complaining and holding his head, Michael demands to know about Heather.

Dr. Theo reveals that she had been released days ago and should be going to school that very morning.

At the Wisemans breakfast table, Heather is driving Lisa crazy with her new-found spirituality. Heather wants to know if Lisa believes her about the angel, but Lisa evades the question and does not give a direct answer. Heather reminds Lisa that she has not always been a particularly spiritual person previously. Lisa concedes the point and wonders where Heather is going with this train of the thought. When Heather tells Lisa that she thinks she should spread "the word", Lisa recommends that maybe she takes it a little easy on her first day back at school.

At school, in English, the class is discussing imagery in The Natural. When the teacher talks about the tree that had been struck by lightening, Gretchen tells the class that Heather had been recently struck by lightening. At first, Heather is reluctant to talk about her experience. Egged on by the teacher, with the entire class staring at her, Heather tells them about it.

No one believes Heather, especially Nick, who ridicules her. She blows him off with, "I don't believe in anything and I'm the one who saw it. Try waking up with that every day." He first tells her that the whole school thinks she’s crazy and then he leaves.

Dejected Heather is sitting by the principal’s office, when Brian, from the school newspaper sits down beside her. He tells her that he would like to do a story on her experience. Heather thinks this is a cool idea.

Later, Lisa picks Heather up at school. Heather tells Lisa that her classmates think she’s crazy. She asks if Lisa thinks she’s crazy, too. Again Lisa evades the question, saying she’s just glad that Heather is alive. Lisa urges Heather to keep her experience to herself for a while.

Several mornings later, Heather wakes Lisa. Heather's story has appeared in the school newspaper and has been gathering attention. People are camped outside the Wiseman house, wanting to talk to Heather about the angel. Lisa tries to get rid of the pesky reporters and kooks. Heather apologizes for the insanity she’s brought into their lives.

At Michael’s, a very displeased Dr. Theo explains to Michael that Heather’s "revelations" have called a halt to a billion-dollar project. Since Heather claims to have seen the angel, other people remember seeing a low-hanging, bright object that same night. Now everyone is sitting outside, staring in the northern sky, where Dr. Theo has been preparing his experiment. With everyone looking, he can not continue.

Michael is secretly happy about this, but he understands that the situation has to be rectified. Dr. Theo drives Michael back to his old house that night. He tells Michael to sneak in. He wants Michael to tell Heather that he will reappear the next night in the southern sky at 8:00 p.m. And that Heather should tell all of her friends to come out and watch.

Michael reluctantly agrees, because he has heard reports that people think Heather is crazy and he wants to save his little girl the pain of that humiliation. Especially since Michael believes it’s his fault that she’s in this mess.

Dr. Theo warns Michael to not wake Lisa. Also, he tells Michael to not get too close to Heather and definitely not to touch her. "I fear it will destroy the illusion. Not to mention the temptation for you to hug her might just prove overwhelming."

Michael sneaks into the house, using the hidden spare key. He walks quietly into Heather’s room and turns on the suit. Glowing brightly, the light wakes Heather. Pretending to be Heather’s angel, Michael relays Dr. Theo’s instructions for the next night.

Heather wants to wake Lisa, but Michael, having been warned by Dr. Theo, says no. As he is about to leave, Heather quickly says, "Wait! If you see my daddy -- will you tell him that I love him?" Michael lovingly replies, "Oh, he knows, honey. He knows." He leaves quickly, before he can give in to temptation and hug her.

The next night, half the town is gathered in the woods shortly before eight. Heather’s friends walk by. Lisa urges Heather to join her friends, but Heather tells them she’ll join them later, preferring to stand with Lisa.

Meanwhile, Michael is waiting impatiently for Dr. Theo to show. When he does arrive, Dr. Theo figuratively throws a bucket of cold water in Michael’s face. Michael would not be in the southern sky that night, as he had believed when he told this to Heather. Dr. Theo wants everyone to look, to see nothing and then forget the whole thing. Michael gets furious since Dr. Theo has not only manipulated Michael again, but that he’d convinced Michael to manipulate Heather (however unknowingly). When Dr. Theo tries to reason it out, Michael refuses to listen. He is filled with worry for Heather. Dr. Theo tries to tell Michael that she’ll be fine, especially with a mother like Lisa, but Michael is past listening. He decides to go to the woods where Lisa and Heather are. Dr. Theo points out that Michael’s "top speed is maybe 35 miles an hour" and that they are "a good 25 miles away."

Michael leaves anyway, running as fast as he can. By now, everyone in the woods are even further convinced that Heather is deranged. When one of her classmates torments Heather, Nick stands up for her, redeeming himself. He invites Heather to come out with the gang. Heather happily tells him that she’ll catch up with them.

As they walk away, Lisa says Heather, "I am going to tell you everything I know about this business of faith but I'm just telling you up front I don't know a whole lot." By now, Michael had reached them, but stops just behind a large rock to listen.

Lisa goes on to say that faith is believing, without proof. She tells Heather that she believes Heather saw an angel at the hospital and apologizes for not saying so sooner. Lisa says she understands how Heather feels, since she still feels like Michael is still with them. She feels like that at that moment, not knowing that Michael *is* with them. Michael just smiles, listening.

Lisa and Heather head off to grab a bite of food with Heather’s friends. Michael takes a moment and then turns to leave. He sees the familiar limo waiting for him. Dr. Theo greets Michael with, "Well, look who's here. The answer to my prayers. May I offer you a ride?"

Michael gets into the limo and they head home.

Episode Description for "Pulp Turkey" »