Line #121 Series/TouchedByAnAngel


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5	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/touchedbyanangel03.jpg]]
6	[[caption-width-right:350:They will walk with you.]]
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8	This Creator/{{CBS}} drama, which ran from 1994 to 2003, follows the adventures of angel Monica (Creator/{{Roma Downey}}). Under the tutelage of supervisor [[MagicalNegro Tess]] (Creator/{{Della Reese}}), and with the frequent assistance of an angel of death named Andrew (Creator/{{John Dye}}), she's a "caseworker" who [[WalkingTheEarth goes from place to place]] to help various people overcome their problems by steering them towards Main/{{God}}. Late in the seventh season, a fourth main character, Gloria (Creator/ValerieBertinelli), is introduced. As she is a newly created angel, she tags along with the others to learn how to help people.
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11	!!This series provides examples of:
12	* AbortedArc: Starting with Season Three's "Crisis of Faith", there was a handful of episodes where Tess had a small dog that went on assignments with her. Somewhere between the third and fourth seasons, this was inexplicably dropped. Celeste could be considered an AbortedArc as well, since she only shows up in two episodes.
13	* AbortionFalloutDrama: In one episode, the angels are sent to counsel an estranged couple. It turns out that 20-something years earlier, the couple decided to have an abortion as they didn't feel they were ready for children. [[LawOfInverseFertility They were never able to conceive again]] and have spent the subsequent time regretting their decision and feeling that they were being punished for it. The angels assure them that that isn't the case.
14	* AbusiveParents: The angels had to face off against these several times, and even occasionally try to redeem them.
15	** In one episode, this trope was actually subverted. Monica and Andrew were assigned to work with an investigative journalist who sincerely believed the senior citizens caring for several foster children were abusive. [[spoiler:They're not; it was a false alarm and partially the fault of badly cobbled footage in-universe.]]
16	* AffectionateNickname: Tess has "Angel-Girl" and "Miss Wings" for Monica, though at times she doesn't use them affectionately. She calls Andrew "Angel-Boy" (ditto), and calls pretty much everyone "baby" at least once.
17	* AmbiguousEnding: Most episodes imply that once the angels have done their work, that assignment is finished. However, some episodes seem to leave loose ends. Sometimes, future episodes clear these up (ex.: Season 2's "The Feather" was an extension of "Fear Not," the Christmas episode from Season 1). But some are left hanging. For example:
18	** Did Carla Robinson [[spoiler: have to return to prison after realizing her guilt in "True Confessions"]], even though [[spoiler: the court had formally declared her innocent?]]
19	** What happened after FallenAngel Kathleen finally [[spoiler: had a HeelFaceTurn]] in Season 3?
20	* AmnesiaEpisode: "Seek and Ye Shall Find".
21	* AgainWithFeeling: One episode stars two high-school sweethearts who were tragically separated because the boy's father didn't approve. They ironically end up living on the same street in their elderly years. The two are bitter towards one another and near the episode's end, the woman opens up about how he simply forgot about her after she moved away and never so much as wrote her a letter. The man denounces her as a liar and insists that he wrote her every single day. The woman retorts that she never got any letters, prompting the man to shout "How couldn't you have gotten any letters?! My own father was the mailman!" The two of them pause and realizing what obviously happened he repeats "My own father was the mailman..." in a saddened tone.
22	* AnAesop: The angels almost always reveal themselves to give the lesson and reassure everyone that God loves them, no matter how badly they've messed up or been messed up by life.
23	* AndStarring: With Valerie Bertinelli (last 2 seasons) and Della Reese as Tess.
24	* AngelUnaware: The series was pretty much built around it.
25	* AnyoneCanDie: Surprisingly, yes. Possibly used to show the reality of life as a human when juxtaposed with angels and their universe. Note that the angels themselves are exempt due to immortality, in line with Biblical and other interpretations.
26	* ArmorPiercingQuestion:
27	** In the season three episode [[http://www.touched.com/episodeguide/seasonthree/307.html The Sky Is Falling]] Tess gives three. First she gives to a group of people who are believing in Martians. Then later she gives a second one to Monica and finally she gives one to Dottie (an angel) who has come to help her (Tess) improve her manners.
28	** Tess also gives these in various other episodes, to angels and assignments. Monica and Andrew get to ask a couple, too.
29	** In the episode "What Are Friends For?", a mayoral candidate vigorously defends her friend against charges of statutory rape. Her husband bluntly asks her "Has he ever outright said that he didn't do it?" She's stunned to realize that indeed, he never has explicitly denied the charges. To that end, she obtains a copy of the girl's complaint and realizes that he's guilty--the girl quoted the exact same come-on lines that he'd used on ''her'' 20 years ago. She's forced to realize that her friend is an irresponsible jerk and that she's been enabling him for years.
30	* ArtisticLicenseLinguistics: In "The Spirit of Liberty Moon", Jean is revealed to be Chinese when she is spotted reading a Mandarin newspaper. The problem: Mandarin is a spoken dialect, not a written one, and all Chinese dialects (in the PRC, at least) are indistinguishable in print.
31	* ArtisticLicensePhysics: See InformationWantsToBeFree below.
32	* AsLongAsThereIsEvil: Something humans and angels must learn. Monica undergoes a notable example in Season 3's "Random Acts," since the [[spoiler:attack on and near death of her assignment]] almost causes her first HeroicBSOD.
33	* AsLongAsThereIsOneMan: Some assignments involve the angels explaining this to a human and helping him or her confront evil. A notable example is Season 4's "Breaking Bread," wherein Matt Colletti is chosen as a prophet and [[spoiler:defeats the devil, with the angels' help, when he uses a hate group to try to divide Matt's town.]]
34	* AwayInAManger: "An Angel on the Roof".
35	* BackForTheFinale: Many of the previous SpecialGuest stars.
36	* TheBardOnBoard: "Life Before Death" is essentially ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'' in Northern Ireland/the locations of an American peacekeeping project.
37	** A variant occurs in "The Quality of Mercy," which prominently features [[ShowWithinAShow a college production of ''Hamlet'']].
38	* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: The angels being immortal, there are a few episodes that show them in earlier time periods, sometimes helping historical figures such as Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, and Albert Einstein.[[note]]Only one of these was, in fact, a Christian: Mark Twain was an atheist who openly mocked theism; Einstein was essentially a Deist--if that--and a non-practicing Jew. Lincoln was the only one who was assuredly a Christian. Of course, the angels do help non-Christians on a regular basis, and Monica does note that Einstein was Jewish when the would-be cloner says she wants to experience holidays like Christmas with a cloned child.[[/note]] The stories are often told to present-day assignments to help them through their own problems. For instance, Einstein's struggle with guilt over how his discoveries allowed for the development of the atomic bomb and the destruction of Hiroshima is told to a scientist to dissuade her from cloning a human being from his DNA.
39	* BestForLast: At the end of the final episode [[spoiler:God]] makes an appearance.
40	* BigEater:
41	** Season two's "Heart of the Matter" gave us character Robin Dunwoody. Though skinny, she eats constantly.
42	** Tess seems worried that Monica will become this, since one of her biggest pieces of advice is, "Don't take human form and start on the food." Apparently, Tess spent her first assignment as a food tester, and well...
43	** One of Monica's Season 2 assignments, Claudia, is this. As a result she's become obese. Monica must help her confront the real reason behind her weight gain--[[spoiler:she covered up her sister Morgan's drunk driving on the girls' prom night, which killed Morgan's then-boyfriend. She had also supplied the booze.]]
44	* BigNo: Several assignments utter one in tragic situations. The angels have uttered a couple, too.
45	* BillyNeedsAnOrgan: One episode focused on a young girl who needed a new heart, while her friend tries to convince a man to donate his brain-dead wife's. [[spoiler:Unusually for both this trope and this show, the girl DIES. On the plus side, the grieving husband finally accepts his wife's death, allowing her organs to be used to save others]].
46	* BitchInSheepsClothing: A handful of the times Satan shows up, he epitomizes this--in one episode, he seems like an Average Joe, only to subtly talk townspeople into not doing anything about the hate crimes plaguing the town, but in a manner that actually sounds quite reasonable--"I'm worried about retaliation", "Maybe these guys will quit and move on", etc. In one appearance, Tess gripes that she should have known it was him due to his "cheap suit". In his final appearance, he appears before a simple-minded man who has rescued three stray kittens and tends to them in secret at a school. [[spoiler:Satan imagines that the kittens must be awfully cold in the boiler room and tricks the man into pulling a lever that cranks the heat up too high and overloads the boiler pressure at the peak time to kill as many people as possible, when all grades of students are in the cafeteria for lunch. 42 victims die, and the kittens are lost as well, with Satan promising to find new ones for the man and that guy keeps mum about everything that happened, causing suspicion to sway toward another local resident.]]
47	* BittersweetEnding:
48	** Despite the overall uplifting message, quite a few episodes have this. For example, a young girl dies without ever receiving the heart transplant she needed, but the grieving widower of her would-be donor finally accepts his wife's death and allows her organs to be used to save others.
49	** The finale. Monica has completed her angel training and has been promoted to a supervisor position, but given the way they all disappeared after biding her farewell, she will likely won't see her friends again for a very long time, if at all.
50	* {{Bookends}}:
51	** The series premier starts with supervisor Tess and rookie Monica meeting on a bench and Monica being put on a bus for her first assignment and ends with the two of them [[RidingIntoTheSunset driving off into the sunset]] in a red convertible. The series finale starts and ends the same way, except that this time, the newly promoted Monica drives off alone, presumably to play Tess' role to another newcomer.
52	** Throughout the finale, Monica encounters numerous people from her previous assignments.
53	* BrokenTears: Happens to quite a few assignments, usually after the angels reveal themselves but sometimes before. If it's a guy, this often doubles as ManlyTears.
54	* CallingTheOldManOut: Happens to a few assignments, even young kids, whose parents or relatives are being jerks or neglecting them.
55	* CantHoldHisLiquor: The angels have helped some alcoholics along the way, most notably reporter Elizabeth Jessup, a fictional character played by Phylicia Rashad. Monica herself has this problem, too; she gets stinking drunk on Irish coffee in one episode. The results are neither pretty nor pleasant to the ears.
56	* CassandraTruth:
57	** Monica was once institutionalized when she claimed to be an angel, though this was part of her assignment to save another angel who'd suffered a HeroicBSOD.
58	** Several other episodes have milder versions of this due to assignments being blown away that an angel is in their presence, or because they simply don't buy it. Some of the angels' assignments also deal with CassandraTruth in that uncovering the real story will help the human in question.
59	** Subverted, then double subverted, in S6's "True Confessions". Prisoner Carla insists she is innocent of murder, but no one believes her until she is exonerated after three appeals. [[spoiler:It later turns out she suppressed what actually happened, meaning she did commit the murder.]]
60	* CelebrityStar: Many SpecialGuest stars, whether they appear as themselves or not, have the plot configured around them and/or their talents.
61	* CelestialBureaucracy: This interpretation of Heaven has angels organized into a social work agency, performing case work ("assignments"), getting hired and fired based on job performance, striving to earn (sometimes directly competing for) career advancement in the form of "promotions," and occasionally even retiring.
62	* ChristmasEpisode: Several, sometimes involving a ChristmasMiracle. In the final two seasons, 9/11 figured into the plots of their respective Christmas episodes.
63	* ClipShow: Several. The first is aptly titled "Clipped Wings" -- and it's a DoubleMeaningTitle too, as a dark angel manages to get Monica's angel status temporarily revoked by causing her to miss a performance review. "The Medium and the Message" had Monica trying to pitch a show about angels, with the clips illustrating her concept for it. Another show featured characters reminiscing about Tess, and another was a retrospective with the performers out of character.
64	* CousinOliver: Gloria.
65	* CourtroomEpisode: Several episodes have a jury trial or court hearing central to the plot, such as "Reasonable Doubt" (Season 7), "Smokescreen" (Season 3), "A House Divided" (Season 6), and "Virtual Reality" (Season 9). At least one of the angels usually serves as legal counsel; Tess has served as legal counsel too, but usually takes the judge's role.
66	* CreatorBreakdown: [[invoked]] Used in-universe in [[http://www.touched.com/episodeguide/seasonseven/706.html "Restoration"]], in which a silent movie director recut his happy ''Redemption'' into the grim ''Damnation'' after his pregnant wife, the lead actress, died in a botched stunt.
67	* {{Cult}}: The angels save the members of a doomsday cult in one episode.
68	* TheCutie: Celeste.
69	* DatingWhatDaddyHates: "Last Dance" from season four turns on this trope, as the dating teenagers featured have mothers who hate each other. [[spoiler:The ending is much LighterAndSofter than Romeo and Juliet.]]
70	* DeadpanSnarker: Tess has a few moments. Some assignments are this as well, such as Will Heller from "My Brother's Keeper," season five. It gets to the point that Monica tells him that those around Will need his love, not his sarcasm.
71	* DealWithTheDevil: The focus of the plot of "The Man Upstairs".
72	* DeathOfAChild: Quite a lot. The finale comes to mind, wherein [[spoiler:a K–12 school is blown up, killing every child inside]]. Other episodes involve dying children, lost children, or abused children, among other examples.
73	* DeceptiveLegacy: A common theme as several episodes have people discovering their parents have kept major secrets from them.
74	** In "Manny", stuffy Harrison Trowbridge Archibald IV has his world rocked when his mother reveals the truth: She's actually from a poor town, a waitress who met Harrison's father at a party and spun the story of being from a rich family. Before he can recover, she also reveals that Harrison is the product of an affair she had with a gardener.
75	** In "Charades", a woman is rocked to learn her father's best friend was the one who named him during the Blacklist era and drove him to suicide. She's ready to expose the truth at a ceremony but her mother begs her not to... because the "friend" is really her birth father.
76	* DefrostingIceQueen: Or King; happens with several assignments. Some of them end up crying hysterically during the angelic revelations, causing a Tearjerker for viewers as well.
77	* DelicateAndSickly: Several episodes have a dying kid central to the plot, including the 100th episode "Psalm 151", where little Petey is definitely TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth and the angels have to help him fulfill his list of last wishes, many of which are for others.
78	* DeusExMachina: Arguably every episode ends in one: Monica reveals her nature, tells the client that God loves them and that everything will be alright. Angelic powers also meant that she, Andrew and Tess could pull pretty much any item that might be required out of their asses at any moment.
79	* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Happens in season six's "Til Death Do Us Part," when a distraught assignment [[spoiler:slaps Andrew.]]
80	* DisappearedDad: Many of the kids the angels help fall into either this or MissingMom (and [[HeartwarmingOrphan sometimes both]]). This can be due to death, divorce, abandonment, or many other situations. Sometimes the absent parent reappears; sometimes not.
81	* DiscretionShot: The episode "Anatomy Lesson" has one. Monica is working with a coroner and is instructed to remove the heart from a cadaver.
82	* DisturbedDoves: (variant) A singular dove ends most episodes.
83	* DivinelyAppearingDemons: An example of ActingForTwo was found in an episode where an evil twin of Monica (one of the regular angels "touching" human lives) showed up.
84	* DoNotCallMePaul: Inverted with Andrew, who prefers his full name. Do not call him Andy. Ever.
85	* DontFearTheReaper: Andrew. Angels of death help souls peacefully pass on to the afterlife. That being said, some assignments ''do'' fear Andrew and his kind because they know or at least sense that their eternity won't be good. Of note is James Block, a criminal and con artist from Season 3 who has a near-death experience after a heart attack. Though the angels never state outright he was headed for hell, Andrew is not James's best pal when he shows up. Instead, he simply stands staring at James regretfully, backlighted at the end of a long, dark tunnel that eventually [[spoiler:tries to pull James in.]]
86	* DownerEnding: Some episodes could be said to have these. One of the biggest offenders is "Minute by Minute," where the screen cuts to black just before [[spoiler:a Catholic school is bombed with the human heroine, a nun, inside.]] Also, the "Netherlands" episode, from a bigger picture: Monica's faith is restored by the episode's end, but [[spoiler: several people are dead, including a little girl's mother the angels were supposed to help who was looking for a job to help them combat their homelessness, the unnamed bomber is on the run and was implied to have committed suicide and [[AllForNothing while Gloria's mission was to find the aforementioned little girl a home, since she ultimately dies from her injuries, her "home" was apparently Heaven, rendering her first assignment completely moot.]]]]
87	* DrivenToSuicide: Suicide is an extremely common theme within the series. A large number of the angels' assignments involve people who feel so depressed and hopeless that they nearly commit it, and in some cases actually through with it. Thankfully, there are just as many that were narrowly averted thanks to angel interference.
88	* DrivesLikeCrazy: Late in the series run, Gloria somehow got her hands on Tess's car. The results were...well, this. Monica has had a couple moments as well.
89	* DrivingTest: Even angels have to take them ("Render unto Caesar..."). Tess has to take one with a very rude instructor in Season 4's "Deconstructing Harry".
90	* DrugsAreBad: Though there were several anti-substance abuse episodes, they tended to avoid the idea that the substances themselves were somehow intrinsically evil... rather, that their use and abuse was often the result of some other problem that needed fixing.
91	* EducationMama:
92	** Mostly inverted in "Stealing Hope" from Season 6. Nineteen-year-old Ricky is the oldest son of a single mother and comes from an impoverished family where his gas station job seems to be the main source of income. He has the intelligence and writing talent to do well at the local college, but his mom refuses to allow it on the grounds that [[spoiler:she believes Ricky will abandon her as her abusive husband did.]] She comes around after the climactic incident shows her Ricky's talent.
93	** Played straight with the [[EducationMama Education Papa]] in Season 8's "Song for My Father," who wants his daughter Sarah to go to college and get a classical music degree rather than playing with her rock band.
94	** Also played painfully straight in Season 1's "The Hero," where James Mackey's [[EducationMama Education Papa]] tendencies cause his son Matt to [[spoiler:attempt suicide.]]
95	* EvenEvilHasStandards: In the final flashback of the episode "Full Moon", a rapist is prepared to kill his victim when he hears the sound of her baby crying and can't bring himself to do it.
96	* EverybodyLives: An extremely rare occurrence for the show, but one episode had a man waking from a five-year coma to discover that his wife is now engaged to his business partner and best friend. Turns out, [[spoiler: [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom Monica accidentally caused the man's car crash]] and it comes out that he was abusive to her and their son.]] In the end, the only "death" in the episode is his and his wife's marriage.
97	* EvilCounterpart: Kathleen, a fallen angel who faces Monica several times. [[spoiler:She returns to the side of God at the end of "Clipped Wings".]]
98	* EvilSoundsDeep: At the climax of "Breaking Bread."
99	--->'''''Nice job... [[AsLongAsThereIsEvil See you later.]]'''''
100	** Extremely averted when Creator/JamesEarlJones gave Monica her performance review.
101	* EvilTwin: Monique, a Monica lookalike and "dark angel".
102	* ExactWords: Obviously, angels can't lie but they are expert at wording things a certain way.
103	** Monica has to pose as a homeless woman for an assignment. When asked how she ended up here, she replies "the simple truth is, one morning I was wearing a fine coat and the next night, I was sleeping on the street." The other homeless people just nod with "ain't that the way?"
104	* ExecutiveMeddling:
105	** [[invoked]] Used InUniverse in "The Medium and the Message" (a ClipShow): Monica tries to pitch a show about angels to a cynical TV exec and his staff, but they want to change her ideas to something less uplifting and wholesome (for instance, they want to take the idea of an angel of death in more of an action/horror direction). Ironically, one writer came up with a script that had Monica and her fellow "touchy feely" angels confronted with an individual who was truly evil, truly unrepentant, and utterly unreceptive to their message of love and redemption. The script also introduced the angel Peter, whose job wasn't to redeem sinners through the love of God, but to ''punish'' them through the power of God's Old Testament-style wrath. Naturally enough, the episode was never produced because it didn't fit into the producer's desire to maintain a positive message regarding God.
106	** In the early production days of the series, Tess smoked and swore, and she and Monica were constantly at each other's throats, among other less uplifting elements. Creator Martha Williamson disagreed with this direction, and so the original producer walked out. The show then became what we know today.
107	* ExpectingSomeoneTaller:
108	** Monica when she meets Satan for the first time.
109	** Quoted word for word in "A Clown's Prayer," which revolved around a clown named (Little) Leroy Tucker, who had dwarfism.
110	* FaceHeelTurn: Monica's former search-and-rescue colleague, Kathleen, has one of these, but [[spoiler:she has a HeelFaceTurn in season 3]].
111	* FakeAristocrat: In "For All the Tea in China", Lady Penelope Berrington (Angela Lansbury) confesses to her grandson that she's not British nobility at all. She's actually an orphan with a stolen name who built up the tea business telling stories of growing up in England and losing money in the War. This leads to a great moment where her long-time butler asks if she wants some tea.
112	-->'''Penelope''': You don't have to call me that anymore, Edmund. I'm not a lady.
113	-->'''Edmund''': I beg to differ. My Lady.
114	* FiveSecondForeshadowing: In "Breaking Bread", Monica sees Andrew standing outside Matt's bakery and instantly realizes something bad is about to happen. She screams at him, "Let's get out of here" and they escape seconds before the building explodes.
115	* FluffyCloudHeaven: "Netherlands" opened with a monologue by Monica expressing her amusement with human depictions of Heaven such as this (one of them referenced, though not by name, was a Victoria's Secret ad campaign featuring scantily-clad angels that was running at the time).
116	* ForTheEvulz: This is the primary reason Satan or his minions, such as [[spoiler:formerly]] fallen angel Kathleen, do anything. Tess lampshades it once: "Evil is for evil's sake, period."
117	* ForWantOfANail: In "Monica's Bad Day", her anger with a rude restaurant owner culminates in her throwing his cell phone into a fish tank. Events go from bad to worse for everyone in the restaurant, and Monica is then shown an alternate timeline in which she didn't throw away the phone and ''good'' things happened to everyone... including a woman who is suicidal. Monica and the other people must now save her in the established timeline.
118	* FormulaBreakingEpisode:
119	** "Clipped Wings" strays away from the usual WoobieOfTheWeek formula, and instead of Monica and Tess helping out a lost soul, the episode's premise is a clip show about Monica having to attend an appointment to review her past assignments, and then temporarily being BroughtDownToNormal after FallenAngel Kathleen tricked Monica into missing her appointment by posing as a woman named Jodi with insecurities.
120	** "Last Call" also ditches the typical formula for a BottleEpisode where Monica's assignment is to provide one person of her choice a miracle in a tavern -- where the entire episode takes place-- except Monica's unsure who to give it to as nearly everyone was miserable or troubled in some way. There's no one singular person or group of people whom Monica directly told to help out, it's an ensemble piece where all of the episode's characters have their own troubles. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Plus Monica reveals her angel identity a lot earlier than she usually does]].
121	* FriendToAllChildren: Monica mentions in several episodes that she likes kids, whom she sometimes refers to as "wee ones."
122	* FriendToAllLivingThings: Monica could be considered this, though not in the Disney princess way. Rather, because she's an angel, she's able to communicate with animals and seems to genuinely enjoy them, even the "creepy crawly" bugs and reptiles Tess avoids.
123	* GodWasMyCopilot: In the two-part GrandFinale, Monica serves as a lawyer to defend a destitute man in court, accused of killing all the children in a school by way of an explosion. [[spoiler: He turns out to be the Almighty Himself, but Monica doesn't learn this until He's convicted and she vows to protect Him in prison (it's a SecretTestOfCharacter). He was actually at the school to take all the kids to Heaven after Satan tricked innocent Joey into putting a faulty boiler on too high a setting.]]
124	* GoodCannotComprehendEvil: A recurring theme is Monica often unable to understand why some human beings can be so horrible with Tess saying some folks are just not lucky enough to be born with a good soul.
125	** Monica openly asks how Kathleen, an angel who knew the power of God, could turn from Heaven and join with "the other side."
126	* GoodIsBoring: Fallen angel Kathleen once tells Monica this is her justification for switching sides: "I'm having too much fun." [[spoiler:She eventually turns back to God, though.]] In a later episode, high-ranking angel Sam explains that some humans engage in sin because they believe this trope.
127	* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: Played straight for the most part in "Great Expectations". Parents-to-be learn that their child will have Down's Syndrome; the husband has misgivings. Abortion is considered, and the wife makes it as far as the clinic before changing her mind, declaring "I'm still pro-choice. And I just made one. I'm having this baby." The angels have to convince the husband that their child need not be perfect to be lovable.
128	* GrandFinale: The "I Will Walk with You" two-parter. Monica is almost ready for a promotion to supervisor, but has to pass one final test. That test is getting justice for the most tragic disaster that ever occurred in the series: an explosion that murdered 42 people at a school- most being children- and Monica must triumph over Satan.
129	* TheGrimReaper:
130	** Andrew, the Angel of Death. He doesn't actively reap people -- and in fact in one episode he encourages his assignment to get up and keep trying to stay alive -- but he does escort them in their journey, and thus his appearances usually (but not always) indicate that someone in the episode is going to die, be at risk of dying, or have to get over someone's death. For having what is probably the worst job in Heaven, he's a reasonably cheerful guy who only expresses dissatisfaction when children are involved (often commenting that he hates those assignments).
131	** It's occasionally mentioned that Andrew was previously a case worker like Monica, and it's suggested that he's one of the higher-ranked angels, so on the occasions when his appearance isn't related to a death (which became more common as the show went on, due to his actor's popularity), it's explained as using his experience in the field to lend a hand.
132	** It's shown that Andrew's turn came when he failed to stop John Wilkes Booth from killing Abraham Lincoln. He felt he wasn't worthy of being a case worker and his superior said Andrew was still needed. He was thus made an Angel of Death with Lincoln himself the first soul to lead to Heaven.
133	** Adam is the previous Angel of Death in the spotlight for the show's inaugural run, but then becomes a rarely-appearing character after his actor began to suffer a mental health battle and Andrew was introduced to show that there are multiple angels who share the responsibility of guiding the departed to eternity or protecting those whose lives become imperiled.
134	* HateSink: [[HateSink/TouchedByAnAngel Shockingly, there are enough for its own page.]]
135	* HaveAGayOldTime: The title of the show has inspired many "inappropriate touching" jokes (''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''[='=]s take might be the best known).
136	* HeartwarmingOrphan: Several are encountered over the course of the series.
137	* HeelFaceTurn: Some of the angels' assignments had one of these near the end of their episodes. It's also worth noting that [[spoiler: Kathleen, an angel who used to be Monica's friend and then crossed to the dark side, had one after being denied a promotion to demonic "caseworker."]]
138	* HeroicBSOD:
139	** In "Jacob's Ladder", an angel put herself into the loony bin after she thought she had [[MyGreatestFailure failed the girl]] she was guardian over. Turns out God had different plans.
140	** Monica had one in "Netherlands", when viewing a terrorist attack and Gloria's subsequent seeming indifference to it came extremely close to making her lose her faith, and accept a DealWithTheDevil. As noted below, this episode wound up hitting a little close to home for many.
141	** Gloria herself had one in "Heaven's Portal", in the aftermath of trying Ecstasy. The resulting "crash" compounded with feelings of guilt for lying to Tess almost led her to allowing herself and her charge to drive over a cliff.
142	** Tess even had one, after finding [[http://www.touched.com/episodeguide/seasonfive/524.html a black man lynched]].
143	** Andrew had one during Season 5, connected to an assignment who committed suicide. He, like Adam (the first Angel of Death) hates suicide assignments.
144	** Many assignments have a HeroicBSOD as well. You could say it's almost a prerequisite for angelic intervention.
145	** One of the most epic examples of HeroicBSOD involved Kelly, an assignment who was Monica's traffic school teacher (she took her foot off the brake and ran a stop sign, nearly killing said assignment). Kelly had a HeroicBSOD after her son Jesse [[spoiler: was killed in a drive-by]] but had been bitter before then. Viewers discover it's because Kelly is [[spoiler: a deep-cover angel who was sent to help Jesse when the boy was two, then stayed to raise him after his mother was killed.]] Monica and Tess's real assignment is to [[spoiler: bring Kelly back to Heaven.]]
146	* HeroicSacrifice: In one episode, a nun (played by Creator/MaryMcDonnell) at a Catholic School uncovers a bomb plot being acted by some of her students who are in full TakingYouWithMe mode. She manages to talk them down and gets them out of the building, only to discover the entire student body is about to walk into the building to begin their day. The nun rushes back into the building to pull the fire alarm, turns to walk out and is face to face with the digital countdown of the bomb timer, which clicks the last two seconds away. Right as the timer hits zero [[spoiler: the episode ends with an abrupt fade to black]].
147	* HighTechHeaven: PlayedWith: Angels, while in human form, use technologies of the time the same way humans would, but they have no special trappings that make them seem any more high-tech than humans. That being said, it was stated as a joke that one especially old angel "was doing paperwork before there was paper", implying Heaven is (or at least was) more advanced than humanity technologically.
148	* HollywoodToneDeaf: Monica is revealed to be this in "Voice of an Angel". She has a hard time fulfilling her assignment to help a young singer (played by CelebrityStar Music/CharlotteChurch) because the girl's a bit of a brat yet her voice is so beautiful, making the angel jealous.
149	-->'''Tess:''' What part of "Thou shalt not covet" don't you understand?
150	* HolyBacklight: Whenever the angels reveal themselves, they get a spotlight shone on them. They also sometimes get a light to show that they're invisible to humans. They can still subliminally influence people this way. If they're just talking about people and not interacting, there's no light; we just assume they're invisible. That or they have terrible manners. Roma Downey said once in an interview that she'd jokingly asked the grips (lighting techs) to bring the fixture with her when she went on dates, saying that "it really punches up the red in my hair".
151	* ICanChangeMyBeloved: Season Five's "Fool for Love" dealt with this regarding assignment Sarah, who ran away at seventeen to be with boyfriend Jesse. She refuses to see he's a complete loser and abusive {{Jerkass}}, even after he [[spoiler: commits armed robbery with her in the car. He ends up abandoning her.]] Monica eventually helps Sarah snap out of it.
152	* IdentityAmnesia: Monica lost her memory in one episode. Tess's [[spoiler: Alzheimer's]] may or may not be this, since we're not sure if she ever lost touch with her angelic identity.
153	* IHaveNoSon: Invoked by Sam Silverstein in Season 8's "Chutzpah" after his artist daughter Rachel started drawing and publishing cartoons that gradually became anti-Semitic. The angels help Sam realize she did it because [[spoiler: he had crushed her ambition to be a ''sopher,'' or Torah scribe, when she was a kid, because he didn't believe women could be scribes. Sam and Rachel come around by the end.]]
154	* IncurableCoughOfDeath:
155	** A couple of times, notably in "Dear God," right before [[spoiler: little Tanya's father succumbs]]. In the same episode, we hear the same cough in flashback scenes of Auschwitz (assignment Max survived the Holocaust).
156	** Also pops up in season four's "Elijah," right before the death of [[spoiler: assignment Jacob Weiss's father.]]
157	** Tends to occur in a lot of episodes that feature seriously ill protagonists. See "The Violin Lesson," "Into the Light," and various other examples. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in these two instances because one protagonist had cystic fibrosis and the other had AIDS, which had led to respiratory and other infections.
158	* ImprobableInfantSurvival: Sometimes, but surprisingly enough, this series [[DeathOfAChild averts it a lot]]. In fact, episodes that avert it are also some of the most [[WhamEpisode frequently remembered]].
159	* InformationWantsToBeFree: One episode revolved around a retired engineer who developed a device that could split water into oxygen and hydrogen [[ArtisticLicensePhysics with only a small input of sunlight]]. He sold it to the [[CorruptCorporateExecutive president of an energy company]], who promptly destroyed the prototype and all the plans so that he could keep making a killing on oil.
160	* InnocentBigot:
161	** Gloria has this problem in "Chutzpah". Never having met any Jewish people up to then, and knowing nothing about Jews, she acts warm and welcoming to some skinheads she meets at a bus stop. She then repeats some of the anti-Semitic stuff they said to Sam Silverstein. [[spoiler: She gets much better.]]
162	** A couple of episodes also imply that Monica has been this toward blacks and homeless people, simply because she had never been either and thus did not fully understand them. Each episode where this trope is used has Monica undergoing an epiphany so that she is no longer the InnocentBigot toward that group.
163	* InspirationallyDisadvantaged: Assignments occasionally involve people who are physically challenged or autistic/mentally challenged. The trope really lives up to its name with Taylor, an ''angel'' with Down's Syndrome (played by Chris Burke, Corky on ''Series/LifeGoesOn'').
164	* InterrogationMontage: A good version throughout the finale as multiple angels who have worked with Monica over the years are seen telling an unseen someone (presumably God) about their experiences and impressions of her.
165	* IsntItIronic: {{Inverted}}. In "Netherlands", Monica has a crisis of faith and is tempted by Satan to become mortal. At one point, he promises he's there for her by way of the song "No One Is Alone", which is from Music/StephenSondheim's ''Theatre/IntoTheWoods''. In the show it's performed by the humbled good guys; here, because ''Satan's'' singing it, it verges on a VillainRecruitmentSong. Note that Satan here is played by Creator/MandyPatinkin, who frequently performs in Sondheim musicals; this may be another example of CelebrityStar in action.
166	* JesusTaboo: Christians of all denominations make appearances, and a two-parter deals with the persecution of Chinese believers, but the man himself is never name-dropped until the final episode. This may be in part because the show worked to be inclusive; some episodes specifically focus on Jewish people, and "Fight the Good Fight" is built around an appearance by (Muslim) UsefulNotes/MuhammadAli. The premiere of Season 6, "For Such a Time as This," made use of a song that carries Jesus' name in one lyric. The lyric was dropped and replaced with something more general.
167	* JockDadNerdSon: Ross and Alan Berger of Season 6's "Bar Mitzvah." Alan himself inverts this with son Aaron.
168	* KarmaHoudini: The MadBomber from the infamous "Netherlands" episode, who was implied to have committed suicide, disallowing any true justice to be had in his crime.
169	* LethalChef: Monica, though not so much because she can't cook as because she makes weird food combinations. The most egregious example probably comes from Season 3's "Have You Seen Me," where she worked as a diner waitress. She presented Tess and Andrew with a "reward for a job well done"--a sundae made with cherry cola, mocha latte, and...French fries. As Tess put it, "A reward or a punishment?"
170	* LittlestCancerPatient: Played in one instance ("Godspeed") by Creator/HaydenPanettiere.
171	* MacGuffin: The angels dealt with a fair number of these throughout the series, usually objects or people significant to the assignment that never popped up again afterward. The trend started with the premiere, wherein a child's drawing of his mother helped Monica resolve a fallout during her first assignment. A lot of these fall into the MementoMacGuffin or ImDyingPleaseTakeMyMacGuffin category.
172	* MagicalNegro: Tess.
173	* MamaBear: Tess can behave this way to anybody who tries to hurt Monica (see "Clipped Wings" for a particularly good example). She's like this with Andrew too, but much more so with Monica. Monica herself can be this way to people or demons who try to hurt assignments, especially children.
174	* {{Masquerade}}: Angels pose as humans when they're on assignment, and are otherwise invisible to the naked eye. Unfortunately, dark angels and Satan himself have the same abilities, and they can fool good angels.
175	* ManChild: Joey, an intellectually disabled young man appearing in Seasons 1, 2, 4, and 9.
176	* MustHaveCaffeine: A small RunningGag in the series is Monica's caffeine addiction, usually in the form of a latte. [[HollywoodToneDeaf Give her some Irish coffees, however...]]
177	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Uttered by at least two assignments, alcoholic journalist Elizabeth Jessup and formerly comatose Steven Bell.
178	** A reporter leads an investigation accusing an elderly couple of molesting the children of their foster home, driving them to near suicide. Her source was a neighbor who comes by and starts talking about how she thinks another pair of neighbors are murderers. It sinks in to the reporter that the woman is crazy and she just ruined the couple's lives on a false story.
179	** In "Venice", elderly Annie has long been considered the shame of her town as years ago, her husband (a much loved high school star) vanished mysteriously. After she loses her sight, the angels get Annie to tell her three neighbors that husband Tommy hated the small town and having to become the local doctor and took advantage of a car accident to flee. Annie received a note saying he'd died but the angels break it to her that Tommy actually died just a few weeks earlier after a long life of cheating and tricking women. Annie realizes Tommy was never coming back for her. The neighbors are rocked to realize that for 30 years they have not only blamed Annie for Tommy's death but made her listen to them hail a man who never gave a damn about anyone but himself.
180	-->'''Russell''': He hurt her. But we destroyed her.
181	* NaiveNewcomer: Subverted with Monica, who is a new case worker, but has been an angel for some time, doing search and rescue. Played straight with Gloria.
182	* NearDeathExperience: One episode dealt with a man trying to turn his life around after a particularly terrifying NDE gave him a vision of Hell; others have near-death visions in brief.
183	* NeverLearnedToRead: Pro basketball player Eric "EZ" Mony has this problem in "Nothing but Net". The problem also comes up in "The Word" (season 9). The angels are sent to help a student with OCD, whose father is illiterate.
184	* NewJobAsThePlotDemands: Monica, Tess and various other angels have taken up all sorts of jobs and occupations for whatever the plot demands, depending on the assignment (Some of the jobs Monica's taken include a baseball coach, an assistant police officer, a nurse, a stripper, an MC, a physical therapist, etc.)
185	* NewMediaAreEvil:
186	** Subverted in "Pandora's Box": a family is threatened by the dangers of online pedophiles and whatnot, but Monica explains at the end that the Internet is not inherently bad and is in fact a gift from God that can and should be used for good.
187	** Somewhat averted in "Virtual Reality" which concerns violent video games. The setup had Rafael and Andrew arguing opposite sides of the court case the user of the game was involved in (Rafael for prosecution, Andrew for defense). Tess, serving as judge, makes a speech to the courtroom underlining the fact that children often want to be exposed to things they shouldn't, and that video game in particular was one such thing.
188	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Several examples but the biggest one came in “Netherlands” where after the trio of Monica, Tess and Gloria witness the bombing of a building which killed dozens of people. Gloria’s focusing on what kind of bomb it was and her rather stoic and uncaring attitude about the gravity of the situation causes Monica to have a crisis of faith and nearly leads her to literally making a DealWithTheDevil.
189	* NoNameGiven:
190	** In 99% of cases, the angels don't have last names. This can cause some issues, like when they're dialing Information to find someone as in "Indigo Angel" from Season 2 (the person on the phone wants Andrew's last name and uh, he doesn't have one). This also caused trouble for Rafael when he had an assignment as a soldier, as soldiers are generally addressed by last names.
191	** Averted in Season 2's "Trust", where Monica worked as a cop and took on the last name O'Dooley.
192	** Also averted during "Reasonable Doubt". Monica was on jury duty and was asked to give a last name. When she said, "Well, I..." the officiating clerk interpreted it as "Welleye," kind of like the fish.
193	** Fallen angel Kathleen [[spoiler: who later turned back to the side of God]] gave her last name as Luna, or "Moon," during an episode where she appeared as a fortune teller.
194	* NotSoDifferentRemark: Kathleen pulls this on Monica in an attempt to ruin the latter's evaluation. Monica immediately refutes her.
195	* OffIntoTheDistanceEnding: The finale, which has Monica driving off to take on her new role as supervisor.
196	* {{Oireland}}: Depending on how you feel about her accent, Monica is this. Kevin Greeley nods at this trope when he mocks her accent, as do Kathleen and Monique (made odd on Kathleen's part because her name actually is Irish). The episode "Life Before Death" could be considered this.
197	* OldCopYoungCop: The premise of the show is the older and more experienced Tess teaching the ropes to neophyte case-worker Monica.
198	* OncePerEpisode: Most episodes end with a dove appearing somewhere in the area the final scene takes place in, usually flying by and cooing.
199	* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: The season four episode "Children of the Night" involves several homeless teens known only by street names. Overlaps with DoNotCallMePaul, as it's explained that real names are actually not allowed in that culture.
200	* OurAngelsAreDifferent: None of the angels in the show have wings, and they are just about indistinguishable from humans until they drop the {{Masquerade}}. (At one point Tess was even put on time-out for having a hateful attitude towards Satan, and Monica got one for lying.)
201	* PhosphorEssence:
202	** When one of the angels reveal themselves to a human, they glow to make their true nature clear.
203	** Demonic beings like Kathleen have this, too; their glow is of the eerie blue variety, while the angels have bright white. Satan doesn't glow, but in his first appearance, he was backlighted in red when he revealed his true self.
204	* PoorlyDisguisedPilot: "Promised Land", the third season premiere, introduced the Greene family, the focus of a 3-season series called "Promised Land" (which followed ''Touched'' on Sunday nights.)
205	* PregnantHostage: One episode had a bank heist where the robber ordered the pregnant bank teller to go into the safe-deposit area to grab a valuable item. Then a gas leak explosion traps her in there and he [[SubvertedTrope orders the other hostages to help him dig her out]]. It turns out [[ZigZaggedTrope he's her husband and the]] ''[[ZigZaggedTrope father]]'' [[ZigZaggedTrope of her baby]] -- they were desperate for money and planned it together.
206	* RapeAsDrama: The episode "Full Moon" has Monica trying to help a couple deal with the wife's rape that occurred six years prior. They apparently never dealt with it to begin with and now that her rapist has been paroled, the unresolved issues are even more painful. Andrew is left to counsel the rapist himself as well as protect him from the vengeful husband.
207	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech:
208	** Surprisingly enough, some assignments do get these. Tess is usually the deliverer, but Monica has handed down a few. For example, she did it to a cult leader in "Into the Fire," and to a mother who refused to let her child have a free operation for a cleft lip/palate in "Operation Smile."
209	** Some assignments learn that part of being true to God and themselves involves handing down a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to somebody else. It's happened a few times, like in S6's "Legacy." Fraternity pledge Max [[spoiler: informed his father, a former pledge of Phi Iota Gamma, that he was going to the police after a friend died of frat-sanctioned alcohol poisoning. He also called out his father because as a pledge, he had attempted to rape a girl.]]
210	* RecklessGunUsage: One character breaks just about [[UsefulNotes/GunSafety all the rules]] -- carelessly waving a loaded [=WW2=]-era pistol around, pointing it straight at a friend, and then removing the magazine without clearing the chamber. After all that, how unlucky is it for said gun to [[WhatASenselessWasteOfHumanLife get knocked off a desk, unintentionally fire, and]] [[IJustShotMarvinInTheFace shoot someone right in the heart]]?
211	* RecurringCharacter: Several other angels. Out of the many "assignments" the angels take on, mentally challenged Joey and his brother Wayne show up multiple times after their introduction in the Season One ChristmasEpisode "Fear Not", and appear in the GrandFinale.
212	* RedEyesTakeWarning: As noted on the Characters page, this happens with Kathleen and Monique. It also happens with Satan and other demonic beings.
213	* RedheadsAreRavishing: Some single men hit on Monica before knowing she's an angel. "Netherlands" used this trope to set up part of Monica's temptation by Satan: [[spoiler: become permanently human, marry a guy she met who appears to really like her, and have two kids.]] In "Life Before Death," human protagonist Tommy Doyle, a Northern Irish Catholic, falls in love with Rose Larkin, a redheaded Protestant girl.
214	* RequiredSpinoffCrossover: Aside from a few two-part episodes that started on one show and finished on the other, Tess and Andrew each separately showed up on ''Promised Land'' on several occasions.
215	* RousseauWasRight: One of the repeated themes is that humans are born with a great capacity for love, forgiveness, mercy, and charity, and simply need to be reminded of it occasionally.
216	* SassyBlackWoman:
217	** Tess, full stop.
218	** Also Edna, the organist who appears in a couple of episodes featuring recurring assignments Wayne and Joey (Randy Travis and Paul Wittenberg, respectively).
219	* {{Satan}}: Several appearances, each time in a different form (including those of [[Series/TheDukesOfHazzard Bo Duke]] and [[Film/ThePrincessBride Inigo Montoya]]!) In the GrandFinale, he's the prosecuting lawyer at the trial, [[spoiler:and was actually responsible for the deaths of the kids -- he tricked Joey into setting the boiler in the school basement too high, and that's how the explosion occurred]]. Satan also appeared in the first season as the leader of a white supremacy group, the fourth season as a car repair man, the sixth season as a little boy ''and'' a lion, and the seventh season as himself (in human form) to tempt Monica after she witnesses a terrorist attack.
220	* SecondPlaceIsForLosers: What some assignments believe. These are usually parents who consciously or unconsciously pressure their children, grown or minors, to be perfect. Special mention to James Mackey and Cynthia Willis of "The Hero" and "The Driver" respectively. Willis even told her daughter, "You're a waste of space if you're not in first place."
221	* SecretTestOfCharacter: Monica's final assignment is to protect a mysterious drifter named Zack who's been accused of setting a bomb that killed multiple schoolchildren. When Zack is convicted, Monica decides to turn down her much-coveted promotion in order to continue protecting him in prison. It turns out that Zack was really [[spoiler: GOD]] and showing that she could be so unselfish as to give up her dream in order to look after a presumed nobody is EXACTLY what He needed to see to determine if she was worthy of being a supervisor.
222	* SeparatedByACommonLanguage:
223	** Monica experiences this in Season 3's "Sins of the Father" with assignment Luther Dixon. Her assignment is to listen and try to understand his language. Being a fairly new caseworker, Monica takes this literally at first. She gets tripped up on some of Luther's slang, such as "jacking" for "stealing" and "chips" for "money." She later uses this to drive home the point that whether Luther bothers to "come up with some fancy name" for God, to make Him fit into his gang culture, God is the only one who will consistently be there for him.
224	** Actually subverted with Monica herself. Monica was "born" in Ireland, yet spends 90% of her assignments in the U.S. Yet she rarely if ever uses common Irish slang or has to substitute American terms for Irish ones. She may use words like "meself" now and again, but it's very rare.
225	* ShowWithinAShow: The angels sometimes work with theatrical or circus performers, or perform roles themselves.
226	* ShoutOut: Blink and you'll miss it: In "Sandcastles," Tess removes guest angel Rafael's beard, and he complains nobody takes him seriously because he looks 12. Tess's response is, "I don't like angels with dirty faces!"
227	* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: Firmly on the Idealistic side.
228	* SmallRoleBigImpact: Dottie the Etiquette angel from the Season 3 episode, "The Sky Is Falling" is one of the biggest examples on the show. She get only around 2 minutes of screentime, and yet those minutes are ''extremely'' important, as she's the main reason Tess would become Monica's supervisor and the duo eventually becomes close friends. Dottie would even predict this would happen in her sole scene.
229	* SpinOff: ''Promised Land'', which depicted the further adventures of the Greenes, one of the families the angels assisted, as they traveled around the country helping people.
230	* SpiritualSuccessor:
231	** Seen by many as this trope, to the earlier series ''Series/HighwayToHeaven''.
232	** ''Series/JoanOfArcadia'' was likely meant to be this for ''Touched by an Angel'', as it premiered months after the series finale on the same network, and centered upon similar themes of God sending someone to help others. The series finale even featured {{God}} appearing as a human, which would become the central plot of ''Joan of Arcadia''.
233	* SpringtimeForHitler: In "Nothing but Net", a professional basketball player has this happen when he agrees to throw a game in return for a large sum of money from some gamblers who will win big. They may well kill him if he doesn't follow through. Already known as a showboat, he figures it won't seem out of character for him to take a bunch of ridiculous low-percentage shots, secretly trying to miss most of them on purpose. Thanks to the heavenly intervention, he makes every bucket anyway, but Andrew takes the gamblers aside when they try to confront the player afterward.
234	* StarCrossedLovers: The kids of the two women that are the assignments in "Last Dance". In fact, the angels' intervention here is to defy this trope.
235	* StrawVulcan: Gloria several times came close to being this, especially in her first full episode, as she's brand new and it's explained that her brain works like a computer. (She's the first angel created in the 21st century, and God apparently wanted to try something new.) Her flat, unemotional response to a tragedy, combined with the tragedy itself, gives Monica a HeroicBSOD, and thereafter occasionally infuriates Tess too, but that's actually part of the point... she's there to make them reexamine why they react to certain things the way they do.
236	* TheCameo: There were several cameos from celebrities, but the most impressive was civil rights icon Rosa Parks, who showed up in "Black Like Monica".
237	* TheInternetIsForPorn: The episode "Pandora's Box" revolved around this subject, opening up on a young girl attempting to research Hawaii for a school project and encountering a porn site. The mother is horrified that pornography is now able to enter her house so quickly, while the father slowly becomes sucked into a world of online porn, eventually getting fired from his job for viewing it at work. However, the ultimate message of the episode was that the computer was a gift from God that could be used for good or evil.
238	* ThemeNaming: if one can call it that; there are two different episodes named "The Perfect Game". One revolves around bowling, the other revolves around baseball.
239	* TitleDrop:
240	** Done by Satan, of all people, in the finale. The title of which itself is an example--"I Will Walk With You"--the show's theme song.
241	** Sometimes, assignments would drop the titles of their own episodes within the script. Other times, angels would do an individual episode TitleDrop as well.
242	** In a couple of unusual cases, someone would TitleDrop a previous episode within the context of the current one (possibly unintentional).
243	* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Monica not only loves coffee, but anything with coffee as an ingredient. Over the years, she has tried to bake it in biscuits and sell an assignment on a recipe for mocha pizza. At the party to celebrate her hundredth assignment, the following were served:
244	** Coffee cake
245	** Coffee cookies
246	** Chocolate-covered coffee beans
247	** Mocha lattes with cinnamon
248	** At least one assignment had a TrademarkFavoriteFood as well. In Season 4's "Flights of Angels," the main character's middle son George loved doughnuts and was often seen with powdered sugar on his mouth.
249	* TwoFirstNames: Occurs with Darnell Thomas of Season 4's "Nothing But Net".
250	* TheUnFavorite: A couple of examples. Aaron Gibson from Season 4's "How Do You Spell Faith" is the most egregious example. His athletic mother straight up admits to Tess that her older son Michael is her favorite because Aaron, who is much more scholarly, reminds her of her ex-husband. [[spoiler: It takes the older son dying, and the angels' help, to help her get better.]]
251	* VerySpecialEpisode:
252	** Quite a few; most notably the GrandFinale, and when Tess gets Alzheimer's.
253	** The one where Monica tries to help a cop who specializes in missing children's cases. At the episode's conclusion, Della Reese informs the viewers that the posters seen throughout the episode were of ''actual'' missing children.
254	** A Christmas episode focused on a family dealing with the loss of a beloved teacher who was one of many lives taken in the 9/11 attacks.
255	* WalkingTheEarth: The angels travel from place to place on assignment.
256	* WhamLine: Several episodes utilize these. For example:
257	-->'''Case of the week:''' Am I going to die?\
258	'''Andrew:''' [[BluntYes Yes.]] ''(beat)'' [[FromACertainPointOfView Everyone does.]]
259	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: In the pilot, while searching for a boy's runaway mother, Monica thinks she's found her. It turns out to be a completely different woman who's also on the run from the law. We get a brief explanation of her circumstances, but she vanishes after fleeing again. Although Tess says that another angel will look after her, the episode ends with no follow up as to her date.
260	* [[WhatTheHellHero What In Heaven's Name, Angel?]] Monica falls into this a couple of times, once when she [[spoiler: lies to cover up the actions of a guilty assignment because his perfect persona blinds her]] and then when she [[spoiler: slaps an assignment in a later season, a soldier who told a horrible lie to a dying friend.]] Sam gives a mild one to Tess when she [[spoiler: sinks to Satan's level, verbally, over the behavior of a white supremacy group.]]
261	* WholePlotReference: “Reasonable Doubt” is heavily based on ''Film/TwelveAngryMen''. Both have the protagonist as the lone holdout on a jury who slowly convinces the other jurors that the accused is innocent. Both have a juror who is absolutely convinced of the accused’s guilt for personal reasons rather than logical ones.
262	* WhoWouldWantToWatchUs: In season five's "The Medium and the Message," Monica is assigned to help a TV producer. She ends up pitching him an idea for a show about angels, resulting in a ClipShow. Later, Andrew tells Monica he liked her idea, to which she says, "Nah, it'd never work."
263	* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes:
264	** It may not actually be snakes, but a fair number of assignments face their worst fears or a terrifying moment in their past as part of the episode. An example is Eric Weiss of Season 3's "Angel of Death," who fears being locked in refrigerators even though he is an escape artist. That's because [[spoiler: he thinks his twin brother died locked in one during a childhood game of hide and seek.]]
265	** Monica had a fear of water in Season 1 (bad memories of Noah's flood). Since she didn't have any significant water-related assignments after that season, it's not completely clear if she got over it.
266	* WoobieOfTheWeek: Probably the best known example.
267	* YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters: Presented as a major problem in the Season 5 episode "Life Before Death," though UsefulNotes/TheTroubles themselves were far more complex (as, fairly, Tess points out, brief as that dialogue is).

Context Series / TouchedByAnAngel