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Recap / Highway To Heaven S 2 E 17 Heaven On Earth

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Tropes seen in this episode:

  • Death Of a Child: Sarah Barrett, who is killed in the accident when she is thrown from the car she was riding in and crushed beneath its weight.
  • Dream Sequence: The main part of the episode. Mark collapses inside the burning bed-and-breakfast and while unconscious has a dream about being God and having things his way and being able to undo all the (mostly minor) things he sees as unfair. Of course, things don't work out exactly as Mark expects ... and his vision of being God is spoiled when he realizes he can't undo the one thing he wishes never happened: Little Sarah Barrett, 5 years old, is killed in a car accident.
  • Drunk Driver: The actions of a clearly intoxicated driver set into motion the main plot. After barely avoiding a collision with the drunk driver themselves (the driver yelling at Mark to pull over and screaming obscenities), it's not long before Mark and Jonathan come upon an accident scene involving two innocent people. One of the drivers involved tells Mark that he tried to get out of the way of the drunk driver but couldn't avoid another collision, that with the car where little Sarah is a passenger, and crushed beneath the overturned car.
  • House Fire: A malfunctioning old space heater, which Mark kicks over in a fit of rage, sparks a fire that destroys the bed-and-breakfast where he is staying, trapping several guests and the Ward's pre-teen daughter, Wendy, inside.
  • I Let Gwen Stacy Die: Mark, grieving the death of a little girl he just met, thinking that if he had that extra few seconds with her, the accident would never have happened and she'd be alive right now. Jonathan eventually gets Mark to realize the accident wasn't his fault, nor was Sarah's death.
  • Mammy: The housekeeper in Mark's dream, who is literally a servant to the spoiled version of Wendy, has this cariacature.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: Not just Mark's reaction after learning about Sarah's death, but the driver of the truck that was involved in the head-on collision that killed Sarah. Badly injured himself (but able to get out of his truck), the man bawls his eyes out as he tries to explain that there was no way to avoid the accident and that he was fortunate to avoid crashing into the drunk driver's vehicle.
  • Opinion-Changing Dream: Mark realizes through his dream that playing God and being God is best left ... to God.
  • Spoiled Brat: Wendy, in Mark's alternate reality. She is so uncontrollable she would put Nellie Olesen (from Michael Landon's previous TV series Little House on the Prairie) to shame.
  • Tearjerker: In the accident scene, the state trooper stoically shaking his head as though he's seen it before tells the tale.
  • Truth in Television: Jonathan explains to Mark that despite all the warnings and education about such things as drunk driving and the importance of wearing a seat belt in a moving car, people still ignore (and sometimes scoff) at the consequences ... and then they too often pay the price, too often with their lives.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: Except for a radio bulletin recapping the accident and that police were still searching for the drunk driver, it is never revealed whether he is later arrested and charged.

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