Musings in the Dark: Die Hand Die Verletzt

3/16/2022

Die Hand Die Verletzt

This episode (S2E14) has Mulder & Scully go to Milford Haven, New Hampshire to investigate the mutilated body of a teenager found in the forest. Locals told the agents that there were kids in the forest attempting to summon demonic forces. At the same time the agents arrived, a substitute teacher by the name of Mrs. Paddock appears on the scene. Strange things begin to happen; the coolest of which are frogs falling from the sky and water swirling opposite the Coriolis force.  


A small group of faculty members at the local high school turn out to be devil worshippers. It appears that they’ve gotten distracted and lazy in their worship, and they believe that the murder and strange happenings in their town are due to their lapsed faith. They realize that to appease Satan, they have to make some sort of sacrifice.


One of the teachers, a man named Ausbury, has a daughter who has a nervous breakdown while dissecting a fetal pig under the instruction of Mrs. Paddock. The girl, Shannon, tells Scully and Mulder that she had been repeatedly sexually assaulted by the satanists and that they sacrificed the children she bore from the assaults. Ausbury denies that the incidents took place, but decides to rat out his fellow worshippers anyway.


Shannon has to stay after school to make up the missed lab.  While dissecting, she turns the scalpel on herself and slits her wrists. The scene cuts to Mrs. Paddock chanting with her hand over a candle flame. Mulder locks Ausbury in the basement to prevent him from escaping while Scully is researching Mrs. Paddock. Scully finds out that no one knows who hired Mrs. Paddock to be a substitute for the biology teacher. She steals Scully’s pen after their conversation and uses it to fool Mulder to get him away from the school. While away, a giant snake appears in the basement and devours Ausbury. The scene cuts to Mrs. Paddock in a trance, clearly controlling the snake.


By now you should know where this is going. The satanic teachers capture Scully & Mulder and plan to sacrifice them to regain favor with Satan. As they are about to end the agents’ lives, they suddenly turn on each other and kill themselves. The scene cuts to Mrs. Paddock, once again in a trance, saying, “It’s too late…it’s much too late…”


Then sis had the nerve to throw up the deuces and leave Mulder & Scully a note: “Goodbye. It’s been nice working with you.


I’m sure you guys already know why I love this ep. For me, the way the story played out was a bit of a twist for me. Mrs. Paddock wasn't there for the reason I thought she was--I thought she was going to attempt to harm Scully & Mulder--but that wasn't the case at all. Sis was there to handle her business.


The fact that a substitute teacher is hired and no one–not even the principal–knows who did it. She just showed up and went hard in the paint teaching the kids. This isn’t something that the average sub does. Of course, we figure out that Mrs. Paddock caused the actual teacher to either get sick or die so that she could gain access to teach the lapsed devil worshipping educators that Satan is not to be trifled with. 


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