The X-Files 2x14: Die Hand Die Verletzt
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tori_reviewsThe X-Files 2x14: Die Hand Die Verletzt
After being rather overdone on the voiceovers last time, I’d be kind of curious this time how they end up reporting on this case. So there was some occult conspiracy, but we’re not sure if it was responsible for the first kid’s death. We were attacked by some people who were probably part of that occult conspiracy but then one of them just shot the others (then apparently himself) for reasons that remain unclear. We still can’t explain Shan-dad’s death after Mulder locked him in the basement. Paddock may or may not have been a real person, we’re still not sure what was going on there. We presumably told Shan-mom something after the fact, but who knows what it was.
I more than 90% sure I said this last time, but Shan-mom gets a raw deal out of this. She lost her daughter and husband on I think the same day; before anything had been resolved concerning Shannon’s half-remembered/half-imagined experiences. And since there aren’t any real answers found who knows what she knows and what she assumes when it’s all over. And even if Mulder told her everything Shan-dad said (or if he told her himself before he went to tell Mulder), the truth probably doesn’t leave her a lot happier. It’s still not a clean answer that says he was innocent in this, or that she hadn’t been guilty of ignoring some things going on in her house all these years. We don’t really know when the other daughter was born and died, if it was after she and Shan-dad were together then I can see her questioning if he was somehow responsible for their child’s death (even if the timings do line up, that doesn’t mean he was, but I can see her wondering). And that’s assuming she believes he was telling the truth when he says what Shannon did say was only partially true and they had only been practicing the diet version of Satanism. And that’s all a lot to take in in a day.
I think this closes out the everything-involves-rape probably unintended arc. And this one seems almost the reverse of last time; last time they wanted to evoke a parallel to Scully’s abduction but it never really landed; but I feel like this one didn’t intend any kind of connection to that and yet there is an uncomfortable echo between what Shannon suggests happened to her and Scully’s situation. On the whole I seem to have landed largely on it not being an intended thing for the show to get so rapey for these episodes; it doesn’t feel like it was built around a theme between episodes, it just feels like it was unfortunately close timed for all of them. Which is a shame because it would have been nice to think there was an intended thematic connection between the cases of the week, just because the show isn’t serialized doesn’t mean it can’t have something developing in the subtext at least.
This episode isn’t even that character focused for our leads. I don’t feel like we’re really in either of their heads during this, and nothing really seems to affect them much. It’s just a situation they happen to be investigating, the emphasis is all on the case of the week. Which gives me somewhat conflicted feelings, because it’s not a bad episode but for me to really dig into it requires more emphasis on the characters I have long term thoughts on. The plot holds together I think, even if I’m not sure why the toad-nado was necessary; granted most of the guest cast is only kind of passable, but it was mostly fine (Shannon couldn’t really carry her big scene); and it’s...fine, but I would never seek out this one outside of a full series viewing, because there’s no meat on it.
Though I think it should be noted for more far-reaching plot points that repressed memories and hypnotic recollection are treated as suspect here.
Are we saying it’s aliens?
Demons of hell; think we can call on them to fight the aliens when the time comes?
Scully’s convenient miss of the week
Nobody really sees anything this time, besides the audience. Paddock keeps the magic away from anyone’s eyes. And Scully would probably have dismissed the door slamming as a gust of wind somehow.
How crazy does Mulder sound?
I can’t recall anything jumping out at me as crazy, or even super unprofessional. He gets close to the lines a few times but nothing that stood out as being way over it. That said, he will probably have to explain how Shan-dad died after he handcuffed him in the basement.
Who’s driving?
I only spotted Mulder driving.
Is it rapey?
It is said that Shannon’s supposed memories weren’t accurate on any sexual subject, and the presentation seems to treat that as true, but that doesn’t entirely take away the rapey aspects of the episode.
Wow that’s uncomfortable in hindsight
Like I said, there’s a bit of Scully’s story on Shannon’s. Even at present, we know the aliens/conspiracy made her pregnant; and who knows how many other Emilys were out there or what happened to them.
2x14: Die Hand die Verletzt (2016 thoughts)
(Previous status: I think I’ve seen this one before although about all I remember are the frogs at the beginning and my mom making fun of it back in the day that Scully was surfing the internet during a power outage and raging storm)
I can’t say I liked this one. I don’t think it was bad really, it just had so little of anything I care about. It’s atmospheric and moody and the plot holds together reasonably well, I just don’t care about any of it. It doesn’t tap into anything that I’m interested in and the character work is minor to nil.
The person I feel the most sorry for is the mom character. She may have only had one scene but then her daughter died followed by her husband and she may never quite be sure the accusations the daughter made weren’t true. Considering what happens in the end, she’ll probably suspect he had something to do with her daughter’s death. That’s going to be rough to live with even without the last point, but especially with it. Even if Mulder went back and told her what he was told, and *if* she believed it, there’s still plenty revealed that could mess a person up.
Nobody in this episode is very interesting; the main guy, Jim?, has some development, but besides that it’s just so boring. I think that’s likely part of the point that ‘oooh, it could be anyone and you’d never suspect,’ but that doesn’t help make it interesting.
I guess the other slightly interesting this was early on when Mulder and Scully mostly rolled their eyes at the idea of occult conspiracies, and that was slightly amusing considering their mostly legit attitude on government conspiracies. I don’t know if it was intentional but found that a little bit odd. And yep, this one continues the rapeiness going on this season, even if apparently didn’t actually happen this time (though we have no proof either way); so far I think Firewalker was the only episode since Scully came back not to get rapey at some point.
Our leads aren’t very interesting here. Scully basically has nothing to do with anything, although she does seem a little oddly willing to consider possession by the end of the episode. Mulder continues his s2 behavior of being less obviously insane or quick to jump to conclusions out loud; it’s clear he pretty much believes there’s something paranormal going on from the start, but he downplays it at least for everyone but Scully, like he’s actually realized maybe he shouldn’t just put all his crazy notions out there for just anyone. And about the only marginally shippy bit was at the end when Mulder was trying valiantly to defend Scully in the shower (they’re both very dry rather quickly after that).
Again, not a bad episode, not even one I’d mind watching again, but nothing for me to get excited over either.
After being rather overdone on the voiceovers last time, I’d be kind of curious this time how they end up reporting on this case. So there was some occult conspiracy, but we’re not sure if it was responsible for the first kid’s death. We were attacked by some people who were probably part of that occult conspiracy but then one of them just shot the others (then apparently himself) for reasons that remain unclear. We still can’t explain Shan-dad’s death after Mulder locked him in the basement. Paddock may or may not have been a real person, we’re still not sure what was going on there. We presumably told Shan-mom something after the fact, but who knows what it was.
I more than 90% sure I said this last time, but Shan-mom gets a raw deal out of this. She lost her daughter and husband on I think the same day; before anything had been resolved concerning Shannon’s half-remembered/half-imagined experiences. And since there aren’t any real answers found who knows what she knows and what she assumes when it’s all over. And even if Mulder told her everything Shan-dad said (or if he told her himself before he went to tell Mulder), the truth probably doesn’t leave her a lot happier. It’s still not a clean answer that says he was innocent in this, or that she hadn’t been guilty of ignoring some things going on in her house all these years. We don’t really know when the other daughter was born and died, if it was after she and Shan-dad were together then I can see her questioning if he was somehow responsible for their child’s death (even if the timings do line up, that doesn’t mean he was, but I can see her wondering). And that’s assuming she believes he was telling the truth when he says what Shannon did say was only partially true and they had only been practicing the diet version of Satanism. And that’s all a lot to take in in a day.
I think this closes out the everything-involves-rape probably unintended arc. And this one seems almost the reverse of last time; last time they wanted to evoke a parallel to Scully’s abduction but it never really landed; but I feel like this one didn’t intend any kind of connection to that and yet there is an uncomfortable echo between what Shannon suggests happened to her and Scully’s situation. On the whole I seem to have landed largely on it not being an intended thing for the show to get so rapey for these episodes; it doesn’t feel like it was built around a theme between episodes, it just feels like it was unfortunately close timed for all of them. Which is a shame because it would have been nice to think there was an intended thematic connection between the cases of the week, just because the show isn’t serialized doesn’t mean it can’t have something developing in the subtext at least.
This episode isn’t even that character focused for our leads. I don’t feel like we’re really in either of their heads during this, and nothing really seems to affect them much. It’s just a situation they happen to be investigating, the emphasis is all on the case of the week. Which gives me somewhat conflicted feelings, because it’s not a bad episode but for me to really dig into it requires more emphasis on the characters I have long term thoughts on. The plot holds together I think, even if I’m not sure why the toad-nado was necessary; granted most of the guest cast is only kind of passable, but it was mostly fine (Shannon couldn’t really carry her big scene); and it’s...fine, but I would never seek out this one outside of a full series viewing, because there’s no meat on it.
Though I think it should be noted for more far-reaching plot points that repressed memories and hypnotic recollection are treated as suspect here.
Are we saying it’s aliens?
Demons of hell; think we can call on them to fight the aliens when the time comes?
Scully’s convenient miss of the week
Nobody really sees anything this time, besides the audience. Paddock keeps the magic away from anyone’s eyes. And Scully would probably have dismissed the door slamming as a gust of wind somehow.
How crazy does Mulder sound?
I can’t recall anything jumping out at me as crazy, or even super unprofessional. He gets close to the lines a few times but nothing that stood out as being way over it. That said, he will probably have to explain how Shan-dad died after he handcuffed him in the basement.
Who’s driving?
I only spotted Mulder driving.
Is it rapey?
It is said that Shannon’s supposed memories weren’t accurate on any sexual subject, and the presentation seems to treat that as true, but that doesn’t entirely take away the rapey aspects of the episode.
Wow that’s uncomfortable in hindsight
Like I said, there’s a bit of Scully’s story on Shannon’s. Even at present, we know the aliens/conspiracy made her pregnant; and who knows how many other Emilys were out there or what happened to them.
2x14: Die Hand die Verletzt (2016 thoughts)
(Previous status: I think I’ve seen this one before although about all I remember are the frogs at the beginning and my mom making fun of it back in the day that Scully was surfing the internet during a power outage and raging storm)
I can’t say I liked this one. I don’t think it was bad really, it just had so little of anything I care about. It’s atmospheric and moody and the plot holds together reasonably well, I just don’t care about any of it. It doesn’t tap into anything that I’m interested in and the character work is minor to nil.
The person I feel the most sorry for is the mom character. She may have only had one scene but then her daughter died followed by her husband and she may never quite be sure the accusations the daughter made weren’t true. Considering what happens in the end, she’ll probably suspect he had something to do with her daughter’s death. That’s going to be rough to live with even without the last point, but especially with it. Even if Mulder went back and told her what he was told, and *if* she believed it, there’s still plenty revealed that could mess a person up.
Nobody in this episode is very interesting; the main guy, Jim?, has some development, but besides that it’s just so boring. I think that’s likely part of the point that ‘oooh, it could be anyone and you’d never suspect,’ but that doesn’t help make it interesting.
I guess the other slightly interesting this was early on when Mulder and Scully mostly rolled their eyes at the idea of occult conspiracies, and that was slightly amusing considering their mostly legit attitude on government conspiracies. I don’t know if it was intentional but found that a little bit odd. And yep, this one continues the rapeiness going on this season, even if apparently didn’t actually happen this time (though we have no proof either way); so far I think Firewalker was the only episode since Scully came back not to get rapey at some point.
Our leads aren’t very interesting here. Scully basically has nothing to do with anything, although she does seem a little oddly willing to consider possession by the end of the episode. Mulder continues his s2 behavior of being less obviously insane or quick to jump to conclusions out loud; it’s clear he pretty much believes there’s something paranormal going on from the start, but he downplays it at least for everyone but Scully, like he’s actually realized maybe he shouldn’t just put all his crazy notions out there for just anyone. And about the only marginally shippy bit was at the end when Mulder was trying valiantly to defend Scully in the shower (they’re both very dry rather quickly after that).
Again, not a bad episode, not even one I’d mind watching again, but nothing for me to get excited over either.
