Mulder asks ironically "Do you think you could call up the devil and have him behave?" Actually, the devil in that ep. is well behaved. Of the four teenagers in the forest altar, one boy is killed and one girl is forced to suicide (maybe because her father is already a follower of the cult?). The other girl who chants "Hail Marys" as well as the blond boy survive.

Moreover, this ep. seems to be the best proof that Mulder and Scully are somehow charmed or divinely protected: the devil (commonly thought of as not the nicest guy or given to compassion) makes the occultists die mere seconds before they can sacrifice Mulder and Scully. Why not let them be sacrificied and then make the cultists die? (Does this devil have an aversion to killing innocents? Even if Scully is protected by her Catholicism, what about Mulder?)

Since several of the gorier scenes were cut, I can't discuss some of the nits.

During the forest scene in the teaser, its raining in a forest. The only light comes from a candle - I see no flashlight - which is blown out when the demon arrives. Yet there is still enough ambient light somehow to not only see what is happening, but even to read a piece of paper!

When the toads fall from the sky onto M&S umbrellas, I thought they looked somehow fake (made from rubber.) But upon reading the official compendium, TPTB say that they used real toads because the fake ones were too heavy (and bounced too much, or sth.) Interesting.

Interesting that cultists use Latin to pray to the Devil - like the Catholics until a few decades. But why would the Devil prefer Latin over another language? (Its an old-fashioned one? Mrs. Paddock certainly looks old-fashioned!)

They're praying in German, not Latin.

Interesting. I only get the dubbed version, and there it's been replaced with latin (making the resemblance to an established faith like the catholic church more obvious.)

But the next question is then: why pray in German to the Devil? (No english-speaking one available? Doesn't the devil understand all languages? Imagine you want to sell your soul to the devil and get a busy signal while they try to find an english-speaking one free at the moment ... )

Thoughts on letting M&S die before the cultists die - I always remember a scene in one of Terry Goodkind's book, where the main heroine is about to die by the hand of an enemy and is rescued at the last possible second by an ally who had been portrayed as incredibly evil. The heroine asks, "Why didn't you kill him the moment you saw him coming towards me?" to which the other replies, "It makes for a crueller death. To allow the victim the belief that they are going to succeed up to the last possible moment, and then kill them". Of course, why the devil did not kill M&S directly afterwards, of course, is another matter.....

Yes, I picked up on the German too, and thought, couldn't the Germans sue? The only possible argument I have for this is perhaps the document that they found was written in German? Pure speculation though. Maybe some idea that the Nazis had rituals to try and conjure up the Satan? I thought Hitler was all up on that sort of thing?

Constanz, you know perfectly well that when you ring, you get the three thousand options for the language of your choice. Then you go on hold to the strains of "The Four Seasons" played by a six year old on a xylophone. You don't dare hang up, because at any second, any moment now, you will be answered.....:-)

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