Wolf in the Fold question

[Basill]

Its interesting that you mention audience impressions Timo. Ever since I was a kid, I've always wondered, just how long Hengist had been dead? Did they ever outright say, "Redjac JUST killed his host" in so many words? And why would he need to kill the host at that point in the first place? As long as I've remembered this episode I've sort of had the impression that, even though he seemed less than decomposed, Hengist had been dead for some time prior to the beginning of the episode, and Redjac was keeping him preserved in some way long enough to do his sneaking around. I mean he could reanimate him from death in the first place, what other "magic" could this entity do?

I guess I've always sort of pictured the Hengist body flopping to the ground like a sheep skin whenever he had to go do his dirty work in another body (hence another analogy for the title of the episode in addition to Spock's dialog.) This would account for his lack of accountability during the murders as well. The body could have been stored in a closet or a dumpster somewhere waiting for Redjac to return! It's as if I thought he needed the fear and confusion of the person performing as "murderer body" as well as that of the victim in order to satiate his needs. When Redjac killed the prefect's wife on the other hand, it was a different case; he just needed to shut her up. Hengist was there (wasn't he?) and Scotty seemed to remember that incident with total lucidity.

That's just my take on it from an early age. Perhaps misguided, but its fun to look on things from a different angle. In my youthful appreciation of this episode, I had never considered network executives worrying about whether or not being the possessed life form that physically plunged a knife into a victim constituted a true stain on a beloved television character.

Even though I see the reason of it now, I had never imagined Hengist was the one hiding in the shadows with the knife; clouding someone's consciousness long enough to kill a victim, pass off the knife to the unwitting dupe, and escaping just in time to wash off the blood. I guess that part of my youth which assumed Hengist had been dead for some time still feels that is the way of things.

 

[Timo]

Nicely put, and my sentiments exactly! I guess I've been stuck with that interpretation of events ever since first seeing the episode - something that happened before all those TNG possession episodes, but well after I'd been exposed to post-1960s TV sensibilities on possession plots, imperfect heroes and so forth.

Rewatching the episode and playing sleuth in a manner apparently not intended by the writers, I think that neither Hengist nor Scotty has the opportunity to grab the knife at Jaris' house, at least not after Redjac learns that the psychotricorder chick is beaming down. They both stand too far away from the central altar where Jaris thinks the knife should be. And they don't move around much between shots, either. But there is a brief cut away when Kirk contacts his ship, and either of the two could theoretically grab the knife at that point. If Hengist always flops down dead when Redjac uses somebody else's body, then Hengist must be the one who grabs the knife; he could then deliver it for Scotty to use by picking the lock of the basement chamber, well in advance of the deed itself, and go gather the witnesses.

Or then there could be several knives, and Redjac simply makes Jaris hide the original while making Scotty use a second one for the second murder. If leaving knives behind is Redjac's modus operandi, this would actually be sort of logical. (It wasn't Jack the Ripper's MO, though.)

Interestingly, when Sybo the psychic is killed, Hengist sits two people away from her, his hand gripped by that of Jaris. It would be very difficult for Hengist to get from his seat to do the stabbing, mental shrouding or no mental shrouding. The person best positioned to jab the knife into the back of Sybo is - McCoy!

Did Hengist drop dead for a brief moment, his hand still gripped by Jaris, while Redjac used McCoy's hand?

Timo Saloniemi

P.S. one dramatic convention that started annoying me during this rewatching: the victims all scream for about one second only, while the deed is described as dozens upon dozens of stabs, and Redjac supposedly enjoys prolonged agony and fear...

 

[Jono]

Years since I've seen the episode, do the people Redjac possess recall what happens when they are possessed or do they just "black out"?

 

[Timo]

(Wow! I guess raising this thread from the dead is fitting, considering the subject.)

That's the thing: Scotty goes to a complete blackout the first two times a murder is committed, and remembers nothing at recovery, but only feels a vague sense of dread during the third murder.

If we assume Scotty was the possessed murderer the first two times around, then yes, possession by Redjac leaves no memories. However, it may be that Redjac never possessed Scotty (as Beaker argued last year), but merely projected amnesia at him to make him a better scapegoat. If so, however, it is difficult to explain why it didn't project amnesia at Scotty during the third murder, too. But if Scotty committed the first two stabbings and some other person committed the third, then things make sense again...

There are two other obvious possibilities. Say, Scotty might have blacked out as the combined result of witnessing a brutal murder and having recently had head trauma. He'd faint during the first murders, then, but not during the third one which he did not see since it was pitch black. Or then it is possible that Scotty was simply lying, and did commit the two murders in a crazed state, fully remembered his atrocities, and was too ashamed and frightened to confess to them. In the latter theory, Redjac just stumbled on the first murder scene and helped rearrange the evidence so that it could go on its own murder spree later on and have it blamed on Scotty. Or perhaps Redjac whispered in Scotty's ear and drove him to commit the murder but did not actually possess him, thus necessitating his lying in the investigation.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Jono]

Interesting, thanks for that.

Have to admit before now I never considered that Scotty might have actually killed those women but you have some very intriguing views as always Timo.