Who Got Rachel Pregnant?

Umm, can we talk about immaculate conception?

I scrolled through Netflix a million times before I finally settled on watching Electrick Children. It popped up over and over until I just couldn’t avoid it anymore.

The film blew my mind. I proceeded to watch it at least 25 more times before Netflix removed it from their site. The question that always came to my mind was, “Who got Rachel pregnant?”

If you ask Rachel, played by Julia Garner, she’d say that it was immaculate conception — God got her pregnant because she listened to a song on a blue cassette tape.

Even Rebecca Thomas has stated in interviews that the movie is about miracles. However, we all know that art is subjective and there can be as many interpretations as there are people who watch it.

So let’s delve into the clues!

1.) AWKWARD INTERVIEW: When we first meet Rachel, she’s being interviewed by her step-dad, Paul (Billy Zane), who also doubles as the creepy Mormon priest. Pay attention to this part, because he declares himself the bearer of all priesthood keys which basically means he has the authority to preside over the church. What else has he convinced Rachel that he presides over? Her body, maybe?

2.) THE MISSING NIGHTGOWN: That night, when Rachel and her sisters are getting ready for bed, Rachel is unable to find her nightgown and she ends up borrowing her younger sister’s which is a touch too small. Where did Rachel’s nightgown go? Could something sinister have taken place and the evidence of the nightgown needed to be disposed of? Hmmm.

3.) THE BLUE TAPE: When Rachel finds the blue cassette tape and dances to those words, “Don’t leave me hanging on the telephone,” we get an inside glimpse of a naive young woman hearing rock for the first time. It’s an intimate moment. And as the camera pans up and down Rachel’s body as she twirls, we can clearly see bruises on her arms and legs. How did they get there?

4.) RUNNING AWAY: Rachel’s mother Gay Lynn, played by Cynthia Watros, is so grief stricken and guilty over her daughter’s unplanned pregnancy that she helps her run away! Why would she give her the keys to Paul’s truck and let her go unless she felt Rachel would be safer out in the street than in the same house with the man who raped her?

5.) RACHEL’S OVERALL NAIVETÉ: Rachel, by her own admission, has never had a hamburger or talked on a cellular phone. Could it be possible that she also had no knowledge of what sex is? Could she had been deceived by her step-father into engaging in this act, then come out with no knowledge of it? Maybe.

The thing that really pulls the viewer in is Julia Garner’s portrayal of Rachel. She seems so innocent and so completely oblivious that you believe her when she says she’s carrying the son of God.

Mr. Will (Liam Aiken) isn’t convinced though. By the end of the film, when Paul tries to persuade Rachel to marry the weirdo he picked out, Mr. Will forcefully hits him with a car door.

We’re left with Rachel’s confession on the tape, drowned out by the sound of the ocean. Mr. Will sat in Paul’s chair, signifying that he is taking charge of the priesthood.

In conclusion, Rachel’s step-father knocked her up. If I were Rachel, I would have disassociated from the memory of that night too.