# Episode 4 - The Hand That Rocks the Cradle: This is Why You Always Do a Background Check

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/better-than-you-remember-7840116/episode-4-the-hand-that-rocks-the-cradle-this-is-why-you-always-do-a-background-check
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/better-than-you-remember-7840116/episode-4-the-hand-that-rocks-the-cradle-this-is-why-you-always-do-a-background-check.md
Podcast: [Better Than You Remember](https://stenobird.com/podcast/better-than-you-remember-7840116)
Published: 2026-06-17T16:15:00+00:00
Episode link: https://betterthanyouremember.substack.com/p/episode-4-the-hand-that-rocks-the
Audio file: https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/202000429/b72d3cad820a647620d0bbdbf3d5d328.mp3
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Duration seconds: 5807

## Resource

When you were ten years old, if you weren't staying up late, eating Pizza Hut personal pan pizzas and watching The Hand That Rocks the Cradle on VHS at a sleepover with all your friends, what were you doing? In this trashy thriller, Claire (Annabella Sciorra) and her doofus husband Michael hire Peyton, (Rebecca De Mornay), the seemingly perfect nanny, to help them as they welcome a second child into their picture perfect home. Unbeknownst to them - but so obvious to their handyman Solomon (a show stealing Ernie Hudson, and yes we’ll attempt to unpack the power dynamics around that relationship) and Claire's bestie Marlene (a fabulous, cigarette smoking, red lipstick wearing Julianne Moore) - Peyton is a tragically barren and psychotically vengeful killer. Why doesn’t Claire do a background check on Peyton, what’s with the multiple references to H.M.S. Pinafore , why were the 1990s teeming with movies about threats to American domesticity, and why did preteen girls have a tendency to gravitate toward them? Grab a slice while we work it out. Get full access to Better Than You Remember at betterthanyouremember.substack.com/subscribe

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## Transcript

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