Trillian

I still find it implausible that they are pulling out all the stops for this one “child of Gilead”. Seriously, Holly’s the only child who’s ever escaped? Cut your losses and keep your atrocities secret. What about Oliver? Why wasn’t he a child of Gilead? Because he had a Canadian passport? He was allowed to leave with Clea DuVall - the border guard doesn’t recognize that mother’s marriage to the other mother but somehow acknowledges Clea as mother to the child born of a Gileadean (?) citizen. I love this world where Ego ad Canadian civis carries such weight. Btw, happy Canada Day, bitches. We have power of which even Margaret Atwood never dreamed.

I think you’ve made an important observation, but I see it a bit differently. My own thinking is that Margaret Atwood wanted to explore what would happen in a society where women lost all rights. The show runners wanted to romp through the idea of international politics, sometimes trying to spin an entire major plot line out of a throw-away comment or two from the book. Problem is, as so many here have pointed out, the original story can’t sustain the wild spin off - because it was never written for that purpose - and the show runners aren’t clever enough to keep it coherent.

Well, to be fair, it’s the audience that doesn’t know - I’ll bet they all know. The power structure of the French Revolution all bore the title “Citizen” and that of the Soviet Union “Comrade”, but the actual players certainly knew who had power and who did not.

Count me among those who didn’t like the episode. I am so frustrated with the nonsensical plot lines these writers seem to just pull out of the air without any thought to reality. There seems to have been no thought given to the notion of diplomatic relations beyond “we don’t have an extradition treaty”. Do you have any treaty? Does Canada recognize Gilead as a sovereign nation? If no, then these appeals from Gilead are useless. If yes, why isn’t there an ambassador making a formal request of the Canadian government? Other than, yeah, plot. How does Serena get into the country? Canada’s not going to let just any plane with just anybody in. Serena’s already been thrown out of the country once - how does Canada just let her waltz back in? Why would Gilead let Serena go in the first place when she’s shown shaky loyalty to the regime? All she had to do, once on Canadian soil, is hold up her mutilated hand and declare “I face torture and persecution on account of my sex and I seek asylum in Canada” and the Canadian border authorities who should have been there at the airport would take her in (at least temporarily, until her refugee status was resolved). Gilead took a huge public relations risk. Speaking of public relations, why does Gilead even have public relations as a totalitarian regime? Realistically, they wouldn’t advertise that a handmaid escaped with a baby - they wouldn’t want to give others hope of escape. The realistic public statement would’ve been that Emily was shot while trying to escape and the baby was a tragic casualty of her criminality. Really, Holly/Nicole is not the future of the Gileadean race. She’s not worth risking a whole regime over. I hope that broadcast at the end wasn’t live as it appeared to be. June should’ve been beaten to within an inch of her life for that sneer on video (as many viewers want to do). Oh yeah, as Aunt Lydia says, there really aren’t any consequences.

I kinda liked it, which is to say with this show, that it didn't infuriate me. Agree that Alexis Bledel's scenes were the best - I also teared up at Emily's being offered asylum and again when she was applauded at the hospital (despite how very cheesy that was). And I loved "I don't like Mondays" while that beautiful old house burned. Wish that June had lost the smirk over the hiatus, though.

Amy and Sheldon wearing their Nobel medals in the final scene! I’m so glad I decided not to watch in the hotel bar at my business conference and instead opted for alone in my room - I hate sobbing in front of my colleagues. Such a sweet ending.

I’m finding the downright criminality of Selina and her team to be offputting. It’s one thing to see them doing shady things - they are politicians after all - but committing treason against their country is making it really hard to root for them

The Unsullied and the Dothraki were to lead the attack, while Jon and Dany provided air cover with Dragonfire Sorry - couldn't resist. I think the Chinese want Selina to win the nom since they don't believe she can beat Montez, who is their preferred president.

Six Feet Under has the corner on that market. Grey’s doesn’t come close. (Warning: GORY)

In my prof’s defence, I am repeating a line I heard second-hand about 35 years ago, so the “just”might not have been in there. But I think the point is a fair one - that these are statements of facts - and the rudeness or condescension depends on the context. A PhD candidate in 8th century Germany is going to know more about 12the century France than the average undergrad - enough to cover one class anyway, and it’s fine unless she lets on to the students that she doesn’t feel qualified. And so what if the dance instructors gossip among themselves that the Sunday morning housewives aren’t serious students of dance - as long as they don’t walk into the class and treat them poorly, why does it matter what they were thinking? Its the same way I feel about Beth’s weird ass cheesecake comment. She was obviously gracious enough about it that her hostess gave her some to take home. If she and Randall hadn’t been been fighting, they might’ve giggled together about how strange it was. It would have been rude to say it or intimate it to the hostess, but (I don’t think) true statements made privately to trusted confidantes qualify as rude per se. That’s just life.

I just took the comment to mean that it wasn’t a demanding class to have to take over on short notice. It reminded me of a story one of my profs told me about when she was asked, as a grad student, to fill in on short notice and lecture outside her immediate field of expertise. Her supervisor replied “don’t worry, they’re just undergrads. No matter what, you know more than they do”. Not so much an attack on undergrads as a comment on the lack of complexity of the subject matter.

Totally off topic, but no. The wife of the King is the Queen, certainly in the British Monarchy (and most, if not all, other monarchies), and regardless of royal blood. Henry VIII had six queens and only two were royal by birth (Katherine of Aragon & Anne of Cleves). Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother was a commoner by birth (like Diana Spencer, the daughter of an earl) but was queen by virtue of her marriage to George VI. Prince Philip is of royal blood (he is a prince of Greece) but the Queen’s sovereignty doesn’t automatically elevate her husband as does a man’s sovereignty because ... sexism. Princess Grace’s husband was Prince of Monaco because Monaco is a principality and not a kingdom, so it would be odd indeed if she got a higher title than he. But you are correct that there is a difference between a Queen Regnant (e.g. QEII) and a Queen Consort (the Queen Mother). Even then, though, it is not unknown for Queens Consort to seize their husband’s power to rule in their own right. Long live Queen (consort) Carol.

Great theory, but why Beth would bring Pin the Tail on the Donkey to the disconnecting is kinda unsettling. Maybe The Great Jack was playing the game when his own mother died and so all Pearsons must recreate that magic moment for all time?

Re: Beth’s ordering Randall to go sleep in his office, my spin is a bit different than some of the ideas floated here. I “heard” Beth saying “ your job is so bloody important to you? More important than I am? More important than our daughters? Fine. Go sleep at your job and see if it supports and keeps you warm. I’m not going to”. Otherwise, she could’ve done the pillows on the couch thing again. On another note, when I saw R&B at the fancy restaurant, I was thinking how Randall really should’ve checked with Kevin before picking the restaurant and deciding what to wear. Needy is not cool, Randall. He’s lucky that this was a flashback and that he and Beth are already married or else that first date would’ve been the absolute last.

Thank you! That was how I remembered it too and I was disturbed by the allegations of Beth’s rudeness. While I don’t necessarily agree that politely asking if the hostess has a compatible phone charger is rude, I can’t see how accepting an offer of one is rude. And, in my own humble opinion, I agree. Your guest shows up late, having been caught in traffic for hours and with a dead phone, you accommodate her, get her a plate and offer her a charger if you have one handy. I agree that, if you can’t do this, don’t host . Mrs Purple Cheesecake did nothing wrong 8n this respect, and neither did Beth

For all its faults - and they are legion - this episode captured what a real family goes through in a crisis. The impulse to recreate the original family unit is strong. The “boys” regressing into squabbling. The exclusion of “strangers” - yes, it was cruel to blow off Meredith, but realistic. She is not one of “them” and they are circling the wagons in this crisis. Same with Pretzel Grandma: spend enough time in a waiting room and you start to think of it as yours. How dare she intrude on our agony with her happy news? Not nice, but real. Kevin’s helpless desperation to help his sister in the only way he could - offering to pay for the best obstetrician his money could buy - that was sweet and heart-breaking. I think we all want to think we’d all act perfectly in a similar situion, but the show was right that many, if not most, families wouldn’t.

I was wondering the same thing, especially about Beth. I know that in my own family, the in-laws usually stay behind to watch the children in family crises. Did anyone ever say that Kate was at imminent risk of death? It seems to me that they were told she had gone into premature labour and was being treated to try to delay the birth. If the treatment had been more successful, what were they all going to do? Sit stinking in the waiting room for weeks, ignoring their obligations and their children? I'll give Rebecca a pass - it's her daughter - but it seems like overkill for Beth (if not Randall) to have flown across the country like this.

Bugged me too. I wish they'd stop treating her (possibly) being a lesbian as some kind of crisis that needs to be managed.

Dear writers: if you’re going to write about Catholics, learn something about Catholicism. Since “married Catholic couple” (can’t remember their names) are supposed to be devout, they would know the following*. Catholic marriage is for life, not forever. Divorce is not a mortal sin. They would not barred from taking Communion. Only remarriage while the original spouse is still alive is a bar to Communion because the Church does not recognize the civil divorce and considers the subsequent marriage adultery. The Church does not recognize civil marriage (for Catholics) either. This couple should have been most suited to the idea of a paper civil divorce exactly because their Catholic marriage is the only one that counts in their religion and no civil divorce can touch that in any way. The Cardinal (whom they should have known to address as Your Eminence and not Hey You), was theologically correct if stupid and awkward to say it was cool. The kid with his Katherine of Aragon routine (“there is no divorce!”) deserved a smack on the head and a five minute catechism lecture and all would be well. New Amsterdam sure is a full service hospital, isn’t it? In addition to spiritual guidance, they must have a Los Vegas ward where you can get a quickie divorce by just signing some papers. I hope they also gave competent legal advice on whether the couple would face any investigation into their situation and whether they were at risk of being caught for insurance fraud. * Lest I give offence, I want to make it clear that I am merely describing - not advocating for or supporting - Catholic marriage law.

Randall was such an ass to Beth that it has wiped everything else about this episode out of my mind. I’m sure other things happened, but I can’t even remember them. #FreeBeth

Handmaid’s Tale filming today at Toronto City Hall. Much walking up and down the ramp. At the top is what appears to be a gallows. Will see if I can get more pics tomorrow if they’re still there

I continue to be creeped out by the looks of adoration young Kate showers upon her father. There’s obviously nothing wrong with loving your dad. Little Tess and Annie look at Randall with love and admiration, but they manage not to look as if they are in the throes of childhood lust. Maybe it was cute when the actress was much younger , but now that she’s pubescent, I kept thinking “ewww” through the whole scene. The glitter fight did not look like fun. Maybe that’s because, as a mom, I was painfully aware of how difficult it would be to clean up. Rebecca’s the saint here, for not totally losing it when she saw it.

I didn’t. I thought it was, for some inexplicable reason, Tobias Menzies dressed as an indigenous person (take a good look at the actor - there is some resemblance there!). I hate-read the books, skimming huge portions of them (while muttering under my breath “this woman is not an historian”), so it is entirely plausible in my universe that Frank would be stalking Clare in native costume. Oh crap: I hope I didn’t just give Gabaldon an idea for her next book.

I’ve kind of got to wonder why Kate, pregnant with a boy, would look at her husband’s old toys and not think BEFORE she sold them that it might be nice to pass them on to their child. Especially since she just has a ratty t shirt and a hammer to pass down from her old childhood. And who takes a spouse’s word for what’s to be sold/given away anyway? Real families root around each other’s others boxes, pulling things out, saying “are you sure”? Modern Family did a garage sale episode where everyone did that and it was much more realistic in that regard. I don’t even buy the election win. No one comes from behind like that unless swept in by party affiliation or a scandal on the opponent (when they found the drunk driving conviction, I thought, ah, that’s the way they’ll get him in). No one noticed he doesn’t freaking live in the district? The opponent (I forget his name) wasn’t polling to see that numbers were changing and didn’t challenge his residency or point out the hypocrisy of suddenly attending church services as a blatant attempt to garner support? I can’t believe he’d just sit back and do nothing or that it would have been ineffective since he had so much ammunition. Yuck. I, too, cheered when the kid refused to fall for the Pearson speech.

I think you remember wrongly, doctor. ‘Cause everybody knows that smokin’ ain’t allowed at school! Now i’ll be humming that song all night, but it’s a good ne, so I don’t mind. But, yeah, throughout the 70s & well into the ‘80s, everyone smoked everywhere, even at school. High school students were forced outside, but the teachers’ lounge was a cloud of smoke and everyone knew it. We had our drama class in a portable separate from the main building, and our teacher used to turn a blind eye to our smoking in there as long as it was after hours.