maxineofarc

I cannot stop laughing at the "downward curlicue."

Juxtaposed with the jaunty line of pennants strung over it.

I admit that I've never had or especially desired children of my own, so I am not in the right place to understand Serena's apparent willingness to take an active part in destroying an entire nation and creating Gilead in order to get a baby, any baby. Or am I getting her wrong in this episode when she says all she wanted was a baby and now she has nothing?

Of course, also the marriage we're seeing the most of is Fred and Serena and I'm pretty sure she hates him.

I'm puzzled over where the idea that (everyday, non-elite) men shouldn't be participating in the household chores or showing affection to their wives is coming from. I think the Bible generally describes marriage as a partnership and although generally the house is a woman's domain and men and women have different roles, I don't think a Biblical society would disapprove of some crossover between the "spheres" or of any hint of romance; a household should ideally be harmonious and that begins with the marital relationship. But I haven't watched every episode, so is there something I've missed that suggests Gilead subscribes to a colder reading on marital relationships as a whole?

I had to seriously stop and think because I was about to type "Brandon has never been more hateful" and there's a LOT of competition for Times Brandon Has Been Hateful. So he may have been more hateful at some other juncture, but "I'm just thinking of the CHILD" and "look at our amazing stories" and "go ahead, tell the world about your failed marriage because for some reason everybody needs and wants to know about it" is Right Up There. Leave Nana Alone, and while I'm at it: Nana, this trifling dirtbag is not and never has been your friend.

I believe the episode writer is a woman. As for Nick, I don't think anyone set them up intentionally. Fred was clear they had to stay out of sight, and the driver accompanying Hannah was very urgent in telling them it was time to go Right Now, so I think they both knew there would be a likely check-in patrol on the way. June delayed long enough, first by going after Hannah again and then when she was clearly not capable of thinking clearly, that they missed their window of opportunity to get out before they were spotted. A question I've always had is who the heck came up with all of these ceremonies in the first place. The Ceremony, I can understand; but things like the funeral for the bombing victims, where the Handmaids had prescribed mourning garments and ritual words and actions to perform? Who makes this stuff up and who teaches it?

Posted it to the News & Media forum. And you're right, Fred is on very thin ice with the other Commanders. He needs this birth to go perfectly.

Interview with the writer of s2e10: https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2018/06/20/done-watching-the-handmaids-tale-after-that-brutal-scene-the-episodes-writer-responds/

Eden breaks my heart. The actress killed it this episode. She's so lonely, she's trying so hard, she's doing everything she's been told and shown is the right thing (keeping house, cooking, paying him attention), and she can't understand why Nick doesn't love her. And Nick doesn't even have it in him to talk to her about it, so she thinks it's all her fault. She has no friends and no one to talk to or confide in. There's a little farm near me that I buy eggs from sometimes, where they post Bible quotes in the yard and the wife and daughters all wear plain dress, and I think of Eden when I go by there. Nick is in a shitty situation, but so is she, and her efforts to make something positive out of it don't and can't work. I read an interview with the writer of this episode in which she says that her intention was that Fred arranged the meeting with Hannah out of guilt at what he had done to June (of course not realizing that that was basically exactly what he's been doing to her every month, only this time she was "present" for it) and not as an intentional trap, which makes sense given that he wouldn't want his 9 months pregnant handmaid to disappear AGAIN. He might or might not be invested, but Serena certainly is, to say nothing of their entire social circle, and I can't see him destroying this thing she's so invested in on purpose. Also, it's been made clear that the status of a Commander depends partly on his progeny; that baby is valuable to Fred on multiple levels.

According to the "inside the episode" extras, the producers did some research with the UN on how reunions between separated parents and children tend to go, and this conversation was close to word for word some of the things they were told about.

Thanks, Sarah and Dave! I could not go another hour without STUFF.

I think the audio here is from last week's episode? Or else I am trapped in some kind of mental time loop.

He does have nice suits.

You could swap him out with any other rich playboy and it wouldn't make any real difference.