Joana

I thought the glory hole sex was a bit of an overkill too. I do get the "no recreational sex" rule - that one is all about power and control. That rule is basically impossible to enforce, almost everyone is bound to transgress at some point and everyone knows there's something they can be held accountable for, adding to the overall feeling of paranoia and fear. But this one does not seem to have any practical purpose other than to show how warped and messed up the world of Gilead is. It doesn't feel organic, more like something purely made up for the sake of the story. I think this show can do better than that.

I'll admit I find them more interesting than June at this point. It's not a slight on June's part and it's not that I have anything against her, but June is clearly someone we're supposed to sympathize with and root for, which I do, make no mistake. But with these two, it would have been soooo easy to make them some cartoonish mustache-twirling villains with no substance or nuance behind them, but both the writing and the acting elevates them so much above that. They're clearly horrible people doing horrible things, but they're people. And that really is fascinating to watch.

Leaving aside the fact that "nazi" has basically become a generic insult for opinionated people all accross the political spectrum, Serena was apparently calling the women to "accept their biological destiny". It would have been weird if someone hadn't called her a nazi.

I do believe that just for a second, Serena could relate to June and did understand where she was coming from when she asked her to see Hannah, and that refusing her plea was a genuinely difficult moment for her. I also believe that a part of her did really want to bond with June as somewhere deep down she's fully aware of how unspeakably horrible June's situation is and what role she's had in it. But at the same time, she knows things have gone way too far, that they're on completely opposite sides, that there can never be any real good will between the two of them and that their entire relationship boils down to both of them trying the manipulate the other, so she overcompensates by punishing June for her "devious" ways and humiliating her publicly. I don't think we learned much about her from those flashbacks - we already knew she was a renowned figure and could pretty much guess she'd be extremely reviled in liberal circles. It's interesting however that something she was literally willing to give her life for turned into a life of constant misery. Also, the world she fought so hard to create is a world that's designed for the likes of Aunt Lydia and Eden, not her, and it must have dawned on her long ago that she had a lot more power and freedom in the world she detested so much. The resentment boiling up inside her must be tremendous, and Yvonne Strahovski has done a marvelous job portraying it.

Bringing Teddy back was literally the only way to keep me even remotely interested still. Damn you, show, I was just going to cut you!

I'd dance around in my underwear Callie-style if Teddy replaced Bailey, but of course that's never going to happen. And now I'm mostly annoyed that just as I was ready to say goodbye to this show, they bring back Teddy who I've always liked a lot, so I'm kinda curious what her story will be. Ideally, she came back not because she wants to be with Owen, but because she wants her child to grow up with its father around, so they go for co-parenting and there are no love triangles of any kind in the picture. Also, I'm guessing she'll take over as the Chief until she goes on maternity leave and while Bailey is taking her sabbatical.

Also, who's going to do all the medical baby stuff now that Arizona is gone? Are they keeping Sister DeLuca?

Callie only went to New York so she could be with Penny, there was no other reason for her to go. We never saw them get back together on-screen as Sara Ramirez left the show, but all this time it was presumed they're still a couple, or at the very least were a couple for some time. But then again, absolutely nothing about her move to New York ever made any sense, so who the hell knows anymore.

Well, I'm just glad that Jessica Capshaw and Sarah Drew shared their last scene on the show. That was sweet. Otherwise, their respective exits were played out hideously. Arizona and Callie are reuniting off-screen? April quit her job just because - also off-screen! - and is getting married with Matthew, which I don't even want to get started on as everything's been already said. Just inexcusably lazy writing. Everyone showing up in the wrong church was something I did not see coming and I thought it was geniunely funny. OTOH, I don't really get why a human skeleton should be a comic relief, but whatever. And show, I see what you did there, taking away Arizona from me, but giving me Teddy back. It's not going to work. Probably.

I agree. Essentially, they're both opportunists who never really cared for Gilead's ideals and were mostly in it for the power it would give them, and they both thought that whatever rules the new society came up with would not apply to them. And then it turned out that Serena had to relinquish all the power she once had if she wanted to stay alive, and Fred could only keep his if his wife parted with all the attributes that attracted him to her in the first place, thus making his domestic life miserable. Now they're two sad, pathetic creatures who can only take comfort in knowing that the others have it even worse than them, and on some level deep down they probably feel repulsed at what they've become. And they know they only have themselves to blame for it and that there's no turning back.

There was that scene right after Gilead was established that showed Serena trying to speak to the commanders, presumably to lay out her ideas for the new society. They completely rebuffed her and she was never even allowed to enter the room. Both Fred and Serena seemed a bit shock at that kind of treatment and Fred wanted to try talking them into seeing her another time, but she told him not to bother. I think a part of him has resented her a little bit ever since.

I think it's obvious that this is NOT how Serena imagined the new society would be. I think she imagined some sort of a domestic bliss utopia where women would be happy to stay at their homes and take care of their families without even wanting anything more, while she would be one of the select few women to lead them, guide them and show them the way. Don't forget that she also tried to talk to Commanders and share her ideas with them, which clearly implies she almost expected them to treat her like an equal. Also, TBH, I find it difficult to believe she demanded that the women be denied the ability to write and read, I mean, the woman was supposedly a best-selling author, I'm guessing women were the main target group and I kinda doubt her books were all "You better remember this piece because when I come to power, it will be the last thing you've ever read". She probably thought that in the new society women wouldn't want to read anything more than domestic manuals and religious texts, like back in the good ol' days. And then the reality bit her.

It's interesting that both Fred and Serena displayed a lack of knowledge of the (new) Bible in the same episode, first with Fred not knowing where those verses are from, and then with Serena quoting a part that was removed from the Gilead-sanctioned version. That's possibly not a coincidence and might be a foreshadowing that their position in the society is in danger.

Uness I'm forgetting something, Rita gave the letters back to June saying she was too afraid to do anything with them, and then June put them behind the bathtub herself.

The funny thing about this is that a whole bunch of doctors found out about dr Herman's tumor when Amelia openly told her name during her infamous superhero presentation.

Serena looked like she was about to spontaneously combust with fury when she saw Aunt Lydia writing, and Auntie picked up on it and rubbed it in. The dynamics between these two women are quite fascinating. Serena probably considers Aunt Lydia to be beneath her, while Aunt Lydia must have realized that Serena is far from happy with her new life under Gilead, which likely makes her a false believer in her eyes. I wasn't sure about it before, but it does appear that Aunt Lydia wields more power in this society than a Wife does. Serena should be careful. I believe Rita knows (or at least suspects) about June and Nick too. And Eden definitely wasn't brought into the story for nothing. She must be here for something big, and although I really have no idea what she's all about, I somehow don't think she's going to make June's life any easier. Watching June slowly bleed out was beyond horrible, even though I figured she wouldn't lose the child as it would render her useless for Gilead and her story would be over. I was afraid they'd think that she tried to commit suicide, but that luckily wasn't the case, if Serena's reaction was anything to go by.

That scene didn't strike me as the woman looking down on June as a handmaid, more like her standing face to face with the embodiment of her worst fear.

I thought this was much better than the ridiculousness of last week, but I had a problem with the premise of this episode. If Konstantin wanted Nadia dead, was it really necessary to have Oksana involved? I mean, if he had the connections and resources to smuggle Oksana into the prison, I guess he could have easily arranged with one of the guards for an "accident" to happen to Nadia. It looked like they were setting her up and I'm surprised Oksana fell for it. I guess the point was to teach her a lesson, because they could have simply killed her if they thought she had become too much of a trouble. I really hope this does not become some kind of a sob story about helpless girls being tricked into becoming assassins. They might be true about Nadia, who we know pretty much nothing about, but it's clear that Oksana is a natural born predator who revels in killing people and as such, she cannot be redeemed, no matter how entertaining she might be.

I'd like to see more of Fred's and Serena's relationship, both now and before Gilead. Regardless of what he supposedly stands for, the woman he married was ambitious, confident and assertive, and from those glimpses of their past we've seen, they seemed to be truly happy together. He loved and cared for that woman, not this miserable, voiceless, passive-aggressive shrew she's become. I think it's possible that on some level, probably even subconsciously, he resents her for giving up so easily and accepting her new role in the society without ever questionning it. We saw a bit of the old Serena back the night she organized that dinner for the Mexican ambassador, and we know how Fred responded to that, becoming sexually aroused by her for the first time in a long while. That's maybe also why he's fascinated by June, as there is still some life and fight left in her.

I've thought about this too, and the one logical explanation I can come up with is that at some point they discovered where she was and kept her under suerveillance, and the reason they didn't act sooner is that they wanted to catch as many Mayday members as possible. It would also explain how Nick was able to spend so much time with her and how Fred and Serena didn't think of him as a possible suspect. Of course, it would also mean that his role has been compromised and that his days are numbered - or that he's had an entirely different role in it since the beginning. It could also help to explain how Omar was caught. It's completely possible I'm overthinking this and looking for things that just aren't there, but there are now too many holes in the story and I wish there was something that could fill them, and this would be it.

I think this may actually be a real possibility. They knew she was there and wanted to see if she'll try to make a run by herself and help them catch a bigger fish, i.e. those who smuggle people out of the country. Her escape did seem too easy to me and I thought it was strange that she wasn't approached by guards at any point - but perhaps that was the plan all along. I think she was referring to their collective punishment, having their hands burned, as she was the leader of their little rebellion. But like I previously said, June cannot be blamed for that because even though she was the first to drop the stone, she never asked the other handmaids to follow her and didn't/couldn't know what they were going to do.

I think there are various degrees of responsibility and blame. For starters, I don't think June should be held responsible in any way for the punishment of other handmaids. She did not ask them to do anything and if they followed her example it's only because they chose it themselves. As for her affair with Luke or rather Luke's affair with her, I kinda hated how heavily it was featured in this episode where blame and shame were running themes. As much as it sucks to have the person you love and who supposedly loves you too fall for someone else (and believe me, I've been there), what June and Luke did was nowhere near the level of horror Gilead is putting people through, no matter what Aunt Lydia has to say about that. Now, when it comes to Omar and his family, it does get a bit complicated, IMO. Obviously he never intended to take her home and only did it because she insisted. And I totally understand why she did it and why she felt like she had no other options at that particular moment, just like I understand why he, as an essentially good man, couldn't just leave her to her fate right there in the middle of nowhere. In the end, he made the choice for himself, but this time June had an active role in it and it's only natural she'd feel some guilt overt on the consequences of that choice instead of just waving her hand and being all like "Oh well, too bad for him". And of course Aunt Lydia would then go on to use it to her advantage.

There's something I'm confused about. Is Boston now the capital of Gilead? What does Gilead out of Boston look like anyway, are there any other urban centers left or it's just wasteland and colonies? Are those Commanders we're seeing running the entire country or just the local branch? Because they're definitely acting like they're running both domestic and foreign affairs of their nation. Speaking of foreign affairs, for some reason I have a feeling that Fred is being set up by some of his fellows and is going to meet his end on his Canadian mission. Man, Aunt Lydia's perkiness was scary AF, and then of course she goes on to pull that psycho manipulative trick on June. She continues to be the most fascinating character on the show. The way she simultaneously seems to truly believe what she preaches and live by it AND enjoys being in the position of power and having the ability to mess with these women's minds is really something else. All credit must go to Ann Dowd. Serena is also fascinating in a way. Not that I feel even remotely sorry for her, but she's also living in a hell that she helped create with her own hands, and she knows it. She's fully aware of just how utterly ridiculous all those rituals are, but she has no other option but to play along because having a baby is the only thing that can give her at least a semblance of a meaning and a purpose in her life. It's not even about whether she genuinely wants to have a baby or not as she's literally deprived of all other options - which is something she was once happy to impose onto other women without thinking she could end up in their shoes some day. And again, she knows it. That scene with her climbing into June's bed was extremely disturbing. It seems that just like June, she's also willing slipping into madness in a way in order to preserve her bare life.

That would have been interesting indeed. The problem is that we'll be following the pregnancy of a handmaid who has tried to escape, and we've already seen in the first episode of the season what happens to those. Sure, that woman tried to commit suicide instead of running away, but the end result would have been the same - no baby for Gilead, so it's hard to imagine the treatment June will get would be that much different. Realistically, all that can happen to her is to be locked up and under strict supervision 24/7. That doesn't make for an interesting story, IMHO. And if they do something else, it's just stupid. Of course, we'll have to see how it all plays out, but at this point, it's a bit hard not to think they've written themselves into a corner with her both escaping and getting caught this early in the season.

Yes, that was strange. I was sure they were going to tell the boy to keep quiet about their lady houseguest, but they never did. And not only that, they didn't even come up with any story about who she was and why she was there. I mean, it's entirely possible it all did happen off-screen, but there's no reason not to show it to the viewers as well. Also, June's behaviour while she was there was a bit puzzling. Her "Yes, ma'am" when the woman told her not to touch anything sounded a little passive-aggressive to me, for no reason at all. And she was definitely way too reckless when left alone in the apartment, peeking through the window (I certainly understand the temptation to do it, but at that point after everything she's been through, she certainly should know better), moving around making noise and touching things. And don't get me started on going through the family's personal belongings. That was just awfully rude. There was more weird stuff. I'm also among those wondering where all those women were going. I had previously thought that the econo-people were somewhat akin to the proles of 1984, that is, mostly left alone by the government as long as they played by the rules and didn't cause trouble. That's obviously not the case, there are guards everywhere and everything seems tightly controlled. So, would women really be allowed to move around freely like that? Would they be able to get on the train without showing some kind of ID? There are no check points anywhere? I'm really not looking forward to finding out what's next for June. It's not going to be anything we haven't already seen before, only worse. I'm going to keep watching, but I really wish the show had taken a different direction.