Joana

Hell, June couldn't take ONE child out of Gilead, her own child, that she obviously knew and could control, while the escape was still somewhat possible. Her second child, again, only one child, nearly died in the attempt to flee the country. Granted, she doesn't know that, but she knows how her previous escape attempts went. Also, she knows that a Martha got executed because she simply agreed to let a biological mother see her daughter. There are astronomical chances that at least one of the Marthas would somehow draw the unwanted attention to herself and it would be enough for the whole plan to fall apart. Or maybe Natalie was the only snitch in Gilead and now that she's gone, all secrets are safe. And now she thinks that getting 52 random children out will be smooth sailing? Well, maybe it will because they've now apparently opened the Fred and Serena Magical Road to Freedom, so they shouldn't even bother with Billy's plane and just take that route instead

The Aunt who defected back in S1 was a lot more valuable source of information because she was actually a part of the regime and knows how things work on the inside, unlike Serena who was completely sidelined and spent her days knitting and gardening. What can she be possibly good for? She's lucky as hell to get a deal of any kind and that they're letting her spend time with the baby is just ridiculous.

What? I don't get this comparison at all. Serena didn't just "play along with Gilead". She actively participated in its creation. She campaigned for it. She had alligned herself with Sons of Jacob long before they took over the country. She worked for their goals. She may not like what she got in the end, but it was the work of her hands. OTOH, there's absolutely no evidence that Eleanor ever wanted any of this, on the contrary. In fact, she even actively resisted the new system the way she could, by not participating in "the ceremony", for example. And not treating lower ranked women like dirt in general. I mean, if death is appropriate punishment for her "crimes", I can't even begin to imagine what the fitting fate for Serena would be.

Also, if I ever get arrested for anything, I want to have a prison cell like Fred's. - "So, what did you do about the fertility crisis har har?" - "Uhm, I made a child, unlike you" How was that not Luke's response??!

So, another person whose death she contributed to. She's going to match Arya's kill list soon. The show has now crossed that line when it becomes so enamoured with its main character that not only does all logic stop applying to them, but all the other characters need to constantly acknowledge the awesomeness of our hero. The first 15 minutes were like those awful late seasons of Sex and the City with Carrie being told how faaaaaaabulous she was by her gal pals no matter what crazy shit she did. It's disgusting that they let Serena anywhere near that baby. Also, why the hell were Moira and Luke explaining themselves to Serena and Fred. "That's uncalled for"? SERIOUSLY? Screw you, show.

I totally agree with that review. I see they're wondering what it was that made June finally snap, after having been in that position (i.e. raped) several times before, and was actually willing herself to go through the motions again. I have a theory, and while I realize it's complete fanwank as we've been shown exactly zero of this, but I really think it could explain it - perhaps she realized just what she had told the High Commander and how it may come across - that Lawrence is sending her out on spying missions in order to collect dirt on other commanders. And knowing he's fallen from grace already, this could well be the last straw and the thing that gets him executed/sent to colonies, while she's assigned to a new posting (if she's lucky!) and her plan falls apart. And then she realizes the man can't get out of that room alive. Of course, the killing scene proceeds to be ridiculously awful, but that's a different matter. And of course, that we have to go to such lengths in order to make sense of things the show doesn't even bother to pretend it's going to explain...

I totally agree, but taking a child or two is at least somehow feasible. It's extremely risky and would basically take a Hail Mary attempt, but with some luck, it can be done. OTOH, taking 52 of them is simply a logistic impossibility with the tools they have at their disposal. Those kids would absolutely need to be drugged beforehand (remember Hannah?) and it would only take one of those 104 "parents" to notice something fishy for the whole plan to disintegrate. Then, it would need to occur more or less simultaneously. It's not like that truck can tour around the Boston area and pick up the kids along the way. As soon as the disappearance of the first child is noticed, everyone in Gilead would be after them. They'd need a MASSIVE diversion to get all the guards out of their way before they'd even take off, not to mention they'd need to keep the authorities occupied with something long enough to give them a reasonable amount of time to escape. And that's just scratching the surface. I simply cannot see how it can be done. I'll say it again, this should have happened at the start of the season, not now towards the end. I could easily see it play out as some kind of Sophie's choice, with June realizing there are far more people willing to smuggle out children than she can accommodate, and then some very difficult decisions would have to be made. It could have made for an interesting story. He does know. He never said it out loud, but it was strongly implied several times during S2 that he's aware that Nick is the real father of June's baby. For starters, Serena told him it wasn't his baby. It can be argued that he thought she was just saying it in the heat of the argument and wasn't being serious, but his overall demeanour (hurrying to marry Nick off and send him away ASAP, for example) indicates that he knows the real story.

Oh, so did I! And to be fair, they only agreed to stay out of her way and not interfere with her plan instead of actually helping her, but regardless, their hard no should have remained a hard no. And it was so annoying that Beth eventually vouched for June. For all we've been shown, she doesn't really like/trust her all that much ("This house was a hell of a lot safer before you came" - HAH!) - not that she has any reason to, of course.

Also, while I get that some suspension of disbelief is always necessary and I don't have a problem with that, really, but... 52 children? 52 CHILDREN??! At the same time? Give me a break. Taking away just one child is incredibly risky, as June certainly should be aware of, as she was in on it herself (twice, no less!), but getting that many of them is simply ridiculous. It would take a massively coordinated effort to even have a slight chance of that plan working out, and if the resistance movement had that much manpower and resources available, they would have long liberated themselves from Gilead's rule. There's a much, much, MUCH bigger chance all those children would end up dead than freed and it's simply not worth it. I know many characters have pointed out to June how crazy dangerous that plan is, but somehow they didn't quite manage to get that point across enough.

You know, when Fred and Serena were talking and he mentioned how he thought she'd leave him for a man who could give her a child, there was something... sinister about him (probably unintentionally, as it turned out) and for a second I really believed he was going to be like "Bitch, I know you're trying to cross me, and now you're not getting out of these woods alive"; and that it would turn out that both of them were planning to betray each other the whole time. But then obviously nothing happened. Frankly, that he was willing to along with her "plan" to leave everything they have in Gilead behind them so that they could get the baby back is so unbelievable and absurd to me that I can't fully enjoy him being arrested.

The religious aspect of the show has been entirely thrown out of window this season. What used to be a brand new (and perversely fascinating) religion with a unique worldview is now reduced to "uhm, yeah, everyone is super-Christian". Among the utter lack of creativity and lazy writing that's plagued S3, this one is what probably bugs me the most.

I mean... they basically spoiled everything with the episode title alone. You just knew that there would be betrayal and that June's plan would fall apart (eh, kinda) and that either Fred or Serena would be setting each other up, except that from the moment of that scene with Rita it was more than obvious that it was going to be Serena, so none of this came as a surprise. Except for June killing Commander Meloni. I did NOT see that coming! Until they met at the Jezebels, at which point it was the only plausible resolution left. But man, was that killing scene ridiculous. Of course a man of his size would easily overpower her. What kind of crap was that? June is basically morphing into Bride/Arya now, except that Kill Bill was actually entertaining and Arya was likeable, and this/she is not. And of course, Martha Ex Machina conveniently pops up. They took their sweet time disposing of the commander's body, so I don't understand why June couldn't have cleaned herself up instead of going outside the room all blood-stained - except for DRAMATIC! purposes, of course. Also, the show promised us that Commander Meloni would be gay. Booooo! I'm disappointed. Unless they were really going for the "he wants it doggy style because it's the only way he can get it up with a woman" angle, which... I can't. I really can't. And most importantly - what kind of vacuum cleaner IS that???! As satisfying as it was to see Fred arrested, I still have some pretty major beef with that one. So, it basically happened because he was actually willing to give up on his power in order to have a quiet family life with his wife and baby? COME ON! Are you kidding me? GTFO. That's so wildly out of character that I don't even know where to begin. Throughout their entire conversation in the woods I just kept thinking "Isn't it a few years too late to have this discussion". Also, count me in among those wondering where the hell they were with absolutely no one watching over the roads. Oh, if only Moira and Emily had been aware of this magical road to freedom. And poor Commander Lawrence too, apparently. To sum it up, it was basically the same as last week. The good: stuff happens. The bad: almost none of it makes sense.

If the writers really wanted to go there, then S3 should have started with June returning to Boston determined to get Hannah AND other children out of Gilead. And then the entire season should have been focused on her actively joining the resistance movement and learning from them, making connections, forming alliances, researching the possible escape routes, making difficult decisions (Which child to pick? Which would be too risky?), taking hits in the process and moving on - in short, ACTUAL PLANNING. All that while being smart, keeping a low profile and not drawing unwanted attention to herself, instead of acting like a smug asshole who knows she's protected by plot armour. It might have just worked. Now, we have only a few more episodes left to wrap things up and they won't even be entirely devoted to this storyline as we still have Fred/Serena/Baby Nichole/Washington/Canada subplots to attend to, so I really cannot imagine how it's going to be resolved in a remotely satisfactory manner.

LOL, exactly this. It's "I have a truck, so let's gets the kids out". I mean, there must be a reason why no one tried to rescue the children before, and it's certainly not that the June was the only one smart enough to think of it. No, it's because it would require an enormous level of effort and coordination that the resistance movement simply is not able to provide. Plus, like you say, the timing of the plan is nothing short of brilliant, with tightened security in general and her household being watched over in particular. Not to mention that Commander Lawrence agreed to provide her with a truck so she and his wife would get out and not a bunch of random children that would basically have to be taken by force at first. And I can't imagine he would approve of that plan as it dramatically increases the chances of his wife getting killed, which would kinda beat the point of the whole thing. But, there's no doubt in my mind June will very quickly be able to talk him into it and he'll see the light. It really looks like the show is going precisely where I didn't want it to go and hoped it wouldn't - Superhero June taking down Gilead on her own. Oh well.

I thought it would happen like this: Commander Meloni (sorry not sorry I still don't know his show name) makes a pass on Fred, he realizes his career is at stake and goes along with it, Serena finds out and decides it's finally been enough, so she defects and inflicts as much damage as she can on Gilead in the process. That she would reveal her cards at this point is very strange and I don't see what she has to gain. She's basically blackmailing Fred, who has already inflicted corporal punishement on her twice so he could save his face/reputation. If he now again decides that his career and the power that comes along with it is more important to him than his family (which is very likely), I don't see how any amount of plot armour can keep her from ending up on the Wall as a traitor. And at the same time, the chances of recovering Nichole through the American agent are just about zero. So, I'm rather confused.

Why would the American government possibly want to assist in handing over a baby conceived through rape to the rapists, who have no legal rights to it under the American laws and BTW are also guilty of high treason? It makes less than zero sense. If it indeed is Serena playing Fred, not even he is stupid enough to believe it. And if she actually believes it's possible, than she's delusional, as in mentally ill.

It's really unbelievable how incoherent this show has become. There are wild swings literally from one episode to another. Fred is about to be put on the Wall for his staggering incompetence. -> Fred is the second most important person in the country. Washington is an ultra conservative place. -> They hold swinger parties and the Wives there act like the Sex and the City gang. Commander Lawrence is untouchable. -> Commander Lawrence is humiliated in the most brutal way. Commander Meloni is super pious. -> Commander Meloni is gay. OK, I see where they're going with this, but there was a time this show was above tired tropes. Or so I thought. Aunt Lydia almost beats Janine to death. -> Aunt Lydia fights tooth and nail to defend Janine in the face of the most powerful person in the whole country. And that's without even getting into June's storylines. I really want to see this show through, but man, they're making it so difficult. Also, I really, really hate that you just know Janine is going to die a tragic/heroic death saving those children.

It starts with June hobbling, in slow motion no less, and I'm thinking it can't possibly go well. But surprisingly, it wasn't the worst episode ever. Something actually happened! Of course, a lot of "something" was absolute nonsense, but hey, at this point, I'll take anything that moves the story forward. Also, the ceremony was genuinely chilling and reminiscent of the good old days of S1. It was also refreshing to see June act rationally for a change - and then of course she goes on to ruin everything with that "At least it wasn't you" remark. Remember how well it went when she used to provoke Serena like that throughout the last two seasons? And Fred is now like 5 times crazier and more sinister, which she's well aware of, so yeah. But she's probably become aware of her plot armour, too. I also loved Beth's and Alma's initial reaction to June. I was like, well done girls, you've finally seen the light! Sadly it didn't take them long to (re)join the Cult of June, because she can maybe, perhaps, possibly, get them a truck to take a bunch of kids from their well-guarded homes and take them across the border. I really wonder how no one had thought of this brilliant plan before. Sure, Jan June. God, how I wish they had used and reworked that iconic GIF. It would have been perfect! Are the writers pretending that S2 never happened? Because it was ALL about Fred being set up to fail, going from one mistake to another, with his reputation increasingly diminishing each episode. Hell, the season ended with him being held at gun point by HIS DRIVER, and he wasn't able to do anything about it. Now, all of a sudden, he's more powerful than ever and gets to boss Commander Lawrence (the one who doesn't go to meetings, the meetings come to him??!!) around? Why? Because Commander Meloni has hots for him and wants to get into his pants? Actually... That kind of stuff does happen IRL, sadly. It might even make sense. Also, why is Serena hovering around following those two Commanders wherever they go and participating in their discussions. Shouldn't she be sitting at home like a good Wife she is? Really, this show is just a collection of (mostly visually very effective, to be fair) random scenes. Speaking of Serena, she can't possibly be THAT dumb to seriously believe the American agent would help her get her "daughter" back. So, what gives? Is she playing Fred? She looked like she was seething on the inside when she saw that Fred's Junesession hadn't cooled off. Of course, Janine's son is dead, because that's just the way it is. Sigh.

The plot is thwarted and the two remaining black handmaids in Gilead are executed. Janine gets savagely beaten, just for the good measure. Aunt Lydia tells June that there would be consequences, which actually means she gets to avoid the ceremony for yet another month. June mouths her off. Serena shows up for 45 seconds so she and June could stare fiercely at each other. The episode ends with a close-up of June looking resilient with a voiceover saying "Fuck this".

I can absolutely see why their decision to present Gilead as some sort of a post-racial society would be so controversial, but IMO, once they made it, they should have stuck with it in spite of the criticism. If inserting flippant throwaway lines about "a couple not wanting a handmaid of colour" is their idea of tackling the racial issues, they really should not have even bothered. I can't help but think how bizarre it is that June is somehow involved in the deaths of THREE black persons by now. I really don't think it was done on purpose (because, really, what kind of message would it send?!), but then again, I can't imagine they're not aware of just how it might come across. So, I'm really confused about that one. Natalie's storyline was executed incredibly poorly, there's no doubt about that. She was basically this season's Eden, and while with Eden 1.0 there was at least a half-assed attempt to show us some of her backstory and an insight into her personality, all of that was completely lacking with Natalie. We have zero knowledge about her motivations. Why did she snitch on June? Because she was brainwashed by Aunt Lydia? Because she was a sadistic bitch who secretly reveled in other people's misfortune? Because she was genuinely concerned that June's non-plan would get her killed and wanted to save her life? We don't know and now we never will. What I disagree, though, is the comparison to Janine's situation in S1. One was about to jump off a bridge, the other was wielding a gun. That's a pretty big difference. Yes, pregnant handmaids are incredibly important and valuable for Gilead, but I don't think they're important enough to be allowed to go on a shooting spree. She could have killed everyone in sight and then shot herself. What good would her pregnancy be for then? It's understandable why the guardians had to react, but unceremoniously dragging her body across the store like that was a total overkill and wholly unnecessary.

I always have a problem with these bottle/time jump episodes that only suit one particular storyline, while all the other ones are left hanging. Grey's Anatomy does this all the time and it always results in a big mess. So, June has apparently spent months confined to Natalie's hospital room. That actually is an effective sort of punishment (for once!), but, what happened elsewhere in that world? Is it ever going to be addressed? What happened to the plan to bring baby Holly back? Is it aborted? June's services are no longer needed? You'd think Serena would be going crazy, literally, with hope and anticipation, but we saw her and she didn't seem the slightest bit perturbed. Also, are they no longer bothering to even pretend June is supposed to provide a baby for Commander Lawrence? Usually, in cases like this, the show resumes where the previous episode had left off, no matter how much times was supposed to pass in between, and I never find that satisfying.

I'm really, really, like REALLY worried this might actually happen. And if it does, it will definitely be a point of no return for me and something I would NOT be able to get over. At this point, I'm like this guy: Also, I kinda don't want her to get any more material than she currently does, because it would almost certainly be something ridiculous and stupid. I'm perfectly fine with how she is now in small doses, all innocent and sweet. Just as long as she's not beaten and harrassed, I really can't stand that anymore.

I'm going to have Heaven Is A Place On Earth stuck in my head for days now. I'm listening to it as I type this. Belinda did deserve better than this, but hey, I guess any exposure is welcome. I spent the entire episode waiting for Natalie to miraculously recover. Oh, Grey's Anatomy, what have you done to me? I thought June requested to stay at the hospital because she hoped her daughter would pop up (not that it would have made sense as she's not going to be flowering any time soon, which she actually acknowledged, but still), not because she was genuinely concerned for Natalie. Oh well. I feel like the birth of the baby was supposed to represent June's spiritual rebirth of some sort. Too bad I don't really care about her anymore. Poor, dear, sweet Janine. "You're different now and I don't like it". I'm totally with you there, girl. Truer words have never been spoken. And yeah, I try not to think how disturbing it is that she is the voice of the reason at this point and I'm just enjoying her scenes. If someone smashes her skull open for any reason again, I'm seriously gonna flip out. Also, I was SO scared this motherfucker would goad her into killing Natalie and she would be tortured and executed while she gets off scot-free. For a second, I could actually see it. PHEW! How I wished attacking Serena would be some kind of hallucination. But of course it really happened and of course Serena wouldn't report June. They're now inseparably connected on a very deep personal level, as the previouslies were so kind to remind us of. Also, that doctor is going to be an ally, right? *humming: Ooh baby, do you know what that's worth?...*

Exactly. Without even getting into the ridiculous plot contrivance of no guards being around when June attacked OfMatthew/them being that slow to react when the other one flipped out in the store, in the end, OfMatthew was (presumably) killed. June's "punishment" for trying to kill her? She gets to talk back to all of her superiors and refuse to peform her duties as a handmaid. Makes total sense.

Her total indifference to Janine (an entirely and unconditionally innocent person in the whole mess) being brutally attacked, as a consequence of her own actions no less, was just so infuriating, and no state of mind can justify that. At that point I was totally fine with OfMatthew putting a bullet through her.