Ceindreadh

It’s probably going to be a plot point in a later episode. E.g. Sherlock will tell Joan something under duress, she’ll know he’s lying because of his tell, and he’ll know that she knows. Unless of course it it was just a guess by Joan and she said he had a tell so that he’d give her the full story.

IIRC, Spot was a lizard at the time but the litter was of kittens (and gave Data the clue to solving the problem)....it does make sense in context!

Given that Gilead has lost probably half or more of its medical personnel, maybe it’s simply a case of lack of resources. There’s not going to be any midwives around - or at least none in a position to be a midwife. How many OB-GYNs stuck around and didn’t end up on the wall or in the colonies? And the whole point of the ridiculous birthing ceremony is so that the Commanders wives (or accomplice rapists) can pretend that this is actually ‘their’ baby rather than one that they’re kidnapping from their rape victim.

Well I learned one thing from this episode. How to pronounce menarche properly. I also thought it rhymed with arch. (Still think it sounds nicer my way)

I heartily endorse this recommendation.

If she’d been divorced, wouldn’t that render her ineligible for any sort of position of status in Gilead?

You forgot the best one. Rabbit “there’s something you don’t know about me” Lydia “what’s that?” Rabbit “I’ve got 28 pieces of dog shit in my pockets!”

There’s another four or five books in the series and TPTB didn’t want to squash them all into a single season - I think the actors were only under contract for five - so they’re doing a bit of filling in the gaps between books 7 and 8. It’s interesting because for the first time I have no clue as to what’s going to happen. I mean, I know where the characters are going to end up, but not how they get there and not how the new characters are going to affect things.

My point was that in both cases the guardians didn’t step in immediately. Ofmatthew was beating down on Janine and the guardians were nowhere to be seen until one finally approached. They only shot her after she’d killed one of their number and armed herself. But yet half the posts in the previous episode thread were about how June was able to get away with an assault that the guardians couldn’t even see. I’m not denying that June has a certain amount of plot armour but that wasn’t the case last week because the other handmaids protected her.

“On the way out”? Hasn’t it already got a second season? I always love it when people who haven’t watched a show are so wonderfully adamant about how it’s clearly not a patch on the original.

When June attacked Ofmatthew, the other handmaids immediately moved into position and formed a physical barrier between them and the guardians. I don’t know if they too far away to hear what was going on, but they definitely couldn’t see it. On the other hand, Ofmatthew attacks Janine in full view of everyone and it seems to take ages before a guardian gets within striking distance. But let’s everybody complain about how June is the one getting away with things for no reason.

Yes if they’re considered a series regular, no if they’re a guest star.

I think MAD magazine summed up Seinfeld best with their 'I'm bland and my friends are crazy' cartoon strip.

The Towering Inferno aired today and it's the first time I've watched it since I read the second of the two books it was based on (The Tower and The Glass Inferno), and damn it's so frustrating the way they treated Lisolette. (movie and book are over 40 years old, so I'm not doing spoiler space) In the movie, Lisolette leaves the party during the evacuation and ends up on her own floor to check on her deaf neighbour. She meets up with Jernigan (who rescues the neighbour) and Roberts the architect who brings her and the neighbours kids with him, and they end up having to go back to the party. Lisolette gets a place on the scenic elevator but dies when it's knocked off its tracks by an explosion. She's mourned by Claiborne the conman who'd been trying to fleece her In the book however, Lisolette deliberately leaves before the evacuation gets going and meets up with Jernigan and a few firefighters at the neighbours apartment. Lisolette and the kids (three of them not two), get separated from the others on the way down, and Lisolette not only manages to climb down the damaged handrail with a kid on her back, but also gets them down safely without having to go near the top floor. I know that since Paul Newman was playing Roberts, he was naturally going to get to be a big damn hero, but I wish they hadn't had to downgrade Lisolette in order to have that happen.

Season five is scheduled to start on BBC Sunday the 14th July.

Line of Duty is a UK show based around an anti-corruption police unit. I presume it’d be the equivalent of IA.

Luke had a Walkman because it was the easiest way to listen to the tape June made. June made a tape rather than an mp3 or other audio file because she had access to a tape recorder and a supply of recordable tapes but no access to a computer. There may well not be ipods in Canada, but Luke using a Walkman isn’t proof one way or the other.

I get distracted sometimes when I can tell a character has furnished their house from IKEA!

I want to see the Commanders and the Aunts punished. The wives, well some are more complicit than others. Some likely had little option but to go along with their husbands. Others though need to end up on the wall alongside them.

Commander Lawrence doesn’t leave his house for meetings in Boston. It’s not surprising he wouldn’t head to DC. Yes, why not have Moira speak up. A woman naming names and accusing a powerful man of rape is totally going to be believed and not accused of lying just to make a quick buck.

I don't know how best to transcribe it, but Fitz's yelp when he saw 7 and a half year old Jemma, had me rewinding and rewatching a few times!

June is fertile and has produced two healthy children. That’s got to earn her some leeway.

When June was asked to confirm his identity, I really wanted her to say “his name is Ofjune”

In terms of prequels and sequels

Looks like Channel 4 in the UK have picked this up. During the credits for bake off professionals they ran an ad looking for contestants to take part.