S06.E02: Exile

[paulvdb]

Quote

June tries to settle in a new community. Serena seeks a sanctuary. Luke and Moira take a big risk.

Premiere date: April 8, 2025

[kitkat343]

Spoiler

I am fast forwarding through June's dramatic stares towards the camera and the whole June - Luke - Nick triangle, but I honestly could watch Serena Joy destroy Naomi all day long.  I am quite interested to see Serena and Aunt Lydia's arc this season, and to see to what extent they can truly take responsibility for their actions in terms of creating Gilead. 

 

[Helena Dax]

There are still a lot of interesting things in The Handmaid's Tale, but they can't be found in this episode. 

I guess we need to know more abouth Bethlehem, because what's the difference between the USA and Gilead if you lose most of the crazy laws that make Gilead Gilead? The lack of democracy?

[PurpleTentacle]

How do all these people constantly fall asleep in these stressfull life and death situations? I had some stressfull circumstances recently and I barely slept for a week. Adrenaline is one hell of a drug.

I guess the answer is: It makes for a nice transition.

[Armchair Critic]

What did Nick throw in the fire? Looked like a flash drive, was it info from Mark? Does that mean Nick is not going to help him?

[Straycat80]

4 hours ago, Armchair Critic said:

What did Nick throw in the fire? Looked like a flash drive, was it info from Mark? Does that mean Nick is not going to help him?

Looked like it to me too. Nick is turning to the dark side?  
They breezed over what happened to Luke and Moira too fast. June couldn’t just hang around Alaska too long, she’s got to save them I guess. I wish they had explained save them from what. 
I didn’t realize what a religious fanatic Serena was and still is. I’m interested what this New Bethlehem is and her role in it. 

[circumvent]

I watched the first two episodes together and was pleasantly surprised in the first one that June didn't play the super hero too hard. But that didn't last long because, OBVIUOSLY, she is the only one who can save two full grown adults that she doesn't even know need saving. It HAS to be her. 

I guess Super June is back. Sadly.

[Quilt Fairy]

23 hours ago, Armchair Critic said:

What did Nick throw in the fire? Looked like a flash drive, was it info from Mark? Does that mean Nick is not going to help him?

I assumed it was the sim card from the phone Mark gave him. 

[marinw]

All hail Cherry Jones. 
 

ETA: Holly went through absolute Hell. I get the impression that she glossed over a lot of the horror she endured. It also shows the fundamental hypocrisy of Gilead: They allowed a woman doctor to treat people because she was saving the Commanders.

At this point, I'm finding Holly's story more interesting than June's.

Edited April 10 by marinw

[chaifan]

Yep.  Of course June has to be living in a safe place, reunited with her mom, and wants to leave to be Super June again.  SMH.

Am I the only one who is just bored to tears with everything Nick?  I think he tossed the sim card into the fire.  Not a thumb drive.  

On last episode's thread I said I felt Bradly Whitford was being underused.  I'm glad that was solved this episode.  All the in-home scenes we saw - at both the Lawrence house and Nick's - those are in New Bethlehem, right?  It's just weird that the homes from the exterior seem very "new build", but from the interior look much like the architecture from the homes in the earlier seasons in Gilead.  They both share the same lighting problems - and it's not that lights aren't on, it's that every bulb seems to be at 20% lighting.  I'm really tired of dark interior scenes.

I loved the scene with Serena and the commune lady in the garden, and it gave me brief hope that Serena would use her powers for good.  But nope, that's not gonna happen.  

Any insight into the significance of Serena wearing head to toe pink when she traveled to New Bethlehem?  Is this the new color code for widows?  That outfit had to be supplied by the Lawrences.

Where, geographically, is New Bethlehem supposed to be?  And where is the film location actually at?  It is very pretty.

I don't quite understand what NB is supposed to provide to Gilead.  If Serena doesn't have to be married, can read, write, work, etc., how does Gilead benefit from this?  How does Gilead justify supporting this, while still chopping of fingers of women who dare to read in the rest of Gilead?  

 

[marinw]

1 hour ago, chaifan said:

Of course June has to be living in a safe place, reunited with her mom, and wants to leave to be Super June again. 

How did June get from Alaska down to the No Man's land? Looks like she just called an Uber.

Edited April 10 by marinw

[chaifan]

1 hour ago, marinw said:

How did June get from Alaska down to the No Man's land? Looks like she just called an Uber.

She did say someone from the Embassy was coming to get her.

But, that reminds me...  how utterly convenient it is for Serena to get pushed off a train in the middle of nowhere, suffer no injuries, AND be within eyesight of a church.  Seriously?  They couldn't make her suffer a little, wandering through the woods for a day or so, questioning whether she and Noah would actually survive?  And then for her to come upon, again, by total chance, a religious compound of just women and children.  That was all just waaayyyy to convenient.  

[Black Knight]

2 hours ago, chaifan said:

I don't quite understand what NB is supposed to provide to Gilead.  If Serena doesn't have to be married, can read, write, work, etc., how does Gilead benefit from this?  How does Gilead justify supporting this, while still chopping of fingers of women who dare to read in the rest of Gilead?  

It's a showpiece. Gilead now has someplace palatable for foreign dignitaries to visit without having to do a massive clean-up first. Remember in S1 when they were making people scrub away blood and hiding other evidence of atrocities ahead of a foreign delegation's visit?

Of course this showpiece won't last, for many reasons, including the one you mentioned. Lawrence's hope is to use New Bethlehem to moderate the rest of Gilead, and the other Commanders will never let that happen. I feel its second purpose is as a trap for anyone foolish enough to agree to move there from the countries they have taken refuge in. Once Gilead gets all those people back, which it considers traitors, the punishments and "re-education" will commence ASAP. (I don't believe Lawrence realizes this, and I wouldn't be surprised if he caught a bullet midway through this season courtesy of other Commanders.)

Edited April 10 by Black Knight

[HerkyJerky]

New Bethlehem’s real-life filming location is the Crystal Beach lakefront community of Fort Erie, Ontario, a quiet Canadian town known for its sandy shoreline and laid-back atmosphere.

According to Visit Niagara Canada, the summer destination, also known as Bay Beach, is welcome to locals and visitors alike. “Bay Beach has a vast sandy area with beautiful clear water where locals and visitors can enjoy a relaxing day at the beach,” it states.

The area has undergone extensive renovations, with features including a washroom facility, playground, pavilion, festival square, beach mats, viewing decks, and an accessible ramp to the beach.

 

If you want to visit yourself, it’s very affordable, with day passes starting at $5 per person and free for children. Praise be!

[circumvent]

18 hours ago, marinw said:

How did June get from Alaska down to the No Man's land? Looks like she just called an Uber.

Maybe she has even more superpowers than we already know. At this point, when it comes to how powerful June is, I expect anything from the writers. 

Maybe she can fly too

17 hours ago, chaifan said:

But, that reminds me...  how utterly convenient it is for Serena to get pushed off a train in the middle of nowhere, suffer no injuries, AND be within eyesight of a church.  Seriously?  They couldn't make her suffer a little, wandering through the woods for a day or so, questioning whether she and Noah would actually survive?  And then for her to come upon, again, by total chance, a religious compound of just women and children.  That was all just waaayyyy to convenient.  

June's superpowers might have rubbed off on her

[FrankOFoley]

I don’t know if things will pick up story wise, I hope they do because these first two episodes were boring. And if the camera does one more close up of June’s face I may throw spaghetti at the tv but probably not because I like my tv.

[aghst]

I have very dim recollections of season 5.  But obviously June and Serena both felt they had to get away from Toronto, get away from the reach of Gilead.

So  they get on that train at the end of season 5, then they get away from the would-be lynch mob in the first episode of season 6.

Serena jumps off the train with her infant and neither too worse for wear.  They happen to find a nurturing community, no men, only women and children.  What are the odds?

Meanwhile June is with her mother and Nicole is fine.  But Moira and Luke get themselves in trouble so it's Super June to the rescue?

Why the hell did they flee, take a trip all the way across the continent -- well not sure where June pushed off Serena to save her from the angry mob on the train -- and now they're not only going to go back closer to Gilead, they're going to either return to Gilead or get very close, to No Man's Land where they could get captured?

I know, they have to get all the principal characters back together, to  finally take Gilead down!

Lawrence just waltzes into the Canadian town where Serena is and convinces her to come back to New Bethlehem.  Tells her the Eyes know she's there and do do the Millers.

 

[HerkyJerky]

10 minutes ago, aghst said:

They happen to find a nurturing community, no men, only women and children.  

I watched the show with my sister-in-law and all my adult nieces and when Serena came to the community and found out they were no men there, one of my nieces said, “wouldn’t that be nice! “. I said, “HEY, I’m sitting right here! “😵‍💫🤣😂

[circumvent]

1 hour ago, aghst said:

Serena jumps off the train with her infant and neither too worse for wear

What was bugging me is that the poor baby didn't have a diaper change for what seems to have been hours. And also no nursing. Can a mother produce milk without water and food? Those little details drive me nuts

[crashdown]

46 minutes ago, circumvent said:

What was bugging me is that the poor baby didn't have a diaper change for what seems to have been hours. And also no nursing. Can a mother produce milk without water and food? Those little details drive me nuts

There's also the pesky little detail about the fact that trains can't go from Toronto to Canada--there are no train tracks in the very challenging wilderness between northern British Columbia and Alaska. 

Yes, these are all wince-worthy contrivances; of course they are. But we have to keep in mind that there are only ten episodes, and that we really need to get everyone in the same place pronto. One of my biggest complaints about the current television milieu is the short seasons we routinely have now. It was a whole lot easier to let circumstances and characters develop organically when there were 22.

Edited April 11 by crashdown

[AngelaHunter]

A woman and her baby get pushed off a moving train and get barely a scratch. Are the tracks there lined in cotton bales? (I thought June pulled the cord to stop the train but maybe not or maybe it didn't work or maybe the train started up again in time to fling Serena out the doors or... I dunno)

And oh, look at that! After Serena escapes uninjured after a fall from a moving train wouldn't you know that, by joyful happenstance, she's a stone's throw away from a colony of women who welcome her with open arms into their idyllic, sunlit community?

I may have missed something because even though I'm nearly deaf I had to lower the sound due to the endless, grating, manipulative, melodramatic music with notes held long enough and delivered at a perfect pitch to mess up brainwaves, that soar and blare even while the characters are talking.

On 4/11/2025 at 1:31 PM, crashdown said:

One of my biggest complaints about the current television milieu is the short seasons we routinely have now.

Yes, I recall having new episodes most of the year and reruns in summer. Now we get 10 or so episodes and wait 2 years for a new season. With my faulty memory, I nearly have to go back and rewatch all of a previous season to make sense of the new one. In this case, that's not happening.

[Quilt Fairy]

On 4/11/2025 at 12:31 PM, crashdown said:

It was a whole lot easier to let circumstances and characters develop organically when there were 22.

Heck, I remember when a season had 39 episodes and they picked the 13 best to air as reruns in the summer.  (Yes, I am that old.) 

[AstridM]

On 4/13/2025 at 11:20 AM, AngelaHunter said:

Yes, I recall having new episodes most of the year and reruns in summer. Now we get 10 or so episodes and wait 2 years for a new season. With my faulty memory, I nearly have to go back and rewatch all of a previous season to make sense of the new one. In this case, that's not happening.

It’s truly awful. How about 13 episodes and only a year between seasons? The way it’s going now has just about ruined TV for me.

[Shermie]

On 4/10/2025 at 9:27 AM, chaifan said:

Where, geographically, is New Bethlehem supposed to be?  And where is the film location actually at?  It is very pretty.

I assume it’s supposed to be along one of the Great Lakes. In reality, it is. It’s a gated community in Fort Erie, Ontario. I wonder how the real life residents feel about their community being portrayed as some sort of Stepford wannabe.

I find all this “the US (Gilead) can’t be trusted” business very interesting to hear in these times. When this show began, the idea of the US turning into well, something else, seemed like fantasy. Now, though.

I’m amused by Bradley Whitford barely tolerating his annoying wife and even his child. The little girl wearing that Amish-level head thing and dress are just no. And isn’t his wife a bit old to be a mother to a child that young? They look like her grandparents.

Edited Saturday at 02:26 AM by Shermie

[Kel Varnsen]

On 4/10/2025 at 10:06 AM, marinw said:

How did June get from Alaska down to the No Man's land? Looks like she just called an Uber.

She said the CIA guy was sending a plane for her. Although it still wasn't clear to me if that safehouse was in Alaska or Ontario or the no mans land along the border. Either way I hope we see some competent or at least inspiring resistance this season. Although I may have been spoiled because I recently researched Andor season 1 and it feels like the resistance to the Galactic Empire is fighting back way harder.

On 4/10/2025 at 11:32 AM, Black Knight said:

It's a showpiece. Gilead now has someplace palatable for foreign dignitaries to visit without having to do a massive clean-up first. 

It's also a bit of a con, for the people who they decide are worth keeping around but who might believe in the religious aspects of Gilead but are turned off by the violence and totalitarianism. Just in this episode you had Rita saying she was thinking of moving back.

48 minutes ago, Shermie said:

I assume it’s supposed to be along one of the Great Lakes. In reality, it is. It’s a gated community in Fort Erie, Ontario. 

I had figured it was some coastal area like Maine or New Hampshire or something.

53 minutes ago, Shermie said:

And isn’t his wife a bit old to be a mother to a child that young? They look like her grandparents.

That's Janine's kid isn't it? Which in that case makes me think shouldn't the kid be younger. Or maybe I just have no idea how much time has passed since season 1.

[Ceindreadh]

On 4/19/2025 at 3:22 AM, Shermie said:

I’m amused by Bradley Whitford barely tolerating his annoying wife and even his child. The little girl wearing that Amish-level head thing and dress are just no. And isn’t his wife a bit old to be a mother to a child that young? They look like her grandparents.

 

Have you been watching the show?  Age of a Commander's wife doesn't matter when they just need a young enough handmaid. 

[Shermie]

15 hours ago, Ceindreadh said:

Have you been watching the show?  Age of a Commander's wife doesn't matter when they just need a young enough handmaid. 

Yes, I’m watching the show. It’s not a comment on the reality of Naomi being a mother; it’s a comment on the ridiculousness of it. 

I don’t remember the cause of the infertility issue. I assume some environmental catastrophe, but plant life seems unaffected. Are animals infertile too? Trying to figure out why other countries are all having fertility issues and are looking to Gilead for inspiration.