S06.E08: Exodus

[paulvdb]

Quote

June and Moira execute their dangerous plan. Serena makes a big commitment.

Premiere date: May 13, 2025

[Brn2bwild]

This may be the first episode I had to rewatch immediately after finishing.  It was tense and satisfying.

After the one handmaid initially dropped her knife, I was afraid their plan would be foiled, but fortunately it wasn't.  Too many good moments to count, including and especially when June stabbed Bell in the eye as casually as she said "hi."

I laughed out loud when Serena claimed that June was her friend and forgave her while June stared murder eyes at her.  At least it looks as though Serena really has grown and come to realize how terrible the handmaid system is for the women, not just for her.  I liked her moment with the handmaid Wharton had waiting for them.  Her souring on her marriage happened at record speed.

The scene with Aunt Lydia was a bit forced, with Aunt Lydia going from being hell-bent on punishing the handmaids to letting her handmaids go forth and wreak havoc, after a heroic speech from June and an appeal from Janine.  Given her ambivalence the last two seasons, it wasn't her change of heart that seemed unrealistic so much as the fact that the guard was standing there with a gun pointed and not shooting anyone.  Just because Aunt Lydia summoned him doesn't mean he was beholden to her, and it seems like he would have been training that gun on all of them by the end of that scene.  Instead he's like: "Whelp, guess I'll let them go commit murder."

[AntFTW]

If I'm Peter, I leave the room and let the ladies discuss because none of this is my business.

11 minutes ago, Brn2bwild said:

The scene with Aunt Lydia was a bit forced, with Aunt Lydia going from being hell-bent on punishing the handmaids to letting her handmaids go forth and wreak havoc, after a heroic speech from June and an appeal from Janine.

I agree. If they had spent some time showing Lydia changing her mind, maybe I could buy it.

[yesferatu]

Again, Aunt Lydia of past seasons would have raised hell over seeing Jeanine all beat up in the Bell's second story window yet this season's Aunt Lydia does nothing. So I am even more confused about her after today's episode. 
 

*ETA: 

Why weren't Serena and Wharton asleep? Too soon in the evening? 
I really would have loved to see him fast asleep with the handmaid looming over him, knife drawn.

 

Edited May 13 by yesferatu

[Boofish]

I was lowkey hoping the guard was part of the resistance. They usually don't wait for the villains closing arguments to shoot. They were lucky the one guard in Gillead who is not trigger happy was on duty tonight.

A few years ago I was out with a "friend" and my car got towed. She thought it was hilarious. A few days later, her engine blew out. She asked if I could come and pick her up. As an honor graduate with a perfect attendance record, 100% score on rotten tomatoes of The Peppermint Petty School of Karma & Social Justice, I cannot describe the holler I hollerated. The scream I scrumpted. The guffaw I gufflaffed. That's how hard I laughed when I saw that handmaid in Serena's house.

[AntFTW]

7 minutes ago, Boofish said:

I was lowkey hoping the guard was part of the resistance.

I was starting to think he was because how was June, a person pretty much seen as an enemy of the state, not shot on sight?

[paulvdb]

He was one guard in a room full of handmaids. He probably realised that he wasn't going to get out of there alive if he started shooting. He could maybe take out a few of them but not all of them.

[crashdown]

2 hours ago, yesferatu said:

Why weren't Serena and Wharton asleep? Too soon in the evening? 
I really would have loved to see him fast asleep with the handmaid looming over him, knife drawn.

Serena said in passing that they were both too busy to eat, which actually is not uncommon for a bride and groom at a wedding. 

[Helena Dax]

I can believe Lydia's change of heart, especially after seeing Janine, but I remember the guards being more trigger-happy. In any way, it was an exciting episode and I loved June killing Bell, and Serena realizing how stupid she had been. Also, I must admit that I was apparently wrong when I thought that she didn't give an actual fuck about the Handmaids because her reactions to them at the wedding and to Christine at her house seemed pretty genuine.

And of course, one of the funniest moments of the whole show was her tale of her relationship with June, all while June is giving her a death stare. 

However, I'm not gonna lie, I expected more blood. (And I thought Mayday was supposed to take advantage of the situation to do something),

Edited May 13 by Helena Dax
spelling

[Anela]

I was expecting a bit more, but I guess that comes in episode nine.

Janine is Lydia’s kryptonite, so I wasn’t surprised that Janine changed her mind.  I do wonder what her excuse will be, for all of the missing handmaids.

Loved June just stabbing that guy in the eye. Loved Serena asking that girl what her real name was, and telling her to run. 

[chaifan]

JFC, how many stupid things can June Osborne do?  What was with all that wandering off from the handmaids, going towards the aisle, towards Serena?  Wandering about the reception?  Walking down the street alone?  Not slitting Bell's throat from behind, but letting him say "June Osborne" WHILE HE'S ON THE FUCKING PHONE!!!  Killing him, WHILE HE'S ON THE FUCKING PHONE!!!  

If you removed June from this episode, it was great.  But damn, is she trying to fuck this whole thing up?

Lydia - of course she had to show up.  I'm surprised Lawrence didn't just shove her in a broom closet.  I liked her "transformation" and letting the handmaids go.  But someone really should have tied her and Peter up so they can't go screaming to others.  Especially Peter.  

I loved the scene with Serena and OfGabriel Christina.  OK, so Serena seems to have truly changed, at least as to her opinion about handmaids.  Not sure as for everything else. 

Did Serena and Wharton truly not eat any cake?   They would have to have had at least a few bites at the cake cutting, right?  I don't see how Rita would have let them get away with not eating any of it.  (By the way, Rita looked lovely.)

Was Serena's dress light blue?  Or was it just the lighting/my screen?  

Will the handmaids also kill the wives?  

I don't know if we've ever seen a full church scene before in this show, have we?  Are there no clergy at all?  Did they all end up on the wall or in the colonies?  I just always assumed a Gilead friendly/loyal clergy existed. 

 

[Black Knight]

Serena's speech to the handmaids at the wedding was hilariously awful. Oh, and Serena? "I had a handmaid, once." No, you had a handmaid TWICE. The first one killed herself. Serena's refusal to acknowledge the first handmaid, much less what happened to her, is telling. The rest of the speech was a combination of self-serving nonsense and clueless Savior shtick. I loved Rita's response.

And that clueless Savior shtick carried over into her meeting Christina. Telling Christina to run? Setting aside for the moment that it's pretty hard for handmaids to escape even under normal circumstances - Wharton and that guard were right there. Brilliant, Serena. Give yourself a pat on the back for "saving" this woman. And then, having imparted this easy-to-follow, spectacular advice, you peace outta there with your kid and leave her to Wharton. Truly a profile in courage and real caring. /wipes tear from eye

Janine should've been the one to have the main speech to Lydia instead of June, as Lydia is way more likely to listen to her, but June is the main character played by the lead actress, so here we are.

[AntFTW]

1 hour ago, chaifan said:

Not slitting Bell's throat from behind, but letting him say "June Osborne" WHILE HE'S ON THE FUCKING PHONE!!!  Killing him, WHILE HE'S ON THE FUCKING PHONE!!!  

Bell acted too calm for a person who encountered an intruder, a person they know is a threat, in his house.

7 hours ago, Helena Dax said:

However, I'm not gonna lie, I expected more blood. (And I thought Mayday was supposed to take advantage of the situation to do something),

Right? Wasn't the military supposed to come in or something?

[Black Knight]

56 minutes ago, AntFTW said:

Bell acted too calm for a person who encountered an intruder, a person they know is a threat, in his house.

He doesn't take women seriously, but also he was under the effects of the drug by that point.

56 minutes ago, AntFTW said:

Right? Wasn't the military supposed to come in or something?

I assume we'll see a lot more in the next episode. This one was basically the setup, with handing out the weapons and drugged cake. The handmaids who were in the Red Center are running loose now and the handmaids stationed in the houses are about to kill their Commanders. Then they all have to escape, and I assume Janine will want to grab her kid from the Lawrences. My guess is that Serena runs to the Lawrences' place too. Meanwhile Luke and Mayday are doing something with bombs, I believe, and yeah, some talk of military.

Was Christina at the wedding and is she part of the plan, I wonder. You'd think Wharton would have wanted her there more than any other handmaid, to witness the marriage (ugh) for which Christina is supposed to provide lots of children. If Christina was there, she has a weapon and knows an escape is underway, but she likely wouldn't be able to take out Wharton because he's not drugged. And since Serena essentially warned Wharton and the guard that she might try to escape, they've probably locked her in either way. Poor Christina will have to hope June stops by. Perhaps when they likely bump into each other at the Lawrences, Serena will mention the handmaid she left behind. June will want to retrieve this poor woman considered the most fertile in Gilead - I shudder to think how many pregnancies and Commanders she's had to endure.

Edited May 13 by Black Knight

[AntFTW]

Will June ever get Hannah back by the end of the season?

[AntFTW]

I never thought a piece of cake on the floor would draw someone attention so much to ask who sat in a particular spot. When Aunt Lydia asked the man "who sat there?" pointing to the benches where the handmaids were, I thought maybe someone had dropped one of the knives they were passing around and Lydia spotted a knife on the floor... but it was just a piece of cake.

The thing that draws her attention to inquire about who was sitting in that particular spot is a piece of cake on the floor. God forbid anyone drops cake around Lydia.

[PurpleTentacle]

"They used the colour of blood to mark us... They forgot that it's also the colour of rage." Oh come on writers, really? That's the best you could come up with? Even "They used the colour of blood to mark us... and now blood we shall have." would have been better. Not saying that would have been good, but less bad.

This plan had way too many moving parts. Why give out knives if they could have just poisoned all of them? Was it really a priority to spare the wives? Aren't most of them complicit and endorsing what their husbands are doing? I mean we basically saw that in Serena's little tea party a few episodes ago. The handmaids would know how these wives feel.

Killing somebody who is sleeping, in cold blood, with a knife, is hard. Like really hard. Even if the victim is a murderous rapist. Also none of the guardians or household staff were put to sleep. So even if all the handmaids were trained assisins, a lot of them would never get the opportunity to stab their commander. In reality I would expect about 2/3 of the commanders to survive the night. This plan sucked.

I guess we had to somehow construct a scenario where the handmaids are out and about to be caught by aunt Lydia. Eeverything to make this this thrilling and suspensfull. Logic be damned.

Edited May 13 by PurpleTentacle

[PurpleTentacle]

11 hours ago, Helena Dax said:

However, I'm not gonna lie, I expected more blood. (And I thought Mayday was supposed to take advantage of the situation to do something),

If I remember correctly, the US military is supposed to do something. I assume that's next episode. Though how a few dead commanders will help military action is beyond me.  I don't think those guys are actually running Gilead's military. Much less the guys in Boston.

6 hours ago, chaifan said:

Was Serena's dress light blue?  Or was it just the lighting/my screen?  

Not your screen. I guess it's a mix of the traditional white and the blue colour for the commanders wives.

5 hours ago, Black Knight said:

Janine should've been the one to have the main speech to Lydia instead of June, as Lydia is way more likely to listen to her, but June is the main character played by the lead actress, so here we are.

Absolute truth right here!

[chaifan]

19 minutes ago, PurpleTentacle said:

This plan sucked.

Yeah, there are a lot of holes if you think about it.  While I agree stabbing someone to death with those itty bitty knives would be hard, it would be easy to slit a neck.  Especially if someone's knocked out cold.  June's "stab 'em in the eye" approach was interesting.  Nice nod to one-eyed Janine. (Would that actually kill a man?)  Are the handmaids supposed to spare the wives?  

I have to assume the Marthas are all in on this (how else would each of the active handmaids been filled in on the plan), and they could cover for the handmaids while they're stabbing/slashing the Commanders.  It would have made more sense if they showed us a shot or two of Marthas using the same poison in the dinners of the Guardians, though.  Because how was June able to just waltz in to Bell's home, hang around for a few minutes watching him, kill him, have a drink, etc? 

It would have been great if when Janine came down, she just poured herself a drink and sat next to June, followed by a Martha doing the same.  A little clink of the glasses, then off to the Red Center...

I agree, I don't understand why they just didn't straight out lethally poison the cake.  Although there were a lot of Marthas and what looked like econo-people at the church, I don't remember seeing them at the reception.  They could have had the big fancy (poisoned) cake for the Commanders/Wives, and had the cheap (non-poisoned) sheet cake that is cut in the back for the rest of the guests.

Oh, and that reminds me... what a fugly cake that was!  What was that color - dark mauve?  ugh.  Was I the only one expecting the cake to blow up when Serena and Wharton cut into it?  

I do love how Serena holds herself out to be this new, modern defender of the handmaids, but still makes them sit in silence while everyone eats, drinks and dances.  They didn't get served dinner, and had to hold their cake on their laps.  How very generous of Serena.  But hey, at least she's now against ownership of human beings and forced rape.  That's progress, I guess.

My hope is that Lawrence finds Serena, and in his supremely snarky way gives her one hell of a "what the fuck did you expect to happen?" speech as she's crying about what a horrible man Wharton is.  And then he can throw her out of the car.  

 

 

[PurpleTentacle]

8 minutes ago, chaifan said:

While I agree stabbing someone to death with those itty bitty knives would be hard, it would be easy to slit a neck. 

I didn't mean physically. If somebody is drugged and out cold you could just stab as often as needed. I meant mentally. Killing another person in cold blood is hard to impossible for most people. Even if they hate them.

Come to think of it, why did they have to give out these itty bitty knives anyway? Seems like the handmaids can all walk around in those houses unhindered, because their commander is asleep. Couldn't they just go to the kitchen and get a real knife?

It doesn't make sense no matter how you look at it. Just because the commander is sleeping doesn't mean the handmaids would easily be able to get to them and if it does mean that, then why would they need to be supplied with knives?

21 minutes ago, chaifan said:

I have to assume the Marthas are all in on this (how else would each of the active handmaids been filled in on the plan), and they could cover for the handmaids while they're stabbing/slashing the Commanders.  It would have made more sense if they showed us a shot or two of Marthas using the same poison in the dinners of the Guardians, though.  Because how was June able to just waltz in to Bell's home, hang around for a few minutes watching him, kill him, have a drink, etc? 

That would have made more sense. But it's an awfull lot of people to keep a secret. Even with all the handmaids in on it it was a bit of a stretch.

Also then you don't need the wedding at all. Just coordinate it for a normal night and put that sleeping drug into everybody's dinner. Way less risk.

Kinda seems like the writers came up with the poisoned cake first, but then realised that that would yield less drama and that the handmaids wouldn't have anything to do and Lydia would have no way to catch them. So they worked backwards and made the plan stupider and stupider until they had all the elements they wanted in there, instead of coming up with something new.

18 minutes ago, chaifan said:

Because how was June able to just waltz in to Bell's home, hang around for a few minutes watching him, kill him, have a drink, etc? 

I just realised that problem too. There was just so many rapid fire problems in the episode that didn't even register at first.

[MBayGal]

They marched. They sat.  A sea of red.

June preached. June prattled. Soon my ears bled.

And where's sweet Hannah? Wed or dead?

Please end this soon! It strains my head.

[Black Knight]

1 hour ago, chaifan said:

Are the handmaids supposed to spare the wives?  

Probably, not so much because of the wives' guilt or lack thereof but because the optics would look bad for Mayday and the American-government-in-exile. The wives are complicit in varying degrees but they aren't part of Gilead government or military. Killing all the Commanders is one thing, killing civilian women married to Commanders is another. The former are legitimate military targets, the latter would be considered a war crime.

51 minutes ago, PurpleTentacle said:

I didn't mean physically. If somebody is drugged and out cold you could just stab as often as needed. I meant mentally. Killing another person in cold blood is hard to impossible for most people. Even if they hate them.

June did address this, I think, both in that opening monologue and when she spoke to Lydia. The handmaids have had so many awful things done to them that they are past the point where they can't do this kind of thing, murdering the men who raped them repeatedly. We've seen it before multiple times in the series, including at the very start when the handmaids ripped apart that guy, then when Emily ran over someone and later on stabbed Lydia hoping to kill her and still later yet killed that wife in the colonies, later when June and other handmaids killed Fred, and on and on. I think that's why the line you didn't like was phrased the way it was, about red being the color of rage. They're all so full of rage. The gentle ones are dead - they couldn't survive Gilead. Further, with all the executions and other atrocities they have witnessed in addition to enduring, they have become desensitized to violence.

Killing another person in cold blood is hard for most people, but these handmaids are not most people. Most people haven't lived through what these handmaids have.

[crashdown]

It's all too easy to peg Serena as a delusional narcissist and classify her attempts to improve as too little and too late, but I think her reaction to being presented with a handmaid (and honestly, I'm feeling pretty clever, because I predicted for awhile that this was going to be the Big Reveal) is both totally in character for her and genuinely beautiful. First of all, what she said to Wharton was a callback to the "No Man's Land" episode last season (5.07) when Noah as born:

Quote

Serena: And when she could no longer hide him, she built for him an arc of bulrushes and placed this child therein. Maybe I’m the arc, June. Maybe I’m the vessel. I carried my baby. I delivered him, and I held him. Maybe that’s all that was meant for me in this life. Maybe it’s God’s will.
June: God’s will? A vessel. That’s what you thought I was. What we were, who we were, where we came from, what we wanted, none of that mattered to you. To any of you. 
Serena: I’m so sorry.
June: I don’t care that you’re sorry. We mattered. We were—we are—people. We have lives. And that’s why I’m gonna save yours, Serena. Because this isn’t Gilead, and I am not you.

And here's what Serena said to Gabriel in 6.08:

Quote

Wharton: She will help us fulfill our duty to God, to bear fruit and multiply as our sacred vessel.
Serena: She’s not a vessel; she’s a human being.

Serena learned what June was trying to teach her, and she grew from it. Maybe it wouldn't be much for a normal person, but Serena is not a normal person. This is a big, giant freaking deal for Serena.

What makes me sad is that June doesn't know any of this, and she might not find out until after Serena is dead. I think one of two things will happen. Possibility #1: An extended death scene in which June manages to say--and maybe to feel--that she forgives Serena right before Serena dies, and Serena dies knowing that she got the one thing in the world that matters most to her. Or Possibility #2: Serena dies, and June doesn't find out how Serena now feels about handmaids until after it's too late. (I believe she'll find out through Serena's writings that she found--June will finally get to see the best of Serena instead of the worst through that manuscript.) I think this might be the direction they're going, and if so, it'll be super sad.

I would personally love Possibility #3--Serena lives, fights Gilead, and drops in occasionally to snark with June, but I'm not holding out much hope for that one.
 

[PurpleTentacle]

56 minutes ago, Black Knight said:

June did address this, I think, both in that opening monologue and when she spoke to Lydia. The handmaids have had so many awful things done to them that they are past the point where they can't do this kind of thing, murdering the men who raped them repeatedly. We've seen it before multiple times in the series, including at the very start when the handmaids ripped apart that guy, then when Emily ran over someone and later on stabbed Lydia hoping to kill her and still later yet killed that wife in the colonies, later when June and other handmaids killed Fred, and on and on. I think that's why the line you didn't like was phrased the way it was, about red being the color of rage. They're all so full of rage. The gentle ones are dead - they couldn't survive Gilead. Further, with all the executions and other atrocities they have witnessed in addition to enduring, they have become desensitized to violence.

Killing another person in cold blood is hard for most people, but these handmaids are not most people. Most people haven't lived through what these handmaids have.

I mean that's not how humans work. But fine, I guess we'll go with it if the writers insist that all the remaining handmaids are murder machines.

My gripes about the rest of the plan remain.

 

 

[bettername2come]

Rita looks lovely. As does her cake. Though even without poison that looked way too fondanty to taste any good. 

No! Lydia! What are you doing here, mucking everything up? I'm glad June got away from her. I appreciate that Lawrence said to give her fruit instead of cake. But D'Arcy Carden aunt will not be daunted. 

All right, everyone who called him having a handmaid and that being the straw that broke the camel's back, great work. "We'll try, but you're only one person." Ew. Yvonne Strahovski is such a good actor. Oh, I didn't think he would let her leave.

The handmaid's costume conceals Elisabeth Moss's pregnancy better than any other clothing this season.

Oh, Moira. Not being remembered by Aunt Lydia is sad. Nice little speech from June. But the only one who can truly reach Lydia is Janine. Though, I sort of expected that Janine/Lydia hug to end with one of them being stabbed. June never annoyed me this episode. It was wonderful.

[SharonH58]

OMG  That wasn't the last episode??   More???   I did think as a finale it was weak but I was excited thinking it was over.  But as an episode I thought it was weak.  Serene did look pretty in that dress.  The photography was great at the wedding but we still gotta look at June's face taken up our entire screen.

The rest was eh.   I'm glad Serena's eyes are open, AGAIN and I'm glad her husband did the opening.  HA HA  

[sadie]

So many plot holes. Serena’s story makes no sense. She had 100 handmaids at her wedding, so she was okay with the idea until it came into her house. Huh? What did she think those handmaids are for, oh yea, rape and forced pregnancy. But just not in her house. THATS a line too far for her? I hate her storyline and only a blind man didn’t see the evil reveal of Whartons nature. 
 

I thought the plan was dumb but I did love watching June stab that guy in the eye. 
 

I can’t stand Aunt Lydia, she’s a mean crazy loon, she was ready to whip those handmaids, but then June walks in and gives a speech and she’s all okay with them leaving. She already saw Janine imprisoned and being beaten and did NOTHING. I will not watch an Aunt Lydia spin off. 
 

I’ve loved this show, I hope they stick the landing but my expectations are pretty low.

[Haleth]

It would have been more fun if June had popped out of that ginormous cake with guns ablazing. 

[captain1]

I’m now convinced that Serena will die saving June.  And I’d be really happy if that’s what happens!

Edited Wednesday at 01:13 PM by captain1
Added to original post

[circumvent]

I wasn't bothered by the episode. The gaps in logic about the plan, the fact that the handmaids might even be able to kill but they all turned revolutionaries pretty quickly, and among all of them, not one dissenter to muddle the waters. I don't expect much form the writers so if they get the language and grammar correctly, that's a win.

Ironically, they all went from compliant vessels and victims of rape to compliant murderers following some plan they are not really privy abut. Ok, I just want this show to end.

I don't know if the idea the writers want to convey is that Lydia is slightly demented. That was hard to watch, in a cringy way.

To me, it looks like the writers are not satisfied having butchered the masterpiece Margaret Atwood wrote, they are already butchering the sequel, which itself is nothing but a badly written, hurried attempt to justify what Atwood allowed the producers to do with her book

 

Spoiler

It seems that they are setting up Serena to be the one that betrays the system in The Testaments, while they will just do away with the part of Lydia, the one who was the ultimate betrayer .

 

The direction was pretty good. The coreographed scenes were well done and had some impact. Not like the one on a past season when they are all outside and Hannah is kind of paraded, but it was well done. I guess they were trying to mask the weak script.

I did enjoy June stabbing Bell. Someone asked if a person can die that way bu tI don't know if it was addressed. Yes, they can. If the stab is deep enough it will reach the brain. How fast they die, I am not sure, but it can happen.

Serena delusional speech to the handmaids and June rolling her eyes was really good. I am not impressed by Elizabeth Moss and her acting or facial expressions but it really worked on that scene

Wasn't an explosion part of the plan? Maybe next episode?

Spoiler

and since The Testaments are coming up next, I guess it is safe to say that the whole thing, while "exciting", will end up being a failure

 

[Anela]

6 minutes ago, circumvent said:

I wasn't bothered by the episode. The gaps in logic about the plan, the fact that the handmaids might even be able to kill but they all turned revolutionaries pretty quickly, and among all of them, not one dissenter to muddle the waters. I don't expect much form the writers so if they get the language and grammar correctly, that's a win.

Ironically, they all went from compliant vessels and victims of rape to compliant murderers following some plan they are not really privy abut. Ok, I just want this show to end.

I don't know if the idea the writers want to convey is that Lydia is slightly demented. That was hard to watch, in a cringy way.

To me, it looks like the writers are not satisfied having butchered the masterpiece Margaret Atwood wrote, they are already butchering the sequel, which itself is nothing but a badly written, hurried attempt to justify what Atwood allowed the producers to do with her book

 

  Reveal spoiler

It seems that they are setting up Serena to be the one that betrays the system in The Testaments, while they will just do away with the part of Lydia, the one who was the ultimate betrayer .

 

The direction was pretty good. The coreographed scenes were well done and had some impact. Not like the one on a past season when they are all outside and Hannah is kind of paraded, but it was well done. I guess they were trying to mask the weak script.

I did enjoy June stabbing Bell. Someone asked if a person can die that way bu tI don't know if it was addressed. Yes, they can. If the stab is deep enough it will reach the brain. How fast they die, I am not sure, but it can happen.

Serena delusional speech to the handmaids and June rolling her eyes was really good. I am not impressed by Elizabeth Moss and her acting or facial expressions but it really worked on that scene

Wasn't an explosion part of the plan? Maybe next episode?

  Reveal spoiler

and since The Testaments are coming up next, I guess it is safe to say that the whole thing, while "exciting", will end up being a failure

 

This is why I wish they'd just put all of the episodes up at once. 

I also think 

Spoiler

that Lydia will be in the Testaments, because Ann Dowd was cast in the new show.  Serena could help, too, if she doesn't die.

 

[mytmo]

This cake looked more plausible than the one served

[AntFTW]

2 hours ago, sadie said:

So many plot holes. Serena’s story makes no sense. She had 100 handmaids at her wedding, so she was okay with the idea until it came into her house. Huh?

She didn’t want the handmaids at her wedding.  She was pressured into having a “traditional” Gilead wedding.

[Brn2bwild]

I'm most worried about Rita's survival. They'll know she drugged the cake. Hopefully she and her sister got out of there while the Commanders were all sleeping.

[AntFTW]

7 minutes ago, Brn2bwild said:

I'm most worried about Rita's survival. They'll know she drugged the cake. Hopefully she and her sister got out of there while the Commanders were all sleeping.

I'm thinking the dialogue between Nick and Rita was a mislead, and Nick ultimately got Rita and her sister out after the wedding.

[kitkat343]

21 hours ago, AntFTW said:

I never thought a piece of cake on the floor would draw someone attention so much to ask who sat in a particular spot. When Aunt Lydia asked the man "who sat there?" pointing to the benches where the handmaids were, I thought maybe someone had dropped one of the knives they were passing around and Lydia spotted a knife on the floor... but it was just a piece of cake.

The thing that draws her attention to inquire about who was sitting in that particular spot is a piece of cake on the floor. God forbid anyone drops cake around Lydia.

In our current society, absolutely.   But I was rewatching the first few seasons recently, and something that struck me throughout was the scarcity of food.  When the Mexican trade delegation visited, Fred asked about their crops and we learned that Mexico was having trouble with their harvests.   And then Fred showed off the fact that their home had oranges.  Janine told June in season one to make sure she gets her ice cream (just vanilla) if she's pregnant because that's the big perk you get for having a baby.

 Nick's first wife Eden said she'd never even seen a token for chocolate before in her life when she baked him cookies before he went to Canada as part of Fred's security detail.  In a society in which dessert is that rare, it would be a red flag to see a piece of cake on the floor (one would assume you'd be pretty careful with the first piece of cake you'd been served in a long time, and if you dropped it you would pick it up, cut off the parts that hadn't touched the ground and eaten those).  Someone noted on a previous forum that when Lydia brought Janine cookies and she tossed the room, she threw everything except the cookies.  Because food is valuable in this society.  There are, as always, a ton of plot holes in the Handmaid's tale, but that one I can accept.  

Edited Wednesday at 06:06 PM by kitkat343

[AntFTW]

9 minutes ago, kitkat343 said:

In our current society, absolutely.   But I was rewatching the first few seasons recently, and something that struck me throughout was the scarcity of food.  When the Mexican trade delegation visited, Fred asked about their crops and we learned that Mexico was having trouble with their harvests.   And then Fred showed off the fact that their home had oranges.  Janine told June in season one to make sure she gets her ice cream (just vanilla) after having a baby because she's entitled to it.  Nick's first wife Eden said she'd never even seen a token for chocolate before in her life when she baked him cookies before he went to Canada as part of Fred's security detail.  In a society in which dessert is that rare, it would be a red flag to see a piece of cake on the floor (one would assume you'd be pretty careful with the first piece of cake you'd been served in a long time, and if you dropped it you would pick it up, cut off the parts that hadn't touched the ground and eaten those).  Someone noted on a previous forum that when Lydia brought Janine cookies and she tossed the room, she threw everything except the cookies.  Because food is valuable in this society.  There are, as always, a ton of plot holes in the Handmaid's tale, but that one I can accept.  

That makes sense.

I'm unsure if that also applies to a room filled with the upper echelons of Gilead society who don't appear to have the same scarcity problems as others, and can afford to a little more wasteful. 🤔

[circumvent]

48 minutes ago, kitkat343 said:

In our current society, absolutely.   But I was rewatching the first few seasons recently, and something that struck me throughout was the scarcity of food.

Yes, it makes sense for the first season, it was the book. Nothing after that makes sense because the writers conveniently forget what they laid out a day ago and it all changes. Gilead is the best of the world in everything now. Originally, electricity was also scarce. I don't see anyone worry about that now. however many seasons in, and even more years after the first season, Gilead is not an anomaly anymore. It is just another authoritarian country that the world is willing to look away from - or look in to have diplomatic relationship with.

Why wasn't Nick murdered? Because they left New Bethlehem out of the attack? 

I will speculate that Lawrence will end up betraying the handmaids. Now that he is free from the threat of the wall, he will become the Highest Commander in Gilead. Maybe he will have to kill Serena's husband though

 

[tennisgurl]

They actually got me in the last episode, they tricked me into thinking something exciting was going to happen in this episode and we were actually going somewhere. I know we have a little time in this season left for shit to really go down, but I was expecting the wedding to go out with a bang, not a whimper. I wanted blood, I wanted explosions, I wanted a whole army to fuck their shit up, not more shots of June giving rambling monologues while walking in slow motion yet again. I better get some real drama before this season ends, something more exciting than a June speech. 

Serena really will never learn, she just cannot let it sink in that Gilead will never change and that it was never really about fertility. You would think that she, one of the architects of Gilead's rise, would know better, but I guess her denial and selfishness has kept her from acknowledging the truth. She at least put her foot down on the Handmaid, but its hilarious watching her shocked face as a Commander acts exactly like you expect a Commander to act. Of course even when she's making her big stand with poor Christina, she just tells her to leave the house, not thinking about where she is actually supposed to go in New Bethlehem in a place surrounded by guards. 

I did love June's expression when Serena was giving her "my handmaid and I were both at fault but now we're best friends and I'm an ally" speech to the silent handmaids who didn't even get dinner. She really does not get that, in the June VS Serena feud, June has the moral high ground every single time, no mean thing that June has said can be worse than what Serena has done. 

June's big speech to Aunt Lydia was good, but I wish it had been Janine, I could buy her turnaround a lot more. I do think that Aunt Lydia has been having doubts for awhile now, especially when she realized what was happening to Janine, but I would have liked just a little more of her feeling conflicted before this. I usually feel like Aunt Lydia might have more of a real redemption than Serena, mainly because most of Lydia's more likable moments are her showing sympathy for "her girls" while most times we're supposed to feel bad for Serena is because something bad happened to her. 

[crashdown]

31 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

Of course even when she's making her big stand with poor Christina, she just tells her to leave the house, not thinking about where she is actually supposed to go in New Bethlehem in a place surrounded by guards. 

She's not in New Bethlehem; she's in Boston. New Bethlehem is not surrounded by guards. Boston, however, is supposed to be, so your point still stands.

31 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

She really does not get that, in the June VS Serena feud, June has the moral high ground every single time, no mean thing that June has said can be worse than what Serena has done. 

To be fair, June murdered her husband, which earns quite a bit on the "mean thing" scale.

32 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

I usually feel like Aunt Lydia might have more of a real redemption than Serena, mainly because most of Lydia's more likable moments are her showing sympathy for "her girls" while most times we're supposed to feel bad for Serena is because something bad happened to her. 

Funny, I feel exactly the opposite way. I'm enthralled by Serena's redemption arc, and I'm bored out of my skull with Lydia's. Lydia has never been remotely interesting to me, and she has never been anything that could be described as "likable."

Spoiler

I really wish it her casting in The Testaments were not a fait accompli.  Serena would be much more interesting in that role, and then she wouldn't be dead.

 

Edited Wednesday at 09:24 PM by crashdown

[AntFTW]

6 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

They actually got me in the last episode, they tricked me into thinking something exciting was going to happen in this episode and we were actually going somewhere.

[Ceindreadh]

2 hours ago, circumvent said:

 

Why wasn't Nick murdered? Because they left New Bethlehem out of the attack? 

I will speculate that Lawrence will end up betraying the handmaids. Now that he is free from the threat of the wall, he will become the Highest Commander in Gilead. Maybe he will have to kill Serena's husband though

 

Nick doesn't have a handmaid in his house to kill him.  (pity)

 

[MBayGal]

Why were handmaids passing knives down the rows to each other?  Didn't each one already have a knife?  I think we saw that in more than one scene and it made no sense to me.

[Hanahope]

The Handmaids from the Red Center were passing the knives to the Handmaids that were posted in households, so they could use them to kill the commanders they were housed with after they fell asleep from the drugged cake.

 

 

[kitkat343]

2 hours ago, Hanahope said:

The Handmaids from the Red Center were passing the knives to the Handmaids that were posted in households, so they could use them to kill the commanders they were housed with after they fell asleep from the drugged cake.

 

 

And in the Commander's households in this show  and in the books, the Bible was kept under lock and key to make sure that only the Commander had access to the word of God.  If this series were based on logic and reasoning, we could assume that the knives and gardening equipment and other potential weapons are also locked away (and given the fact that a handmaid tried to kill herself by swallowing Drano, one would assume they'd give some thought to these things.). If all potential weapons are under lock and key, then the handmaids would need the weapons distributed by the revolutionaries.

Edited Thursday at 03:27 AM by kitkat343

[aghst]

This episode was ridiculous.

First June just casually walks into Bell’s home?  Why wasn’t there a guardian who didn’t have any wedding cake?

Then she accosts Bell and puts him away by stabbing his eye?  Unless that was a long dagger which pierced deep into the brain, it wouldn’t kill him.

Then the confrontation with Lydia.  Girls should have tore her and the guardian with their bare hands, if they still didn’t have knives, when they turned their heads to look at June while she speechified.

But she just lets them all go?  That’s her signing her death warrant.

Also in the previous episode they talked about the Handmaids attacking at the wedding and then the US military also attacking while the Gilead soldiers were pulled to be at the wedding.  Maybe it still happened and they just didn’t show it?

So it was up to the Handmaids with little knives taking out all the commanders?  Did they get all of them, including Nick?

It seemed like they weren’t too worried fleeing on foot when Lydia let them go.  Maybe US forces will pick them up?

Even if they killed all the Commanders or most of them presumably the Eyes and the Guardians take over and they still have a sizable military.

 

Serena being slapped with the cold hand of reality was funny.  Wharton said HE was the one deceived.  If he wanted to fuck Handmaids, why even court Serena?

Guess he has to be married?

Then why not just go to Jezebels and get his rocks off?

He was the one gaslighting her, not the other way around.  Serena made it clear she wasn’t interested in Gilead, only New Bethlehem.

But she had to know Wharton was the most hardcore among the Commanders so it’s absurd that she was so shocked.

 

 

[marinw]

So Prime decided to release all the episodes of the original Battlestar Glactica and I wanted to watch some of that more than this episode!

I wanted less talking and more stabbing. 

The person I care most about at this point is Aunt Janet.

I will say that the choreography of the handmaids walking around was very well done.

Edited Thursday at 11:57 AM by marinw

[Hanahope]

Wharton said he wanted a large family.  Not sure why he waited years to remarry, surely he could have found another younger woman more “manageable “ than Serena and still have his handmaid.  He clearly misread Serena.  
 

[PurpleTentacle]

On 5/15/2025 at 5:26 AM, kitkat343 said:

And in the Commander's households in this show  and in the books, the Bible was kept under lock and key to make sure that only the Commander had access to the word of God.  If this series were based on logic and reasoning, we could assume that the knives and gardening equipment and other potential weapons are also locked away (and given the fact that a handmaid tried to kill herself by swallowing Drano, one would assume they'd give some thought to these things.). If all potential weapons are under lock and key, then the handmaids would need the weapons distributed by the revolutionaries.

If this show was based on logic, or anything like it was in season 1, handmaids couldn't just wander around the house and stab anybody they like.

On the other hand we never saw knives being locked up. They seemed freely availible in the kitchen.

On 5/15/2025 at 1:45 PM, marinw said:

The person I care most about at this point is Aunt Janet.

Same!

[Kel Varnsen]

Why did June have to go to the wedding? Consider nothing actually happened there it seems like Gilead public enemy number one being there is a huge unnecessary risk. 

I also thought this episode could have used a bit more action. Maybe show those other handmaids killing the people in their houses. Otherwise I felt like Milhouse wondering when they were going to get to the fireworks factory. 

June killing Bell was nice though. It would have been cool if she had mentioned that she picked up a few extra weapons at his house. Since you know that guy has guns on the wall.

Also nice Nazi-looking limosine Wharton.

On 5/13/2025 at 10:58 AM, chaifan said:

I don't know if we've ever seen a full church scene before in this show, have we?  Are there no clergy at all?  Did they all end up on the wall or in the colonies?  I just always assumed a Gilead friendly/loyal clergy existed. 

 

I was wondering about that. I remember in early seasons they talked about rounding up Catholics and Jews. But they were in what looked like a high church so there must have been some sort of religious group that went along with them.

On 5/13/2025 at 6:18 PM, PurpleTentacle said:

Also then you don't need the wedding at all. Just coordinate it for a normal night and put that sleeping drug into everybody's dinner. Way less risk.

Didn't they mention that in the previous episode that in general commander food gets tested. But for the wedding there would be so much security and Serena would want her perfect that they would have to let their guard down. Although that leads to a hilarious trope where it is apparently just that easy to poison a cake so that everyone who eats it falls asleep. You never get some big guy who has a weird tolerance level and is fine or someone who has like 4 pieces and it kills them.