S03.E07: Under His Eye

[AnswersWanted]

Quote

“June escalates her risky efforts to find Hannah; Emily must face her past crimes as the ongoing international diplomatic crisis becomes more complicated; Serena and Fred contemplate their future in Washington.”

[chocolatine]

I've felt so detached from this show this season that I haven't wanted to comment on any episode until this one, but June attacking a pregnant handmaid in public and knowing that she'll get away with it - because she's the protagonist - is just too ridiculous. We just saw several handmaids being "salvaged" for what I'm sure were far lesser crimes, but June can apparently do no wrong. Why, because she's birthed a child? So has Janine, and she's been treated much more harshly. Because she's Lawrence's handmaid? I don't buy that any commander has *that* much power. It just makes no sense that June would still be alive, she's so much more trouble than she's worth. This June is the polar opposite of Offred in the source material, who knew how to fly under the radar to maximize her chance of survival.

The only scenes I enjoy anymore are the ones of Moira and Emily in Canada.

Edited July 3, 2019 by chocolatine

[AnswersWanted]

Honestly I am puzzled, how can an episode be both so underwhelming and over the top with stupidity at every turn? 

How nice of them to show us Serena’s tour of a home once owned by a happy family that was ripped apart and decimated thanks to her.

Maybe she’ll honor them by naming her next kid Phoebe, wouldn’t that just be so adorable? 

I hate you, show, straight up hate you. 

Fred needs to die. 

His and Serena’s dinner date and dance bit was worthless to me.

So Canada is totally caving and a bullshit treaty is in the works for “reasons”, what fantastic news... I hate everything. 

Commander Keller is super randy, holy shit, he was basically ready to molest Fred right in the middle of everybody. He wants it bad apparently. Meloni deserves so much better than being portrayed like this. 

June is a fucking MORON, full stop.

Of course she wasn’t caught or anything, that’s obviously not possible, even when she’s choking out another handmaid in full sight of everyone, most with guns at that but I guess the guards are all afraid of her now, but she may as well have just worn a rope loop around her neck this entire episode.

If she wants so badly to die without succeeding at her grand scheme then can we just get it all over with? Does she not remember that Hannah would very possibly tell her new “parents” she saw her again? Yeah, who could have guessed such a halfassed, ill advised plan would fall apart almost immediately.  

She has known from the beginning that new handmaid pal of hers was a total nark for Gilead, and they were so obvious in the store with their “secret messages”....like fucking really? 

She got that Martha killed, straight up killed. That makes how many lives now June’s selfish, self centered actions have destroyed? I am over this. 

Done, I am just done. Not even the Emily and Moira sightings could save this episode for me, not even a tiny bit.

'The Handmaid's Tale' Season 3, Episode 7 Review: 'Under His Eye' Fails To Impress

This article sums up all the other criticisms I have.

Edited July 3, 2019 by AnswersWanted

[Umbelina]

So, the DC wives are banging the guards?  AND, they are talking about it among themselves?

DC is far more interesting than Boston.

Serena touring that house reminded me of June finding the slaughter in the Boston Globe offices.  Credit where credit is due, that was a powerful scene.

They better not be getting Moira and Emily together as a couple, good friends?  Hell yes.  Emily spitting from her wife though?  Would be very sad.

So, it's not just about Holly Nicole.  Gilead is trying to get Canada to enter into a treaty that would allow them to extradite anyone who is, or was, a Gilead citizen?  Wow.

I'd be leaving Canada ASAP if I were a refugee.  Head to Alaska or Hawaii or France...anyplace.

June should be in for some major punishment now.  Woo.  More torture.

Edited July 3, 2019 by Umbelina

[rideashire]

I found this ep okay enough, until they hung the martha and left June untouched. I know they don't want to kill the star of their show but holy shit she didn't even get a slap on the wrist for conspiring to steal back her kid? Meanwhile, the martha is hung. Makes no sense.

I really like Lawrence's wife. I hope nothing bad happens to her. She's a little off her meds but she tried to help June in her half baked plan, called her by her real name and even apologized afterward like it was all her fault (which it's not). She's a good, if confused, egg and I'm rooting for her. Thankfully her husband actually seems to love her or she'd be screwed.

[Brn2bwild]

Damn, Ofmatthew.

Then again, why should June be surprised?  That's what handmaid walking partners are SUPPOSED to do.  They're never supposed to feel safe.    

I'm surprised that whole group (Alma, etc.) wasn't rounded up and forced onto that platform.  I'm also surprised that hanging punishment wasn't used for Janine 1-2 seasons earlier (so stoning is out of fashion?).

I'm glad to see Moira and Emily getting some decent screen time.  I'd rather watch their storyline.  I liked the scene with them bonding about who they killed.

[AnswersWanted]

29 minutes ago, chocolatine said:

I've felt so detached from this show this season that I haven't wanted to comment on any episode until this one, but June attacking a pregnant handmaid in public and knowing that she'll get away with it - because she's the protagonist - is just too ridiculous. We just saw several handmaids being "salvaged" for what I'm sure were far lesser crimes, but June can apparently do no wrong. Why, because she's birthed a child? So has Janine, and she's been treated much more harshly. Because she's Lawrence's handmaid? I don't buy that any commander has *that* much power. It just makes no sense that June would still be alive, she's so much more trouble than she's worth. This June is the polar opposite of Offred in the source material, who knew how to fly under the radar to maximize her chance of survival.

Couldn’t say it any better myself.

June has become the ultimate Mary Sue for this show. She is untouchable, the most that might happen to her is another feet beating.

It’s obvious they knew that Martha was trying to do June a favor, June the escape artist, June the rebel, June the runaway, but all they do is hang her “partner in crime” as her punishment. The same way they killed the husband who tried to help her escape, made the mother a handmaid, and gave their baby away. June however just gets to feel bad about it. 

No wonder the Martha in Lawrence’s house avoided trying to help her, helping June always gets the other person/s killed, it’s not worth it. 

Also, what the hell is June even going to do now? Hannah’s been moved, the only link she had to her, who actually was willing to help her when she could, is now dead, and she has no more sway with the Waterford’s. Lawrence hasn’t exactly proven eager to help her reclaim the kid, so what was the point other than to prove June never learns, also she will never, ever die. 

Is she supposed to actually be making a plan for a real escape attempt anymore? Have they just forgotten that part of her staying in Gilead? She decided to throw everything away so she could touch a goddamn wall and weep.

I thought it was bad enough in episode 1 when she snuck into Hannah’s room and merely knelt and cried at her bedside. June’s goals keep flip flopping and it’s asinine for a woman who, at this point, should just plain know better.

Where is her common sense? She’s not new to this world, she’s acting like a child herself, focused only on immediate gratification that is fleeting.

Thanks, show. I’m floored at how terrible each episode gets. 

Edited July 3, 2019 by AnswersWanted

[Umbelina]

Was that the first time we've heard that Moira killed a Commander (her John presumably the owner of the car she stole?) 

[Souris]

This season is so disappointing. I loved the first two seasons, but this season is not good. I feel like they have zero plan or end game in mind, so they’re just spinning their wheels. There’s no narrative flow or progress anymore. It’s becoming more and more ridiculous that June isn’t dead or in the Colonies. How did she not get even one harsh word from Commander Lawrence for getting his wife in that situation?? This season is making me so sad.

I cannot possibly convey how little I wanted to see Serena and Fred dancin’ and romancin’ one another. Ugh. 

That said, I’m actually looking forward to next week.

LYDIA BACKSTORY OMG FINALLY!!!!

[tennisgurl]

At this point, they might as well just give June a cape and have her flying around with super strength while giving Fred a wedgie in the air, that’s how realistic things have gotten. This show has lost all tension because we know that no main character will suffer real consequences. Some minor characters might, but June can’t be bothered with that, she has to make time to glare defiantly into the camera again! 

[AnswersWanted]

18 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

At this point, they might as well just give June a cape and have her flying around with super strength while giving Fred a wedgie in the air, that’s how realistic things have gotten. This show has lost all tension because we know that no main character will suffer real consequences. Some minor characters might, but June can’t be bothered with that, she has to make time to glare defiantly into the camera again! 

Speaking of caped crusaders, Superman, for example, at least was vulnerable to kryptonite.

An alien who was practically invincible to anything still had a chink in his armor, a weakness that could be exploited and used against him. 

June has none, absolutely none, and this show openly seeks to rubs it in the viewers’ faces every chance they get.

We have passed the point of plot armor, we’re in imaginary, fairytale, folklore territory.

Not even the best superhuman imaginable has been written out like June.

They can trip, stumble, be caged, caught, fail, even be killed. This chick? She’s a god frankly, that’s how they’re writing her out to be.

It’s so far beyond ludicrous right now, I cannot even really enjoy ripping the writing apart because, to me, this isn't storytelling anymore, it's lazy, uninspired, rubbish.

Edited July 3, 2019 by AnswersWanted

[lavenderblue]

Go to hell, June.

I assume we're supposed to be sympathetic to her obsessive need to "help" Hannah by selfishly indulging her own desires by barging in over and over again, endangering others in the process every effing time, but no. June did nothing wrong! It was just Ofmatthew who was at fault. Nothing bad at all came of this dumbass lark outside of her snitching.

[ferjy]

These writers are morons. I take back my comment that it must be their children writing the scripts. I have no doubt in my mind the kids could do a far better job of it. 

[DiabLOL]

So that poor Martha died horribly, not because she was trying to save an innocent child but because June wanted to pop in and freak out her daughter for a few minutes?

For me, this was the worst ep to date. I think the writers are flailing. What a mess.

The scene where the "two thieves" (as the writer of the linked article above perfectly calls them), walked through the ghoulishly abandoned home? This is what this show had to offer from the start. This has been going on since the dawn of time so why not explore this more? Why not present us with deeper more focused psychological exploration of this sort of thing?

Which brings me to something that's been driving me nuts since I guess the middle of season two. Why aren't the victims of Gilead angrier?! Seriously. I don't mean the end stage beaten down victims or the ones in the colonies but we keep seeing scenes of survivors who sure have plenty of emotional damage but are physically ok. Tonight we saw the angry outburst that landed Moira and Emily in jail but I really don't understand. It's just not enough. This all happened during a relatively short period of time between social peers and suddenly they take your children and enslave you and abuse you. I'm not seeing enough outrage and elaboration, Glowering June and all that just isn't conveying the dialogue necessary about what's going on.

Also I'm sick of not knowing what the bizarro deal with Lawrence is. It's like he's a completely different person in every episode now and I have no clue what his problem is. June told the doomed Martha that he'd get EVERYBODY out of Gilead! 

[PepSinger]

It’s sad that Hannah has lost someone else she loves and trusts.

[ferjy]

3 hours ago, AnswersWanted said:

I guess the guards are all afraid of her now

Snort. Almost spit out my teeth reading that. But then, I can’t blame them for being afraid of that gargoyle face she puts on, it could scare the paint off the walls. Honestly, there were at least 3 guards up top, and they all missed it? What were they doing, cloud gazing?

[trinistyles]

1 hour ago, Umbelina said:

Was that the first time we've heard that Moira killed a Commander (her John presumably the owner of the car she stole?) 

Indeed... In season 1??? They only showed the toilet shive when he calls, then blood on her hands in the G-Wagon Benz Jeep...

1 hour ago, Umbelina said:

So, the DC wives are banging the guards?  AND, they are talking about it among themselves?

DC is far more interesting than Boston.

Serena touring that house reminded me of June finding the slaughter in the Boston Globe offices.  Credit where credit is due, that was a powerful scene.

They better not be getting Moira and Emily together as a couple, good friends?  Hell yes.  Emily spitting from her wife though?  Would be very sad.

So, it's not just about Holly Nicole.  Gilead is trying to get Canada to enter into a treaty that would allow them to extradite anyone who is, or was, a Gilead citizen?  Wow.

I'd be leaving Canada ASAP if I were a refugee.  Head to Alaska or Hawaii or France...anyplace.

June should be in for some major punishment now.  Woo.  More torture.

All this!!!

Serena's new love interest... (Too bad Nick is a Commander now, would have loved to see that!!! It's only sex between those 2!!!) Hopefully no pregos, doubt it with status, quo plus probability of biological compatibility with new beau... (Hmmm... Annie/Luke)

I think she started recording @ the Globe in addition to research... She would think of using that in the future too like she did a few episodes ago w/Luke... All those reporters had tape recorders n personal items, she watched Friends, easy to find/dubb a few cassette tapes, (the Chandler/Janice tape)... then the guy finds it in the research stuff she told him she had upstairs, takes it to Mayday, then they smuggle it Underground Frailroad/Female Road/Black Market/Rachael's Package style to Maine for possible crossing to air another Handmaid account???

Muzzle!!! Vow of silence??? w/rings??? Lawrences wouldn't force it on June now... Definitely, think other wives like Puttnum would on their respective Handmaids... Recap: If Serena had made June get rings, June would "never" get the chance to let Serena burn!!! That mouth!!! The power of life n death!!!

Extradition!!! Paper nooses antonym from a Canada scene in season 1??? may come to fruition... Read those nooses in Gilead r paper thin... Oops, w/extradition treaty the treaty becomes a paper noose producing expecting nooses that r real n deadly... No one wants to anger a neighbor with a Nuclear Arsenal!!!

June thinking of Ofglen, "She is my spy, & I am her's..." 

Aunt Lydia saved June probably for her, Lydia's, own sake, that's her job to spy on June through Ofmatthew... Thankfully no one important saw June choking Ofmatthew, didn't hear any gunshots... Ofmatthew definitely gonna complain to Aunt Lydia though... What will be the consequences???

Loved the "prom" sequence w/that intimate sexy tango??? Thelma (Serena) is smokin'!!! Those gloves too, OMG!!! Nice!!!

Seems like with the McKenzies gone, June's best bet is to bounce from Gilead now w/o Hannah 😢... Collect Luke, Moira, Emily, "Erin" (character using actress's name, wished they named the character), Holly, n the gang n jet to Europe, staying quiet... Else if she goes public, expect parts of Hannah sealed in coffee cans to arrive via mail, (would explain her silence), per epilogue...

[ferjy]

39 minutes ago, PepSinger said:

It’s sad that Hannah has lost someone else she loves and trusts.

I felt so bad for that Martha, who June pressured into getting involved in her harebrained scheme. The show runners obviously wanted us to be enraged at OfHandmaidPartnerChickWhoseNameICan’t Remember, Aunt Lydia, or other powers that be, but it’s June I was furious with. She should have looked devastated when she saw what she had caused. But no, the same sour expression as usual. Ha, I doubt she’ll get help from any Martha now. News of the June-curse spreading. Lawrence’s Martha has got her number. That bit of info is the first thing she should push through the Underground Martha Network.

[goldilocks]

Superhandmaid! I thought she was going to fly over the wall and land at Hannah’s feet. They’ll have to expand the wings of her headpiece like the Flying Nun’s. 

[ferjy]

4 hours ago, AnswersWanted said:

Speaking of caped crusaders, Superman, for example, at least was vulnerable to kryptonite.

An alien who was practically invincible to anything still had a chink in his armor, a weakness that could be exploited and used against him. 

June has none, absolutely none, and this show openly seeks to rubs it in the viewers’ faces every chance they get.

We have passed the point of plot armor, we’re in imaginary, fairytale, folklore territory.

Not even the best superhuman imaginable has been written out like June.

They can trip, stumble, be caged, caught, fail, even be killed. This chick? She’s a god frankly, that’s how they’re writing her out to be.

It’s so far beyond ludicrous right now, I cannot even really enjoy ripping the writing apart because, to me, this isn't storytelling anymore, it's lazy, uninspired, rubbish.

I was in a movie theater one day watching a James Bond film where he was fulfilling one of his inevitable fantastical feats and someone in the audience called out in exasperation “Oh come on!” That was my reaction in this episode. How, in any world, let alone Gilead, can June get away with near choking another person and freely stomping away. Even in our world she may have been thrown in the slammer overnight. In Gilead there would be a severe punishment if not outright death sentence. How did these writers miss that crucial point? I’m flabbergasted. 

[alexvillage]

5 hours ago, AnswersWanted said:

Honestly I am puzzled, how can an episode be both so underwhelming and over the top with stupidity at every turn? 

How nice of them to show us Serena’s tour of a home once owned by a happy family that was ripped apart and decimated thanks to her.

Maybe she’ll honor them by naming her next kid Phoebe, wouldn’t that just be so adorable? 

I hate you, show, straight up hate you. 

Fred needs to die. 

His and Serena’s dinner date and dance bit was worthless to me.

So Canada is totally caving and a bullshit treaty is in the works for “reasons”, what fantastic news... I hate everything. 

Commander Keller is super randy, holy shit, he was basically ready to molest Fred right in the middle of everybody. He wants it bad apparently. Meloni deserves so much better than being portrayed like this. 

June is a fucking MORON, full stop.

Of course she wasn’t caught or anything, that’s obviously not possible, even when she’s choking out another handmaid in full sight of everyone, most with guns at that but I guess the guards are all afraid of her now, but she may as well have just worn a rope loop around her neck this entire episode.

If she wants so badly to die without succeeding at her grand scheme then can we just get it all over with? Does she not remember that Hannah would very possibly tell her new “parents” she saw her again? Yeah, who could have guessed such a halfassed, ill advised plan would fall apart almost immediately.  

She has known from the beginning that new handmaid pal of hers was a total nark for Gilead, and they were so obvious in the store with their “secret messages”....like fucking really? 

She got that Martha killed, straight up killed. That makes how many lives now June’s selfish, self centered actions have destroyed? I am over this. 

Done, I am just done. Not even the Emily and Moira sightings could save this episode for me, not even a tiny bit.

'The Handmaid's Tale' Season 3, Episode 7 Review: 'Under His Eye' Fails To Impress

This article sums up all the other criticisms I have.

From the article:

"Nevertheless, the Swiss diplomats are interviewing Emily, asking her about anything she might have done that the Gileadean state would view as a crime. Gilead is attempting to paint the refugees as criminals rather than refugees so that they can be extradited and tried (or returned to slavery, rape and torture)." 

To answer the part in bold - existing as a woman. Gilead sees women as criminals. What a travesty, the writers are not even pretending there is a great book they are supposedly expanding on.

4 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

This show has lost all tension because we know that no main character will suffer real consequences.

Exactly! They are writing the show to please an audience and maybe the main actress/executive producer (I guess some people like this crap still), not to tell a story. 

3 hours ago, DiabLOL said:

The scene where the "two thieves" (as the writer of the linked article above perfectly calls them), walked through the ghoulishly abandoned home? This is what this show had to offer from the start. This has been going on since the dawn of time so why not explore this more? Why not present us with deeper more focused psychological exploration of this sort of thing?

Agree. The place is a dystopia, supposed to be, not a Marvel Universe with Super!June! still alive and well.

So, Canada and the rest of the world is simply going to send Emily back to appease a place that abuses and kills women and dissidents, a cultist place, because they have too much power, a power they never used but will now because a baby was "kidnapped" by a women who was mutilated for being a lesbian? 

Instead of getting all the refugees and all the rest of the world because there are dissidents to every dictatorship somewhere to rise up and create an international crisis, they will just punish the victim? I mean, I know I am talking logic and there are atrocities that the world does keep silent about but accepting refugees and then returning them because they are afraid of the same possible threat that existed before they started accepting refugees? 

Another thing that the show could explore: Hannah was young when she was kidnapped. Her brain was growing at a fast pace. It is likely that she is forgetting June, getting settled on the life she has a happy. It is heartbreaking to think about this but it happens. It is happening now, kids at the border separated and being adopted by religious families without a possibility of seeing their parents again. The young ones will forget where they came from. But I would love to see Hannah flat out tell June to fuck off under his eye and run away to her not mother.

[Armchair Critic]

Once again June gets other people who helped her killed and she skates. 🙄

[The Mighty Peanut]

What else can I say that hasn't already been said? I'm just a little sad, tbh. It's only a tv show, but at one point it was so good and now it's fading/faded. I feel like I'm watching the last breaths of someone dying at a young age.

Does anyone remember the underpants gnomes from South Park? They had an equation, steal underpants + ? = profit. This is June. See Hannah + ? = freedom for all. While she's executing an incomplete, bad math plan, the people around her are actually being executed. Let me be the umpteenth voice to say I get June is the star, but seriously she should be dead by now. She tried to murder a handmaid in plain site ffs. That being said...if we have to suffer through her staring bitterly at Lawrence after a torture session, I will probably try to murder a handmaid (June) through the tv.

[jenn31]

I could repeat everything everyone has already pointed out but quite frankly, I’m speechless. Can’t get my jaw off the floor, it dropped so hard.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Ugh, watching Fred and Serena make goo goo eyes at each other made me want to barf.

[revbfc]

Are they building up to something soon?  The helplessness of everyone is getting a little tedious and looks like filler.  

[Baltimore Betty]

1 hour ago, alexvillage said:

So, Canada and the rest of the world is simply going to send Emily back to appease a place that abuses and kills women and dissidents, a cultist place, because they have too much power, a power they never used but will now because a baby was "kidnapped" by a women who was mutilated for being a lesbian? 

I do agree that if the baby gets sent back it will open the flood gates for all the people that escaped from Gilead, Emily would have to stand trial in Gilead, hah, trial, I mean go straight to the gallows.  The ironic thing is that we see the Handmaids hang lots of people and that is sanctified killings by Gilead.

June gets very physical with her pregnant walking friend who turned in the Mayday Martha and others in the household for supposedly endangering a child.  Aunt Lydia or any guards did not see or hear any of that?  That Handmaid could end June with just a word, June is an idiot.

How is June still alive?

[howivesforever]

30 minutes ago, revbfc said:

Are they building up to something soon?  The helplessness of everyone is getting a little tedious and looks like filler.  

I loved seasons one and two but this season seems so ridiculous with Canada offering refuge for people who escaped Gilead but will now possibly send them back.  The fact that June a lowly handmaid whose broken so many rules can essentially do whatever she wants and nothing happens to her also seems so unbelievable. I’m about ready to quit watching.

Edited July 3, 2019 by howivesforever

[funnygirl]

I am long past having sympathy for June getting Hannah back. Her quest keeps hurting people. She should've escaped with Holly/Nichole when she had the chance, and then somehow try to fight for Hannah while safe in Canada with her husband and friends who could help. 

The stakes are no longer high for when she does something out of line. They aren't going to kill the protagonist, so what is this all really for anymore? June keeps getting chances and she keeps screwing up. 

Edited July 3, 2019 by funnygirl

[Brn2bwild]

1 hour ago, howivesforever said:

I loved seasons one and two but this season seems so ridiculous with Canada offering refuge for people who escaped Gilead but will now possibly send them back.  The fact that June a lowly handmaid whose broken so many rules can essentially do whatever she wants and nothing happens to her also seems so unbelievable. I’m about ready to quit watching.

Before this season, I thought one thing that could drive up tension would be that the Canadian government changed and had become more conservative, thus more willing to bargain with Gilead.  That would make their altered approach now make sense.  But we don't have that explanation -- just the Canadian government decided to act like cowards.

[jcin617]

And unless there's some strong anti-American refugee sentiment in Canada we haven't been shown, we're supposed to assume Canadian citizens are going to be totally cool with thousands of Americans being rounded up and shipped out?  Ugh, this show is starting to be a chore to watch.

[HollyG]

5 hours ago, ferjy said:

I was in a movie theater one day watching a James Bond film where he was fulfilling one of his inevitable fantastical feats and someone in the audience called out in exasperation “Oh come on!” That was my reaction in this episode. How, in any world, let alone Gilead, can June get away with near choking another person and freely stomping away. Even in our world she may have been thrown in the slammer overnight. In Gilead there would be a severe punishment if not outright death sentence. How did these writers miss that crucial point? I’m flabbergasted. 

haha.. that reminds me of seeing "Looking For Mr. Goodbar" at the movie theater years ago. The ending was so horrific that you could have heard a pin drop. Then all of a sudden a guy loudly said "oh shit"! That broke the stunned silence & tension and everyone started laughing. I recognize that LFMG was based on true events which were horrific, not a silly stunt by a James Bond actor, but sometimes scenes beg for commentary. A lot of this season has been eye rolly. 🙄

[kieyra]

Asking because I don’t watch anymore —

Canada is actually going to send Emily back to Gilead?

If the show follows through with that, I wonder how many other people will quit watching. 

[Anela]

21 minutes ago, kieyra said:

Asking because I don’t watch anymore —

Canada is actually going to send Emily back to Gilead?

If the show follows through with that, I wonder how many other people will quit watching. 

I stopped watching again, because they won't leave her alone, and June is now getting people killed. Haven't watched for two or three weeks, and don't plan to, if they go that route.

Edited July 3, 2019 by Anela

[AnswersWanted]

15 minutes ago, kieyra said:

Asking because I don’t watch anymore —

Canada is actually going to send Emily back to Gilead?

If the show follows through with that, I wonder how many other people will quit watching. 

They are definitely laying the groundwork for it. 

Gilead has managed to get Canada seriously discussing an extradition treaty between their nations, using baby Holly as the driving force.

Plus they have officially filed all of Emily's so called "criminal acts" with Canada, meaning she could be a potential first sacrificial lamb if the treaty is put in place.

Frankly after this train wreck of an episode, I really don't know if I can hold out much longer myself. I am trying to make it to the finale, just to see where things will stand, but at this point...I'm weary. 

[sadie]

Knowing what we know from flashbacks in season1, any Giliad refuge seeing that Canada is even leaning towards talks with Giliad about said refugees, these people should be high tailing it out of there. They did such a good job in season 1 showing the slow changes in America and how it crept up on these people little by little (women couldn’t work, they could no longer have money, people met you at the hospital to question your child’s care) until BAM they were being chased thru the woods and taken prisoner. But now I’m Supposed to believe these same people are doing the same thing AGAIN this time it’s just the Canada version. I would be scared out of my mind and would be catching the next plane to Safe America stat. Not these folks, just hang out Emily and see how it goes. To say it’s bad writing is a understatement.

Edited July 3, 2019 by sadie

[Penman61]

There's really no point in analyzing the plot or characters of this hilariously preposterous show, so how about we take a poll instead:

Which of these monuments/wonders does Elisabeth Moss's eternally downturned frowny frown most resemble?

1) The Sydney Harbour Bridge

2) The Houston Astrodome

3) Arches Monument

4) The Gateway Arch

Edited July 3, 2019 by Penman61

[Ms Blue Jay]

14 hours ago, chocolatine said:

The only scenes I enjoy anymore are the ones of Moira and Emily in Canada.

And how about the ending credits with the Fiona Apple song?  😁😁😁😁😁😁  That was good.

It was so cool/creepy to see all these locations on this show filmed in my "backyard".

That office where Emily was getting questioned looked ALARMINGLY like an office I've worked in.  We had that same kick-ass view.

And man, people go figure-skating and shopping (and celebrate the Raptors' championship) where people are getting hung, man.  Not cool!

I find the actor who plays the Martha/cook that lives with June very sexy.

Alexis Bledel is so beautiful!

Edited July 3, 2019 by Ms Blue Jay

[Ms Blue Jay]

Guys you will enjoy this viral tweet, I think.  31,000 Likes and counting:

Edited July 3, 2019 by Ms Blue Jay

[Ms Blue Jay]

6 hours ago, revbfc said:

Are they building up to something soon?  The helplessness of everyone is getting a little tedious and looks like filler.  

Haha.  This applies to so many episodes.

[Umbelina]

10 hours ago, Armchair Critic said:

Once again June gets other people who helped her killed and she skates. 🙄

That Martha wanted to escape as well.  Other than that, why was she helping June AT ALL?  She must be part of some kind of resistance herself to have even assisted in letting June see her.  Nick knew her right?  So?

June didn't kill her.  Gilead did.  For the crime of having sympathy for a mother who wants to save her daughter from the horrors of Gilead, horrors that will have her daughter be not only unable to read, but married off to a stranger at 14 years old or so.

How dare June risk lives, including her own, just to save her daughter?  June could already be safe if she's just let her daughter rot in Gilead. 

Honestly, is that what this has come to for viewers?  Anger because a mother didn't abandon her daughter, and more anger because she's still trying to save her?

That's some damn bad writing there, or a comment on TV watchers.  Or both.

8 hours ago, revbfc said:

Are they building up to something soon?  The helplessness of everyone is getting a little tedious and looks like filler.  

I have very little faith in the writers, last season blew, and this season jumped several sharks with the (otherwise, oddly entertaining) Washington episode.

My GUESS is that June is severely punished for both taking Mrs. Lawrence to that school and for attacking a pregnant housemaid.   If the show was in better hands, it would also contain June from obviously having contact with resistance members (that Martha, and obviously they hung that "friendly" guard at the school as well.)

In better hands, and without making June an idiot, the whole school thing could have just been a reconnaissance "walk" which would make sense.  Get a look at the place that might be an easier snatch place for June than Hannah's house.  But now.  These writers had to have June clutching at the wall for a good cinematography minute.  Looks over substance is their thing.  sigh

My further guess is one of two options.

1. Lawrence saves her again because his wife begs him to, or because after the shocks the wife does improve a bit from her outing.

2.  Lawrence dumps her, and FRED or Gilead save her for optics during this baby case, which is really a case for extradition of whomever Gilead wants back.  So, she's back with Fred, only now in DC.

Neither is appealing.  However, I'd prefer DC over Boston.

5 hours ago, kieyra said:

Asking because I don’t watch anymore —

Canada is actually going to send Emily back to Gilead?

If the show follows through with that, I wonder how many other people will quit watching. 

Gilead doesn't give a shit about one baby.  It's a ploy to get an extradition treaty back in force with Canada.  Holly is being used for that.  So?  Doubtful, at least for a while.

It should open up the Hannah issue though, if they let Luke have a brain.

3 hours ago, sadie said:

Knowing what we know from flashbacks in season1, any Giliad refuge seeing that Canada is even leaning towards talks with Giliad about said refugees, these people should be high tailing it out of there. They did such a good job in season 1 showing the slow changes in America and how it crept up on these people little by little (women couldn’t work, they could no longer have money, people met you at the hospital to question your child’s care) until BAM they were being chased thru the woods and taken prisoner. But now I’m Supposed to believe these same people are doing the same thing AGAIN this time it’s just the Canada version. I would be scared out of my mind and would be catching the next plane to Safe America stat. Not these folks, just hang out Emily and see how it goes. To say it’s bad writing is a understatement.

I agree.

As I said in my first post here, why the hell aren't the refugees already exiting Canada?  Where is Spy Guy?  Get them to the USA, since any other country could refuse to take them because of the threat of Gilead's military force and equipment.

I'd rather be in the resistance fighter groups scattered all over Gilead than be returned to Gilead. 

Or, you know, Alaska or Hawaii.

Edited July 3, 2019 by Umbelina
did not dad

[Ms Blue Jay]

3 hours ago, jcin617 said:

And unless there's some strong anti-American refugee sentiment in Canada we haven't been shown, we're supposed to assume Canadian citizens are going to be totally cool with thousands of Americans being rounded up and shipped out?  Ugh, this show is starting to be a chore to watch.

I think (?) a lot of Americans are unhappy with how refugees are treated in the U.S. but the government does what they want anyway.  The Canadian citizens on the show are not "totally cool" that's why Moira was protesting.

[Umbelina]

5 minutes ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Guys you will enjoy this viral tweet, I think.  31,000 Likes and counting:

I hope the fucking showrunner sees this.  How many tweeted it directly to him?

[Umbelina]

Pretty much a rave about this episode from Vulture.

"And yet watching Serena and Olivia Winslow wander through that perfectly appointed home, with its red-wine-ringed glass still placed on the table, shoes and hockey sticks by the door, a spray of dried, dead hydrangea in a vase, a crib’s bedding spread out on the floor, trapped in medias res, has a powerful effect. Perhaps it’s Serena’s slightly haunted expression as she wanders through, or Olivia’s unaffected comments about how this is one of the few “unrestored” — meaning, nobody has yet come in and stripped it of its former humanity — homes in this part of D.C. Or maybe it’s the obvious location, in Kalorama, D.C.’s toniest neighborhood, where the Obamas and the Trump-Kushners now live. Who were the former owners? Serena asks. “I think they were Baptists,” Olivia says lightly, as if that explains quite easily why the parents are most likely now dead and their children handed off to more “worthy” parents."

This article compares Gilead to the current USA quite a bit so fair warning there.

Vox reviewers

"Emily: We’re halfway through season three, and whether this season can be marked a success or not will largely come down to the following question: Has June lost sight of how she abuses her privilege and comes off to people around her? Or has the show lost sight of that?

There’s ample evidence for both readings in “Under His Eye,” the shortest episode of the season so far and one packed with a bunch of interesting moments that I’m not convinced add up to a greater whole. The deeper we get into this season, the clearer it becomes that the show isn’t entirely sure what it’s doing with June, or, worse, it thinks it knows exactly what it’s doing, and that just isn’t translating to the audience.

It’s sort of remarkable just how thoroughly June has become the least interesting character on her own show (give or take a Nick). Even Fred has better storylines going on. If the show were following Serena or Emily or Lydia or Moira, it would be wildly different, but it would at least be more coherent. Instead, every episode takes great pains to establish a bunch of stuff, and then June burns it all down."

This one goes on and in depth the reviewers tackle many of the problems this show has...and do it very well.

"But also ... like ... does the show know this is what it’s doing?" 

It does include one of the biggest issues I have with this show, which is a book spoiler, if anyone actually cares about that anymore, either way, I'll tag it.

Spoiler

In our very first Handmaid’s Tale recap of the first three episodes, I took a beat to notice that this version of Gilead contained people of color, unlike Atwood’s, in which people of color are sent to labor camps very early on. But at the time, I thought the show was going somewhere with that idea.

I thought the presence of black Handmaids showed that in the depths of a fertility crisis, Gilead’s desire for fertile women trumped its racism. I thought that despite the presence of those black Handmaids, obviously Gilead had to still be a fundamentally racist society, and probably it had turned all the fertile women of color into Handmaids and sent everyone else off to labor camps, and that this idea would be further explored in later episodes. I thought that June was most likely specifically targeted by Gilead because she was married to a black man, not just because she was married to someone who had been married before, and that this would develop into a commentary on how the sexual taboos of the evangelical right have evolved in the time since Atwood wrote her book. I thought that a show so clearly invested in thinking about systems of power and oppression couldn’t possibly ignore the way those systems interact with race in America, because what would even be the point if it did?

Obviously, the show absolutely planned to ignore the way systems of oppression interact with race in America. Obviously, the show absolutely believed it made sense that Gilead would be wildly misogynistic enough to enact its sexual purity laws, but would also be totally cool with having black Commanders, and would turn out to be basically colorblind, as though misogyny and racism are two totally separate systems that never go together or intersect at all.

All of which is to say that absolutely none of what I thought the show was interested in exploring vis-à-vis race and intersectionality ever actually emerged, and as such, I just do not have it in me to think that the story is going anywhere interesting with what’s happening with June right now."

Honestly, I could quote this entire review.  It's in depth, it's smart, and , and it's intelligently discussing where the show is going wrong.

[AnswersWanted]

14 hours ago, lavenderblue said:

Go to hell, June.

I assume we're supposed to be sympathetic to her obsessive need to "help" Hannah by selfishly indulging her own desires by barging in over and over again, endangering others in the process every effing time, but no. June did nothing wrong! It was just Ofmatthew who was at fault. Nothing bad at all came of this dumbass lark outside of her snitching.

Amen. 

13 hours ago, ferjy said:

These writers are morons. I take back my comment that it must be their children writing the scripts. I have no doubt in my mind the kids could do a far better job of it. 

Preach. 

13 hours ago, DiabLOL said:

So that poor Martha died horribly, not because she was trying to save an innocent child but because June wanted to pop in and freak out her daughter for a few minutes?

For me, this was the worst ep to date. I think the writers are flailing. What a mess.

The scene where the "two thieves" (as the writer of the linked article above perfectly calls them), walked through the ghoulishly abandoned home? This is what this show had to offer from the start. This has been going on since the dawn of time so why not explore this more? Why not present us with deeper more focused psychological exploration of this sort of thing?

Which brings me to something that's been driving me nuts since I guess the middle of season two. Why aren't the victims of Gilead angrier?! Seriously. I don't mean the end stage beaten down victims or the ones in the colonies but we keep seeing scenes of survivors who sure have plenty of emotional damage but are physically ok. Tonight we saw the angry outburst that landed Moira and Emily in jail but I really don't understand. It's just not enough. This all happened during a relatively short period of time between social peers and suddenly they take your children and enslave you and abuse you. I'm not seeing enough outrage and elaboration, Glowering June and all that just isn't conveying the dialogue necessary about what's going on.

Also I'm sick of not knowing what the bizarro deal with Lawrence is. It's like he's a completely different person in every episode now and I have no clue what his problem is. June told the doomed Martha that he'd get EVERYBODY out of Gilead! 

Hallelujah. You guys are just saying it all and more, I really cannot add much, heh. 

12 hours ago, PepSinger said:

It’s sad that Hannah has lost someone else she loves and trusts.

Tell the truth.

It’s really disheartening that June’s behavior is being highlighted for just how harmful and deadly it’s becoming for everyone around her, especially Hannah.

This is Gilead after all, yes they claim to be so concerned about “their children” but June should know better than to trust that.

Every time she shows her ass, that’s another potential strike against Hannah. Thankfully they just decided to move the McKenzies, this time, but clearly she’s put them and her daughter on Gilead’s high alert radar, the worst place anyone could be. 

June’s thoughtless choices are really making her unwatchable, and potentially unredeemable, at this point. 

12 hours ago, ferjy said:

Snort. Almost spit out my teeth reading that. But then, I can’t blame them for being afraid of that gargoyle face she puts on, it could scare the paint off the walls. Honestly, there were at least 3 guards up top, and they all missed it? What were they doing, cloud gazing?

Once they realized it was her majesty June, they knew to back off, she is practically running the show now. She might have turned her fearsome wrath upon them. 

I want to joke more about the stupidity of it all, but it’s just so stupid it’s not really as funny as I’d like it to be. Damn show, you’re breaking my funny bone. 

11 hours ago, ferjy said:

I felt so bad for that Martha, who June pressured into getting involved in her harebrained scheme. The show runners obviously wanted us to be enraged at OfHandmaidPartnerChickWhoseNameICan’t Remember, Aunt Lydia, or other powers that be, but it’s June I was furious with. She should have looked devastated when she saw what she had caused. But no, the same sour expression as usual. Ha, I doubt she’ll get help from any Martha now. News of the June-curse spreading. Lawrence’s Martha has got her number. That bit of info is the first thing she should push through the Underground Martha Network.

I wanted to wring her neck honestly, especially watching her face as that woman strangled to death right in front of her.

She actually had the audacity to mutter, without any clear remorse or guilt present in her tone of voice, “under his eye” (that’s where the title came from) right before the group was hung. It was probably the most disgraceful scene yet. 

I really would love to see all the Marthas turning their backs on her at this point.

She already shat all over their best effort to date to rescue her, plus infant, and get her to Canada. Now this? She should be blacklisted from being provided with any favors from now on, she’s too high a risk, she’s literally leaving bodies in her wake, it’s madness. 

9 hours ago, ferjy said:

I was in a movie theater one day watching a James Bond film where he was fulfilling one of his inevitable fantastical feats and someone in the audience called out in exasperation “Oh come on!” That was my reaction in this episode. How, in any world, let alone Gilead, can June get away with near choking another person and freely stomping away. Even in our world she may have been thrown in the slammer overnight. In Gilead there would be a severe punishment if not outright death sentence. How did these writers miss that crucial point? I’m flabbergasted. 

They didn’t miss it, they just don’t care.

It’s June’s world and everybody else is just living in it, until June gets them killed that is. 

9 hours ago, alexvillage said:

From the article:

"Nevertheless, the Swiss diplomats are interviewing Emily, asking her about anything she might have done that the Gileadean state would view as a crime. Gilead is attempting to paint the refugees as criminals rather than refugees so that they can be extradited and tried (or returned to slavery, rape and torture)." 

To answer the part in bold - existing as a woman. Gilead sees women as criminals. What a travesty, the writers are not even pretending there is a great book they are supposedly expanding on.

Exactly! They are writing the show to please an audience and maybe the main actress/executive producer (I guess some people like this crap still), not to tell a story. 

Agree. The place is a dystopia, supposed to be, not a Marvel Universe with Super!June! still alive and well.

So, Canada and the rest of the world is simply going to send Emily back to appease a place that abuses and kills women and dissidents, a cultist place, because they have too much power, a power they never used but will now because a baby was "kidnapped" by a women who was mutilated for being a lesbian? 

Instead of getting all the refugees and all the rest of the world because there are dissidents to every dictatorship somewhere to rise up and create an international crisis, they will just punish the victim? I mean, I know I am talking logic and there are atrocities that the world does keep silent about but accepting refugees and then returning them because they are afraid of the same possible threat that existed before they started accepting refugees? 

Another thing that the show could explore: Hannah was young when she was kidnapped. Her brain was growing at a fast pace. It is likely that she is forgetting June, getting settled on the life she has a happy. It is heartbreaking to think about this but it happens. It is happening now, kids at the border separated and being adopted by religious families without a possibility of seeing their parents again. The young ones will forget where they came from. But I would love to see Hannah flat out tell June to fuck off under his eye and run away to her not mother.

Another brilliant post from you, I agree with every word.

Miller and Littlefield have completely hijacked Atwood’s story, it literally feels like something brand new and it’s terrible, just terrible. Even if this was an original piece, what the hell kind of story are they even trying to tell us right now? The purpose of the plot has completed vanished. 

8 hours ago, Armchair Critic said:

Once again June gets other people who helped her killed and she skates. 🙄

But they died so she could live to scowl and fuck up another day...gag me. She’s a disaster, these writers really aren’t doing her any favors as the so called protagonist. 

7 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Ugh, watching Fred and Serena make goo goo eyes at each other made me want to barf.

Same here.

Apparently husbands and wives can’t do the nasty, but they are allowed to fucking Tango and that’s permitted? Say what?

Is the Tango, a secular dance of sexual desire, now sanctified by god? Did I miss that little tidbit? Oh wait, I forgot, this show pulls every episode out of its’ ass so random shit gonna random. 

7 hours ago, Baltimore Betty said:

How is June still alive?

Better yet “why” is she? Her general purpose seems to have poofed.

If she’s supposed to be this budding heroine who helps bring an end to this regime, then maybe it’s time for her to stop getting so many involved in resisting and doing special favors in Gilead KILLED. I’d say that isn’t too much to ask for. 

7 hours ago, howivesforever said:

I loved seasons one and two but this season seems so ridiculous with Canada offering refuge for people who escaped Gilead but will now possibly send them back.  The fact that June a lowly handmaid whose broken so many rules can essentially do whatever she wants and nothing happens to her also seems so unbelievable. I’m about ready to quit watching.

As am I. I feel like I’m watching a train wreck happening right in front of me, and I know I should look away but at the same time...

5 hours ago, funnygirl said:

I am long past having sympathy for June getting Hannah back. Her quest keeps hurting people. She should've escaped with Holly/Nichole when she had the chance, and then somehow try to fight for Hannah while safe in Canada with her husband and friends who could help. 

The stakes are no longer high for when she does something out of line. They aren't going to kill the protagonist, so what is this all really for anymore? June keeps getting chances and she keeps screwing up. 

June could go up to a guard, slap him, take his gun, and use OfMatthew for target practice and the most that might happen is she’d get a stern telling off from Lydia, maybe no supper that night as well. 

Lydia (aghast): June!

June (standing over dead body): Sorry not sorry, Aunt Lydia, the bitch had it coming, 

(Other Handmaids’ form a chorus line and begin to sing “Cell Block Tango” from Chicago)

Lydia: Now girls, don’t be so naughty. June, stop tap dancing right this instant, young lady!”

They have completely overplayed the “plot armor” angle with her.

June’s done nothing but sink her battle ship this entire season, yet she’s still going strong, all fingers and toes, both eyes, no burns, no being locked away in solitary confinement, she hasn’t even lost any privileges. 

They may as well rename Gilead to “Juneland”. 

Apparently a good number of reviews for this episode haven’t been, shall we say, kind. Here are three of my favorites, I already listed my top fav earlier, the Forbes review:

June Just Made A Terrible, Selfish Mistake on 'The Handmaid's Tale'

The Handmaid's Tale' Recap: June's Single-Minded Obsession Keeps Hurting People

'The Handmaid's Tale' Season 3, Episode 7 Recap: June 👏 Needs 👏 to 👏 Focus 👏

Yet who wants to still bet Miller and Littlefield won’t give two shits about what people are saying or care about their complaints. 

Edited July 3, 2019 by AnswersWanted

[burghgal]

I am terrible at quoting/using this forum -- but I so want to agree with all of the above posters who pointed out ---- Why the *bleep* aren't Emily, Holly/Nichole, Luke and Moira headed to Alaska at this point"?  I mean, I would be ready to Ice Truck/Tim Horton my way through the Yukon at this point to get to Fairbanks ASAP.  They are US citizens and can't be extradited from there.

I am hoping they get new directors/writers at this point for S4. I always thought this book was haunting and thought they did a good job in S1, but now its gotta move forward with some real spies, world building and  intrigue -- there is no way this society is that complacent -- even the Nazis/Soviets/GDR had a resistance with intelligent people in charge.  June, Fred and Serena are too stupid - move them over for the real game makers.  Sorry -- June's stares are not enough and Elizabeth Moss isn't that good of an actress to pull off much more.

[kieyra]

Did someone say Benioff and Weiss?

[Umbelina]

Yeah, June should totally not care about her daughter growing up in Gilead, being forced into a marriage as a young teenager, continuing to be indoctrinated in this horrible culture, and never learning to read, or seeing her family again.

How dare June risk everything to rescue her daughter?  Why isn't she brilliant instead of a normal person who makes errors while trying to navigate this horrible word?  How dare she have emotions about any of it?

Shouldn't all freedom fighters and resistance members be brilliant from the jump, never make mistakes, and never expect to lose their lives or the lives of others while they fight a powerful regime designed to keep them enslaved?  Why doesn't June just give up on her daughter and bounce? 

Isn't that what most mothers would do?

[alexvillage]

41 minutes ago, Umbelina said:

This article compares Gilead to the current USA quite a bit so fair warning there.

It is a good article. I like that they also found this to criticize: 

"it’s always winter and never revolution" 

The part you quoted is one of the best examples of blunder in the show, I have been complaining about it since the first episode. And also the part about Serena and Fred "tangoing" perfect.

[alexvillage]

16 minutes ago, AnswersWanted said:

Yet who wants to still bet Miller and Littlefield won’t give two shits about what people are saying or care about their complaints

What I was thinking as I rad the final part of your post. They will still pat themselves on the back and say they are creating a masterpiece.

2 minutes ago, Umbelina said:

Yeah, June should totally not care about her daughter growing up in Gilead, being forced into a marriage as a young teenager, continuing to be indoctrinated in this horrible culture, and never learning to read, or seeing her family again.

How dare June risk everything to rescue her daughter?  Why isn't she brilliant instead of a normal person who makes errors while trying to navigate this horrible word?  How dare she have emotions about any of it?

Shouldn't all freedom fighters and resistance members be brilliant from the jump, never make mistakes, and never expect to lose their lives or the lives of others while they fight a powerful regime designed to keep them enslaved?  Why doesn't June just give up on her daughter and bounce? 

Isn't that what most mothers would do?

If the writers had a plan, they would have June escape to Canada and tell her story, why she had to escape and that she has another daughter in Canada - that as she grows up, being half black, is possibly fertile, so she will be abused by the cultists. A basic, simplistic and silly plot came to my head in a few seconds, and that's not my job. Why can't the writers spin something else from there, or from another silly plot instead of the June escapes/comes back/escapes/gets punished/not really/SUPER HERO! Just for novelty's sake?