Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Serena will be tempted next week. I'm very excited to see what she chooses.

I'm pretty sure she won't betray her husband and Gilead, even if she is tempted. Remember she is one of the architects of this world, even if she has suffered in its execution.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone shed light on why June went to see the commander at the end of the episode? Was it to rebuild his trust in her?

I’m also not a fan of the miraculous healing.

My theory is that she realized that Serena was not her way out. She realized that she has to go back to manipulating the commander. She is doing what she needs to do to survive and escape and it is tearing her apart.

I personally loved the Mom saves baby plot. There are actual real life stories of how simply holding babies skin on skin has saved them. And while it is a little hokey, I think it helped to point out that Gilead is actually harming kids, by separating them from the Mom and by not allowing them the best care.

I am loving the Serena storyline. It will be interesting to see how she reacts to the beating. Does she fall in line or does she start to rebel.

This was my read too, June knows the Commander's favor is key to her survival.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone shed light on why June went to see the commander at the end of the episode? Was it to rebuild his trust in her?

I’m also not a fan of the miraculous healing.

My theory is that she realized that Serena was not her way out. She realized that she has to go back to manipulating the commander. She is doing what she needs to do to survive and escape and it is tearing her apart.

I personally loved the Mom saves baby plot. There are actual real life stories of how simply holding babies skin on skin has saved them. And while it is a little hokey, I think it helped to point out that Gilead is actually harming kids, by separating them from the Mom and by not allowing them the best care.

I am loving the Serena storyline. It will be interesting to see how she reacts to the beating. Does she fall in line or does she start to rebel.

Anonymous wrote:Serena will be tempted next week. I'm very excited to see what she chooses.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone shed light on why June went to see the commander at the end of the episode? Was it to rebuild his trust in her?

I’m also not a fan of the miraculous healing.

My theory is that she realized that Serena was not her way out. She realized that she has to go back to manipulating the commander. She is doing what she needs to do to survive and escape and it is tearing her apart.

I personally loved the Mom saves baby plot. There are actual real life stories of how simply holding babies skin on skin has saved them. And while it is a little hokey, I think it helped to point out that Gilead is actually harming kids, by separating them from the Mom and by not allowing them the best care.

I am loving the Serena storyline. It will be interesting to see how she reacts to the beating. Does she fall in line or does she start to rebel.

Anonymous wrote:I gotta say, I didn't really buy this episode and I'm just about over this season.

Basically what saved it was Joseph Fiennes who is truly terrifying and should win all the awards, Elizabeth Moss's face when Janine said she sounded like "one of them," her face during the beating, her face at the end, and the actress who plays Janine whose name I don't know. The actors are so so good. But even Elizabeth Moss's face can't make up for what kind of feels like writing whiplash. Serena and the Commander were completely obsessed with Offred's pregnancy and now what, they're not worried any more? She was a glass doll to them and now she's traipsing all over town bringing handmaids to babies? And while I am down for the complicated nature of slavery within a household and the relationships that go with that, Serena held June down while she was raped. Aunt Lydia tortured her repeatedly. I just don't know if any human could bounce to interacting with them as more or less equals the way June did in this episode.

And frankly, the baby-healed-by-birth-mother story seemed pretty darn contrived to me. This show has made such elegant and visceral moments of humanity. The Janine on the windowsill magically healing the baby moment was a big flop for me because even if the baby's Gilead "mother" sucked at mothering, the baby was well cared for. It would have had martha's to dote on it and whatever. Compare that to, for example, the scene where June and the bread truck driver stare at each other and he decides to risk his life and his family to help her. It just didn't rate.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone shed light on why June went to see the commander at the end of the episode? Was it to rebuild his trust in her?

I’m also not a fan of the miraculous healing.

My theory is that she realized that Serena was not her way out. She realized that she has to go back to manipulating the commander. She is doing what she needs to do to survive and escape and it is tearing her apart.

I personally loved the Mom saves baby plot. There are actual real life stories of how simply holding babies skin on skin has saved them. And while it is a little hokey, I think it helped to point out that Gilead is actually harming kids, by separating them from the Mom and by not allowing them the best care.

I am loving the Serena storyline. It will be interesting to see how she reacts to the beating. Does she fall in line or does she start to rebel.

Anonymous wrote:Can someone shed light on why June went to see the commander at the end of the episode? Was it to rebuild his trust in her?

I’m also not a fan of the miraculous healing.

Anonymous wrote:Am I the only person who watched today’s episode and thought baby Angela has a Muchhausens by Proxy thing going on? Or that Naomi just does not want her and is somehow slowly poisoning her? The neonatologist said no virus, bacteria, structural problem. And sure, Janine looks like a miracle. But that is probably not it. More likely that putting her in the hospital got her away from whatever Naomi is up to and have her a chance to recover.

I do think this show is nuanced with the female characters. I don’t think Serena, Aunt Lydia, etc are all evil. I think they are making the best of a bad situation where they have no power. I don’t think Eden is all evil either, but I do think she is a girl who should be in her freshman year of HS, and who is playing a dangerous game. Things are not going to end well for her and Nick. But, they never stood a chance.

And I do not think June is 100% good. She’s the heroine. But she is also collaborating with Giliad. Maybe for the right reasons, but still...

Anonymous wrote:I think I remember in the book that fertility rates were plummeting and babies were also not surviving infancy for unknown reasons... does anyone else remember this? Maybe this is alluding to that issue.