Anonymous wrote:I loved this episode but Janine better not be dead!
I so, so do not want Janine to be dead, but I listened to a podcast this weekend and there are a lot of signs that it may be Janine's time.
First, this is kind of the end of a natural arc for Janine. This episode and the previous one gave us a very clear picture that Janine is kind of drifting along and while with it in many ways, in others she's really naive and a bit off. She wanted to go back to Boston, for starters. She said she didn't want to fight. It's June who wants to fight. Then she says a sad good bye to June so she can stay with the raggedy band and have a kid. THEN she leaves them to catch up with June and makes a little speech about Handmaids always traveling in twos. So she's totally all over the place.
And more astute people than me observed a couple of other things: if Handmaids always go in twos and Moira is there, well, there's more than two now. I'm not sure how much I buy that, but it makes some sense.
The other bit I heard on this podcast was about Janine making another Star Wars reference. That's one of those things that could be done for comedic effect but this is a series that doesn't do a lot of throwaways. In fact, the creator basically confirmed the online theory that the "Nighthawks" were name after the painting Nighthawks by Edward Hopper, which hangs in...The Art Institute of Chicago, where the Nighthawks were supposed to be hanging out.
Janine says to June, "Red Leader, standing by" - we all know what happens at the end of Star Wars Episode IV - Luke is the only one that survives, aided by the last minute arrival of Han Solo. It's out there, but "many people are saying."
I don't want Janine to be dead, but I don't know what they do with her after this. Even with Moira there it's not smooth sailing for June. In the preview for next week you hear Moira advocating on behalf of June. This is a cease fire and generally NGO's don't have the ability to take enemy combatants or even civilians. I don't think June is leaving Chicago quite yet.