I don’t even know what to do with this episode.
I’ll start off by saying that it’s a very solid episode, after a good run of episodes in The Handmaid’s Tale. There is forward momentum. Beloved characters like Moira, Emily, and Rita show up. The plot thickens. It seems like the writers have taken to heart some of our complaints about the dreadful, repetitive nature of season three and are serving us with some much-needed variety in terms of tension. We are no longer stuck in the endless cycle of June Groundhog Day-ing it up in Gilead. And yet I still have no idea of how to even approach this episode.
Let’s focus first on the good. For the vast majority of the episode, we explore the many ways that oppressive regimes leave physical and metaphorical wounds on individuals. In scene after scene, there are at least hints, it not outright examples of PTSD, survivor’s guilt, the aftermath of trauma. The unmoored nature of being in a new environment, the cumbersome self-consciousness that arises with loved ones after a prolonged separation, culture shock—it’s all there. Usually demonstrated with nuance, sensitivity, and great care. We will get to that end.
June, my friends, is in Toronto. FINALLY. The beautiful, vibrant city that has been home to so many luminaries in Canadian letters including Margaret Atwood herself, Michael Ondaatje, and Drake. Started from the bottom now we’re here, June! Given my own Montreal history, I am obligated to clarify that Montreal is better. Moving on.
And, well, everything is awkward as hell. And overwhelming. Mark, the U.S. government representative, wants intel right away when June’s memories of Gilead are freshest in her mind. Luke is trying his best to be a caring, understanding husband by giving her space, not pressuring her to get the romance a-flowing, or even share a meal alone. Him and Moira make a stunning, healthy, loving couple if it wasn’t for the fact that they are not, in fact, a couple. Yet as foster parents to Baby Nichole, they are completely in sync. Their daily routines and even their minds have melded into an easy flow, where they can read the baby’s cues and are absolutely ready to go with diapers if the other has forgotten. June stares bewildered, the odd woman out.
Everyone is apologizing to everyone:Luke for not saving June or Hannah. June for not getting Hannah out of there. Emily for still being unable to sleep in the same room as her wife. Moira for ruining Oona’s NGO. Rita for baking only one bread instead of two. And to top it off, there are too many goddamn potato chips!!!
Hell, even Serena is looking for repentance. She is on her knees, begging her very vengeful God to not use the baby as a punishment for her sins. Mark, who I always want to call Henry for some reason, overhears her prayers. I really wish they could just succumb to that sexual tension between them but there’s more important matters to tend to. With June in Canada, it is likely that she will be put away in some harsh prison up in Nunavut for 275 years or worse. He suggests teaming up with the Commander, despite Serena now dubbing him a sperm donor. Still, she complies and finally accepts Fred’s invitation to talk. The Commander is also on an apology tour, but the kind that involves even more God-mongering (is that a word) bullshit and whispering such sweet nothings like, “This pregnancy belongs to me as much as your first child belongs to you.” I swear the Commander’s voice is growing raspier and deeper with each passing episode and by the end of the season he’ll be in full The Dark Knight mode. But he still knows his wife and he knows what will get her to team up: the threat of not being able to raise her son if she is put away for good.
June learns of Serena’s pregnancy during a sobremesa (look it up) with Moira, Rita, and Emily. Just a couple of gals, drinking mommy juice, and dishing about how they are irreversibly damaged after years or persistent, nonstop violence. Her reaction then is a curt “fuck her,” but there is no way that will be the extent of it. And readers, it is not, for in the middle of the night Mark-Who-Looks-Like-A-Henry takes her to that exquisite jail cell Serena sleeps in.
Ooooh, if this isn’t a back-and-forth for the ages. You know some misguided theater kids are prepping this scene for some insufferable summer camp that I wish I could have afforded back in high school. Though Serena claims to want to make amends, throwing God’s plans in there, June is all double, double, toil and trouble in her cauldron of internal rage, ready to have the venom come spilling out with all its lethal power. She lays it on thick. June says she is there to tell Serena how much she hates her. That she deserves no redemption, only shame and suffering. That she has destroyed everything: her life, her family, her child, potato chip technology. Serena is prostrated, trembling as if she were before the kind of vengeful god she prays to every day. And then, in a gesture that is reminiscent of Serena’s own past abuse, she yells in her face that the only reason Serena is pregnant is so that the baby will die and she can then feel only a fraction of the pain she has inflicted.
Okay, cool, onboard with this. And then June has to squash any possible redemption for herself by doing what she did to Luke. I really have no further comment on this than what June’s own voiceover has to say about Serena, for they have become two sides of the same coin: “She’s pathological. She’s a sociopath. She’s toxic and abusive. She’s a monster. And by the way, consummate actress. [She is driven by] hatred and rage. And underneath all of that there’s nothing but pure misery. And she’ll do anything not to feel that way. Anything to feel ok. Even just for a second. She’ll do anything to get what she wants. Lie to you. Hurt you. Rape you. So if you feel yourself getting sucked in by her, run. Run for your life.”
Can we run? Run off with Moira, if at all possible?
Stray observations
- I loved all the attention to sensual details that the cameras focused on, luscious and inviting but also uncomfortable in its abundance. The bounty of fruits in the grocery store, the sonorous steaming hot shower, that silky red robe June puts on in the hotel room—obviously reminiscent of the red cloak from Gilead.
- Luke lovingly rearranging room service was so sweet and endearing, his own reunion nerves being projected in this attention to details. Ugh. FREE LUKE!
- Eyebrow watch 2021: I was very, very close to writing FREE EYEBROWS too, given that June is still harboring some fuzzy-wuzzy feelings towards Nick. As she cradles Nichole, she whispers to the baby how much her first daddy loves her. But then I realized that I was being swayed by his luscious hair production for Eyebrows has his own unforgivable sins! Like, helping to institute Gilead. They deserve each other.
- The most Canadian Thing to Happen this Week is postponing a profound relationship discussion for fear it might lead to frostbite.
- “I just feel like you could be forever” made my iceberg of a heart melt.
- May your Shot Girl Summer be a Lydia-Free zone as well.
103 Comments
june raping luke was… uncomfortable. i understand why but still?
That one scene and the subsequent one flipped the entire trajectory of the show. As Ines pointed, this destroys any chance of a June redemption arc and it’s now becoming Breaking Bad for her basically. Like you said, I understand why, but its a tough choice for the overall enjoyment of the show. It seems difficult to ever like a character who has raped someone, especially a loved one.
I think it shows how much Gilead got into her, and twisted her reality. I think she can be redeemed, but it’s going to be a lot more difficult than anyone thinks. It’s not just “oh, I’m back with my friends and safe.” She suffered 7 years of psychological and physical torture, and you can’t just sweep that under the rug. I’ll keep watching – I think the show is great, I’ve read both books, and I’m interested to see where it goes, even if it’s painful.
You can even see that with her wardrobe. She was wearing red (the robe and any tops afterwards) when she was trying to get used to things. As soon as she hears Serena Joy being pregnant, she snaps. She goes and gives her testimony to Mark while wearing teal.
And, when she confronts Serena, she first puts her hair in a bun.
Wow. I didn’t notice that detail.
I think she was also wearing a blue sweatshirt.
I read both books too, which is the only reason why I didn’t quit the last season.Im starting to theorize who Nichole’s “parents” were.
Yet Ines had previously said that Serena herself was “tittering on the edge of redeemable…because she has bursts of clarity that make us feel compassion for her.”If Serena truly possessed any redeemable qualities she would’ve acted on and used those “bursts” of clarity to get away from Gilead (Hawaii anyone?) and show some compassion for those she was complicit in destroying.
She didn’t rape Luke.
Yes. It was cringy.
Because some people who have been raped reassert control of their body by control of a sexual experience. Is it wrong? Oh yeah. Is it common? Way more than you think. They really hit the mark on different PTSD symptoms in this one. It’s about time there’s a realistic presentation of trauma in television; see some of the potential consequences of it.
It really got to me as well. It’s hard to articulate this without sounding like a bad person, but there was something very personal about her raping Luke. And I say this as a rape survivor however that helps, but the betrayal of a person you love doing that vs a nobody in your life is awful, and I think that’s what they were going for. Added disclaimer that I’m not saying one is worse than the other, just that I think that was the emotional thing they wanted people want to feel.
And I found it kind of jarring to go from the rape — and not at least having a conversation about it — to playing happy family with the baby in the snow like it never happened.
Remember at the sobremesa when (I think it was) Moira said no one can escape Gilead without being fucked up about sex? As someone noted in another forum, June’s lines of what a healthy sexual relationship is have been blurred for a long time. She’s going to have to work through that with Luke and a good therapist.
I don’t know that it’s fair to say June squashes any hope for redemption. It’s WAY more nuanced than that. Don’t get me wrong, what she did is Not Okay. And yet, she’s doing what so many trauma victims do – they can’t hold it in, so it comes spilling out and hurts the people around them. She needs therapy. She needs lots, and lots of therapy, daily, starting yesterday. She needs someone wonderful and patient to explain to her that it’s not going to work to just put her hurt on others anymore. She’s become a kind of monster, yes, but that’s what persistent Trauma can do to people, and there still is a path forward.
Yeah, I don’t personally understand the idea that somebody who is very obviously acting out of massive, massive trauma is beyond redemption. Even were that not the background of her actions, I don’t think a person is beyond redemption.It’s certainly the case that this latest development makes June harder to like, which may or may not affect how much you enjoy the show, but that’s a different matter.
Are you this forgiving of all rapists?
Are you this forgiving of all rapists?This is fiction, comrade.
big “what the fuck handmaid’s tale” energy to that rape scene
I wonder if it will be a controversial, ‘make or break’ scene like the one in Game of Thrones between Jaimie and Cersei or if it’ll be forgotten in a week.
The show has well aged out of its prime, and the more I read of it from people who aren’t hardcore fans (which is most people, in this age of endless, exhausting content) the more there seems to be bafflement and even a little embarrassment that it’s still a going concern. I anticipate shrugs, if not just because it’s no longer very zeitgeist-y.
I just read in another review of the episode that some see what June did to Luke as reclaiming her body and sexuality and taking back control over her own life after years of being a sex slave in Gilead.And as someone else here commented, June really needs extensive therapy after all she’s been through, but I think Luke does as well. Are they never going to talk about her relationship with Nick? She still has deep love for him that she has to reconcile with her deep love for Luke.
I don’t really disagree with any of that! But at the same time, it’s still rape. She literally covers his mouth when he tries to tell her to wait.
You’re jumping to conclusions in order to promote what happened as a rape. You don’t know why Luke said “Wait.” I understood it as him being concerned that she night be having sex with him for his benefit, as in “Wait, are you sure?” and her shutting that down was her confirming that she did, indeed, want to continue for herself as well as for Luke.
Went back and watched it again and nah dude he looks really really uncomfortable with what’s going on
It didn’t read as discomfort to me. It read as concern. June had been hesitant to interact physically with Luke since her return and he was being very considerate and thoughtful in how he approached her. So when she suddenly wanted sex without explanation or discussion, Luke was concerned about why she made the sudden turnaround and he wanted to make sure that she was ok…to confirm that she wasn’t having sex with him because it was what she thought he wanted. That doesn’t mean that he didn’t want to have sex with her or that she was “raping” him.People seem very eager to label any sexual activity as assault these days. Don’t get me wrong—sexual assault happens and it’s horrible. But not every unplanned or spontaneous sexual encounter is an assault. And I think it’s not helpful to jump to that conclusion without even knowing if either person involved considered themselves to have been assaulted. We’ll find out next week, I’m sure, but until you know how Luke views what happened it is premature and presumptuous to label him a victim of a rape.
That’s now 4 comments on this review where you are justify her raping Luke.great job
No, it’s 4 comments in which I deny the premise that she “raped” Luke. That wasn’t a rape, no matter how much you want it to be.
dude you’re really trying too hard to convert this scene to “not rapey” when it’s clear to 99.9% of the audience (and the writing of the scene too indicates it) what was going on here.like, WAY too hard
.
I really hope they don’t lean too hard into all this with June; but maybe it’s too late.
Fast-forward to the grand finale in Season 14, and having failed to reintegrate into Canadian culture, she is now a high-ranking commander in the new female-led Gilead regime. #SubvertingExpectations
I wonder if they had June rape Luke as the start of why they’ll ultimately break up and June and Nick end up together (which is totes going to happen). I can see them having June starting to hit rock bottom here, then get therapy and help and start getting back to a healthy state, and then her not being able to be with Luke because she feels so terrible about what she did, even though he won’t have left her over and it and will probably beg her to stay.
As I’ve mentioned before, if they follow the second book, June for whatever reason winds up out of Nichole’s life until she’s nearly an adult- Nichole doesn’t even know she’s THE Nichole.My bet is that June’s too far gone and winds up a resistance fighter/ quasi underground female road activist to channel her guilt. As much as Luke cares for June, he’s also been shown to be completely clueless about how women suffered even before Gilead, and he has a track record for peacing out on his relationships when they become too “complicated.” She will leave and he’ll probably do some of the pushing on his own.
“track record” equaling one divorce/adultery with June. I don’t know that it makes him a guy who peaces out on his women regularly- just the one that we know of. (Whom he left for our star/heroine and was examined in this and prior episodes to a small degree.)I think June did what she did to Luke out of not-untypical PTSD act wherein a victim of assault/rape may attempt to regain control consciously or subconsciously by repeating the same behavior that was done to them. Similar to how many domestic violence victims- typically males/sons of abusers- repeat the same behavior after a lifetime of saying “I’ll never be like that SOB (my dad) was! I’ll never hurt/hit/assault/terrorize my partner/lover/wife/spouse/mother-of-my-children” and then tends to fall into a similar pattern. (I’ve worked w/ abusers and victims for many years, this isn’t just rhetoric) I don’t think it’s indicative of her “turning bad” or being a bad person, she’s a horribly traumatized, victimized, beaten physically-and-psychologically woman in a repressive society and is acting out in a very normalized way, taking back some of her “power” by replicating the actions committed to her, whether intentionally doing so or not, and will probably feel terrible about it when she “realizes” what she’s done. To him, to herself (for becoming what she hates/fears) and her ability to heal.While this show consistently ranks as one of the most brutal, uncomfortable hours each week (“Why do we keep watching this? Are we mad at ourselves? Do we deserve to feel awful?” is our weekly post Handmaid’s discussion) this was an episode where I felt they were beginning to look at PTSD/trauma and its implications, which linger/last MUCH longer and often are more difficult for victims than the actual physical/inciting event and are much more difficult to “fix” than the initial act/violation> (as in, call the cops or fight them off vs. “deal with the long-term psychological effects on every single aspect of ones life”). If they keep up the serious look at it it can have a more important lesson to impart to its viewers than “men are gross and bad and evil and will destroy you!” (which, to be fair, in this universe they absolutely are and I’m not criticizing that trope, and for the most part, yeah, they are, ok, fine). Less torture p0rn, more deep examinations of human psychology, behavior, and philosophy, please.
I think June did what she did to Luke out of not-untypical PTSD act wherein a victim of assault/rape may attempt to regain control consciously or subconsciously by repeating the same behavior that was done to them. I saw in another review of the episode that the producers of TH’sT worked with the UN Human Rights Council to help accurately depict refugee trauma, and in June’s case, the political element of the sexual trauma she endured in Gilead.
I still say that they try to make each episode crazy weirder than the last one.
hate to say it, but I think both me and June would’ve been a lot happier if she’d been rescued from the bomb strike in Chicago by the Nighthawks instead of Moira’s NGO. Who knows? Maybe in the next episode, she’ll steal Oona’s boat and go join them.BTW rest in peace, Janine, everyone completely forgot about you!
BTW rest in peace, Janine, everyone completely forgot about you!Which is why I’m not convinced she’s dead.
It’s nice to see so many American-made brands of food have survived the fall of the US. The Florida Gators may not be a thing, but at least there’s Gatorade.
One thing I noticed.. the kitchen scene with Luke and June looks exactly like the kitchen in the Waterford’s house. The layout seems to be exactly the same, to the point that I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the same set.
The very radical, very feminist showrunners behind The Handmaid’s Tale signal major tonal shift and prove show is more than a cheap exploitation of women’s sexual trauma with…(checks notes) more rape.
My mistake — I had written earlier that I took the room with floor-to-ceiling window, and the room with the business table and boardroom chairs, as meeting spaces rather than cells. But this episode made clear that the former actually is Serena’s cell. (I’m still baffled by why prisoners don’t meet with visitors in a secured common area, but that’s one of many things that has baffled me about this show.)
“ … in a gesture that is reminiscent of Serena’s own past abuse …”
Interesting choice of hair style by June, as well.
And now that you mention it, I’m baffled as to why prisoners are allowed to have visitors in their cells alone with no guard in the room and the door closed.
“I really wish they could just succumb to that sexual tension between them but there’s more important matters to tend to.” I don’t know why but I feel like we are going to find out they did and that’s Mark’s baby. Waterford is supposed to the one who is truly sterile, Serena’s issue stemmed from her getting shot and it is fixable from my understanding or possibly could have healed over time. Also, it would be smart for her to do that since Mark could pull strings to save her.
I feel terrible for Luke. He was expecting the same June, but it’s common that trauma changes someone, especially after losing a child. At the same time, Luke is different while raising a child of another father while his wife is on hostage, like the Undoing, but the wife isn’t dead.Normalcy. When June decided to go to the grocery store, I was worried about her. It also reminded me of kinda missing grocery shopping in person, looking at the variety of potato chips, mustard and (my favorite) cheese.
The fucking worldbuilding on this show…How is Canada so… nice? The USA is gone, there’s a worldwide fertility crisis (I guess? That seems to matter less and less) and isn’t there an environment crisis too? Aren’t “the colonies” supposed to be toxic or irradiated or something? I know the book is different than the show but in the book I thought there was a limited nuclear war and environmental disasters and so on. So HOW is Canada is able to maintain a standard of living like it’s still 2014? They don’t seem affected at all by the refugees and what would have to be devastating economic effects of losing the USA as a trading partner? With everything going on how is a supermarket stocked full of Coke and Lays products like nothing is wrong? I swear they aren’t going to Canada. When they cross the border they have to be going through a time portal to Obama-era USA. There is no other possible explanation.
The book benefitted by vaguely alluding to the conditions that allowed for the rise of Gilead, which made sense with the limited perspective of the narrator, and of course Margaret Atwood’s superb prose, so you are able to just go along with the premise of a liberal democracy sliding into a repressive theocracy. By broadening the scope in the TV show it just raises a whole slew of logistical questions. Certainly if Canada’s largest trading partner and the world’s largest/second largest economy decided to apparently abandon capitalism entirely that would have absolutely massive repercussions on a global scale but apparently Canada is just super hunky-dory with Lay’s potato chips and Amazon? It is baffling lol
Obviously all the good parts of America fled to Canada!In all seriousness, from my Canadian perspective, there’s a whole tradition in the dystopic strain of American fiction (or in this case, Canadian fiction being adapted by Americans) where America itself is a landscape to play out whatever the author views as the demons of American society and Canada, often expressly or implicitly calling back to its history as the terminus point of the underground railroad, is a sort of safe zone that exists apart from factors causing the dystopia. See, e.g., Logan, where Logan and Laura are chased from Mexico to the US-Canada border by evil goons but within the logic of the story they are safe as soon as they reach the border.The Handmaid’s Tale the series is pushing the limits of this by spending so much time in Canada, though, which only calls attention to how weird it is that things seem be basically normal there.
Obviously all the good parts of America fled to Canada! Popularizing US globalization was a primary goal of Reaganomics, eventually ratified in stages with Canada (1988), then Mexico (1994) with some recent ‘minor’ tweaks made in 2020. One ongoing political goal is the suppression of any in-depth analysis or criticism by mainstream media, since it ostensibly allows any US based entity to in practice circumnavigate any trade barriers by using Canada/Mexico as its middle men without losing geopolitical face with its political enemies, the WTO, and its own relatively uninformed citizens. Most trade embargo and tariff talks are just ‘dog whistle’ bluffs meant to distract the public of the true threats to the average citizen’s economic security.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union and rapid economic development in both mainland China other Asian countries, the need to be politically coy has dwindled. Most of the largest US based corporations’ operations are outside its physical borders, largely employed by non-US citizens. So it wouldn’t be far fetched for Canada to benefit from the collapse portrayed in this dystopian drama. As an independent sovereign state of the Commonwealth Realm with the British monarchy its Head of State, Canada already has extensive geopolitical resources to fend off any socioeconomic collapse in the U.S.
As a Canadian that’s been living south of the border for decades it is irritating and tiresome to see how Canada is consistently treated like the ideal, white-guilt-free, super suburb of the U.S. with just the right number of POC and/or religious/cultural minorities to make its liberal WASP majority feel smugly fair minded while remaining comfortably in control both politically and socially.
As someone who has visited Toronto (and yes, I know that Toronto doesn’t represent all of Canada, it’s just the Canadian city I’m most familiar with) many times since I was a kid, that’s exactly how Canada feels to me. It’s what the U.S. could be in a polite, tolerant, multicultural parallel universe.
I was going somewhere on the TTC when a group of five or six Muslim women boarded the train wearing full-on head-to-toe burkas completely covering their faces and gloves. I looked around to see the reactions of the other passengers and not one person batted an eyelash. If it had been in an American city, even New York, someone would have either made an Islamophobic slur loud enough for the women to hear or made a grand gesture of moving to another car on the train.
As an American raising a family in Mexico, you just made me wonder how Mexico would’ve managed after the collapse of the US and the rise of Gillead.
They had some Mexican ambassadors in season 1, looks like they were struggling a lot from the fertility crisis and were inquiring about this handmaid “program”
The book and the series are not the works of people who understand capitalism. Canada is socialist by its nature. Gilead is also a product of socialism.
Re: the worldwide fertility crisis, I think they’re going with that being actually bullshit and Gilead propaganda or something. Hell, basically every female character is getting pregnant every other time they have sex.
Nah. The fertility crisis is very real. Multiple characters outside Gilead have confirmed it (and it’s a plot point in the novel). Mark, the US operative/ambassador dude and the Mexican ambassador from season one both act as if it is real. It’s confirmed that the women selected to be Handmaids are still fertile which is the reason they are Handmaids in the first place. That’s why it seems like all the women are getting pregnant, because we’re around them most of the time.
Also, the creation of Gilead doesn’t really make sense without and inciting incident as big as a global fertility crisis. Like, I get that everyone is doom and gloom about the future of the US nowadays, but for it to go from what it is now to a hardcore, Saudi Arabia-esque theocracy in just a year or two would take something pretty drastic to shift the Overton Window.
Yeah, it’s not totally realistic. If the US turned into an authoritarian theocracy with a command economy is just a year or two (as we’re lead to believe) all of North America would be a mess. There would be a global economic crisis that would make the Great Depression and Great Recession of 2008 look like child’s play. That plus the refugee crisis would probably cause both Canada and Mexico to go tits-up.
Also, we’re lead to believe that Gilead does not have total control over all the of the former US and there is essentially an ongoing civil war with rebels/insurgents holding large swaths of territory. In this season we were also told that the “Republic of Texas” is a thing, so it seems like some of those rebels have been able to carve out whole new states.
The situation would be like the Syrian Civil War but on a continetal scale. There would be a ton of international involvement. My guess is that Gilead would eventually get taken out by some sort of international Coalition Task Force lead by what is left of NATO or something. For better or worse, the USA is just too big to fail. Military intervention would be necessary.
I did find it interesting to see the contrasts between Moira, Rita, Emily, and June.
Emily escaped to Canada first and was reunited with her son and wife (all of her immediate family), but had gone through hell, including the Colonies, and is still traumatized.
Rita was an outlier as a Martha rather than a handmaid, and she’s generally kept her feelings hidden, but she also lost family and was treated as property. It’s clear that she holds a great deal of suppressed anger, and she seems to be alone in Canada … but it also seems that claiming her own agency has helped her find some peace.
Moira seems to have made the best adjustment. From being skeptical of Luke as a husband, to being his ally in parenthood, to applying herself to refugee work and establishing new relationships, it seems she’s been most successful in making a new life. As Moira told Oona, she’s been “movin’ on,” her whole life. She looks forward, not back, but she does want to know there’s something in the future. (And that “movin’ on” didn’t include the debt she felt she owed June. Ironically, had she stayed with the baby and not gone on the mission, she wouldn’t have found June.)
June’s path remains to be determined. But, damn, I wish it didn’t involve the Waterfords.
I want Rita to have a happy ending. She seems so lost, both in Gilead and Canada, and I hope they give her some happiness before the show ends.
As a man, I have to say that no man would consider that rape if their girlfriend did that to them. In fact, lots of men have that fantasy.
Not to be crude but that was my Tuesday night! I watched that scene and wondered if I should make some changes in my life. Lol
Gross. What a sexist thing to say. A man in a relationship might not be so quick to call it rape, but they would definitely feel violated. The hand over the mouth after saying “wait”? Not right.
Sexist? Lol. Who you trying to score points with? This ain’t Twitter. Maybe your boyfriend makes you feel that way. You should talk things over with him.
Thank you! I’ve been trying to figure out how this is rape, and I can’t do it. Luke was, in no way, overpowered or helpless. He was essentially giving her what she wanted.
Ah, yes. Because I’m sure you would’ve been cool with him throwing her off him.
Men and women tend to have VERY different ideas of what constitutes rape to their respective biological sexes, but it generally arrives at the same conclusion: unwanted, undesired, violent penetration. Men represent the largest number of rape victims (primarily due to prison rape by other men) all over the world. A woman (or man) straddling a man and forcing his or her own penetration can be defined as rape if it is not desired, but (and this is a big one) Luke did not appear to be resisting in any way. June may have attempted to restrain him, but he was never in any danger. It would have been much more interesting to see Luke resist and throw June off of him, but we didn’t get to see that, and I wonder why. The scene did not seem particularly violent. In fact, it seemed sympathetic to June. For me, at least.
I don’t think Luke felt in any danger, and, importantly, I think he knew that he could stop her if he wanted to. As I saw it, he just didn’t want to stop her. We can assume he’s been brought up to speed by Moira, Rita, and Emily, so he knows the trauma that handmaids experience. I thought this scene showed June finding sexual agency for the first time in 7 years, and Luke letting her. He may not have been enjoying the sex, per se, but he was willingly giving June what she was telling him she wanted. Heck, it’s the very definition of Dan Savage’s GGG.
I don’t think you have to be overpowered or helpless to be raped. You can be coerced, you can freeze, you can choose to not physically resist.
Thus proving my point that men and women have very different definitions of rape as it occurs to their respective genders.
As another, more reasonable man, I can say definitively that you are wrong that “no man” would consider that rape. Some people having that fantasy doesn’t mean it’s okay to just do it without consent and a safe word.
I’m glad you spoke up before it becomes a thread of guys commenting and minimizing the scene. I’m just here to support what you said.
I suppose I should not expect nuance from online comments, but the excellence of this particular scene is that it defies simple explanations. Was it rape? It is not a simple answer. Luke did seem to want , at the very least, for June to slow down. He may have wanted to ask her if this was what she really wanted. He may not have been ready or comfortable enough yet to have sex with her. He may have also realized, when she put her hand over his mouth, that this is indeed what she needed, that is to reclaim some power over her life and her sexual choices, and therefore he let her proceed. That may not be rape. Because the fact is, that there is absolutely no comparison in their physical stature. So if he really felt he was getting raped, he could have easily physically stopped it from happening. Many women in a similar situation, would not have that option. So again, is it simply a case that it was not rape because he could have easily resisted physically? Again, not so simple. He may have felt psychologically compelled not to resist, even though he was not fully consenting. She may have taken advantage of that. That could certainly be rape as rape is most often about power rather than sex. In my view, it is too complex a situation to simply paint with rape or no rape. The scene contains the type of ambiguity that makes it a great scene, in my opinion.
No straight man. There.
you’re an idiot AND disgusting
As a man, I say you’re a rape-apologist shitcunt.
Does anyone else think the commander can be nicholes dad since June asked if Serenas baby was his? Like the thought of nichole being his crossed her mind??
Are we really not going to talk about how June lies to Luke about Hannah’s status toward them as parents just to make him feel less guilty?!?!?!?!
No one has talked about this – yes!
It wasn’t a lie, not really. June truthfully described an actual earlier encounter with Hannah. She didn’t mention the most recent one, but she’s probably still coming to terms with that, herself. Even though Hannah hadn’t recognized her, she’d want to believe that her earlier conversation with Hannah would be what Hannah remembers of her, and of Luke.
Yeah- and I mean I feel like “your daughter doesn’t recognize me anymore and also I’m a mess” would also be harsh on a guy that’s clearly struggling and feeling guilty when there’s nothing they can do
So, what you’re saying is, … a lie (to herself too, as well as to Luke).
June laying into Serena was masterful. We all know Elisabeth Moss is a fantastic actress and this just showcased it. Serena doesn’t deserve joy. She doesn’t deserve to have a child (horrible to say that, but I was nodding along when June cursed her child) and she doesn’t deserve peace, not after all of the lives she ruined. I’m not going to say “Help Ruin” – she’s a traitor, just like her husband, she knew what was going on, she encouraged it and she played an active role in it. One of the things I’ve said about this show is that it does play on Western expectations that women can’t be truly evil, that they can’t be truly without redemption: well, honeys, here’s such a creature. Just one thing I’ll point out though: June’s putdown of Serena, with that cretin on her knees? That brought back memories of season one where Serena did the exact same to her. Deliciously tart and bitter to watch.
6 minutes in and Luke is thinking to himself; “I wonder if the boat has left yet?”
Margaret Atwood herself, Michael Ondaatje, and DrakeCan we get a dustpan and broom to this article please? Yeah, we need to pick up all these names Ines just dropped. sobremesa (look it up)Handy writing tip: if you’re gonna drop a word to try to look smart to your audience but then have to explain it to them but are too lazy to explain it yourself, you just come across as patronising. Or matronising. Since this is a Handmaid’s Tale review.
Handy writing tip: if you’re gonna drop a word to try to look smart to your audience but then have to explain it to them but are too lazy to explain it yourself, you just come across as patronising. Or matronising. Since this is a Handmaid’s Tale review.I think we’re supposed to feel bad for not knowing about Spanish after-meal dessert-but-not-just-dessert traditions.
holy crap, after all the time June’s been raped, I’d never thought she’d be the one raping someone else. Oh, what’s that? She didn’t rape Luke? Let’s see now.1) He was fast asleep when she climbed on top of him.2) There was no foreplay or conversation, and in no way did he indicate desire OR consent3) She used force to pin him down when he tried to resist4) She covered his mouth when he said “wait” not once but multiple times.Reverse their genders, and it’s obviously rape. Especially considering that he hasn’t seen her in years, so maybe HE needs a little time to get used to her being around before being physical. Unless you’re going to say a couple of kisses the day before = consent, this was plain old revenge rape coming right on the heels of June confronting her rapist (they specifically flash backed to a time when Serena was holding down June’s arms during the rape ceremony in Gilead).
You’re jumping to a lot of conclusions, since you don’t know what Luke thought of the encounter, if he considered it to be unwelcome sexual activity, and the fact that Luke—a very large and well-built man—did not stop the encounter which he could have easily done if it was unwanted. You don’t know what he was thinking, what he was going to say or why he was going to say it.June might be a bad-ass, but she doesn’t have superhuman strength and could not have overpowered Luke and forced him to submit to to her thug-like criminal vagina.
yes when most women are assaulted its very important what their thoughts on the matter are, if they are strong and tough or if saying “No, wait, stop” means unwelcome. Thankfully you clarified this.
I swear the Commander’s voice is growing raspier and deeper with each passing episodeAnd his lips more and more chapped with each passing episode. It’s very distracting. Get the Commander a humidifier or something.Serena is prostrated, trembling as if she were before the kind of vengeful god she prays to every day.I know it’s wrong, but I was yelling at the TV, “Punch her in the face!” What my neighbors must have been thinking.“She’s pathological. She’s a sociopath. She’s toxic and abusive. She’s a monster. And by the way, consummate actress. [She is driven by] hatred and rage. And underneath all of that there’s nothing but pure misery. And she’ll do anything not to feel that way. Anything to feel ok. Even just for a second. She’ll do anything to get what she wants. Lie to you. Hurt you. Rape you. So if you feel yourself getting sucked in by her, run. Run for your life.”I am so glad you included this piece of dialogue because as soon as June said it, I thought to myself that this was actually the perfect psychological description of a “Karen” or the present-day (Christian) conservative woman. They’re quick to call others “snowflakes” or say “fuck your feelings,” but you confront them with their own hypocrisy and bigotry, just watch the tears flow when they feel they’re being attacked … and as June said, they will do anything not to feel that way. I’ve personally experienced this. These women are nasty pieces of business who justify their nastiness with their religious “faith”. That’s why I’m automatically wary of anyone who goes out of their way to identify as a Christian.
Off topic, but I’ve been meaning to ask this since S1. On this week’s episode, the Waterfords referred to June as Offred again, a name that hasn’t been spoken in a while.My question: Why is it pronounced OFF-red instead of Of-Fred like Ofjoseph, Ofsteven, etc.?
I have always wondered this myself.
Goddamn, this was bleak.I do not understand the purpose of turning June into a rapist. We already know June is damaged. For that matter, we already know June is unlikeable. There are plenty of ways they could have shown that which didn’t involve more freaking rape.It was nice to see that Mark is not running cow-eyed after Serena and is just using her as an asset.
I see the back and forth about if June rapes Luke. I think it is.Out of curiosity, I asked my boyfriend, who’s a victim of sexual assault and watched this episode with me. He said no: out of anger and jealousy of Serena’s pregnancy, June was trying to impregnate herself. Luke would’ve pushed her off too.To add: I’ve never been pregnant or lost a child, but was June trying to “replace” Hannah? A semi rainbow baby?
Not a “fraction” of the pain. A “fuh-raction” of the pain. Not sure what accent this is, but I’m here for it.
Hmmm, he looks like a Xavier to me.
breaking cycles, does anyone ever get to do that, really? Gilead is there, the violence continues unabated and their responsibility to recognise and halt that is unchanged. The difference is June’s insight in to her position in the flow of events.
We struggled to understand how she was expected to re-enter society without any obvious medical or mental health services. One would imagine that any refugee from Gilead would be a walking talking bag of PTSD and would be literally unable to function properly without help.
Wow, the rape apologists are coming out in full force in this comment section…It doesn’t matter if Luke wasn’t physically overpowered, he was still helpless by nature and by circumstance. He couldn’t make himself hurt June. And it was still non-consensual, meaning that it was rape. June took away his autonomy in that scene.
Nichole has no eyebrows so she must be the Commander’s offspring.
The writing is suffering as evidenced by a lot of logic and world building errors, and also by the massive amounts of lingering closeups without dialogue. They have great actors. Let them all act. This is like GOT when the final seasons became a CGI fest and nobody spoke or drove a plot line anymore.
“Him and Moira”? Yeesh.