Could it be? Dare I hope? Are we actually free from Gilead, or at least, in the process of freeing ourselves from Gilead? And obviously only the physical reality of Gilead for, as the previous episodes have really hammered in, Gilead is also a state of mind. But I can’t say I’m not feeling relief at the prospect of actually seeing this story move beyond the confines of that regime.
June and Janine are making like a Bruce Springsteen couple and running far, far away from their sad lives. Their search for freedom is obviously not guaranteed and as we follow them on their perilous journey to Chicago, we explore yet another fun, twisted tool standing in their way: emotional coercion and manipulation. It’s a dynamic June wields a little too often in this dark evolution, but we see it even more fiercely reflected this week in Rita’s interactions with the imprisoned Waterfords and in Janine’s backstory—the two standout storylines in an engrossing episode. Less trauma porn, more emotionally resonant than last week’s for sure.
June and Janine hop onto a freight train heading to Chicago, only to find themselves in a refrigerated container full of milk, looking like two frightened fruit loops floating around in a cereal bowl. June is still on full problem-solving mode, finding a way to drain out the whole cargo while Janine is still in her usual panic mode. Thankfully the milk hijinks are resolved quickly enough to get to the meat of this scenario, which is the spat between the two over whether divulging the secret location was a betrayal or a necessity. Janine tends to be presented as weak, emotionally fragile, too eager to please since Gilead had her eye removed as punishment. But this is also a character who lost one eye precisely because of her rebelliousness, and it was exciting to see that fighting nature come back during her argument with June and during flashbacks of her life pre-Gilead.
There’s been a lot of discussion online and in the comments about whether the end of the Trump era would diminish interest in the show (wishful thinking to call it an “end”, but whatevs). Time will tell. Nevertheless, the writers behind Handmaid’s appear to be more clear-eyed about how vulnerable women’s rights are in the U.S., Trump or no Trump, by taking inspiration from the very real messed-up crisis pregnancy centers that mislead women in every state. The flashback itself can get a little PSA-ey: Janine is basically a stand-in for every low-income, overwhelmed pregnant woman who googles “abortion services” and somehow find themselves in front of a volunteer spewing false info about the dangers of the procedure and how fatherhood can whip your man up in to shape. On the other hand, it also gives us a glimpse into her humble but beautiful life with her son Caleb, as well as her fine-tuned bullshit detector that may have been garbled in Gilead but can still pick up clear signals from time to time. (See the way she calls out June as evidence.)
I am still trying to parse out how Janine’s experience in the crisis pregnancy center informs her decision at the end of the episode. After hearing the train come to a halt and the sound of gunfire, June and Janine emerge from that vat of milk to meet a group of street-clothed armed fighters. When the ringleader tells them they are allowed to stay as long as one of them provides sexual services—this after he criticizes Gilead for having sexual slaves—it becomes abundantly clear that they are not in Mayday headquarters. June offers herself up first in the one gratuitously awful scene of this particular episode, but he stops her by claiming he isn’t “forcing her” and she can just leave. In case you’re wondering, this is still a pretty obvious attempt at coercion. June is set on running again but Janine decides to give this man his way. It’s an upsetting situation all around but the character herself does not seem too particularly upset by it. It is Gilead persevering? Or Janine making a choice about her body?
Thankfully, we have Rita’s storyline to shake off the ick factor of that whole situation. We still don’t know much about her own life pre-Gilead, but this episode drops little clues here and there. She’s looking for a sister and nephew in the Canadian refugee camps. She is Catholic, which might explain her allegiance to prayer more than Gilead’s propaganda. And she is still struggling with the emotional hold Serena Joy commands over her. We also learned in the early seasons that she lost a son, and maybe it’s his memory that makes her cry with happiness when Serena tells her the news that she is pregnant. But Rita is now “free to do as you please,” as Commander Waterford admits to her when she visits him. After realizing she is being used as a pawn in the Waterfords marital dramas, she cuts ties with both by dropping that sonogram picture on Waterford’s lap like a bomb.
Because Rita is quiet and sturdy, a person who felt perfectly at home in the hearth of a kitchen, that shot of her enjoying takeout sushi carried the weight of a much bigger gesture. This is her choosing a new path for herself, a different vision of what her life can be, removed from those earlier scenes of her making homemade bread—a task she had in Gilead. It’s a scene so full of placid contentment, that one hopes all our Handmaids will find their own version of sushi takeout soon. But this is Handmaid’s, and that kind of peace is relegated to very, very few.
Stray Observations
- Quick, take a shot of Malört while wearing a Cubs jersey when June growls “Chicago is still Chicago, they’re not giving up.” FUCK YEAH, WE’RE NOT.
- Serena’s cell looks like a fabulous Manhattan apartment that your iciest cousin rents for $3427 a month, while the Commander’s looks like a sleek conference room in some exploitative architect firm. Still, I love how the designers continue to set the mood by bathing them in dark, blue, gloomy tones while everything in Rita’s life is awash in a celestial light. We know where the evil lies.
- Most Canadian thing to happen this week was the snow lightly falling outside of Serena’s cell. Schitt’s Creek is a perfect show with the exception of how it treated Canadian weather. Everyone should have been walking around like penguins for nine out of ten episodes, instead of making it appear like this small town was in perpetual spring. The Handmaid’s has shitty Canadian weather down.
- Please put “I’M NOT A MUSHROOM” on a pillowcase somewhere for I will happily buy them as little souvenir of my mental state during lockdown.
- Eyebrow Watch 2021: No sight of him this episode! It can’t be the end though. We know he’s on a mission to keep June alive, especially after last week’s tongue action.
81 Comments
I watched 3 episodes of this. I’m surprised eye patch lady is still alive. She’s annoying.
She’ll die in some drawn out sacrificial moment, probably in slow motion.
When the crowd actually booed the guys holding heavy machine guns at them, I was like, “Alright this is stupid.” I couldn’t watch anymore of the show.
I’ve tried to stay in, but I’m struggling. The quality of the episodes go on wild swings between great and terrible.
And Aunt Lydia will be crying “No Janine!” and change her ways because of Janine’s death
I wonder if the Lydia flip is happening because of The Testaments, where she’s portrayed either as a rebel who played a very long game to help break Gilead from within or someone who turned on the system because she realized her time is over.
Janine’s role on the show has largely been to humanize Aunt Lydia (with the notion that Lydia through Janine, realizes that she has fucked up royally and trying to damage control shit for the Handmaidens best she can in the system she’s a part of) and to provide a massive foil for the increasingly unlikable June. Unlike June, Janine’s managed to keep some semblance of faith and grace in the madness of Gilead, which is needed given how they ruined Moira/Ofglen-Emily for the show, in terms of foil status.
Oh boy. I hate Bad Guy redemption stories. “If only Goebbels had a voice of reason with an eye patch; he’d have contacted the Allies and flipped on Hitler.” No. Really bad people like their position and play it through.
It’s already canon in the books that Lydia is the one who takes down Gilead. June just sits around on a pot farm in Canada doing nothing while Lydia gets shit done.
I mean June should have been dead by the end of season 1. One thing the show is terrible at is sticking to their own rules.
I don’t remember if I ever considered her annoying (it’s possible), but I can tell you now she’s more or less the only non-annoying character for me, at least among those that are still engaged in the main narrative.
All I have to say is this show better have a great effing reason for killing off Caleb because Jenine is our baby girl and I’m already bracing myself for the emotional devastation when she finds out about him. Hopefully some doctor treated him for an illness and claimed he died but secretly snuck him out of Gilead.
I’m really trying to finish this show, but it’s been such a bumpy ride between truly smart, amazing episodes and really dumb, maudlin ones. The last year has also made it really hard to sit through the episodes that just feel like misery porn.
I like Moss, but think the show would have been better if they would have followed different handmaids. There’s no way June should still be alive after all the shit she’s pulled and the amount of times that she’s been recaptured. It really takes the weight away from her self sacrifices when we know that there isn’t any real stakes to them.That, along with the torture porn aspect are making it difficult to finish even though I still like the show overall.
There were a couple of seasons that really overdid June switching between “She’s Strong! No, She’s Broken! No, She’s Strong.” over and over. They seemed like they would follow other handmaids at first, but now everyone is either dead or escaped to Canada.
DAMMIT, VERHOEVEN, GET OFF KINJA.
It sure seems like a lot of people enjoy taking time out to comment how they no longer watch this show.Rita’s scenes in Canada are 20 times more moving and interesting than the escape from Gilead. I really hope they continue to follow her journey. That said, for June to have immediately met a creep coercing her into sex seems a bit ridiculous, even for this show. Janine changing into a red sweater – given her many options- was so very sad. I liked the reveal of Caleb having already been alive, as many many women (the majority at around 60%) seek abortions for the very specific reason that they already have a child (or children) and another would negatively impact their ability to care for that child.
I actually liked that the show grounded us back into the reality that there are shitty, opportunistic men everywhere- many of whom are fighting for the “right” side. Misogyny is not exclusive to a single race, political ideology, income bracket or religion/ lack of religion. It reminded me a bit of when Moira read Luke the riot act in one of June’s early flashbacks- he was and is part of the problem, and loving June doesn’t erase that reality.
Oh, I don’t disagree with you on that. I just wish it wasn’t the FIRST thing that happened after they got “rescued.” For me it would have hit harder if they had come to trust him somewhat and then he started creeping. Because that’s much more likely; I think, to meet someone you think is a good guy, only to find out that nope, they’re just as shitty as all the rest.
Boy, you’re just a big ball of sunshine, aren’t you? Misogyny is not exclusive to gender, either.
Yep. S1 and S2 were very good, I enjoyed a lot, but Season 3 was so off the rails I bailed. It’s possible I may pick up S4 if its as good as you all say.
Janines red sweater stood out for me too. She’s a rebellious, righteous woman who also struggles with her desire to please authority figures and be praised. That red sweater really hits home how she isn’t willing to completely reject gilead. It reminds me of the poignant handmade who told June she liked gilead. She used to be a drug addled prostitute who got fucked behind dumpsters. Now, she’s a handmaid, gets three meals a day, a warm place to sleep, and people were nice to her. Poor Janine. Screwed over by everyone, even June. She proved herself “useful” by taking one for the team with that rapist resistance leader, if only she didn’t have to do it that way.
It reminded me of another touch I like – how many people (including June, Rita and Moira) still have religion in their lives, despite it being used to subjugate them. I think it shows how slow the creep of Gilead was in some ways, how June and most if not all of the people her age are somewhat religious, even when their parents’ generation is not. (Also I liked the touch where the Catholics were smuggling people out; very reminiscent of several religious organizations in Nazi Germany)
i thought i couldnt do another season, but I got sucked right back in again.
The part of this season that I’m enjoying is learning more about the other characters and what’s going on in Canada. I was going to give up after season 3 where there was almost a lack of Emily and Moira, which are two great characters.I didn’t notice Janine grabbing a red sweater. That and offering herself in order for her and June to stay seems Stockholmy.
I did not know what to expect from Rita, so that story line held more suspense for me. I could see her succumbing to Serena’s mental ploys on friendship and nurturing. It was as though we saw her wake up during the course of the episode, to how she is in fact in control of her life again. Ultimately, Moira was right — facing the Waterfords gave her closure. Never was take-out sushi more deserved.
Does anyone else think Moss tends to overact with her twitches and ticks?
Yes, it looks like she has a neurological condition sometimes. The weird head bob thing too is really distracting. Honestly I could do without the closeup shots of her face, every. single. episode. I’ve been saying this since season 1
Everyone’s been saying it but it’s like saying “Family Guy could use fewer non-sequitur cutaway gags”. It’s true, but it’s the hallmark of the show so good luck changing that.
Prisoners don’t receive guests in their cells. I thought the large-windowed meeting room and the conference room were both secure meeting spaces, not cells. It would be relevant to see where they spend their days, though.
“Janine decides to give this man his way.”
I might have to watch the end again, because I did not pick up on that. Janine was picking out clothes and finding food during June’s unpleasant encounter with the armed thief, as he had told his underling to assist Janine with. What did I miss, that led you to believe that?
I am truly puzzled by that claim because June in fact protected Janine at her own expense. That’s what led Janine to forgive June for revealing the safe house location. My take was, they got a bit of food, they got a change of clothes, and they will head off on their own to find Mayday.
When June came down after not servicing the rebel, Janine was eying the loft he was in with a look like she was contemplating paying the price. When she came to sit with June after June changed clothes, she said something about how it wasn’t too bad, and the guy thought her eyepatch was cool. Intimating that she gave him what he wanted, which is why they were able to get something to eat.
Thank you. I did miss that.
Frankly, I don’t think Janine forgave her; not that it was ever her place to forgive. It wasn’t. This is something June will have to reconcile. Janine indicated she was willing to do anything, whether that means aborting your kid during a global crisis or blowing a guy for a piece of bread, therefore Janine’s position was “Let them kill or torture your kid, don’t give us up.” That is consistency.
Thank you, I didn’t catch anything like that either, was going to rewatch the end to see if I’d dozed off for a minute or something.
The fact that Janine has food (bread) when she comes to June for the final scene is a big indication that she slept with that guy to not only let them stay, but get some food.
I would’ve been pleased if, instead of blowing the guy, she chopped his dick off and shoved it down his throat. Who is this guy? How does he have this kind of hold on these people? This is a mini-Gilead in all but name! How come the ladies don’t rise as one and rip him to pieces?
I certainly appreciate Moss’s willingness to transform into a monster—getting a lot of Lady Macbeth vibes, referring to the William Oldroyd film. But gosh, it is aesthetically the miserable cherry atop a shit sundae.
Haters gonna hate, but this season is roaring along like a freight train and well worth the watch.That being said, the “war” in Chicago as it is being portrayed is utter nonsense, and I wish the writers had a little more real-life experience.1) Refrigerated train cars do exist, but not for milk (for fruit). And for damn sure, you don’t put sunlight ports in either a refrigerated car OR one transporting (room-temperature) milk.2) Nobody leaves a loaded milk car with the hatch wide open – do you want sand and dust and whatever blowing in there?3) The train was also shown laden down with military vehicles, but was guarded by six people? 4) Gilead has an air force that flies jets over an area every 10 minutes, apparently, but do not control either California or Texas, so where are they getting all that fuel?5) If the rebel leader has 80+ some people in his crew (estimates based on # of people running around the warehouse that Gilead is too lazy to drop a bomb on) and he’s running out of food, why did he only take 10 people on the raid? And leave 90% of the gear from the train behind? A train that they intentionally derailed, so it was a planned raid.6) Why in the world would June think a handful of rebels near Chicago who don’t even have radios are the headquarters of the ENTIRE nationwide resistance (Mayday)?7) A single slice of dry bread after giving a man a BJ is a mighty poor reward for fierce, sweet Janine. JEEZ!Other than that, I absolutely cherished the various perspectives taken on the meaning of “love” in this episode.
A lot of those could be explained by Gilead’s sheer Trumpian incompetence. Everyone is corrupt and/or terrified all the time so you’d expect every job is done half-ass or completely wrong. As for fuel, I’d bet one thing Gilead does have is strong allies in the Mideast?
Maybe I missed it, but did they ever adress the fact that the nuclear weapons are now in the hands of a small bunch of religious fanatics? Maybe thats why noone else in the world seems to be helping, and Canada has to be real careful?
They never mentioned anything about nuclear capability in the show (and of course Atwood’s book didn’t even get close to the point where this kind of detail would be relevant, it’s more of a metaphoric tale). It’s possible Gilead failed to get its hands on the launch codes or something. It’d be the more convenient route, so it’s probably the one they’ll take.
that makes sense. Maybe they killed anyone who had the knowledge, or they escaped or committed suicide rather than have it fall into Gilead’s hands. Isnt part of the US a nuclear wasteland now? Maybe there was some chernobyl type accident. And they never mention what happened to the president.
I don’t think there’s nuclear wasteland? I believe it was initially surmised by viewers, but later never confirmed by the show’s narrative. A post-nuclear apocalypse world would feel much different. We saw very little of it, anyway. We know there are now whole areas turned into toxic dumpsters, but that could just be poor management on the part of Gilead because in some version of the Bible, God said, “Thou shall not dispose of hazardous waste sensibly”.
Didn’t they say in one of the flashback episodes (about the birth of Gilead) that they killed everyone in Congress when they decided to take over? I can’t remember if the said “just Congress” or if they said the entire federal government.
It’s my understanding several key officials in the U.S. Military were members of Gilead and then launched nuke after the attacks in D.C. destroying whole sections of the U.S.A., thus the irradiated soil in the Colonies.
It’s my understanding several key officials in the U.S. Military were members of Gilead and then launched nuke after the attacks in D.C. destroying whole sections of the U.S.A.I’m not sure from where you took this. The show’s Wiki page about the Colonies and the comments to that page cite episodes where it’s established the Colonies are a repository of toxic and radioactive waste produced by mismanagement of nuclear plants (there’s a map at Commander MacKenzie’s house showing the sites of the nuclear plant incidents). They didn’t launch nukes, it would have caused nuclear winter, a completely different scenario. Instead, even in this episode Fred mentioned how Gilead has “good air”, because canonically Gilead reduced its carbon emissions by 78% as established in season 1.https://the-handmaids-tale.fandom.com/wiki/The_Colonies
I always assumed that map was indicating nuclear strikes, not nuclear plants, so it could be that the plants went to overload, thus the irradiated soil. That’s possible, but a nuclear plant in meltdown would produce much more devastation than a nuclear strike, and if several of these plants overloaded, the whole of the continent would be effected, not just sections of it.
I don’t think it’s meant to be a series of Chernobyls, just that those plants had incidents, were shut down (probably God doesn’t like nuclear power or something), and the radioactive waste was taken into the Colonies. This world is most definitely not a post-apocalyptic one.
I only live 5 hrs from Canada and Have snow on the ground where I live 5 months a year. Schitt’s Creek, I love, BUT the outdoor scenes bug me as you describe. Like no place in Canada looks like the peak of summer forever.
Yeah, but that’s just the magic of Schitt’s Creek. It’s a Canada where it never snows . . . except for that one time it snowed. (In reality, they could only film in the summer, so that’s why it never snowed)
See also Corner Gas, Kim’s Convenience… Even Heartland treats winter more as an occasional special guest star than a season.
“Like no place in Canada looks like the peak of summer forever.”
Despite my name (which was true when I joined here I guess), I live in Victoria BC. Maybe it doesn’t look like the “peak” of summer forever, but…
Schitt’s Creek never actually identifies its location though…
Thank you!I thought I had missed something throughout the 6 seasons I watched.
Yeah, I was confused by the idea it was set in Canada. Of course it filmed there, but the characters lived in NYC at the start and sometimes bumped into people they used to know after moving to Schitt’s Creek, so I assumed they were still in some part of New York or other northeastern state.
This is the most ridiculous and generous rating for a show ever given here on AVclub.
Serena’s cell looks like a fabulous Manhattan apartment that your iciest cousin rents for $3427 a monthAnd it is ALWAYS raining. Have you noticed that?Amanda Brugel as Rita is such a beautiful actress — just a luminous aura about her. But I had to rewatch the scene with Serena Joy and Rita because I was so distracted by the absolutely gorgeous pale yellow pajamas Serena Joy was wearing.And if she’s pregnant, then Fred isn’t shooting blanks? I thought he was the reason that Nick needed to be recruited to impregnate June. Did I miss something?
“And it is ALWAYS raining. Have you noticed that?”The show is filmed in Toronto, which is where the Canadian scenes are set. But it would be funny if they had set the Canadian scenes in Vancouver, since it’s *always* raining in Vancouver.
“But I had to rewatch the scene with Serena Joy and Rita because I was so
distracted by the absolutely gorgeous pale yellow pajamas Serena Joy
was wearing.”I was puzzled by why Serena, in custody, is somehow being supplied with gauzy clothes for the purposes of looking moody near the windows of her fabulous apartment cell.
Could someone please get Joseph Fiennes some lip balm?
And some electrolytes, poor guy looks positively shriveled.
This is the first episode that really connected with me in a while. It might have been trope-y, but Janine’s “That’s it?” to the actual clinician helping her with her abortion felt like such a weight being lifted. She’s always been one of my favorite characters on this show, and it was nice to get a look at her with her son, and even wearing a cozy sweater. She deserves a break!While holding life-sustaining food over someone is certainly coercion, I think her attitude at the end was meant to put viewers at some sort of ease. She’s been mostly around for this crazy ride as June has been the driver, so I got the impression that she felt like this sacrifice was something she could take control of for once. Janine has been infantilized by Gilead but also by June, and I would like to see her have more opportunities to remind June that she is not a child.
“Most Canadian thing to happen this week was the snow lightly falling outside of Serena’s cell. Schitt’s Creek is
a perfect show with the exception of how it treated Canadian weather.
Everyone should have been walking around like penguins for nine out of
ten episodes, instead of making it appear like this small town was in
perpetual spring. The Handmaid’s has shitty Canadian weather down.”
I’ll take the bait–you do know Canada’s a big country, don’t you? Despite my name I’m back where I grew up on Vancouver Island which… yeah, no snow. Though I get that Schitt’s and I assume Handmaid’s are essentially set in Ontario, so… fair enough. I guess maybe this is why some of my American friends didn’t ever believe that Schitt’s is meant to be set in Canada and not the US?
I’m just across the Strait from you and am surprised to learn there’s no snow in Victoria. I knew it was more temperate than the Lower Mainland, being out of the rain shadow, but yeah. If that’s the case though, then it’s literally the only spot in Canada without snow, so some slight generalizing seems understandable.
Sure, and I know that in general when people say Canada they do not mean the west coast anyway. Well we do usually get one instance of snow a year–one day with a lot of snow then a few more days for it to melt (and there are exceptions–like that massive storm in the 90s when I was in high school). But I think we do get quite a bit less than the lower mainland–I know this past year there was snow in Vancouver and not here on several occasions. We’re a it milder, but also have a *lot* less rain and precipitation which may play a part?
Snow in Victoria is very, very rare. That’s why the Blizzard of 1996 (before my time) was such a huge deal. IIRC the city had sold its (few) snowplows because it “never snows” here. Then came a once-in-a-century dump that immobilized the city for days on end. I’ve lived here for a few years and while we see the occasional flake or two spiralling down from the sky in the winter, it tends to melt upon landing. Negotiating snowbanks, wading through grey-brown salty slush? Pretty much unheard of.
There is an enormous inconsistency in Janine’s story. The birth rate has plummeted. The human race is on the verge of extinction. Fertile women would be encouraged to have babies to term. The babies would (or could) be fostered by the State as wards, or put up for adoption. The mothers can receive payments (and other services and necessities) for birthing babies. Wouldn’t abortion be banned by this point? We’re talking about a slow apocalypse. Why are there discussions (pro-choice or right-to-life) at this point? It makes no sense.
Do we know when Janine’s flashbacks take place in regards to the birth of Gilead? They mention the low birthrates, but that had been going on for awhile – it wasn’t like the birthrates lowered and a month later Gilead was formed. So these scenes could have been set a year or more before Gilead was forming.So while I agree that the state should be providing incentives for women to carry pregnancies to term if they don’t want to keep the baby, I could see an America where the birthrates were starting to lower but women would still be choosing to have abortions, and they would still be allowed.
And then posting them on Tik-Tok!
Stray observations: if you are running for your life at night, it is probably best to remove your bright white head gear. Also, why would a milk tanker have little skylights?
Or lights at all? The night scenes showed those same places emitting light.
Yeah, they needed illumination to see the actors. In reality that tanker car would be pitch black unless the hatch was open.
too bad about the ugly scientologist lead who clearly has some dirt on the show runners to keep her job.
Moss is one of the Executive Producers, and I think she was a Producer in the first season. So she’s not “just the lead” – she’s involved in running the show.And despite her Scientologist beliefs, calling Moss ugly? That’s a stretch.
I still love this show but I wish they took more time explaining some of the technicalities and rules of Gilead and the whole “nation”. For example: •If Nick is a Commander, where is his Wife and Handmaid? How do you get one in Gilead?•How is America currently divided in this utopian reality? So Gilead is the whole Northeast? Texas is still Texas and Illinois is still Illinois, or just Chicago? I’m geographically confused.•Who are those “rebels” fighting for? Clearly, not women’s rights. Also, where are they? •What in God’s name is June’s plan? She said she wasn’t leaving Gilead without Hannah, yet she’s getting pretty far away from Gilead, but also from Canada. •Janine’s involvement in this is pretty sad when you remember that she thinks her son is in California and that she’s motivated by that fact, but June lied to her and her son is actually dead.
“If Nick is a Commander, where is his Wife and Handmaid? How do you get one in Gilead?”He was assigned a wife (Eden) a few seasons ago. That was before he became a Commander, but I thought that Waterford told him when that happened that he was on his way to becoming a Commander and it was time for him to get a wife (plus he wanted to complicate his relationship with June).I’m assuming Gilead has a lot of arranged marriages – don’t think there are a lot of instances where men and woman are meeting and getting to know each other over time and after a few years get married.Of course, Eden was executed, so the powers that be may not be in that much of a hurry to assign another wife to Nick, since he couldn’t control his first wife and prevent her from having an affair (I think that’s why she was executed?).“How is America currently divided in this utopian reality? So Gilead is the whole Northeast? Texas is still Texas and Illinois is still Illinois, or just Chicago? I’m geographically confused.”
We’ve seen a map of the continental U.S. in a previous episode showing what is Gilead and what is still the U.S. I’m sure it’s Google-able.“What in God’s name is June’s plan? She said she wasn’t leaving Gilead without Hannah, yet she’s getting pretty far away from Gilead, but also from Canada.” Right now her goal is linking up with Mayday, wherever they are. Since her only Mayday connection was that safehouse that the Handmaids were arrested at, she has no idea where Mayday is or how to get ahold of them. So right now she’s just going on instinct, hoping it will lead to Mayday.
Also, I think her interaction with Hannah last episode may be changing her desire to rescue her. She may be getting to the point where she knows she wants to save her from Gilead, but she might be accepting that she won’t have any part of Hannah’s life after that, since Hannah is now terrified of her.“Janine’s involvement in this is pretty sad when you remember that she thinks her son is in California and that she’s motivated by that fact, but June lied to her and her son is actually dead.” I had actually forgotten all about that, so when I saw it on the “previously on” I thought it was going to be referenced in this episode, but unless I missed something it wasn’t? So maybe this is just reminding the audience because it will be later this season?
I remember Eden and that whole story. I was wondering why doesn’t he have one now that he is a Commander. Not sure if they just assign you a wife if you don’t get one. Who knows? I’m sure a lot of those marriages are arranged, also there are a few that seemed to be truthful like the Lawrences and the Waterfords, with all their flaws it’s clear they were a real couple before Gilead.
The fact that he was already assigned a child-bride and she cheated on him and was killed may make the head-Commanders a bit hesitant to assign him another one so soon. Maybe go through the rest of the list of Commanders that need a bride before going to him again.
“June is still on full problem-solving mode, finding a way to drain out the whole cargo”How did June do this? When they first jump in they are barely keeping their heads above water -er- milk. But later we see the milk is only ankle-deep, so I understood that they drained it*. But I never understood how this happened.We see June struggling, then move to the far end of the tank and dive down. Did she open some valve that drained the milk? If so (a) how she did know this valve was there, (b) how did she know that what to look for, and (c) how could she have found it since she was in milk, a non-transparent liquid? There’s no way she could have seen anything to open/turn/whatever when she went under the surface.* I was kind of hoping they’d pull a Strange Brew and actually drink all of the milk.
Yes, she found a release valve.