I know it’s nitpicking, but why would anyone allow a pregnant handmaid pull that rope or participate in a very emotionally distressing activity such as public hanging? What did the hanged handmaiden do that moved their punishment from being sent to the colonies or something like that straight to public hanging? I can…

‘Moss uses that expressive-as-hell face...’

The redundant Nathan-Ed conflicts are setting up Ed getting busy with Bonnie, as illogical as that seems. But then THAT coupling isn’t as ridiculous as than current Nathan-Bonnie marriage, which would never happen.

That would probably track with Mary Louise. She seems like the type who interprets “70s party” as “hippie party.” This happens a lot on Real Housewives where women don’t understand that hippies were more 60s, or that 70s should really be confined to disco wear.

Oh, for the love of God and everything he opens, this has become the most expensive, most over-produced piece of nonsense ever adapted from a great novel.

I agree! The Lincoln Memorial scene where June looked at Lincoln’s fist as an encouragement for her to keep up the fight for freedom made me tear up thinking about the current state of democracy.

Also, has no one else noticed that her commander is named Joey Lawrence!?

A nice thought, but I doubt it. We saw a bit of Nick’s back story; he was powerless, with no respect and no resources. Gilead gave him both. He might know it’s wrong but still not want to give it up (much like Serena and Nichole). That shot of everyone jumping to attention at the end was to Nick what that nursery-full…

Does Fred really think that making June wear that thing in a video (that he knows the Swiss and Canadians will see) will help his cause? Gilead is so high on saying that the escaped Handmaids are making shit up when they cross the border, that you’d think they’d tone it down a notch for the videos.

Totally agree that this season is suffering as the show runners scramble to try and keep the story from unraveling. But the body horror is not my issue with this episode. I think it would be more realistic that the Leah center’s of DC would cut out the tongues of handmaid’s as either a way to prevent revolution and to…

Not to try and defend something like this, but perhaps it’s to show that Gilead’s hatred of women has reached levels of absurdity? Like, at first, they were doing this because they considered women to be lower class, but they still needed them for breeding. But now they don’t even care about breeding — the punishment…

Agreed, I enjoy it, and the episodes are so emotionally charged - it’s an experience. However, !!!SEASON 3 SPOILERS FOLLOW!!!, I’m getting a little annoyed that June gets to run around Giliad and talk to people like it isn’t an oppressed regime.  I was glad she got some push back this season, and is being made to know…

I’m sticking with the show because despite its flaws last season, it’s still a pretty damn good show. They really need to get a better handle on June’s character this season, though. They do too many things with her that are more about driving the story than writing a character that makes sense. The show also has the…

The short scene of the border guard asking Emily if she wanted asylum was about 1000x more powerful than the endless Elizabeth Moss close-ups and voiceovers, silent/slow-motion sequences, and Rad-Hitz-of-the-80s music cues that lard up the rest of the show. I have no idea why the strongest part of the series–the…

Yep, and it’s particularly jarring that June is still alive and unharmed. Janine was a successful handmaid and they were ready to stone her. Red Center bombing or not, it’s jarring that while Serena and Emily are mutiliated, June just coasts with body parts intact.

Didn’t the AVClub already do an “I’ve watched the first 6 episodes of season 3, and they ain’t good” piece somewhere? I’ve seen that sentiment in a few places, I just can’t remember if it’s here or not.

I said this before, but it’d make far more sense for June to have gone to Canada at the end of Season 2 and was recruited by what was left of the CIA to go back to Gilead and network with resistance cells from within.

I could live in Claire’s penthouse office.

Just came here to note that the last season consisted solely of hot garbage.

I can’t remember who said it, but I read it on i09. One of the writers said they had answers to all mysteries they introduced in the show, but that didn’t stop them from deciding to change the answer later. This explains a lot of inconsistencies.