Serena is a brilliant character. I, too, had been hoping for her redemption this season, but she’s back to driving the crazy bus to evil town. It’s just so, so fucked up that she would think of rape as being “the natural way” to induce labor. Sex is a legitimate way to help kickstart labor in a woman whose cervix is…

Agree with everything you said. All the trappings of Gilead are normalized back home, but seeing them out of context was a visual shock to me as a viewer. You can see on Serena’s face in that first car ride how delighted she is to see that it’s all still there, the world of street vendors and cell phones and women…

Eden is definitely going to be Nick’s doom. That girl has nothing to do but be a dutiful wife to a man who doesn’t want her. I remember being 15. Rejection and hormones are a volatile combination.

Yeah, of course they know. This is a diplomatic visit, so they’re trying to respect Gileadean ‘customs,’ even though the Canadians and everyone else thinks that five year old culture is nuts.

This episode was so good. I cried multiple times. Watching Serena marvel longingly at everything she threw away was good schadenfreude. She was rightfully humiliated at every turn—the wordless schedule, the exchange she had with the mother and daughter at the elevator, being confronted with the husband of her handmaid…

She spoon fed him some of her jam! I found that shocking in the context of Gilead.

Thanks so much.

Failure to thrive is an issue of mal- or undernourishment, yes, but the psychosocial environment the baby’s in is often a contributing factor to FTT. Lack of bonding to the mother/other caregiver and lack of physical contact are absolutely medically recognized as contributors to some (though not all) cases of FTT, and…

Thank you so much for your kind words and thoughts. Wishing you all the best, too! People who fight this fight every day must have some kind of ripped mental muscles we don’t even know about, because this shit is strenuous. But we got it!

It was subtle, but the doctor gave a correct diagnosis—failure to thrive due to neglect (it having been previously established that Mrs. Putnam doesn’t hold or like the baby very much)—and prescribed the correct treatment when she said something along the lines of “All we can do is hold her and let her feel she is…

To answer your question, yes, an adoption by the non-biological parent takes place. It’s called a stepparent adoption, and I know from personal experience that family court judges love them because they’re happy occasions.

It really, really does suck. During my episode, thoughts of inconveniencing others also gave me pause. That’s such a woman thing to do, to think first of how we’ll be putting others out with our death. Perhaps it’s the one and only silver lining of that particular social conditioning.

It sounds like you’re doing everything right by being vigilant. Open communication with your kids will help you all. If you notice something off with one of your kids, take note. Sometimes the person suffering with depression is the last one to realize it. Hugs to you and yours.

Honestly, I didn’t know it could happen like that either, until it happened to me. I learned in the hospital that what I experienced isn’t abnormal (I mean, it was for me, but not for chronic depression in general). There doesn’t have to be an instigating event or situation for depression to sucker punch you.

I understand you perfectly. We’re thankfully past the tantrums, but the emotional meltdowns still occur, and I still have to remind him to take care of personal hygeine. It’s so frustrating to see my perfectly intelligent son struggle to do even the basic things that would eventually allow him to thrive independently.…

Mr. Spade’s remark that Kate “sounded happy” the day before she died prompted me to want to share. I have major depressive disorder and anxiety. I see my therapist and my psychiatric nurse practitioner on the reg. I take five medications daily, and I’m sitting in front of my light therapy box right now. Most of the…

To be fair, that bit about the group project was me, too. The other kids always brought me down!!! But yeah, don’t ask me a question if you’re just going to tell me I’m wrong. So annoy.

Ooof. That’s a lot. I’m sorry your son’s dad is fueling that behavior. Hang in there, mama!

I can relate a bit, as my second son is 15 and has autism (Asperger’s, as his diagnosis used to be called). I don’t foresee him able to live independently before 20. Hugs to you and your son... I can’t imagine how traumatic the death of his father must have been to you both.

Yes, it does seem that parents don’t kick…

Thank you. He did 2 years of JROTC in high school and thrived with the structure and clear-cut chain of authority and knowing what he’s supposed to be doing at all times. It’s the whole fighting-and-dying-in-bogus-wars thing that’s the sticking point for me. I worry for his safety, and I worry he’ll have to do things…