"Peter and the Wolf" was in heavy rotation on the mini record player my parents bought for me when I was little (alternating with "The Teddy Bears' Picnic") so yeah, the opening of this episode made me very nostalgic.

If Designated Survivor does a musical episode I am ALL IN.

This is suddenly the thing I want most in the world.

I'd never considered it while reading (and re-reading) the book, but this episode made me think that "better never means better for everyone" can also apply to Luke leaving his wife for June - though of course the "worse" in the two cases differs by a factor of roughly a gazillion.

I'm assuming it's been a month between the last episode and this one, since we've seen a Ceremony in each.

Yeah Serena Joy would have no need to resort to subtle (or "subtle") manipulations to get Offred away from Waterford - if she knew, she'd report her and Offred would be sent to the colonies or executed. Or perhaps "redeemed."

I've spent far too long thinking about this and I've come to the conclusion that hand sanitizer would most definitely NOT make a good lube. Evaporates far too quickly.

Ohhhhhh that makes more sense. I was so perplexed!

This is my own persnicketiness I'm sure, but I was so distracted by how non-quietly everyone was talking during the totally covert and secret meeting in the middle of a crowded movie theater. Keep it down, you heathens! People are trying to watch the movie! We live in a society!!! You kids get off my lawn! etc etc…

Yeah - I liked this episode a lot but Alex taunting Marcus with a burger was just inexplicable.

For some episodes it must come dangerously close to "film every scene eight times in eight different locations" - truly mind-boggling.

Wow, who knew that putting Maggie Q in a box for an hour would lead to a mostly uninspiring episode?! And there wasn't even any revolutionary new Ford automotive technology to spotlight! Disappointing.

Josh Chan may not be the sharpest, but he's not actively evil so I have to believe he'd be a better congressman than many of those we're currently saddled with.

Yeah, certainly a monthly ritual of "ok you hold this woman's wrists while I fuck her joylessly" wouldn't light many fires…

Well I cried big wracking sobs when Moira got on the train and June was dragged back to the Red Center so congrats folks you're four for four now! Keep up the emotionally devastating good work.

Yes.

A bit off-topic here but - last year I was reading a series (Suzette Haden Elgin's "Native Tongue" trilogy - recommended for fans of The Handmaid's Tale) written around the same time, and there was a minor subplot involving the essential inhumanness of IVF "tubies." It was so disconcerting given how relatively common…

The food also made me think of communion, since Gilead is a theocracy - a neat little subversion, giving bits of food as one instead of taking.

"Who are your enemies?" is my new icebreaker/get-to-know-you question of choice. (For the record: my enemies are mosquitos and treacherously slushy sidewalks.)

Also we can extrapolate from Emily saying that her son is five - so it's been no more than five years since the coup, because her wife fled with their son to Canada. (And June says her daughter is now 8 and she looks about 3 or 4 in the flashback.)