I’ll have to watch it again, but I’m wondering if we’re all right.  They were listing the names of the dead from the bombing, but since Odette was just identified by Moira, maybe they read her name off too because of that?  Like, here’s who we know are now dead, including recent and recently identified.

Odette was not one of the people killed in the bombing, you’re confusing her with somebody else. Odette was killed early in the war, it was mentioned last year that she probably died in the “dyke purge.” I just assumed once you got to Canada you could access the cloud and get your stuff - maybe google knows something…

I choose to think a lot of people are more like Nick: If you don’t know what to do, stand there and don’t do much of *anything* for fear of being spotted as unusual and out of place.

I choose to believe that they consider women of such little consequence that Aunt Lydia is free to make shit up on the fly.

I am often aware that I add context beyond what is provided, but my recollection from reading the book is that there was a massive nuclear or biological weapons incident in the big cities other than DC and Boston. So that took care of a lot of the population, and leaders.

I imagine that only commanders have handmaids, yes? And most? All? commanders are in the capital.

Then you weren’t paying attention.

I don’t think it’s that Waterford is immune to consequences; rather, it’s that Serena acted fast, before Fred himself could be accused. Cushing thought he had time to build a case against the Waterford household while Fred is incapacitated. It was already shaping up; the interrogations, the insinuations, the fact that…

Plus, there was the moment of barely-contained seething rage when Serena saw Lydia using a pencil and writing in a book.

The review nails the problems with this episode, easily the worst of the series for me and a huge letdown after last week’s excellence. The Moira story was the lamest, laziest possible attempt to not completely waste Samara Wiley as a cast member. And the return of Janine and Emily makes no sense whatsoever. I assumed…

This is, I think, part of what happens when you do a literal adaptation of a metaphorical work of fiction. In the book, Gilead just exists. Offred has no idea of it’s scope, power structure, or overall health. All she knows is she’s deep in it. Take that and try and world-building for TV mostly using one character’s…

I agree, somewhat. But you also have to consider that Serena ran everything with her & Fred, and then she was relegated to being wifey who wasn’t allowed to read/write, doesn’t have her baby yet, and had to deal with him fucking around right under her nose. She got a little taste of not only being able to do something…

I believe strongly that every writer needs an editor, but I’m not sure Serena is self-aware enough to recognize that. I think she includes June at least in part because she wants someone to know what she’s doing. A witness to her taking back some of her power. Credit for it.

I thoroughly enjoyed this episode. Last week’s theme was “Who can speak?” and this week’s is “Who has power, and why?”

Yeah. It’s certainly an interesting twist for future narratives, but I don’t feel they earned that plot point yet - it felt too soon, especially after the recent conflict over their “friendship”.

I loved the tiny moment of Emily’s pain and despair when her eyes flickered down to June’s belly... it was a great contrast to the other Handmaids getting excited over feeling the kick.

I’m just not buying how little investigation is going on in terms of June’s attempted escape.