I doubt there's a similar population with those skills at hand.

She is a monster for sure, but I'm willing to die on the hill that she's the only main character who respects the Handmaids. That complexity is one of the exceptional things about this adaptation.

I'm behind on The Americans, but I know neither is balm for the other!

I think my impression of book Waterford has been supplanted by Duvall's movie Waterford - comfortable and assured in his power. Fiennes is terrifying because he's feeling immense power for the first time, he's unfit for it, and he's reveling in it.

I just thought she was washing off the blood that she had to wash off the wall. Sitting in a tub of other people's blood as a visual metaphor that no one can ever be clean, or sanitize the brutality of Gilead for outsiders.

That worked in the book! And the early episodes were fantastic. They're not getting the balance right.

I'm guessing Nick is a well-placed double agent.

Great point. I wondered if it was transgressive for her to stand up and address everyone - it looked like some people were shocked. And I have wondered if Marthas have to pass a cooking-without-recipes test, or if they go to Martha cooking school.

There is a weird parallel to now - the entrenched power won't cede control to the next generation. The myopic white male view isn't thinking about the reality of the endpoint of the human race as much as their own power. I'm a little less optimistic and little more cautious about this adaptation since last week, and…

It was another aspect of horror, in the book, that history viewed the Commander as a relatively minor character. I feel like the show is portraying that a little - he was instrumental in the overthrow, but other men asserted the anti-woman agenda far more and likely assumed more power. (Might be why he thumbs his…

I was wondering the same thing, especially with the notion of the sacred mother. I wonder if Handmaids' lives would be better or worse in Mexico. My initial thought was worse, because the dense theology of Gilead keeps them from being outright sex slaves. But they are sex slaves, no matter how Gilead dresses it up.…

I can see how that would get a couple hot. *shudders*

I kept thinking "danger" when he was talking to June, so I'm thinking it's too easy for it to be Mayday. I'm glad she didn't reach for the pad - there were so many reminders throughout the episode (including her own words moments before) of what happens to women who disobey, that it seems inevitable she would suffer…

Hmmm, very good point. Is it maybe that NO method works, scientific or not? Gilead managed to identify and lock down its fertile women, but there should be fertile women elsewhere. Gilead used the fertility crisis as an excuse to subjugate women, but other nations wouldn't be the same, so should have free-range…

Maybe the Commander will be so giddy over his success with the trade deal, and that's why he smuggles her in. Perhaps we'll see his personal downfall in this (which would be narratively satisfying where the book wasn't), even as the power structure around him fights to prop itself up. Which would also tie in with…

Her exchange with Janine was so heavily freighted - the unspoken "stick a needle in my eye." Great scene.

I should've cottoned to what the trade negotiations were about when Serena Joy made that bruised apple analogy. It's interesting that Aunt Lydia genuinely cares about her girls - she might be the only one who actually respects them, perhaps because she's a rare true believer.

I've been staying up late for it. It is a very weird goal every week.

The last scene was such an interesting turn. I'm not surprised by the ambassador's reaction, but it was horrifying all the same. And I wonder how the (ugh) trade negotiations will address control and preventing suicide.

Then the reveal by her assistant! I kept thinking he'd say "Mayday." Whenever we get the…

That's a really good point. I still have trouble with her being used to catalyze June, and the echo of her nod to Moira feels deliberate. But, you are quite right.