This is like a completely different show. Aunt Lydia calling Janine by her name is possibly the most jarring thing. The handmaids are talking to each other way too freely. Serena’s on board for everything now? Just a few episodes ago the rift between her and June was punctuated by her stern dismissal of June’s request…

This show also presumes that there was a large group of people already clammoring for this type of theocratic govenment, so if  Eden was from a true believer family, they could have raised her under the dictums of Gilead even before Gilead existed.

I love that the show reflects the 1st generation of the revolution, and all of the conflicts this creates. Serena is the impetus for the changes in/to Gilead, yet she is now a subservient wife, and she may not be so happy about that - and then we are introduced to Nick’s wife, that poor sad girl put into the most…

Not yet. I really hope we do, though - we knew even before the flashbacks what Serena did “before” (at least I think we did, might just be having read the book previously), but Lydia is kind of a cipher. It’s worked because Ann Dowd is such a damn good actress that can insert some humanity into what could easily be a…

She might have been doing just that (the smiling because of the wedge) but it struck me more as what happens when you are so close to something and also on the edge of an angry, bitter, cynical despair, and it all falls apart, because of course it does. There is no escape. What was she thinking? (that kind of smile)…

To me it sounded like she was saying “You might have m—” and then stopped herself. I wondered if she was pondering whether Philip might’ve married Irina but then realized she didn’t want to go down that road.

I really enjoyed June’s line:

This is actually why I think the flashback story was incredibly important for the episode, the story of the Waterfords using “free speech” to push their agenda into the mainstream, the silencing of Ofglen, and Ofglen’s use of violent speech all weave together to tell a more complete story and a less disjointed read…

The thing I found most jarring (and sadly most relevant) in this episode was the flashback to Serena’s attempted speech at the university. Here they are under the protection of free speech, and whining about Serena has a ‘right to speak’ because ‘this is America!’...and their proposed initiatives involve stripping…

I loved the loooong beat after “What do you girls [ugh] talk about on your walks?” Because, imho, Serena Joy only at that moment realized she had put together a light brunch date where the one who was supposed to play the part of lively, chatty best friend turned out to be a woman with her tongue cut out. Oopsies!

For some reason, when I watched this episode, I didn’t get that Silna’s wandering necessarily meant death, but I suppose you must be right.

I often see white parents with obviously adopted black children, I’d call the police but they’d probably arrest the kids.

It’s gonna be pretty weird for Henry once he finds out that his parents and sister are Russian spies, but nobody ever asked him to be a Russian spy.

Following my chronological habit:

I just feel like pointing out how great Matthew Rhys is at showing deep emotions with just subtle facial expressions. He’s been delivering in this role since day 1. Give the man the damn award he deserves

On a more serious note:

I’m sure you did that many times in your 3 years of high school volleyball! I have played for over 35 years and coached for 10 and that was one of the best defensive plays I have ever seen. I dream of my girls giving that much to a play. The amazing part is the reaction time and commitment to the play. I would love to…

Yeah, pretty much none of his or her analysis of what happened makes any sense. “She isn’t going particularly fast in that direction.” Um, yeah she was, she was running and then leapt into the air. Watch that video a few more times and really think about how fast all that happened.

I agree, but only up to a point. I think this is genuinely a creation by two artists. Obviously Lynch owns more of it, because he directs it and has final cut, but Frost shouldn’t always be dismissed as a traditional storyteller. His novels are plenty offbeat. Lynch chose to work with him; Frost wasn’t imposed on him…

I find all literalist narrative readings like this of Twin Peaks ridiculous. The reason is that the clear key to appreciating all of Lynch’s other work is to see him as a surreal formalist painter working in the medium of film— clear because this has been the trajectory of his entire career from his beginnings as a…