Further musings (let's try this again…):

Dood, have you seen Looper?

Dood.

Wrong show, but I was all, "Daaaaaamn! Poussey shanked a bitch!"

You're right that the book made it more obvious that Nick is a double agent than the show. Based on what we've seen so far, I think the show is going for, "Well, he wasn't a double agent initially, but then he met June and he was sprung.

I…I never thought of that. I mean, it would explain why Serena was so cool with the idea of Nick fucking the handmaid. She'd probably arranged something similar before.

"You will have a choice of sementales, Senorita, all much more handsome and virile than the last."

I get your frustration about the chit chat, since Offred in the book rarely engages in such behavior on account of how dangerous it is. Although she and Ofglen do manage to talk to each other about the resistance, up until the Eyes come for Ofglen. No FGM in the book, though. She sees the black van pull up and manages…

Even suicidal and on an effing bridge, Janine is a way better mother than Naomi Putnam.

We have. In the Jezebel's episode during Nick's flashback of the time he found Offred 1.0 hanging from the light fixture in her room. When the paramedics are carting her out, the rest of the household is assembled, including Rita. She's wearing an olive green cape to match her headscarf.

Uhhh, are you sure you read those passages correctly? The household is only present for the reading and the "blessing" part of the Ceremony in the wife's parlor. They're dismissed, and then the commander, wife, and handmaid trudge off to the wife's room for the rest of it. The household isn't actually there to see…

Remember Kill Bill? When the Bride was in a coma and Buck pimped her out? Something like that, I imagine. As long as her body's still alive, they don't need her to be conscious to make babies.

Almost forgot: ECONOWIFE SIGHTING, PEOPLE. THERE'S AN ECONOWIFE IN THIS EPISODE.

Love your username.

I too am annoyed with how freely people speak their minds in public in what's supposed to be a very repressive society. In the book, June would never dare to say half the things she's said when she's so clearly within earshot of her commander, his wife, other handmaids she's not on personal terms with, Guardians,…

Random stuffage:

Holy shit, that was one tense hour of television, and it all began with Alma's fake out; "I don't know what you're talking about." Which later turned into, "Next time you want to chat about Mayday, maybe try being more discreet next time?"

From a costuming perspective, I wonder what an Econowife's attire would look like on screen. They wear a head covering like the Marthas, and their dresses are multi-colored: blue for Wife, red for Handmaid, and green for Martha, because they're supposed to be all these things.

As mentioned by others, Handmaids are women "guilty" of some bullshit infraction: "gender treachery" (lesbians like Emily and Moira), "adultery" (women in second marriages, like June), "fornication" (single mothers like Jeanine), "sloth" (homeless and/or drug addicted women), "violations of natural law" (women in high…

Atwood's inspiration was Cecescu's regime in Romania and the Persian "Glorious Revolution." But Afghanistan is a good point.