JoJoF92

I was confused by that too. I think part of her is happy that she might have an ally in Serena after all this, but it looked to me that June wanted to make amends with the Commander so that she can still get info from him about her daughter, but he refused to let her in and I think that's why she broke down crying because now she lost that chance

stlavin95

I hope she gets that chance one day

L i N d $ @ y

Have you watched the newest ep? Any thoughts about it?

stlavin95

I have, it was actually nice to see an different side of Serena for once and her also putting so much trust in June. I'm also interested to see how the whole storyline with Nick and Eden plays out in the upcoming episodes and what she will do with those letters.

Kinky-Cousin

He does not have to act like he's in love with her , Fred does not act like he is in love with Serena, marriage and sex is for reproduction only in Gilead. In fact I'd find it creepy if he did start fully enabling this child-bride situation by acting like he's fully come around to it. Gilead isn't that old, a man being a bit hesitant about being with a teenage girl isn't that unfathomable.

But he could still be a bit kinder, to keep her mind at peace so she doesn't speculate. Being non-romantic is one thing, but basically ignoring her might get some negative attention.

Alexa

I just think he is worried that if shows kindness that she will assume it means he is being affectionate with her and he doesnt want to go down that road. having sex for the "ritual" or whatever (though I'm not even sure they are supposed to have check ins or anything?) is bad enough but to actually touch her etc. IDK. but I do agree that it wouldn't hurt just to act more interested in what she is doing and be nicer. Maybe if he even told her he was uncomfortable with her age it would make it better idk.

I was thinking maybe she was crying at the end because she was so sickened by having to pretend to be sorry after what he just did. But she knows she has to pretend so shes not punished the way serena is.

I thought her smile was a happy smile at serena suffering at FIRST, but rethinking it, I think maybe she was just changing her face to "happy" to prepare herself for having to talk to Fred.

L i N d $ @ y

I have a feeling that Eden might rat out on Nick with those letters. Why was she going through his stuff anyway? The more Nick completely ignores her, the more Eden will feel lonely. And it will be hell if Eden catches Nick & June together.

stlavin95

Yeah, that's why Nick should give more attention to Eden, so she would be less likely to rat about him and the letters.

L i N d $ @ y

Alexa

shes going through his stuff because shes bored AF in that apartment. I truly think she was innocent though and that she didnt read the letters, shes not supposed to be reading, remember? i think shes pretty by the book. But hey, maybe they will "surprise" (although not really) everyone and she will rat him out. or maybe it'll just APPEAR that way but really it will have been someone else? idk.

stlavin95

Who else can you see ratting Nick out?

Mi||iê Måë

Great insta shot! Thanks for that!

Alexa

the only person i can see getting nick in trouble would be fred, if he gets an inkling that there is something between june and nick. i cant imagine anyone else because who else knows of them?

Regan

The latest episodes have answered a question for me, namely: How on Earth did the system in Gilead end up with so much support from women? Why would somebody like Serena, an intelligent woman who enjoyed writing, and who was quick to speak her mind, be so in favour of a system that relegates her to knitting in her parlour? How can Aunt Lydia be devoted to the welfare of her Handmaids, yet inflict horrific torture on them?

It hit me in the last episode.

For Serena, Aunt Lydia and, I imagine, many of the ordinary citizens, it's all about babies.

The population problems are very real, and developed over a period of at least several years. It makes sense that people would panic, thinking that they were facing the prospect of human extinction, and that they would be desperate to avoid it, even if the cost was one they never imagined that they would dream of paying.

In one of the flashbacks, Serena described reproduction as a moral imperative. I can easily see the Serena of the flashbacks wanting to see the government encourage, even incentivise, fertile women to stay at home, bearing and raising as many healthy babies as they could. Serena wanted a baby but, in the flashbacks, I'd say that what mattered most to her was that healthy babies were born, even if she couldn't have one of her own.

Anything that further reduced the birth rate was to be discouraged, if not outlawed altogether. It started by restricting reproductive freedoms, as seen when June needed Luke's consent to fill a prescription for birth control pills. Abortion was probably outlawed at the same time, if not before. Then envy and judgement set in; it wasn't enough that a couple had a child, they had to prove that they were fit to care for their child, that they deserved to be allowed to raise their child more than the countless childless couples who viewed themselves as worthier of being parents, either because they had money, or because they considered themselves morally superior.

Fred and his fellow conspirators instituted the Handmaid system to make sure that, if only a small number of women were capable of bearing children, they would be first in line to father those children. It was about their pride, and continuing their bloodlines. At the time, they still recognised that they would need their wives to be on board with it, so the system and the Ceremony was designed to placate concerns.

Serena has accepted a position of subjugation to her husband as a necessary sacrifice to God, in order to gain favour and babies. Aunt Lydia inflicts suffering on the Handmaids in order to purify them, so God will bless them with babies. As she said before the banquet, their punishments were endured "for the greater good", not just their spiritual wellbeing. I imagine that there are many "true believers" in Gilead who took the plummeting birth rate as a warning and who now toe the line in the hope of divine reward. For people like this, not only is their sacrifice, and the sacrifice of others, worth it if it leads to the curse of infertility being lifted, the highest priority is the lives and health of children, and rules should be bent if it means saving a child. Even Aunt Lydia didn't kick up over a female doctor.

For Fred, on the other hand, it's about personal power. He wasn't prepared to bend the rules to allow a dying baby to be treated by a female doctor because her success, where a male doctor failed, would not only disturb his comfortable view of male superiority, it would also risk a slippery slope. If it was God's will that a female doctor save the life of a baby, how could it also be God's will that she should then go back to serving as a Martha? Might the saving of baby Angela/Charlotte not be seen as a sign that it might not actually be necessary for women to be forced out of their jobs?

The system in Gilead does an excellent job of pitting different categories of women against one another. Handmaids are oppressed by Wives and Aunts, but seen to enjoy a life of relative privilege compared to Marthas and Econowives. Wives lead comfortable lives of leisure, but see the Aunts allowed to read, write and work. And so on. Divide and rule.

To Fred, the prospect of June and Serena finding common ground threatens him. It's a threat to his power that they might work together, and not in his interests. It's a threat to his ego if they are friendly with one another, when he prefers to be the one whose attention they both seek. He continues to seek out June - and he gave off a serial killer vibe when he went up to her room when she and Serena were out - despite the fact that he knows that she conceived a child by another man, and despite the fact that his harassment of the late Offred drove her to suicide. What matters to Fred is what he wants. No matter what Aunt Lydia might have to say about harmony between Wife and Handmaid being important for the baby, Fred saw it as something to be crushed, and he did so, brutally.

It's very in-character for Fred that he had little stickies marking out the pages in the Bible with quotes to support what he wants.

Eden is potentially very dangerous, but I can't help but pity her. At the end of the day, she is a child, one who has been indoctrinated from a very early age. Hannah could end up in a similar position in the not too distant future.

I like that they brought Emily and Janine back into the picture, but it serves to show just how short-sighted Gilead is. Despite the scarcity of fertile women, they not only send Handmaids to the Colonies, they send them to the irradiated one, rather than to an agricultural one. It's to be hoped that they were treated for radiation poisoning before being sent back.

The last scene with Janine and baby Charlotte, and the closing song, with Charlotte's gurgling accompaniment, was beautiful.

Aunt Lydia's reaction to the miracle is of particular interest to me because, in the books, she envisioned that, for the next generation of Handmaids, there would be enough to go around, and rather than moving from household to household, they would stay with one as a permanent part of the family. She suggested that the Handmaids would be like daughters to the Wives.

If the series' Aunt Lydia holds the same view, might she take the miraculous recovery of a baby in response to the love of her birth mother as a sign that successful Handmaids should remain with the family of their child, rather than being shunted to another household to give somebody else a chance? If so, the next season could see a situation where June, having borne "Baby Waterford", is expected to be a permanent member of the family.

L i N d $ @ y

I hope she's realizing how wrong it is now. I really want Serena to realize this is all one big mistake and redeem herself.

Serena. But then Nick helped her out with Commander Cushing so I don't think she'd get him in trouble right now. I just need both Nick & June to lie low and stop kissing in public because the minute they are found out, they're done.