The first image and that whole sequence with Emily/Alexis Bleidel (Season 1, Episode 3?) is some of the most affecting television I've ever seen. It really is too bad that they went away from that so much.

Really enjoyed this season, didn't like the finale too much.

I guess the way the writers are going to twist that is that she wants to organize a revolution from within. Next season could be bloody for Nick, some Marthas and why not even Serena. I don't like the idea of stretching this over more than 3-4 seasons though. There is enough material for exactly that, not more. The writers haven't proven being capable of keeping it good for much longer than that.

I mean, if the show was consistent in any way she would be executed. and so would both Waterfords. cmon, they had a handmaid run away twice and now their baby was stolen. Eden and one of their guards ran away. Miss Waterford attacked the male patriarchy and broke the law by reading. any investigation will show their chosen guard Nick complicit in all kinds of crap. and their Martha.

I think if not for that ending I would have been fine with the season. now, nothing really matters.

anyway, I do have a few questions about Emily. Why did she attack Aunt Lydia? I mean, was it just bc she had the opportunity and Lydia is just such a low down depraved pos? thats fine and makes sense of course. but wtf was up with Lydias speech? it seemed to set her off. but it also seemed the speech was a wink and a nod that Lydia knew what was up about not having to screw the new commander. like she was showing kindness. I dunno, I watched it twice and it really came through the second time but maybe I just misread the situation.

June should be on every death list, disappearing a baby has to be a capital offense. So I have to imagine her plan is to go completely underground. But in Gilead that seems like a bad idea. Reaching out to anyone would be super risky. Just living day-to-day will be a challenge, with no home, no support system, can't get a job, etc.

The Waterfords, I don't know about execution but they have to be severely taken down in rank. Like, at best, they should be normal people with no real power. They've been huge **** ups.

For Emily, she had already secured the weapon, maybe she just always wanted to murder Lydia and this was the best opportunity. It seemed stupid though, since she was in a relatively good situation with her sympathetic commander and screwed it up.

Emily planned to murder the commander the day she got the knife, thinking she was about to get raped. (The commander asks her what she's doing on her knees and she says she's waiting for the "ritual"). She just got triggered by Aunt Lydia later on, ****ing lost it and murdered her. (Not sure she's actually dead, I think the writers wanted options). Call it PTSD or something.

It's pretty obvious that until the moment the commander releases her from his car, she doesn't have any idea he is actually sympathetic to her cause.

That's what I understood from the whole thing anyway.

Think you guys missing something in the Aunt Lydia stabfest.

"It's like a cut out your tongue" was the line that set her off, a reference the other cutting that took place

ahhhhh damn I didn't put that together. Lydia's a dick confirmed

Yes. But it only adds to my post above though, the knife was meant for the commander, until he decides not to go through with the "ritual". Lydia only got stabbed afterwards because she triggered Emily.

This is going to become infuriating in S3E1. There's no conceivable way Lydia could be alive and Bradley Whitford could (would?) get Emily out without putting himself in "definitely executed" territory. And for what? The show, being so busy in hiding his intentions, has presented no reason why he'd give a **** about his new handmaid he barely talks to.

They'll write themselves out of it to keep Lydia around and it's going to be stupid, just like the idea of June somehow saving Hannah while being at the top of Gilead's 10 Most Wanted list.

Finally watching The Handmaid's Tale, and it's scary as **** because it really doesn't seem like an alternate universe these days.

wat

What is so confusing about that? I, and everyone I've watched it with, feel exactly the same way. Tis frightening....

Holy hyperbolic overdramatic nonsense.

Exactly which part of your daily life mirrors this show?

Holy atrocious reading comprehension.

No part does. Anything else?

Okay. Which part of this show mirrors anyone's daily life? Surely, if it doesn't feel like an alternate universe, somebody somewhere must be experiencing some of these horrors.

Is it that this dystopian world seems to be right around the corner? Really? Every single time I hear something like this said about this show, I can't roll my eyes hard enough at the lack of perspective.

lol poor baby

The poor babies are the people seeing our reality as something even remotely approximating The Handmaid's Tale.

Agreed. The two major hypotheses of the book/show:

1. Massive decrease in fertility due to rampant STDs/drug use
2. A unified theocratic opposition with a military capable of defeating the US military

Both are so far from actual or potential reality as to be LOL. One blowhard at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue does not translate into what's described in the book. TDS ITT.

Still great TV, though.

I also cringe at comparisons to the real world. I don't think they've done a great job justifying/explaining how their world changed so much so quickly, but the idea that it resembles the present in any way is crazy tawk imo

okay, would it help you nits if I said it "doesn't seem that far-fetched these days" instead?

Dom,

Don't worry, every reasonable person understood exactly what you meant.

Nope.

agreed, pay no mind to the trolls.

State-sponsored rape, homosexuality a capital offense, labor camps, women pulled from school /banned from reading...any day now.

How will we stop the rising tide of Christian fundamentalism?

Heater, going to take a shot in the dark: Do you own one of these?