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The Handmaid's Tale S2 |OT| Gilead is within you.
- Thread starter 브라이언
- Start date
Spoilers for new episode
This show is so good until they throw in the contrived plot points. You had all the makings to have an incredible 3 episode arc to finish off the season and really open up the show and they just ruin it with the completely contrived closing minutes cry for help gunshot that you know is just shoehorned in there to put the characters back with the Waterfords and not do anything truly bold with the story. 98% of the episode was incredible and it was ruined by the 2%. Sure you can try and rationalize why she would make that choice(even though it sort of doesn't;t fit with the entire narrative arc of the episode) but really, come on.
The only thing that would honestly redeem it is if it isn't any of the Gilead soldiers or Nick and just some random that heard the shots and we get some interesting diversions.
The only thing that would honestly redeem it is if it isn't any of the Gilead soldiers or Nick and just some random that heard the shots and we get some interesting diversions.
Just watched the episode. There was a little of everything! This one might be my favorite of the season, despite knowing where we're going next. It's understandable, but damn, this episode alone was tense in different ways and stimulated hopefulness. Wearing headphones this time was terrifying in its own regard, both with Serena's yelling and Offred's screams of agony (which are understandable but they did it A LOT for a specific scene).
Two more episodes of the season! Ahhhh.
Two more episodes of the season! Ahhhh.
I agree with your assessment. I'm a little worried about the direction this show is taking after the conclusion of this episode. The sneak peak for next episode did not seem promising.
I love this show but this season has been a disappointment for me, I am on episode 10 so far, and it feels like we should be farther ahead than where we are right now with this story. I know there is torture porn with some shows and movies, but I believe this show sometimes gets into depressing porn. Everything is gloomy and dark, and the main character always in a shittier situation than before. Shit gets too much, watching the character suffer again and again and again. There is barely any redemption or a happy moment for them, shit gets tiring. We know that the situation is shitty and the people in there are shitty, move on from it, we don't need to see her get raped again and again and again. Shit is just torture porn to some extent.
I agree with you 100%! Headphones on and Serena yelling OFFRED, and then yeah, the birth scene. I felt SO bad for June, being all alone. I so wanted her to get the hell out of there!
Yeah, that scene was cranked up with the volume and circumstance, it was gut-wrenching. I honestly thought she was going to get out of there, but it's unlikely that'll happen before the season ends. When June had the gun, do you think she would have shot Fred or Serena first? It was ambiguous who she was aiming at.
I literally thought the same thing!! I was thinking if she shot Fred, maybe the shell would just go all the way through and kill both of them! At least it would have stunned Serena enough to get that second shot off.
This episode bored me after last week drama, the only part i liked was Serena and Waterford (i forgot his name ) arguing and she screaming, and june wanting to shoot them but of course she didn't
Im guessing they take the baby and left june somewhere after
Im guessing they take the baby and left june somewhere after
June just apologized this episode for gow tragic the story is :p
I thought it was a good episode but I also agree that they need to stop teasing an escape for Offred.
Hmm. Is it just me, or did the closing narration imply that June escapes at some point but without Holly? She says she'll see her if she (Holly) escapes, or in heaven.
Also, even though it seems like things didn't move forward yet again, several significant things DID actually happen. Fred and Serena each acknowledged the rape. We discovered that Fred WAS in on the "let Nick impregnate her" plan. And we got a radio news report (the DJ was Oprah, BTW) talking about Europe's sanctions on Gilead. Plus she had the baby.
I wish she'd have escaped too, but it was still an eventful episode. And absolutely brilliantly acted and shot, as usual.
Also, even though it seems like things didn't move forward yet again, several significant things DID actually happen. Fred and Serena each acknowledged the rape. We discovered that Fred WAS in on the "let Nick impregnate her" plan. And we got a radio news report (the DJ was Oprah, BTW) talking about Europe's sanctions on Gilead. Plus she had the baby.
I wish she'd have escaped too, but it was still an eventful episode. And absolutely brilliantly acted and shot, as usual.
Fucking god awful episode. They're going to constantly tease out Offred escaping for 6 fucking seasons and just keep recycling the same themes over and over again until the show ends, mark my words.
Like I cannot fucking believe this show isn't getting torn to shreds for the cringe inducing contrivance in this episode arranged just to get everyone back at the Waterfords to continue the exact same formula we've had for two seasons now. The writers have no idea how to move the story forward.
Like I cannot fucking believe this show isn't getting torn to shreds for the cringe inducing contrivance in this episode arranged just to get everyone back at the Waterfords to continue the exact same formula we've had for two seasons now. The writers have no idea how to move the story forward.
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It was the first time Offred indicates she isn't narrating the present in her thoughts, but maybe narrating the past in a written memoir (I didn't read the book, so I dunno if this was the case there). I thought it could be directed to other handmaids but it makes a lot of sense she is narrating that to Holly. One thing is sure: At the moment she is narrating that, Gilead didn't fell yet - or we are dealing with a horrible war aftermath where is still impossible to track your lost beloved ones.
I was surprised Serena referred to it as rape. It's not uncommon to this kind of fundamentalists to dismiss this kind of thing as ''sex'' and usually the woman's fault, a complete denial of the violence. Another thing I wasn't completely sure was if Fred was really fooled by June's survival flirting, but he completely was! Not that is a surprise for the kind of predator he is. I'm surprised he didn't retaliate against Nick yet, but I suppose he has no idea they have a relationship.
I didn't really like the episode, but not because of the pain and suffering. I still disagree it should be lighter or she should have escaped yet. The torture is necessary to show how inexorable and unescapable Gilead is. Things don't get better when you live in this kind of regime. There is no agency for the individual, so it is almost impossible that one person's actions are enough even to just escape. Moira was just unbelievably lucky. And on a side note, she didn't have a pair of crazy dogs chasing her so actively like Offred has - she was one more girl at the Jezebel's.
About the promo, I didn't understand what's going on with Emily. Is her new commander a Gilead traitor or a psychopath? The wife seemed emotionally broken. And what's Eden up to? Where could she possibly go? If she went to Isaac she is just stupid, but I don't think she went back to her mother.
This is what I'm worried about. Quit teasing her escape if it's not gonna happen. This happens way too often in dramas. They don't know how to move the plot forward and then it gets tiring to watch.
Although I do disagree it was a bad episode. It was a very good episode it just had a bad ending.
The child is going to be taken away by the end of the season. Serena will be deprived of having the child, but so will June.
So that episode more or less wound up as I expected, although thankfully the baby survived. So that is a little bit of primal hope, even if it offers little for June's prospects in the immediate future.
I understand the frustration with June announcing her location, and inviting the waterfords back - and thus resetting her position in gilead - but an alternate idea of her birthing the baby alone and running away solo, with baby in tow, might be more preposterous. Bearing in mind also, that she hadn't yet given birth when she went out to fire the gun... and she had just bled heavily... I think she was scared, she knew she needed help. It wasn't irrational. She was probably hoping for more immediate help than she wound up getting.
The suggestion of the Waterfords being on shakey ground in gilead is interesting.
We'll see where it all goes.
I understand the frustration with June announcing her location, and inviting the waterfords back - and thus resetting her position in gilead - but an alternate idea of her birthing the baby alone and running away solo, with baby in tow, might be more preposterous. Bearing in mind also, that she hadn't yet given birth when she went out to fire the gun... and she had just bled heavily... I think she was scared, she knew she needed help. It wasn't irrational. She was probably hoping for more immediate help than she wound up getting.
The suggestion of the Waterfords being on shakey ground in gilead is interesting.
We'll see where it all goes.
Just caught the ep and thought it was fantastic (Holly). Just give Elizabeth Moss the damn award for anything already. What a performance.
This return was of her own free will, so there's that wrinkle in this tale, but I do believe that once she escapes that it will need to be for good. Also, if you think about her previous escape attempt that it was through the actions of others, so in a way, she never had any agency of her own to begin with. I really liked the parallels in both timelines: June's mother promises that she'll be there when she gives birth to Hannah and she doesn't. And all this season, June promises her daughter that she'll not be born in Gilead, but she does. The only thing that June can end up doing is naming her newborn daughter after her mom. Her voluntary return to the Waterfords after her pregnancy also contrasts with her involuntary recapture at the beginning of the season.
I also think that when June finally escapes, that it should be on her own resolve, much like Moira.
One of the brief summaries for episode 13, The Word, indicates that Serena and the Wives will be conspiring to affect change. I think this will be a sign of some true fracturing of the Gilead structure. We've seen in the last 2 seasons the ways that the Handmaid's conspired to undermine fascist regimes, but we haven't seen what the dissatisfied wives will do to bend the rules to benefit them.
Eden's death will affect June and Serena differently. For June, it will motivate her to get her newborn daughter out of Gilead through any means necessary, while for Serena and the wives, it will demonstrate to them that they are not as indispensable as they thought they were, so you could end up seeing them work behind the scenes to manipulate Gilead's laws to be lenient in ways that only benefit the wives, similar to what she did after the bombing.
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I haven't watched this week's episode yet but I'm really surprised at episode 10's universally positive reception. The episode was well shot and greatly acted but for me it straight up felt like torture porn. A gutshot that was meant to disgust the viewers, but one that neither didn't progress the central plot in any meaningful way, nor did it inform us in any way about our existing characters*. A filler episode, just to up the ante even more.
*June is tortured. Nick is conflicted. Eden despises her new life. Fred abuses his power to rape June more brutally than ever before, while Serena reluctantly abides. Escalation, rather than progression. Feels wrong at this point in the story.
*June is tortured. Nick is conflicted. Eden despises her new life. Fred abuses his power to rape June more brutally than ever before, while Serena reluctantly abides. Escalation, rather than progression. Feels wrong at this point in the story.
Going to post more of my thoughts later. Too tired at the moment.
Let's not downplay Serena's role in that rape. It was her idea, and she took part in it. As such deserves as much blame as Fred.
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You're right, I didn't intend to downplay her role, I worded my thoughts wrongly. This is similar to all the reprehensible actions Serena took throughout the entire length of the series, how she wanted to subdue women and took instrumental part in Gilead's rise, but only felt bad about it when she realized what she took part in - and was too cowardly, prideful and morally bankrupt to push back. She took active part in designing the rape and even if she did feel bad when she realized they really are brutally raping June, that doesn't absolve her of her guilt. It's entirely consistent with her character, only this time it was more brutal and graphic than ever before.
It's weird that people are holding out for Serena being redeemed. She was deplorable from the very beginning, but I would argue that she kicked it into higher gear when she threatened June's daughter, Hannah in order to leverage her obedience.
Her debacle in Canada showed that she knew this was wrong every time she was confronted with the truth. And let's remember last season, where she took great pains to sequester the maimed handmaids from sight when the delegates from Mexico visited last season.
June shooting both Fred and Serena might have been gratifying in of itself, but there was also something of a catharsis in her observing the Waterfords finally acknowledging what Gilead has been all along and without any of the pious pretenses they often wrap it up in.
Serena and June are the polar opposites in this show, in my opinion. I don't think her escaping to Canada with baby Holly is in the cards for her. And besides, there's more drama in her being denied the child and the further discord it will bring upon her marriage to Fred, not to mention her already deeply entrenched rivalry with June.
Her debacle in Canada showed that she knew this was wrong every time she was confronted with the truth. And let's remember last season, where she took great pains to sequester the maimed handmaids from sight when the delegates from Mexico visited last season.
June shooting both Fred and Serena might have been gratifying in of itself, but there was also something of a catharsis in her observing the Waterfords finally acknowledging what Gilead has been all along and without any of the pious pretenses they often wrap it up in.
Serena and June are the polar opposites in this show, in my opinion. I don't think her escaping to Canada with baby Holly is in the cards for her. And besides, there's more drama in her being denied the child and the further discord it will bring upon her marriage to Fred, not to mention her already deeply entrenched rivalry with June.
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It's fucking disgusting. And the Halo effect working in full.
The latter. Sorry.
Reading those spoilers gave me the strength to go on. I love the show but it's so dang depressing.
With the season about to wrap, I'm getting ready to resubscribe to Hulu so I can binge this. I've purposefully not looked at anything about the reception of the show as to not get spoiled, but with all of this being brand new material this time, how's this season holding up compared to the first? Close, or a step down?
That's a thing I always love.
Sadly, tomorrow is not a holiday in Canada but new episodes don't air until Sunday here. It was a holiday yesterday so that worked out for me.
Same. Wanted to wait to post until the season ended but may as well piggyback. Is this season worth it?
I think season two has been really, really bad. Whatever plot development occurs is completely reversed in the next episode. The same general plot point actually reoccurs two or three times. It's misery porn. There's no point anymore.
Hopefully the last two eps redeem it, otherwise I'll skip. :( Thanks.
That's really quite a bummer and was my big fear going into this season.
Same. When they went off book.I was afraid of this happening.
Should of just been one season. And did the meta ending thing from the book. (which i read the plot summary on Wikipedia. DON'T JUDGE ME)
It's only a few pages. May as well read it at the bookstore for like 20 minutes.