The Handmaid's tale 2.06: First Blood

[rogin]

Took me a good long while to find this one online. No idea why this show is so hard to get sometimes. If Hulu worked in my country I'd pay them right away. Man, this episode was awesome.

Eden is massively creepy and the most creepy thing about her is, that she is the only one in the show who is not just performing Gilead but really being it. Even the commander and Serena know at their heart of hearts that they are just a bunch of rapist baby thieves, even if they believe in their cause.

The scene where June orders Nick to fuck her already, cause she'll report him, is bone chilling. And it completely makes sense. She is the most dangerous of all of them, since the others are only putting up an act. They all have secrets.

I'm worried though that Eden is forshadowing for Hannah being presented to some Gileadi rapist scum before the season is over.

Serena's story was as twisted as ever, she tries to get closer to Juni, because she wants to get close to the baby she wants to steal, but of course she doesn't care in the least about June. And she enjoys that she has power now over people who don't share her faith, that she did not have before. The handmaid's breakfast was also a chilling scene. This attempt of Serenea to play house, when it is clear that she and the others are keeping slaves and that these slaves will inevitably always hate them and be afraid of them and try to get out of their situation. She is so pissed that June tries to grab some power, when it is only natural and she did it a million times herself.

Fred was remarkably himself when he "avenged" Serena by killing some woman, insteaf of the guy who shot her. The subtext of that storyline...I don't know. Would have things have gone different if there had be no protests against the Gileadis? I don't think so. It would just be easier for them and they always and forever would have looked for a victim narrative for themselves.

In this show you side with the terrorists. Particularly in that last scene. It was so awesome to see her run. There was emphasis on the slow controlled movements allowed in Gilead already, when June in her brief period of freedom went for a run in the empty paper.

And then she warned the others, she ran and she pulled the trigger. I really hope Fred died in the fire. He deserved to die like this. And in this world suicide terrorism is going to be very popular I think.

If he's dead I wonder what they will do with widdow Serena. She had power over Fred, but that is not real power.The whole household might just be transferred to another commander. I guess Fred will be in a coma or something, then she will probably allowed to stay in power a while longer.

 

Comments

[beer_good_foamy]

Hell of an ending to this episode, loved it.

The subtext of that storyline...I don't know.

I'm not entirely sure what they were going for there, or if they even knew what they were going for or if they just wanted to throw that scene in there for relevance. That said, they really don't have to stray far from the headlines to write this show, do they?

And it just struck me that the two scenes are very much related: Two women who - for very different reasons and in very different ways - are not allowed to speak, taking their one opportunity to do so, and bringing the house down - one figuratively, the other literally.

[rogin]

Yeah, basically the only artificial artifact is the actual coups d'etat. Yes, I also thought the two lines were connected.

I wonder, were they will go with Serena. I really rarely have these "I wish something bad to happen to characters" impulses but they really make the Gileadis easy to hate. Much more so than Fred, who I really only want to die, I kind of wish Serena would experience the hell she has caused for others.

[beer_good_foamy]

I think my big problem with the backstory so far, as well-done as it is, is that the responsibility for it is placed solely on the Waterfords & Co as if they were supervillains rather than populist demagogues. If they're going to continue inviting all those real-life comparisons, I'd like to see how regular Gileadans (Gileadites? Gileaese?) acted throughout this. That line of Serena's, "You're all in an academic bubble", feels ironic since that's (mostly) where the show has spent 1 1/2 seasons.

[rogin]

Yes, this part remains very vague. I mean the Waterfords seem to be part of a much larger organisation and they are higher ups but they are not the real leaders.

And you'd thing a movement like that would be leader focused. I'm thinking like the Mormon fundamentalists who raised compounds that work like Gilead. A sort of Warren Jeffsis is missing, Waterford is not it.

And how they got the regular people, asside from fear, is hard to tell. They don't seem terribly attractive as populists go.

Especially since their system is extremely classicist. That was also really well done this episode, when Serena is crying because mean Offred doesn't really want to be her servant to fullfill her dreams of Princessmotherhood. She holds it against her and the others that they are reminding her that she is nothing but a criminal, who takes what she wants by force, extortion and threat of torture and murder.