The Handmaids Tale
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For years, we watched the women ofThe Handmaids Taleclaw their way out of hell.
June and Rita escaped the Waterfords.
Serena Waterford escaped Gilead and then the Wheelers.
Now, were watching them all willingly head back in.
Ambassador Serena Joy chauffeured in a brand-new foreign car.
Rita on an honest-to-God New Bethlehem tour bus.
Its been a while since I found the patterns ofThe Handmaids Talepleasurable.
Suddenly, they havent.
The result is that Luke comes off like a kid playing a made-up game of rebel soldiers.
The audacity of it.
I cant tell if shes being obstinate or simply obtuse, but June is unwilling to massage Lukes ego.
But it wasnt too dangerous for June to take on Gilead again and again?
Shes talking about the men who run Gilead, but really shes just talking about men.
Their sense of their own strength.
The mark they make on the world when they sire their sons or detonate their bombs.
But occasionally, she lets slip a shrewder side to her supposedly clueless housewife.
Theres even a sword involved.
And Naomi knows that after the ritual, the men will retire to Jezebels.
If Joseph doesnt go, they wont trust him.
Theres more to playing the part of high commander than wearing the right color scarf.
The ceremony is emceed by Wharton, but Jonah fromVeepis in charge of planning the afters.
She can also pepper Joseph with infinite questions about her daughter, Angela.
Lawrence has no use for his new wife, but Angela has awoken some long-buried nurturing instinct.
I guess the subtext here is,Not all men.
And just like June objected to Lukes boots-on-the-ground involvement with Maydays haphazard schemes, she objects to Moiras.
But again, its Junes delivery that sucks.
But Moira has another reason, too.
Shes lived with Luke.
Shes become family with Rita.
In a script-flipping moment, June takes on Moiras fight instead.
Moira may be susceptible to PTSD, but June Osborne is the most recognizable handmaid in the world.
Ellen agrees, though, because June reminds her she has a Gilead hall pass.
Nick will help her if she gets caught.
But this season has persistently raised doubts about Nicks loyalties and his influence.
Holly reminds June that just because hesherNazi doesnt make him any less of a Nazi.
Nick goes dark on Mark Tuello in a moment of crisis.
It will only take him a few years.
I think Nick means it, and yet its hard to imagine Gilead letting the same woman escape twice.
He may not be a true believer, but hes a survivor.
He knows that theres no room for Nick Blaine in a world with no Gilead.
He doesnt get to marry June Osborne.
In Gilead, hes an operator.
In a world without it, hes a war criminal.
Luke is by far the best of the men we know.
Shes been down this particular road to nowhere before.
Moira came back to him.
Emily brought baby Nichole to him.
Lukes wife was enslaved in Gilead, and now theyre standing next to each other.
