Summary: Lawrence invites other commanders to his house for a meeting. Nick is now a commander. June gets to briefly speak with Fred. Lawrence continues playing mind games with June. After the meeting they get into an argument. Lawrence reveals he saved Emily because she is useful to the world, and refuses to do the same with June who is selfish and useless. Lawrence gives June the option to save 5 women who are going to be sent to the colonies. June initially refuses but eventually gives in and selects 5 women she thinks will be best to kick off a rebellion. Serena is isolated from Fred and struggles to overcome the sorrow of losing her baby. She visits June who helps her get through it. Nick has been assigned to Chicago and visits June to say goodbye.
The Good: As usual, the acting was stellar. The scenes between Lawrence and June highlighted this the most as the two of them continued to play mind games on each other. But it's clear that Lawrence has the upper hand here. He sees through June's manipulation attempts and fires back at her at every step. Lawrence is not as easily controlled as Fred, and he makes that clear in this episode. The two characters end up having some fascinating moments together. The two that stand out are the scenes during the commander's meeting and the argument they had afterwards. I was really pleased that we got a look into Lawrence's mind to learn why he is so hostile with June when he was mostly kind to Emily. He believes in judging a person by the goodness of their heart, as well as their intelligence. Rather than accepting everyone as equals, Lawrence clearly puts values on people and he judges them based off of this value. And it's this belief that led to the creation of Gilead. It took 3 seasons to finally get an explanation about this, and thankfully what we got didn't disappoint. Lawrence makes it clear that the commander's wives aren't just randomly selected women; rather they are the most suitable mothers in the world, the one's with the purest hearts. The problem he has with June isn't that she has a confident nature. His issue is that she is selfish and does things solely for herself and her immediate family with no intentions of helping others. And he's right. Since the beginning, June has been selfish and only looks out for her own interests. She has never done a selfless act and is obsessed with bettering her life with no regard to those around her. I love that the show had first presented us with such a flawed main character, and now has presented us with an antagonist who perfectly goes up against these flaws. This Lawrence/June story has been fantastic so far and I think I could watch Elisabeth Moss and Bradley Whitford going up against each other for days without getting bored. Yvonne Strahovski got a chance to shine as an actress one again. While Serena's story may not have been the very best (see: The Bad), Strahovski still manages to make us feel emotion by how brilliantly she is able to express the emotions that Serena is feeling. In this episode Serena is mourning the loss of her child and is desperately hunting for a way to rid herself of this pain. She goes to her mother first and then to June, and is forced by both to face up to her emotions and emerge stronger. She finally does so at the end of the episode, and judging by her giving the cold shoulder to Fred, she may become a valuable new member to June's planned rebellion. Fred had a pretty good episode too. Yet again, he is manipulated so easily by June who is able to get exactly what she wants from him. Fred is really kind of pathetic to watch in this episode. He is such a weak-minded person and he has given up his entire heart to Gilead. It was pretty painful to see him practicing being genuine at Jezebel's because he didn't have enough confidence to simply talk to Serena and win her over. I think deep down inside he is aware that he is a bad person, but he is too happy with his current life to make any effort to change this. The Bad: I wish there was more clarity to Serena's mental state. Since the first season, she has probably been the most complex character in the entire show and episodes focused on her have usually explored some unique and interesting moral dilemmas. Yet when we look at this episode, her story is so basic. It's very odd to watch Serena going through such a basic storyline where she is squarely placed as sympathetic because she has never been portrayed through such a black/white lens before. Serena has always resided firmly in grey territory. It feels inconsistent to suddenly push her as a good guy in this episode. June and Nick's farewell was a great scene. Yet it didn't work in the context of the whole episode. For one, we have no idea how Nick got into this position. How is he a commander? Why? What did he do to get this promotion? It makes very little sense, and I really can't be bothered to care for his character if the writers don't give me enough details. Furthermore, the goodbye scene is so short and doesn't really have any set-up or follow-up surrounding it. This makes it lose weight, and it feels like a rushed scene that doesn't belong in such an overcrowded episode. And we get another "empowering" ending. I liked the scene with Serena since it paid off of her story. But June's? It was weird having her suddenly change her mind about saving the 5 women. That's not because I don't buy her changing her mind - I definitely do - but it's because we don't spend any time with June making this decision. In a show which loves to focus on the actors as they make decisions, the absence of any focus surrounding this decision stands out in a bad way. The final scene feels tacked on just to give us another "yeah women are strong!" moment. The Unknown: What happened to Cora? Did she die? Or was she sent to the colonies? How did Nick become a commander? Will we ever get an answer for this? Did he just get written out of the story? What was the relationship between Nick and Beth? I recall them meeting back in season 1, but I'm not sure if they had an actual relationship. Their interactions suggested a history between them. Feel free to let me know in the comments if I missed anything. Why did Serena get to leave Fred? What are the rules about a wife leaving her husband anyways? Who is Serena's mother? Why does she get to live without a commander? Best Moment: Lawrence revealing why he is so against June was an outstanding moment. It's a great explanation of the system that Gilead operates under while also paying off of the tensions between June and Lawrence in an awesome way. Character of the Episode: Lawrence. He has injected a much needed freshness into the show. Conclusion: This was another very good episode that just misses out on hitting a 70. While each episode this season has had its own individual flaws, the overall story is gelling together in a way it hasn't really done before. I'm liking season 3 so far, and I hope that the quality can keep up. Score: 69
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
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