Summary: June wants to go visit Hannah again and speaks with Frances, Hannah's martha. June takes Mrs. Lawrence with her but they ultimately fail to see Hannah. Frances is executed for her conversation with June that Ofmatthew reported to Aunt Lydia. The Waterfords begin to settle down in DC and tensions between them are resolved. In Canada, Emily has to report her crimes in Gilead. Moira and Emily head to a protest and are arrested when they accost a minister.
The Good: This episode nailed a few of its scenes and I enjoyed those moments thoroughly. Unfortunately the rest of the episode was messy and nonsensical (see: The Bad). I really enjoyed Emily being forced to reveal all of her criminal activities in Gilead. Alexis Bledel was fantastic and I was able to sympathize with her as she's forced to face up to her actions and also reveal them to Sylvia. The ending of her story was good too as she and Moira reflect on the monstrous things they did and contemplate if they are even good people anymore. The last scene of the episode where June assaults Ofmatthew was really well done. I could understand why June reached a boiling point with her, and the vicious attack she unleashes on Ofmatthew was outstanding. It was a fitting way to demonstrate June's sheer rage as she lashes out at the person who took Hannah away from her. I liked the sequence where Serena walked through the abandoned house with Liv. It was very atmospheric and there was something really powerful about the way that both of them spoke so optimistically as we were given the visuals of an abandoned house filled with remnants of the likely dead family that once lived there. The Bad: June's storyline in this episode is completely ridiculous. We hear nothing of June's plan to see Hannah before this episode, yet suddenly she decides that today is the day that she will do something drastic. It makes no sense, and worse yet is the fact that she selfishly attempts to drag somebody else with her. Her last-second planning to bring somebody else is ridiculous and paints her as more selfish and stupid than ever. Does she have no fear for the consequences of her actions? Thankfully she gets punished for her brash actions in this episode. Unfortunately the fact that I'm praising the show for punishing June completely nullifies the tragedy at the end of the episode. It's tragic if June made some choices that I could sympathize with that led to Hannah being taken away. But if June does some out-of-character, stupid things that never had a chance to end well, my sympathy for her cause goes away and so does the tragedy of the story. I was also annoyed with Commander Lawrence in this episode. His story with June was easily the most compelling part of the season, so I'm confused why it has been shafted so far into the background. In fact, there was a great opportunity to continue it here but the show refused to move anywhere. Lawrence just doesn't seem to care about how June stupidly took Mrs. Lawrence away which is odd considering how he snapped at her for talking about Mrs. Lawrence in a previous episode. It's inconsistent for his character and it appears to me that the writers simply didn't want June to face appropriate consequences for her actions, so they forced a way out of punishing her. June was pretty atrocious in this episode and I found it hard to believe that she hasn't gotten more punishments. She directly disobeys Aunt Lydia TWICE in this episode, yet somehow she gets away with it scot free. Furthermore, the episode ends with June assaulting a pregnant woman, a huge no-no in Gilead and I find it hard to believe that she wouldn't be severely punished for this. But seeing how lenient the writers have been with June in this season, I doubt that anything will come of this. Also, how repetitive was the main story in this episode? We have seen June make so many attempts to visit Hannah before, so seeing it again is hardly original content. I hardly felt anything when June was trying to get into the school to see Hannah because I had already seen these exact same emotions many times before. As a side note, did we really need to see Gilead people moving the children with rope? Gilead is a strict community that values children, not an evil and cruel organization. It seems like the writers may have forgotten about that in these past few episodes with the silenced handmaids in the last episode and now this. The Waterfords were boring in this episode. I find it ridiculously hard to care about their story now that June is gone. Neither Serena nor Fred are strong enough as independent characters to make me care about their plight. Fred has been too shallow in previous seasons for me to believe there is any depth to him at all, while Serena has been so inconsistent as she constantly flip-flops on her morals which causes me to not really buy into anything she is doing. The dance at the end of the episode was really poor and I found it incredibly hard to believe that these two ended up back together, especially after the whole finger-cutting thing (which was never brought up again!). The protest scene was filmed really badly. Normally the politicians wouldn't be able to respond to any comments because 1: they don't want to, and 2: because there are so many people trying to talk to them that it becomes difficult to even understand what people say. Yet somehow Moira is isolated and gets in a direct conversation with the minister, which is too on-the-nose and convenient. Why is Ofmatthew doing the executions? She doesn't seem to be getting the same treatment that the pregnant June was getting last season. The Unknown: Are the Waterfords staying in DC? What's next for their story if June doesn't see them anymore? I really hope that something interesting comes from this. Is Lawrence contemplating giving Mrs. Lawrence more freedom? He seemed to dwell on the fact that she was happy when she went out with June. Where have The McKenzies gone with Hannah? Will June find her again? Will June face consequences for attacking a pregnant handmaid? What would those consequences be? How will Emily and Moira get out of jail? Also, was this the first time we heard Emily's last name? Best Moment: Probably Emily being forced to reflect on killing the guardian and attempting to kill Lydia. Character of the Episode: Emily. Conclusion: This episode was a mess and was filled with repetitive, nonsensical storytelling. The midseason lull is in full effect and I can't say that I'm optimistic about this season anymore. Score: 47
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
March 2024
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