Summary: Flashbacks show Aunt Lydia's past. She had a healthy relationship with a mother, Noelle, and was encouraging her to be a better parent. But when Lydia is rejected by a man, she lashes out at Noelle by removing her son from her custody. In the present, June is frustrated with Ofmatthew and gets the handmaids to pick on her. Going crazy from constantly being assaulted and bothered by those around her, Ofmatthew snaps at the store and kills a guard, stealing his gun. Before she does anything, Ofmatthew is shot. June is pleased by the whole development.
The Good: I'm very glad that we got to see Lydia's backstory. I've been wanting to see more of her character since the start of the show, so this episode fulfilled something I've been eagerly awaiting. I thought her backstory was a nice little story showing how Lydia became so cold and ruthless, highlighting her own insecurity as her big flaw. Though it wasn't anywhere near as good as I had hoped and didn't really fit the character(see: The Bad), it's a competent story that's easy enough to watch. I thought Ann Dowd was terrific and I definitely felt something as I watched Noelle angrily lash out at Lydia who had done so much hard work turning her into a better mother only to throw it all away for nothing. Even though Lydia gets most of the focus in this episode, I think the star was June. She has changed drastically after the events of the last episode which I really like to see. This show doesn't give us enough fallout to big events which has been crippling it for a while now. But her we get to see June very nearly lose her mind now that she has lost Hannah. Throughout the episode she seems to care about nothing and refuses to cooperate with anyone. While this does add to my constant criticism of June having too much plot armour (see: The Bad), at least now it has apurpose int he story and is adding on to a pretty satisfying story arc. I'm most surprised by how evil June comes off as in this episode as she tortures Ofmatthew, and in that horrific ending scene June appears to be completely insane as she smiles in the face of a death and proudly enjoys the fact that she has ruined the life of a pregnant lady. It's very frightening stuff and has a pprofound impact on everyone watching. Seeing the protagonist turn bad is always a shock and I'm pleased to say that they did a good job of it here. I just hope that June faces some comeuppance for her horrid actions in this episode so that there is a point to this development. It's impossible not to feel bad for Ofmatthew during this episode as she is completely torn apart by how she is being continuously harassed by June. She feels more alone than ever and is afraid of the world, and even more afraid of June's wrath. The moment when she snaps is built up to well (take notes "Game of Thrones", this is how you show a character snap), and the scene itself is one of the best moments the show has ever done. It's a perfect mix of sad, horrific and shocking, leaving a huge impact as the final scene of the episode. The Bad: For as much as this episode does right, it also gets a lot wrong and unfortunately the details completely shatter the story that was being told in this episode. I'll start with Ofmatthew. She is pregnant and that is not treated as a big deal by anybody. The fact that Lydia simply allows her to be harassed and that Ofmatthew isn't given the luxurious treatment that June was makes no sense at all to me. June was treated like a treasure when she was pregnant, but Ofmatthew is just another handmaid in this time. Furthermore, I find it hard to believe that nobody tried to talk to her and save her. Instead she is just killed. It's shocking to see her killed so thoughtlessly, especially when you look at how much effort was made to save Janine back in season 1. Babies and handmaids have always been protected at all costs, yet that wasn't the case here. Once again, the writers presume that they can just change the rules of Gilead to suit their story and it just isn't working. And this isn't the only time that this is an issue. June's lack of punishment is baffling to me, especially with all of the things that she does in this episode. She is a literal loose cannon and she makes it well known to everyone. She mouths off to Lydia, she gets in Lawrence's face and she refuses to cooperate in almost every situation. Yet she doesn't face any punishment. Why? They say it's because they need her to shoot commercials for the Waterfords, but that's a very bad excuse. Sure that can explain why they can't do anything drastic like cut her fingers off or burn her, but it doesn't prevent them from doing more subtle punishments. It's almost like the show forgot that over-the-top violent punishments aren't the only way to punish the characters. Just give June a slap on the wrists with some lashings maybe (the cameras won't see those), or maybe something else. Torture her without doing any lasting damage, isolate her and chain her up for a while, send her back to the Red Center, all of these can be done without any issues. Yet June is spared because the writers don't want to punish her, and it's really hurting my investment in the show and the world of Gilead. Lydia's backstory is unfortunately a total disappointment. Lydia has been so strange as a character this season since the writers have tried to change her to make her more sympathetic. It's like they are ignoring all of the horrors that Lydia has done in seasons 1 and 2, almost as if they believe that she was some other character back then. That's why the backstory we get for Lydia isn't at all consistent with the character. We learn why Lydia is so devout and why she believes in the Gilead system of finding ideal mothers. But we get no insight on Lydia's violent tendencies and the cruel punishments she gave to the handmaids. This darker aspect of Lydia is an important aspect of her character and it can't be ignored. Yet the writers are refusing to address this aspect of her character in any way this season. Furthermore, Lydia's motives in the flashbacks are so basic that it's almost laughable. In short, the reason that she is such a horrible person is because she was stood up by a guy she wanted to have sex with. Really? That's such a basic and poor reason for Lydia to become a terrible person and it seems more ridiculous the more I think about it. Surely there would have been more to make Lydia into such a deranged person. The Unknown: Is Lawrence thinking of sending his wife away? I can't think of any other reason that he allows June to mouth off like she did in this episode. Was it a guardian who killed Ofmatthew or somebody else? What will become of Ofmatthew's death? Will June be punished for it? Best Moment: The final scene where Ofmatthew finally loses it and ends up getting killed. The icing on the cake was the dark turn for June who smiled menacingly in the face of certain death, a smile cold and scary enough that it frightened Ofmatthew out of trying to kill her. Character of the Episode: June. Conclusion: This episode had a lot of really good elements. In fact, I think that on paper this could be one of the show's best episodes. But execution is everything, and unfortunately this amazing story was told very incompetently and that led to this episode being much worse than it should have been. Another big disappointment in what has been another disappointing season. Score: 55
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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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