The Handmaids Tale
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Just listening to this, he said, is traumatizing.
True, the writers designedyet anotherimplausible parachute to get June out of a quick execution.
(Perhaps because Bruce Miller wrote the episode himself?)
Did Commander Lawrence create a successful closed economy?
What kinds of materials and goods are Econopeople producing?
Junes particular torture methods are tried and true, though they have a Gileadean spin on them.
And the Lieutenant with his Austrain-econ-professor look and chipper mien gives off true-believer vibes.
Torture in Gilead is typically pro forma.
When Janine raised hell with Aunt Lydia in season one, they popped out an eye.
Junes torture is goal-oriented.
The Lieutenant is a snappy creation (Wow, what a crazy night!
Think of me as her guardian angel, thats when I knew shit would get really bad.
(Mrs. Keyes, we learn, is safe in custody, an oxymoron for sure.)
June and Lydias evolutions go hand-in-hand.
The Aunts werent dragged into this service, they volunteered.
And Lydia and June both know precisely how to push each others buttons.
This scene is deranged, full-on trolley-problem-ratcheted-up-to-11 nutso.
Then I thought shed be commanded to push them herself.
And Nick takes part in the single most embarrassing television kiss ever orchestrated?
I get it that they are trying to cleverly rewrite fairy-tale motifs, but no, like dont.)
The biggest emotional wrecking ball of the episode comes at the very end.
van harkens back to the original promise of the show.
June is not the only sufferer, her story is not unique.
All of these women have been drafted into a nightmare, and they have only one another.
But the charging train and the (im)perfect timing that crush Alma (my favorite!)
and Brianna is simultaneously shocking and one of the best decisions the writing team has recently made.
The fictional worlds reliability depends on it maintaining and following its own logic.
That means if you build a cruel, punishing world, people have to keep on dying.
