The Handmaid's Tale, Episode 5
FAITHFUL
June flirts with the Commander at their Scrabble games to survive, and the Commander thinks he’s good at making June happy. He gives June an old magazine to read in his office, thinking he’s cute and the most chill guy in the world.
In another meeting where June complains about him touching her thighs in the previous Ceremony (I’m shaking my head writing this), the Commander complains about women while flipping through the fashion magazine.
“No woman was ever rich enough, young enough, pretty enough, good enough.”
“We had choices then,” June replies.
“I don’t know. You have respect, you have protection, you can fulfill your biological destiny in peace.”
“Biological destiny.”
“Children. What else is there to live for?”
“Love.”
Of course, the Commander thinks love is no more than “a marketing campaign” and continues to threaten June, reminding her what love did to Emily.
This guy thinks he’s the type that raises children.
The theme when recapping the show is often shock -- what shocking new things you’ll learn this episode. So, this week's:
1 Serena, who knits and gardens, is also apparently into painting.
2 She pitches getting Nick’s help to June by also including the word “colony”, admitting maybe the Commander just “can’t”, and says she has already got Nick to agree. As if she has a choice, June agrees (while wondering why it feels like she’s cheating on Luke) and they go on with the plan, executed with Serena standing in the room.
3 The new Ofglen likes her new life. She lived on the streets Before, doing things apparently worse than the Ceremony for a meal, and her Commander and Wife are actually nice to her. So she warns June not to jeopardize that ie not to make contact or plot with Emily. Well, soon enough, she no longer has to worry about Emily. The old Ofglen goes on a driving spree one day at the market, butchering an Eye in the process, to Janine’s delight. (So Emily’s taken away for now but I’m positive she’ll be back.)
Other highlights:
1 Nick admits to June that he is an Eye.
2 June goes to see Nick at his place again that night. Ugh. I knew Nick was somehow going to be June’s love interest or something at some point, but I repeat, he's part of the problem.
3 A flashback tells us how June and Luke’s relationship began. She and Moira got into a random conversation with him about Tinder pictures while waiting in line at a food truck one day, and from that meeting, they started to have secret lunches together. Luke cheated on his wife and eventually must have left her for June, which, as we know by now, marrying a divorced person under Gilead is considered adultery and is illegal. We are reminded that June (and Luke) are humans, not freed from flaws.
4 That, and speaking of problems, I also get that we are slowly nudged to notice glimpses of Serena's human traits, buried under her Gilead exterior. No, thanks, I'm fine not doing that.
Image: twitter.com/HandmaidsOnHulu
June flirts with the Commander at their Scrabble games to survive, and the Commander thinks he’s good at making June happy. He gives June an old magazine to read in his office, thinking he’s cute and the most chill guy in the world.
In another meeting where June complains about him touching her thighs in the previous Ceremony (I’m shaking my head writing this), the Commander complains about women while flipping through the fashion magazine.
“No woman was ever rich enough, young enough, pretty enough, good enough.”
“We had choices then,” June replies.
“I don’t know. You have respect, you have protection, you can fulfill your biological destiny in peace.”
“Biological destiny.”
“Children. What else is there to live for?”
“Love.”
Of course, the Commander thinks love is no more than “a marketing campaign” and continues to threaten June, reminding her what love did to Emily.
This guy thinks he’s the type that raises children.
The theme when recapping the show is often shock -- what shocking new things you’ll learn this episode. So, this week's:
1 Serena, who knits and gardens, is also apparently into painting.
2 She pitches getting Nick’s help to June by also including the word “colony”, admitting maybe the Commander just “can’t”, and says she has already got Nick to agree. As if she has a choice, June agrees (while wondering why it feels like she’s cheating on Luke) and they go on with the plan, executed with Serena standing in the room.
3 The new Ofglen likes her new life. She lived on the streets Before, doing things apparently worse than the Ceremony for a meal, and her Commander and Wife are actually nice to her. So she warns June not to jeopardize that ie not to make contact or plot with Emily. Well, soon enough, she no longer has to worry about Emily. The old Ofglen goes on a driving spree one day at the market, butchering an Eye in the process, to Janine’s delight. (So Emily’s taken away for now but I’m positive she’ll be back.)
Other highlights:
1 Nick admits to June that he is an Eye.
2 June goes to see Nick at his place again that night. Ugh. I knew Nick was somehow going to be June’s love interest or something at some point, but I repeat, he's part of the problem.
3 A flashback tells us how June and Luke’s relationship began. She and Moira got into a random conversation with him about Tinder pictures while waiting in line at a food truck one day, and from that meeting, they started to have secret lunches together. Luke cheated on his wife and eventually must have left her for June, which, as we know by now, marrying a divorced person under Gilead is considered adultery and is illegal. We are reminded that June (and Luke) are humans, not freed from flaws.
4 That, and speaking of problems, I also get that we are slowly nudged to notice glimpses of Serena's human traits, buried under her Gilead exterior. No, thanks, I'm fine not doing that.
Image: twitter.com/HandmaidsOnHulu
Comments