Angel's Flight was stupid
I loved seeing a successful act of rebellion for once, but I have questions.
1. Why rescue the children instead of the women?
Obviously, the young women are the ones who have it hardest in Gilead, and they are also the backbone of its entire household system. If a large number of Marthas and Handmaids were to suddenly disappear, it would cause absolute chaos in every household. The children would still be there, but with only the Wives left to take care of them. And despite Gilead's narrative about motherhood, many of these women don't seem particularly capable of being good mothers (just look at Mrs. Putnam).
No Handmaids means fewer children, which undermines one of Gilead's main arguments for its superiority: the only country with an increasing birth rate. Rescuing women instead of children could have disrupted the entire household system, as well as potentially triggering a rebellion among Gilead's wealthier citizens.
2. How did they manage to keep all those children quiet?
We've seen so many brilliant plans fail in the show because of the most stupid detail, and then this mess of an operation doesn't fail, it's unbeliaveble. The entire time, I was wondering how it was possible that not a single child was crying while they were walking through the woods in the dark. There seemed to be roughly one adult for every 15 children. How on earth did they manage to keep them all together and quiet without attracting attention?
3. What happens to the guy flying the plane?
Does he ever go back for his paintings? If he returned to Gilead after helping smuggle the children out, he'd probably be executed immediately, and I assume he knows that. But if he has no intention of returning, why was the promise of getting those paintings such a compelling motivation for him in the first place?