u/Enough-Reading4143

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For all of the people who think that NIck chose Gilead because he no longer had June and he had no other choice....The rebellion would have been the perfect time to get Rose and their son and take them out of Gilead. If he had stayed at the hospital with Rose when the plane blew up, Nick could have made a deal with the Americans: immunity in exchange for working with Mayday. Rose would have had to agree because she didn't have anyone else with her dad dead. He could have gotten them all out and been free. But, then he would have just been a regular guy with a family struggling to survive. He chose comfort and power over freedom and morality. Now, Rose and their baby are in the hands of the Americans anyway and they have no one.

He was involved in overthrow of the US Government. This was made clear in an earlier season. He was an eye and then a commander. He never turned in Commander Waterford for his perverted ways and instead asked for a transfer to the front. He killed a 19 year old brain damaged guardian, he had earlier shot, in cause he recovered enough to identify him. He had numerous opportunities to leave Gilead, but as we heard him tell June, he would have been an Uber driver or delivery person if not for Gilead. Choosing Gilead was his way of elevating himself in life. He made a series of choices that led to his final choice. He made his final choice joining the other commanders going to DC to discuss what actions Gilead would take after the rebellion in Boston. Somethings Nick did we liked, like helping June and providing info on Hannah, but less we forget, he even originally hid his marriage from June. The first choice he made to support Gilead in the overthrow on the US Government, he never said he regretted. June and Hannah and so many others were casualties of that choice.

(makeup edited by me)

When I first watched THT I thought Fred was in love with June and would save her in a white knight sort of way. It was much easier to see the show in a vacuum, as a fictional world where I could root for my weird ships.

Granted, I was very young and naive, and the political climate was so different too. Obviously the regression in women's rights, but also the surge of trad-wife advocates, politics literally stating they want a Gilead like society. Even the pandemic showed us how easily it could all come crumbling down.

https://youtu.be/zTBfPpVblwI?si=eoJ4LIqr7oJPU4ee

I think she was going out of her way to fit in, to try to her get family out

I think it's an in-between shade between the Marthas and Wives, and also she was sitting right in between them

First of all, they didn't cut Serena's finger just for reading. I'm sure if she had accidentally read an old religious stamp in a dinner party, nothing would've happened. Just like nothing happens when she smokes even if it is forbidden. Or how her and a lof of the wives have dyed hair even if hairdye is forbidden, and smuggled in like that Martha told Nick in season 1.

It's not the action itself, but the symbolism behind her action. The whole scene is very theatrical, very right-wing theatrical even. She did a lot of forbidden things. Bringing the other wives in on her scheme, interrupting the council of these "important" men with petty women's issues (notice how the first line is another commander mocking Fred for even "letting" her wife leave the house).

But even by then, the waters are still calm. Putnam says it's a radical proposal, but not an offense or anything like that. The subtext of the word proposal is, "we can take it or leave it", so they likely just ignore it. Even Fred says "we'll consider it". Up until this point, Serena was asking for something, ergo, still respecting that THEY woukd be the ones making the decision.

The moment that changes everything: when she begins to preach. Not ever reading if you notice, she's basically reciting the scripture. The Bible is just a prop. What does this action say? I know it better than you. Pay attention at what she recite especifically:

>In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness

Plus the cinematography of her being the only one in the light vs. everyone in darkness, and again, her very "right-wing preacher tone" of I Know Better. As Serena stands under the spotlight, she literally embodies "the light shining in the darkness". The Commanders, sitting in deep shadow at their desks, are framed as the "darkness" itself.

But even then, the Commanders barely react. They just look at Fred like "reprimand your woman". It's Fred who's angry beyond words.

As the other wives look on with a glimmer of hope, and the other Commanders look mildly unsettled, the camera repeatedly cuts to Fred’s face. He is entirely humiliated and terrified.

​Fred has always been deeply insecure about his own political and intellectual standing. He knows that before Gilead, Serena was the true ideological architect, the brilliant public speaker, and the cultural force behind their movement. When she steps up to that podium and commands the room with flawless authority, she shreds his fragile ego.

I'm sure the other Commanders would've been fine with a slap in the wrist. But just like Mrs. Putnam pushed to get her husband's hand cut off for having an affair with Janine, Fred pushed for punishment for Serena.

He isn't the little bit sorry when he announces it to Serena. On the contrary, he's still angry. Because she dared to touch his greatest wound: the fact that she knows better than him, and he sees she's a much stronger political speaker.

https://youtu.be/q1KtAq4Rozs?si=rKcFu8lxwm\_-TH33

She knows everything she wears sells out instantly, and she's always paying attention to those little details to lift local brands wherever she visits!

Starting 43:55 on Hulu (Scenes of Serena and Fred) "she's pathological. She's a sociopath.. she's toxic and abusive. She's a monster..." "...Hatred and rage. And underneath all of that there's nothing but pure misery..." "And she'll do anything not to feel that way. Anything to feel okay. Even just for a second."

(June continues to speak but now it's cuts to scenes of just June holding the baby outside with Luke) " She'll do anything to get what she wants. Lie to you. Hurt you. Rape you" (Camera frames Luke as she says rape. Scenes go back to June) "So if you feel yourself sucked in by her. Run." ( close up of June's face ) "Run for your life."

Offred killed June to survive Gilead. What we see now is the avenging angel of both of them. Hell, even some of the imagery shows Offred’s handmaid dress removed from her back and in the shape of red angel wings.

To steal a line from another show, “if you think this has a happy ending, you haven’t been paying attention.”

Pretty awesome. They purposely showed so many scenes of June during this for a reason. June has become so broken and possibly psychopathic (sociopathic or pathologic) from Gilead. I think it also foreshadows how dangerous and the lengths June will be willing to go to, to get the justice she thinks she deserves. Thoughts?

https://youtu.be/bF1-RAVaV40?si=S5i6V7fNhNXh41Q8

My take is it shows they're not this omnicent creatures, victims of a horrible system, who could do no wrong. They're human, holding the most human of traits: the need to belong and be accepted by their community.

They subconsciously wish to be accepted as "good women" like the Wives, even if the definition of what constitutes a good woman changed. That's what always got me about the show: the ability of the regime to get inside the women's heads. Either through religion or morality, the fact is that every woman shed a tear while they were in the circle of shame, even if they didn't exactly agreed with the crime they were accused of. Shame is a hell of a powerful punishment

The regime successfully makes the women police themselves and each other. By forcing them to participate in the "Circles of Shame," they ensure that the women aren't just victims of the system, but active participants in enforcing its morality. The want to be seen as "good," even if "good" is now defined by a dystopian nightmare.

Shame is arguably more effective than fear. Fear makes you want to run; shame makes you want to hide and conform to get back into the community's good graces. Even characters who fight back, like June, struggle with this. They are constantly navigating the internalized misogyny that Gilead amplifies. The desire for acceptance is a primal human need, and Gilead exploits that perfectly. The most terrifying is that they manage to make the women feel like the "bad" ones for breaking rules they never agreed to in the first place. that "need to belong" makes the psychological abuse so effective

My take is it shows they're not this omnicent creatures, victims of a horrible system, who could do no wrong. They're human, holding the most human of traits: the need to belong and be accepted by their community.

They subconsciously wish to be accepted as "good women" like the Wives, even if the definition of what constitutes a good woman changed. That's what always got me about the show: the ability of the regime to get inside the women's heads. Either through religion or morality, the fact is that every woman shed a tear while they were in the circle of shame, even if they didn't exactly agreed with the crime they were accused of. Shame is a hell of a powerful punishment

The regime successfully makes the women police themselves and each other. By forcing them to participate in the "Circles of Shame," they ensure that the women aren't just victims of the system, but active participants in enforcing its morality. The want to be seen as "good," even if "good" is now defined by a dystopian nightmare.

Shame is arguably more effective than fear. Fear makes you want to run; shame makes you want to hide and conform to get back into the community's good graces. Even characters who fight back, like June, struggle with this. They are constantly navigating the internalized misogyny that Gilead amplifies. The desire for acceptance is a primal human need, and Gilead exploits that perfectly. The most terrifying is that they manage to make the women feel like the "bad" ones for breaking rules they never agreed to in the first place. that "need to belong" makes the psychological abuse so effective

This is when she and Luke were raising Nicole together

If your rapist wore one, would you wear something this similar without even thinking?