The Handmaid's Tale: The Wilderness (4x10)

Oh boy. I don't even know what else to say. Just. Lots of stuff happening here.

Cons:

So, obviously I'm going to talk about the Fred situation, but I actually want to start by saying there was a logistical weirdness with the end of the episode that kind of troubled me. For one thing, and this is just a script decision I don't understand, why does the mailman open the mail and see the severed finger and wedding ring? Why not have Serena opening it so we get the full impact of the horror? That just felt odd to me.

And then... the ending. June comes back to say goodbye to Nichole, and says she's leaving in five minutes. My initial read on this was that she was going to go and face the consequences/get locked up for what she did to Fred. But then I realized that made no sense, and maybe she's instead going back to Gilead to get Hannah? See, the problem here is that a) I'm bored of Gilead and want to keep the story in Canada. And b) June's connections with Lawrence and Nick seem to be able to get her a lot of things... it feels like it would be a relatively simple matter to snatch Hannah and run at this point, wouldn't it? The narrative stakes feel uneven, after what we saw June was capable of orchestrating in this installment.

The Handmaid's Tale: Progress (4x09)

Wellllll.... shit.

Cons:

I've got to say, I'm just not thrilled with watching Janine have to play the part and get sucked back into the whole Gilead lifestyle thing. Poor Esther got caught up in it as well. This doesn't bode well for my continued enjoyment of the show, but I really must say that my attention starts to wander every time we're back in Gilead. I want all that juicy Canadian drama, please and thanks.

The scene where Luke says that June should go and meet Nick was... really weird? It was framed almost sinister, like Luke was blackmailing June into doing something she didn't want to do. And June was clearly very shaken by the thought of seeing Nick again, I get that, but it did feel weird that she wouldn't have brought it up herself.

Pros:

I was so mad when the episode ended and I learned that Fred Waterford was going to go free, in exchange for information on Gilead. So mad that my blood boiled. In other words, it was very effectively done. I like that we see Fred's growing frustrations as he realizes his fellow Commanders in Gilead have forsaken him. Then we just get the news dropped very casually, and Moira and Luke react with anger while June is seemingly pissed but mostly calm. Then she snaps, screaming about how Fred is a rapist. It was the perfect buildup and execution, and the idea of Fred walking around, free... it's chilling to contemplate. What's going to happen?

Grey's Anatomy: Someone Saved My Life Tonight (17x17)

I found so many, many, many things about this episode incredibly frustrating! And I'm frustrated by my own frustration, because I just wanted to have a good time and be done with it.

Cons:

Where to start? I think one of my issues with this episode was the time wasting that happened from last week's installment. Why did we have that whole little tiff between Maggie and Winston about when to get married, if they were going to arrange a quick wedding, then call it off literally during the ceremony, then just have a bigger ceremony later on? What was the point of that whole little run-around?

And even more annoying because the stakes are so much higher... why have Jo denied custody of Luna, then go through all of the drama of having Link foster Luna, and then just show that Jo won and got custody... all happening offscreen so we didn't get to see any of that juicy drama play out? Why not stretch this journey out over the past couple of episodes, and instead of showing Jo getting denied, show that there are difficulties in front of her, and that she needs to fight, then have it be framed through that lens of fighting for what she wants? The Link fostering Luna thing was so absurd and then we didn't even really see that play out at all. Link, a man who wants more children, didn't get too caught up in the fact that he's the legal guardian of a baby? Okay then...

The Handmaid's Tale: Testimony (4x08)

Well, there's certainly a lot to talk about, isn't there?

Cons:

Now that we've got June out of Gilead, I find myself fundamentally much less interested in anything still going on there. Yes, I find Commander Lawrence and Aunt Lydia both to be fascinating characters in their own right, but it's just the same ol' same ol' circling the drain with these two. I'm happy Janine is alive, but, again, what is going to be different about this from every other time a Handmaid has escaped and been apprehended, brought back into the fold? We've got the opportunity for so many fresh stories over in Canada, that the Gilead stuff just isn't as urgent for me as it should be.

Pros:

But honestly, that subplot took up so little time, and the rest of the episode kicked ass. Let's start with the Waterfords.

The moment when Fred speaks out at the hearing was so intriguing to me, because at first I was like "wow, what a dumbass" but then seeing those protesters cheering on the Waterfords at the end? Truly a chilling experience. Here I was thinking that Fred was behaving rashly, but he actually has a lot more political and social savvy than people give him credit for. I don't know that he really believes any of the religious stuff, but he's certainly using it to his advantage in this situation. It was literally hard to watch the people screaming and cheering and holding up signs praising Serena and Fred. It made me sick to my stomach! I would hope that counter-protesters would also be there on June's behalf, but we didn't get to see that this time around.