The Handmaid's Tale: Women's Work (2x08)

This show just slays me. I cry like every week now. Crazy.

Cons:

Nick handled the letters thing really poorly. He sees the packet of letters, and knows that Eden saw it. Instead of playing it off and being cool about it, he freaked out and totally made her way more suspicious. I get that sometimes you just react to stuff without thinking, but Nick should be better at this by now. It's his job to be sneaky and subtle.

Pros:

Okay. Where to even start? Serena and June bonding over their subversive behavior? That is my jam. I've mentioned this in the past and I'll continue to mention it for the rest of this show's run, I'm sure - Serena is such a fascinating character, and the twisted relationship between Serena and June is maybe the most fascinating thing this show has to offer, and that's saying a lot. Serena admits that she hates knitting. June compliments Serena's writing. It's all so complex and subtle and there are so many things that they just can't say out loud. You can tell that both women are sorry to see the end of this time of conspiracy when Commander Waterford comes home.

And then Commander Waterford beats Serena for her disobedience. June is forced to stay in the room and watch. How freakin' TWISTED is that? The fact of the matter is, no matter how horrid Serena is, no matter how complicit she is in June's suffering, she's still a woman. And June and Serena have one important thing in common - they have both been subjugated by the men of their society. Commander Waterford owns them both. Their stations in life might be wildly different, but neither of them has their own agency in this situation. I loved seeing June stand outside Serena's door, even as she refused her help and comfort. So touching. So twisted.

The reason that Serena was punished? Well, baby Angela (aka Charlotte) is very sick. There's an extremely talented pediatric surgeon in the area, but... she's a she. A Martha. Serena asks the Commander for permission to transfer her so she can help, but the Commander says no. So... Serena forges his signature and gets it done anyway. All of this is for naught, because the surgeon can't help the baby. I love that Serena does this. I love that she asks June her thoughts about it. The one over-arching theme of Gilead is that children are the most precious thing in the world. And yet the sexism and rigid structure of society is preventing the best medical care from being offered to this baby. It's so messed up. If I didn't already hate Fred Waterford, his refusal to try and help save a baby's life would have pushed me over the edge. What a monster.

Of course, Janine is frantic when she finds out that her baby is sick. With Serena's help, Angela's "parents" are convinced to allow Janine the chance to see her and say goodbye. The following morning, Aunt Lydia is astounded to see that the baby has recovered. I'm sure the God-fearing citizens of Gilead will call it a miracle, but the fact is, stuff like this does happen. We've seen evidence that the Commander and his wife are not nurturing baby Angela, and often times young babies can improve with skin-to-skin contact with their mothers. That's a real thing. Janine totally saved Charlotte. And it was so sweet. Listening to her sing to the baby is what got me all teary-eyed this week. This society is so messed up. If they take the baby away from Janine, will her condition worsen? Will Janine be allowed to stay with her baby? Yikes, this is so interesting.

I'm more impressed with this show than I am with most of the stuff I watch. It is on a level all its own.

9/10