The Handmaid's Tale: Household (3x06)

This episode was... well, it was something, alright.

Cons:

I really did like it, just like I've liked every episode of this show. It was powerful and well-made. But I will admit, for the first time in this very symbolism-heavy show, I was a little put off by how much symbolism there was in D.C. Like, I get it... this was the capital of the USA, and now it's under Gilead's control. It's supposed to be this terrifying dichotomy between the former "land of the free" and what we have now. But the contrast didn't quite work because we know it's not a matter of black and white here. It's usually a lot more of a gradual slope. This was maybe an example of less being more. We have the mouth rings for the Handmaids, which is obviously chilling but also a little bit impractical... how do they eat? We have that obnoxious shot of June standing in front of a statue so it looks like she has wings. What is this, Game of Thrones? Those shots are certainly artistically cool to look at, but it's putting things on a bit thick, don't you think? Same with the shot of the Lincoln Memorial with the top of it blown off. Heavy-handed comparisons between slavery in the U.S. and slavery in Gilead are all well and good, but we have to admit that the way race is handled on this show is clumsy at best, so... not sure they want to draw such stark attention to themselves there.

I'm obviously reserving judgment about Nick, because like everything else in this show, there are complexities there. He seems to have tried to help negotiate with the Swiss, but maybe he chickened out, or they wouldn't accept his information, or he wasn't willing to go far enough... and then we get the revelation that he was part of the "holy crusade" that brought about Gilead in the first place. This is brand new information to June, and to the audience as well. The thing is... it doesn't quite track with Nick as a character thus far. If he was an opportunist who, whether he believed in the system or not, decided to keep his head down and accept his fate, then why was he involved in the resistance, even before he fell in love with June? And if he was forced into all of his actions, and has always been a rebel at heart, why is he stopping now? I don't think Nick's characterization thus far is a problem for the show, or at least not a problem that they can't easily rectify. It's just a little unclear to me right now exactly where they're going with this, and I'm starting to get nervous that I won't like the end result.

Pros:

There was one piece of overwrought symbolism that absolutely worked for me and knocked me on my ass, and that was the sight of the Washington Monument turned into a giant cross. I think the reason that this worked better for me than some of the other D.C. imagery was that it was about re-purposing and distorting the meaning of an existing piece of art, instead of just destroying it. Gilead has left the rubble of the Lincoln Memorial there for all to see. They're not trying to hide the fact that they destroyed something. But with the Monument... they didn't shear it in half, or knock it over and leave it lying there... they built from it. They warped and twisted it, and if you didn't know what the Washington Monument was, you'd never know there had been anything different there before. That's the chilling thing to me. Warping history, erasing the past, so that there could conceivably be a future, not so distant, where nobody alive remembers things the way they were.

As always, I want to discuss Serena. For the past couple of reviews I've been noting how interesting it is to have a performance so well done that you feel a bit of sympathy for Serena's plight, despite her despicable actions. This episode continues that thread. Serena Joy really is one of the most interesting villains I've ever seen on any TV show. The moment I want to focus on is when Mrs. Winslow tells Serena that she liked her book. This is taboo, since of course the women aren't allowed to read. But it is also a stark and important reminder that Serena helped to shape this world. I'm not saying it makes her culpable for everything, but she was an evangelical Christian extremist who wrote a book about how women were meant to stay in the home and take care of the children. She did that, and the result is plain to see.

Mrs. Winslow was fascinating to me as well, because she thanks Serena for helping to change her life - she used to work at a law firm, and she and her husband had no time for a family. But look at them now! Six children, and they still have a Handmaid. The privileges of rank. That's an important point to make here - Commander and Mrs. Winslow are both seemingly a bit more casual and down-to-earth than a lot of the other Comamanders and Wives we've seen. They have openly affectionate and goofy relationships with their genuinely happy children. They offer their first names to their guests. Mrs. Winslow hugs Serena and hands her a baby when first meeting her. It's all quite... normal. It reminds me that oppressive systems do not oppress equally - that if you're in a position of power, even as a member of the oppressed class (women), you are given more leeway. I as a white woman still have to deal with the effects of sexism on my day-to-day life, but I have the privileges granted by my whiteness and many other privileges besides.

We should also talk about Fred Waterford. He's such a weak-willed man. He's slimy and annoying and only scary because of the context of this society. As a man, he has so much power. As Fred Waterford, he doesn't know how to actually properly take advantage of that. I think you can see that in how he interacts with Commander Winslow. He's just so desperate for a chance to improve his prospects, and his brown-nosing is really pathetic. I think Fred Waterford is just as interesting as Serena in some ways, although the type of villainy is very different. You don't get the sense that he really cares all that much about Nichole, in the long run. He wants to leverage a personal tragedy for professional gain, and despite some moments of sentimental bonding between husband and wife, I'm not sure Fred and Serena are ever going to repair any sort of healthy partnership... that is, if they even had one to begin with.

To continue the trend of interesting villains... we see that Aunt Lydia is very shaken by what she sees in D.C. I liked the moment when June asks her if she wants them all to be silenced, and Lydia immediately says that she does not. Lydia is one of the more terrifying figures on this show, because unlike Fred, who I really do believe to be just an opportunist, Aunt Lydia seems to have a genuine desire to help people. Her harshness with the Handmaids is in some way an attempt to protect them from even worse punishment. That excuse is flimsy and does not hold up under even the smallest amount of pressure, but it makes for a really complicated portrait of this woman, who could beat Janine one week, and then be genuinely sympathetic to June, and be horrified by the oppression she sees around her. Again, like with Serena, just because I can understand and untangle some of her twisted motivations, doesn't mean I'm on her side or that I forgive her for her monstrous actions.

I liked the idea of the Swiss being neutral negotiators here, because it's another chance to get some hints about world politics. Gilead is enough of a military threat that Canada doesn't want to provoke conflict. And yet Canada has been offering asylum to refugees from Gilead. We know that the gender politics of Gilead seem to be restricted to just Gilead, because we've seen women in positions of leadership in every other country we've interacted with. I'm so interested in how the rest of the world reacts and responds to Gilead. It's sort of a chilling reminder of how much power the United States has, that other countries kind of have to let us do whatever we want, in a really messed up way. When I think about the endgame of this show, of how it's all going to wind up, really the only thing I can imagine is a widening of the scope - does this show end when Gilead is destroyed and balance starts to come back to the world? What does that look like? I don't know, but I want to find out.

So that's that - again, a wonderful episode of a complicated, difficult television show. I had some qualms about the over-abundance of symbolism, because I guess even this show can go too far sometimes. But still... this was great!

8/10