The Handmaid's Tale: Chicago (4x05)

Oh, for fuck's sake. If Janine's dead, I'm gonna rage quit watching this show. I mean, not really, but come on. She'd better be okay. 

Cons:

This is a small thing but I thought I'd mention it: they've spent a lot of time in Canada this season, and yet didn't bother to set up why Moira would be in Chicago there at the end - I guess we'll find out later? That just seemed like an odd decision structure-wise.

I wish we understood why Janine changed her mind there at the end. See, this is part of why I'm really worried Janine is dead, because it seems like just the sort of thing this show would do. Make Janine come with June, just to die immediately so that June can feel super guilty for bringing her along. I think she's got the market cornered on survivor's guilt at this point. And it was really sweet when Janine showed up to go with her after all, but I don't get what changed her mind. Janine is her own person with her own motivations, and it would have made sense for her to stay somewhere she felt more or less secure. She made that choice, there was a sweet goodbye, and then an immediate reversal on her decision? I wanted a bit more to flesh that out.

Logistically, maybe I just missed something, but it seemed like June and Janine were running through a ghost town when those aerial bombs went off. And then there was a rescue team coming around, and people screaming for help all over the place? Were those people just in the buildings? I was a little confused about what we were meant to believe. The plan from the Commanders was to bomb them just before the cease-fire, right? So if the cease-fire hadn't been called, where were all the people, and how did they know about the bombing? Had they been tipped off? Maybe we'll get more info on this later.

Pros:

I find Aunt Lydia to be very interesting and compelling. Her desire for power over her "girls" is chilling because it comes from a real zealotry that I can't quite understand. She "cares about them" but it's so deeply on her own terms that it's warped beyond anything you would call actual care and affection. Seeing her use her soft power, the power of information collecting, to get back into a position of power and get what she wanted, was chilling, as is everything she does. This show has always been good at the stark imagery that pushes things maybe a bit too far, but is undeniably memorable. Seeing Lydia surrounded by Handmaid duos as they form a perfect circle from above, really emphasizes the way this whole system is designed to keep moving on, no matter what disruption comes its way. Creepy.

We've also got poor Nick, completely losing his mind about trying to be a Commander while also protecting June, and then Commander Lawrence, who I can't quite figure out, but in a good way. At this point, with his wife dead, it seems that Lawrence is just after self-preservation, but also after minimizing damage. Maybe? I mean, he pushes for a cease-fire, but he's willing to support a bombing. What is his actual game here? Is he trying to help June by dropping bombs on her head? It's intense, whatever it is he's doing, and I'm ready to find out more about his specific goals and motivations.

Nick's motivations are a lot clearer, and I think we're seeing him start to lose his cool in a serious way. So many close calls for June. All he wants to do is keep her safe. He can't keep his composure in Commander meetings, but I think he's still managing to avoid suspicion because most of the others know he's young and still new at this. It's impossible that he's the only Commander who has been rattled by the extremity of their situation. And yet there at the end, as June is lying in the rubble in the streets, and we the audience know that Nick is technically the one who ordered the attack... big yikes! Super intense!

So, despite my slight frustration with Janine changing her mind so quickly, I did find the Janine and June content in this episode to be incredibly moving. Last episode focused on Janine a bit more, and how she can chafe under June's assumption of authority. This week we get a bit more of that, as Janine starts a relationship with the guy in charge of this rebel outpost, and June disapproves. Janine is firm that she's making her own choices, that it's consensual, etc. But at the same time, there is this undeniable bond between Janine and June, and both women know it. Nobody could really come close to understanding everything that they've been through together. So when Janine gives June the hat she traded their Handmaid cloaks for, it's her way of saying that June will always be a priority for her. Beyond any man, beyond the desire to be a mother again.

Their goodbye exchange was so cute, with June saying to Janine: "that baby's going to be really lucky to have you" and Janine replying: "those rebels are so lucky to have you." It's awkward but heartfelt and I almost felt like Janine following her afterwards undercut how powerful that moment should have been. Again, I restate, if Janine is dead, I'm going to flip my shit.

I'll stop there for now. It's going to be so intense to see Moira and June onscreen together again. I'm beyond hyped for next week!

8/10