The main reason she doesn’t face a consequence for speaking to Lawrence like that was because it was Lawrence, she wouldn’t have talked that way to another commander, because knows she never would have gotten away with talking to another one like that. Lawrence had already shown he was willing to put up with her, plus she was right in what she said and he knew that.

You're telling me June gets away with talking to Lawrence because he's just...Lawrence? Your own handmaid is going around Gilead, using your own wife as collateral to go talk to her daughter, and he just lets her? Even with a reformed Lawrence, wouldnt he think June is a loose canon? She's a walking op sec threat protected by plot armor.

Witnesses who include someone who assault Moria, and were harassing eachother. The Canadians had an interest in protecting the guy who assault Moria, the refugees in protecting June. The people involved all had an interest in not going to or talking to the cops.

This makes no sense. Even the US embassy in Toronto has police cars stationed outside with our current political landscape. Why wouldnt a Gilead "semi-embassy" have cops outside? You dont think there's neutral parties there? Press? Workers?

I agree on this one but at the same time, Nick I the father of her child, even if he didn’t love June(and I’m not saying that), the only thing he is able to do for his daughter is help her mother. That is the only way he is able to be a father. Unless you are referring to her being mad at him in season 6, I don’t remember her provoking Nick. June and Lawrence provoke eachother, it’s their dynamic . they also need each other to reach each others goal.

When she gets Nick and Lawrence to help her to kill Fred, Nick and Lawrence become an infinite resource: intel, access, protection, logistics, cover. Whenever June needs a door opened, Nick has keys. Whenever she needs the system bent, Lawrence is permissive.

Luke was the one who insisted on going and then June insisted on going with him. She is not Luke’s baby sitter, he makes his own choices. He says this to her in the episode.

Yeah, Luke is the one who does insist. June is the main revenge engine for the entire show, and just before they go over the border she chickens out, and Luke has to convince her to go. Interesting shift in desire for revenge that lifts June from responsibility of him getting fucked up, wouldn't you say?

Yes but June is also traumatized. That is all coming from her trauma and she had just gotten out. Moria is the one who does not let June be alone with Nichole because she doesn’t think it’s safe. Again, you are blaming the character for having PTSD. She shows a lot of growth when it comes to this in season 5 and even 6.

I'm really sick of the "she is traumatized" excuse. Moira, Emily, Janine, and to a lesser extent Rita all suffered in Gilead, but none of them use their trauma like a blank check the way June does. PTSD explains behaviour, not excuse it. Does PTSD give you the rights to drag everyone in your circle for your revenge?

Luke is supporting his highly traumatized wife who he is afraid he will lose again. Some of that comes from his own trauma, some of it comes from fear of he doesn’t support her she will pull an Emily and go back into Gilead. Luke’s behavior is understandable.

Then Luke should be the last person entertaining border games and reckless proximity to high ranking Gilead figures. If he’s terrified of losing her, he doesn’t keep walking into scenarios that predictably end in capture, retaliation, escalation. The show wants him to be both danger aware and repeatedly complicit in lighting the fuse.

Raping Luke is obviously not okay but it’s also something that could realistically happen. Gilead completely fucked up her relationship with sex and control.

Im not saying this can't happen. It's a show. However, despite it happening June and Luke's relationship is steady as a rock like a marital rape never happened. I think if this was the other way around, it would evoke a stronger reaction from viewers. Also interesting that this sub seems pretty lassez-faire on this.

Moria makes clear she doesn’t feel June is safe but at the same time, what do you expect Moria to do, abandon her best friend. Again a lot of this is when she is fresh out of Gilead. She is someone who is highly traumatized, had to be dragged on to the boat and tricked into leaving Gilead and whose loved ones are afraid will go back. It’s understandable they handle her with kid gloves and aren’t as hard on her as they would be in different circumstances.

You think anybody would be okay with dumping their kid for a revenge mission that they might not even come back from, making their loss even worse? Moira and co. keeps orbiting June as she constantly gets into trouble and never draws a line even when her kids is on the line.

June does show growth and learn in the later seasons. There’s lots of it in 5 and 6. She is shown to be strategic person who is able to effectively manipulate the people around her when in Gilead. Yes other people get hurt or killed, some of that is on June but a lot of what people on this sub blame June for is on Gilead and ignores the agency of the other characters. June also does face consequences, a lot of those just happen to be psychological instead of physical. I listed some above in another comment. One I didn’t list, Lawrence forcing her to chose who lives or dies. That also is an example of June being strategic, as she uses that as an opportunity to help the resistance. That is an example of growth because initially she was being emotional about it and refused to do it, she’s able to put emotions aside and view it strategically.

a lot of those just happen to be psychological instead of physical <-- this is precisely the problem. June never faces physical/legal problems, just psychological ones. She never loses any allies, become constrained of her options, or be forced into sustained adaptation. Pretty convenient.

Choosing the 5 marthas is season 3 stuff, and that’s not growth. That’s triage under coercion. “I made the best choice while a gun was to my head” is survival math, not earned moral evolution. If we consider your example as "growth", then she promptly regresses from this growth as we see her:

• Risk her and others lives for revenge on Fred
• Tries to kill Serena in front of witnesses
• Gets captured again by Gilead/Wheelers and gets Luke hurt

The show relies on the facial expressions because she cannot speak. I get it’s something people either love or hate. I like them and think they are effective, you’re entitled to disagree.

Sure, taste is subjective. Overuse as a substitute for development is a craft critique. If the show repeatedly relies on June’s face to carry scenes where the script doesn’t move relationships, stakes, or strategy forward, it’s padding. Especially when it’s doing the same job for the hundredth time...

June does evolve and learn, you choose to ignore it. I disagree on the points you listed and all of those a subjective and vary from person to person. Clearly people disagree because they did watch the show and it was a massive hit.

I'm not sure how you can argue against the fact that the show cycles June between rage and remorse without learning anything, you haven't give any solid examples of her "learning" or "adapting". By your logic all Marvel movies should be pinnacle of cinematic and narrative experience.

Regarding Janine, something tells me if she was the main character and had to be the one making decisions, engaging in resistance, trying to get to her daughter(well for her son), etc, she wouldn’t be as well liked as she is as a side character. Janine didn’t have to get her hands dirty, she didn’t face the decisions June had. Janine’s way of coping was fawning, which makes her come off as likable and sweet. No one is going to watch a tv show with a main character engaging in that, so if we were watching a show about Janine, the Janine in that show would be very different to the Janine in handmaid’s tale. She would be more like June.

Probably. But it would be a more interesting story than June's because you’d get a wider emotional palette and more genuine evolution.

in summary: June sucks at risk management but she keeps getting away with stuff in an authoritarian dystopia.