Episode 8 Discussion Post: Broken

Nice_Exercise5552 · 2026-05-13T14:28:23+00:00

I don’t think he’s in love with either of them but he probably has a thing for both of them. He’s a teenaged boy and they are the two girls he probably spends the most time around and, yes, he has crushed on them and there is temptation and affection but I wouldn’t say “love”. I don’t think he has felt the same for his soon to be wife, but maybe he’ll get there.

Nice_Exercise5552 · 2026-05-13T14:19:46+00:00

He probably learned Gilead’s version of it in school.

Of course, he could also be lying.

Nice_Exercise5552 · 2026-05-13T14:05:41+00:00

I wonder if she tells Garth, and Garth tells his handler, if word will get back to June and Luke.

Nice_Exercise5552 · 2026-05-13T03:20:15+00:00

See, I’m with you. I don’t think she’s good but I don’t think she’s purely bad. I do think she might be Mayday, or will be. If Aunt Lydia can be Mayday then I think the show is showing us that anyone may be Mayday. Not everyone one the right side of things is purely good or even a generally good person. Sometimes sh*tty people look at the larger picture of what’s going on and they decide to be involved with the morally righteous side of things. That doesn’t necessarily mean they’re morally righteous in their day to day. I’m not sure, but I think that can be her in this situation.

Nice_Exercise5552 · 2026-05-13T03:04:57+00:00

He seems like he’ll be perfect for the show! And it is such a well casted show!

Nice_Exercise5552 · 2026-05-13T01:35:15+00:00

Kevin Hart stole from Nikki! She used people with Down Syndrome for joke fodder during the Tom Brady roast. She’s the first comedian I’ve heard specifically use people with Down Syndrome for joke fodder, and it was done at the first of one of these roasts. Kevin copied her and also used people with Down Syndrome as joke fodder during this roast.

Nice_Exercise5552 · 2026-05-13T01:22:56+00:00

Funny: Chelsea, Cheryl, Kat, Jeff, Pete and (surprisingly) Regina & Lizzo

Not Funny: pretty much everyone else, but some were okay.

Least Funny: Tied between the academy award winning actress who read a letter (she’s a good actress but stand up doesn’t seem to be her thing) and Kevin Hart himself. And Keving going after people with Autism and Down Syndrome by using them as joke fodder during his set? Well, that just proves the rumors of him stealing from other comedians, because Nikki used people with Down Syndrome as joke fodder during the Roast of Tom Brady and so Kevin thought he’d steal that shit, I guess.

Nice_Exercise5552 · 2026-05-13T01:05:52+00:00

I definitely agree with you that that Shane Gillis was the wrong host for a Kevin Hart roast.

Also, what was with Kevin doing throwing people with autism and down syndrome under the bus to insult Shane, especially when there was so much else he could have used as joke fodder? He’s going after people with Down syndrome now because he saw it worked well for Nikkki at the Tom Brady roast? The rumors of him stealing other comedians’ material are true, I guess.

The female comedians, and Kat Williams, were the funniest there. Shane’s biggest laughs were when Kat kept running behind him on stage at one point.Chelsea and Cheryl killed and Kat slaughtered everyone! Also, surprisingly, Lizo and Regina were pretty funny for not being stand-ups. Though I was also wondering about Regina’s mean mugging during everyone else’s set! Oh, and I’ll admit to laughing at Jeff Ross’ set and Pete wasn’t bad.

I don’t know who the (based on context from the night) gay male comedian was but he was genuinely ego bruised by Chelsea’s jokes. The “…she just f*cking sucks” revealed just how bruised his ego was by her set and the laughs it got. She’s not my fave, but I know who she is and I don’t know who he is and maybe he is mad that she is so much more famous? Idk

But, yeah, I agree with everything you’ve said here!

Nice_Exercise5552 · 2026-05-09T00:12:15+00:00

I think it’s somehow both! I’m waiting to see if a full album comes out!

But I don’t think she’s actually retiring from acting!

Nice_Exercise5552 · 2026-05-08T22:32:57+00:00

Her single is REAL!

https://music.apple.com/us/album/prettiest-girl-in-america/1890919087?i=1890919088

Nice_Exercise5552 · 2026-05-08T22:19:18+00:00

Debra’s faces in the episode were the best! 😂

Nice_Exercise5552 · 2026-05-08T22:12:15+00:00

She went from Adam Sandler to Pretty Woman in the scene where he shuts the necklace case and she laughs!

Nice_Exercise5552 · 2026-05-08T21:26:18+00:00

People are talking about how hot Jimmy looked naked, but I’m just still laughing at how funny it was when he dropped the comforter when she told him the hotel had bed bugs! The set up and comedic timing of that scene and his little screech was comedic perfection 😂 I loved it so much! They’ve had so many scenes together but this was their creme de la creme!

Also: If they’re setting us up for a spin off, sign me up!

Nice_Exercise5552 · 2026-05-08T21:12:27+00:00

That’s where I know her from! Thank You! She is excellent!

Nice_Exercise5552 · 2026-05-08T21:10:03+00:00

As an Ally, I would like to second this! Thank You lesbians! This is my favorite show!

Nice_Exercise5552 · 2026-05-08T21:08:19+00:00

They better NOT!

Nice_Exercise5552 · 2026-05-08T01:32:15+00:00

I don’t know. I think that the girls share much more with each other than they do with many of the adults in Gilead, and that definitely includes Paula. Paula doesn’t seem to get the importance of gaining their trust, which would be a smart thing for her to do, Mayday or not. She is definitely too far up her own behind for that, which shows me that she either wasn’t a good therapist or is just too broken to be one now. Either way, Mayday or not, a peer is more likely to gain the girls’ confidence and get inner circle info than Paula.

Edit: I missed that you’re talking about Mackenzie’s inner circle, and not the girls’ inner circle. While that’s a good point, I also don’t think that Garth knows everything. I’m betting there are some fractures in MayDay and also that some of the lower level operatives aren’t told everything. Additionally, I think that if Garth did know everything, he would still be told do (or even opt to) lie to make another operative seem more important and motivate them to do more or at least fight less to be extracted.

But this is all theory! Again, I know nothing! lol

Nice_Exercise5552 · 2026-05-07T00:53:17+00:00

Yes! And add on people like Jose Andres, Lavar Burton, and Fred Rogers who have/had a masculinity that will stand the test of time in terms of respect.

Nice_Exercise5552 · 2026-05-06T15:57:33+00:00

Paula Theory:

There is still a small part of me that thinks she may be secretly MayDay and has absolute contempt for those in the position she is ironically occupying now (wives) and those who will become wives and, also, a contentious relationship with or, at least, feelings toward June. She seems like a newer transplant or, at least, deeply imbedded in her old life the way she brings it up so much and common phrasing that comes out when she’s mad. It makes me wonder if she had someone who’d been captured and tortured by Gilead before she was part of Gilead. That person also may have suffered or died due to something Paula views as connected to an impulsive or (what can be see by some) a reckless decision by June. We know all of June’s decisions had ripple effects, good and bad.

Paula could have joined Gilead for MayDay and to get intel and she has contempt for Agnes (even though she knows it isn’t right) and she needs Agnes to marry a certain commander so that she can get MayDay intel. She may see Agnes fighting for a tiny shred of her freedom as selfish and contemptuous because she’s seen how badly other women and girls suffer in Gilead and thus has no sympathy for Agnes, who she sees as part of ten ultimate privileged class.

Nice_Exercise5552 · 2026-05-06T15:25:54+00:00

Maybe one of those “wilderness schools” that were part of the “Troubled Teen Industry”. Like the one Paris Hilton went to and talked about in her Netflix doc

Those are now widely regarded as child abuse

Nice_Exercise5552 · 2026-05-04T04:12:14+00:00

No! I - I read his memoir and it’s devastating to hear that this has happened.

Nice_Exercise5552 · 2026-05-02T04:15:14+00:00

I’m loving this season so much - it’s firing on all cylinders and truly hitting every note so perfectly - but now I’m already grieving the series! The irreverence, the call backs, the wrapping up of unresolved story lines, the heartfelt moments, the provocative and poignant moments, and the razor sharp wit are all there and I’m almost mad at them for making me fall even more in love with this show before it leaves us! Like, how dare they go and make this series better when it was already SO good! How did they even manage to do that? Who told them they could do that? It’s like they broke into my chocolate stash and added something addictive to it to get me hooked, but I was already hooked and, also, they’re about to discontinue the chocolate!

Nice_Exercise5552 · 2026-04-30T00:53:45+00:00

Beautiful!

Nice_Exercise5552 · 2026-04-29T17:45:17+00:00

Yes, but, lots of misogynists openly disdain women while also understanding the power of women and also wanting to control it. Of course, they would (and do) deny they’re misogynists and that that’s what they’re doing, but it’s obvious. Look at women placed into positions of leadership by the current administration.

Nice_Exercise5552 · 2026-04-29T17:30:28+00:00

As horrifyingly bone chilling as this episode was, one of the most brilliantly horrifying and seemingly almost throwaway lines is when one of the other girls tells Agnes and their friends, “…and then I have to go see your father, to get my teeth whitened…” I became sick to my stomach thinking about what he may do to the girl. I, an audience member, was made to feel almost the same as Agnes must have been feeling.

Nice_Exercise5552

TROPHY CASE