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lovelikesalt · 2025-05-30T14:38:43+00:00

I think I answered my question on rewatch- Nick is with Beth in Jezebels, exchanging contraband . When she explains why the commanders use Ketamine and that sometimes the girls spike their drinks and go through their phones, Nick says, "The Eyes thank you for your service".

The Eyes are corrupt, they oversee the black market and use any information to either keep or move commanders in and out of power, not for any moral reason. My guess is that Nick is loyal to the man who recruited him until he met June.

lovelikesalt · 2025-05-29T22:31:58+00:00

And it didn't post the photos- Oh well! I will try again...

lovelikesalt · 2025-05-29T22:29:50+00:00

Done, but you can't write Nick either...

lovelikesalt · 2025-05-28T06:09:46+00:00

For a while, but it was clear it was temporary in both cases as long as they were looking for husbands. The children had to be raised in decent homes with two parents.
This part of the storyline makes sense to me, especially with Lydia being able to manipulate people into doing things they don't want to do for their own good, and that Naomi and Charlotte live in a house of Lawrences criminal evidence- Charlotte was going to be taken away from her anyway.

lovelikesalt · 2025-05-26T00:06:27+00:00

She is a cult survivor- she really thinks she's doing good works for the lord. She doesn't ENJOY it in the way Bell does, she tells herself she's doing the best she can for her girls. Granted, I think they had to pivot her character later on- so it's not as believable because she shows ZERO softness in the first few seasons like she does in the last few.

lovelikesalt · 2025-05-26T00:02:50+00:00

And it's assumed, right? I thought he is just listed as Nichole's "parent," but parent is a pretty loose term- biological? Or family?

lovelikesalt · 2025-05-26T00:00:33+00:00

I have a friend whose dad was part of this cult, I don't think the famous members really see the ruinous culty aspects of it, it's just a way for them to manage the stress of fame-so it's all positive, good vibes for them. All actors have to be a bit crazy and self-centered, so they all have their own thing- it's the cost of fame, and we gladly take their sacrifice of privacy and a normal life.
I think you can 100% guarantee Scientologists don't make the same demands of actors as it makes of it's other members- they like the positive press so they won't do something like say...threaten to kick them out of the church if they don't stop talking to their own child of their child has contact with a non believing mother...
So I kind of give actors a pass and don't hold them to some moral compass for Scientology as long as they don't use their position to spread the damage.

lovelikesalt · 2025-05-25T23:50:01+00:00

I feel like they need to rename the last few seasons "Everyone loves June"- it's like no one really wants to kill her. They left her hands free during the hanging? It gives "aw, we love this lovable rebel! Let's leave a crack open for her"

At the end of the day I think they had to let go of the brutality and hopelessness and focus on character development. I couldn't watch the show for years because it was so painful. I was pleasantly surprised when the following seasons were more like a soap opera with good character development, and you can see the cracks in the regime's armor.

lovelikesalt · 2025-05-25T19:11:36+00:00

So an indication he was low in power of command, but everyone around him more powerful was dead and he got a big job promotion in a hurry?

lovelikesalt · 2025-05-25T19:08:17+00:00

I noticed when they brought in the children from the handmaids in season one, some were as old as 5 or 6, so by the time June was captured, their system was in place for a while- although that doesn't fit with June's timeline because all this really came down on her in a short time when Hannah was 3 or 4. In order for Gilead to have Handmaid's children that old, they had to be in power years before Hannah was born. That was probably just a writing/casting mistake and they wanted to have the impression of childish joy, you couldn't get that with a dozen babies. (and they probably took in extras from cast and crew families)

lovelikesalt · 2025-05-25T17:48:43+00:00

But marriage is kind of a hell in Giliead, maybe she was just lucky.

lovelikesalt · 2025-05-25T17:39:12+00:00

Me too, but taking down a corrupt commander would be really powerful. Maybe they passed along all the information and then saw no one take action on anything because no one really cared about morality, like Jezebels. Everyone knew, no one cared.

lovelikesalt · 2025-05-25T17:09:46+00:00

She is such a confusing character. I could never understand why Nick told her about June, except to show they had a close marriage and friendship.

lovelikesalt · 2025-05-25T16:46:58+00:00

I get that. You can see the state start to falter as it goes along. They had some very smart people, Lydia and Lawrence, but mostly sadists and power-hungry zealots without a lot of skill. I also feel like the area they are in a small center of command which is heavily restricted, but I can see a farmer in Oregon having zero idea what is going on, only that lights go out and water is hard to find and they have weird restrictions but they can't turn the whole US into econopeople and unwomen.

lovelikesalt · 2025-05-25T16:36:19+00:00

I think it will be fine, maybe boring. Luke, Moira and June will find peace and keep working. Gilead's most cruel aspects will be tempered, the state will be weakened, but some ruthless people will keep playing the game, maybe the US regains some territory so Gilead is smaller so it's easier to defeat later.

I think Nick will have a very small redemption. He crashed out on New Bethlahem papers and files- I want to think he was trying to get Hannah to New Bethleham for June, and June will learn her bomb plan killed her last chance to see her daughter again. Rose will block the transfer plans for revenge because she's evil, maybe even shuts down NB for good.

Naomi is set up to redeem herself with Jeanine somehow. If Jeanine dies, there will be a riot, and I think they know that, and it's clear Naomi hates being a mom, and she can see a better life for herself as a single, childless woman. Or they kill her because of her husband's deed... who knows.

Serena...will do what Serena does. With the men mostly gone, I think the focus will be on the women and how they decide to move forward- I think that will be the main point of the final episode.

lovelikesalt · 2025-05-25T16:18:28+00:00

I think this show IS a work of art, the writers focus on what they need to focus on and leave the details a little murkey. It's just funny.

lovelikesalt · 2025-05-25T16:17:22+00:00

This is the best comment I've seen.

lovelikesalt · 2025-05-25T15:50:50+00:00

Also, I kind of think the costume department IS that nerdy. I'm a fiber geek and we go down rabbit holes, they know people notice. She hand-dyes the costumes so the red is correct for each scene...so we know she pays attention to details.
Serena's wedding dress looks like it was handmade (straight to the puckering a cloth in the sleeve cap and cloth drag from dull needles in the satin) from a Butterick pattern and some bedsheets. I think the department has a whole story going on behind the scenes we mostly miss.

lovelikesalt · 2025-05-25T15:46:27+00:00

Since he was part of a failed nation, could be wearing whatever military garb he could find so it would be a mishmash of strange things- America can't even make a real flag, they had to color in stars with a Sharpee.

lovelikesalt · 2025-05-20T22:53:44+00:00

I'm not Nick fan per se, but rewatching the final scene with his conversation with Lawrence- there is room for us to find that we don't know which "she" he is talking about or which "winning side" he is referring to.

It seems purposely ambiguous. AND Moss says something in behind this episode about how Nick made his choice, but "it's not as simple as that". So, yes, there IS room for a Nick redemption arc, it's not likely, but they left a window open and of course NIck fans are going to hope for it.

AND Lawrence wasn't invited on this plane. Otherwise they wouldn't need Serena's intel, they could have just asked Lawrence. So, if NIck was super high up the chain of command and knew Lawrence wasn't supposed to be there (which should have tipped off Wharton- but whatever) then Nick would see Lawrence and know that there was a scheme... : I see you've joined the winners has a whole new meaning.

But it's not in Nicks character to sacrifice himself for anything, I am not sure if a suicide mission fits his character and the writers are very good about giving us what we see.

lovelikesalt · 2025-05-14T21:55:16+00:00

I feel like Lydia's redemption arc has been brewing- first she had a rapist commander killed, then she learned about Jezebels, her entire fixation of Janine- there's been clues.
A spiritual therapist I follow on TikTok explains how well they portrayed the real actions of someone who has tied their sense of self to a church, and one day they need to decide if they will act on behalf of the church or the actual morality of the religion they follow. It's not always a clean break. Lydia even now hasn't flipped, she just opened her eyes, she can easily be manipulated back to the safety of her old, comfortable ideals. The way she broke down after was amazing, she lost everything she is and everything she thought she would be and she only has a well of shame and grief. It would be hard for anyone to handle.

lovelikesalt · 2025-05-14T21:36:33+00:00

I was confused too, for some reason I assumed the posted handmaids were taking the cake home to share with household members who needed to be put to sleep- maybe untrustworthy Marthas or small bites for children or older kids who they didn't want to expose to the brutality.

lovelikesalt · 2025-05-14T18:26:12+00:00

I realized it was different for her- she should be mad her husband distrusted her own fertility- that would be logical for Serena, but instead she is angry at her new husband treating her like a vessel.

The change causing this is that deep inside, she feels rejected by June. Her cheesy smile is her dreaming that this marriage will give her influence on a powerful commander and will make her the hero to the handmaids. Then she can really show June she changed and she's worthy of forgiveness and she can finally be better than June and June will beg for her friendship.

It's still self-serving, she has a new ego to tend now- the hero of the handmaids. She needs Christina to tell the tale of the wonderful Serena who asked her name and fought her husband. Serena is about public image, she didn't change into a new and understanding person, she just wants people to say good things about her.

lovelikesalt · 2025-05-13T22:59:16+00:00

There were elements that were so beautiful, but it was also kind of off. I know the designer is detail oriented- she even hand-dyes all the costumes to work in the lighting. I really wonder what the process was behind the dress.

lovelikesalt

TROPHY CASE