& quot; The tale of the maid & # 39; is naked The whole hell of raising a girl to Gilead

No child is safe in Gilead. Well, more exactly, no girl is safe in Gilead.

In the penultimate episode of "The Handmaid's Tale" of Season 2, Serena (Yvonne Strahovski), June (Elisabeth Moss), Nick (Max Minghella) and Rita (Amanda Brugel) learn this with certainty. Eden (Sydney Sweeney), who has spent weeks on the show's edges and in Gilead's opinion, makes the unwise choice to run away with her Guardian lover. They are caught and dragged back, only to be punished with death. Nick pleads with her to save herself by lying, but instead Eden is true to herself and her faith to a fault. She refuses to give up her "sin" – to be a teenager in an oppressive society that wants both love and a baby – and is killed because of it. This death, to which the whole household of Waterford is obliged to testify, shakes every one of its members.

We also see Emily (Alexis Bledel) placed with Commander Lawrence (Bradley Whitford, in an incredible guest role). The commander is a fascinating character, a man who would have created the model for Gilead's economy and settlements, but who fills his home with art, books, and music. It oscillates between a potential ally and a potential attacker, and we leave the episode still unsure of what it will end up being.

Emma: Women are both the cornerstone and the biggest threat to Gilead, and this episode of "The Handmaid's Tale" was very clear.

The episode "Postpartum" opens and ends two women mothering a little girl – in particular, Serena and June mothering Nicole / Holly. The two women, in their own way, care deeply about this child, and we see how Gilead hopes to regenerate his population and continue to build his society. At the beginning, the mothering tasks are separated: the mothers Serena and the pumps June. In the end, they reached a sort of dark and winding symbiosis, bound by the little girl they both consider. For a season that has begun focusing on how women clash, there is the impression that "The Tale of the Maid" Season 2 is heading toward the message that no matter how certain women are accomplices in this society. To support him, there are only powerful white men who really see the benefits. And there are things that women will always turn to each other.

What did you think when you realized that June's baby was found with the Waterfords?

Laura: At first I thought it was a dream sequence, because of the dreamy way of photographing Serena rocking the blue-eyed baby in the soft light. But I think they've chosen to shoot the scene that way so they can contrast it with June's hard and dark scene that pumps milk into a machine, looking desperately forward, like a cow in the middle of 39, be high.

I think this episode really explores the difference between the natural links created between humans – between the mother and the baby, for example, or two teenagers in love – and the unnatural links forcing these humans through this cruel patriarchal dystopia that They are trapped inside. It's not that a woman who is raising another woman's child is necessarily a bad thing; adoption can be a nice loving choice, of course. But for Serena, who shrieks close enough to June to hear her baby cry but not enough to hold her or breastfeed while Serena offers her an empty breast, it's a deeply cruel and selfish choice.

We see the agony on Serena's face as she is unable to breastfeed the baby that she so desperately wants to be to her, which has almost made me feel bad. Empathy for her again. But it really brought out the fact that even when Gilead is working as he should, and the maid produces the child for the rich woman, it's still not a sustainable model for a society. Serena still has to deal with her own cruelty, the choices she's made that helped create this damn system in the first place, and she realizes the pain and frustration and despair that accompany motherhood.

As you have said, Serena and June are now bound by the little girl, and Serena finally realizes that she must allow June to breastfeed for love of the child. But as we know from past episodes, these moments of tenderness and empathy never last long in Waterford's house

Emma: You're right, and as we l? have already said, there is no Serena "redemptive". But she has never been bad or good, and I like to believe that she has the ability to grow up (at least a little bit). I also think we see her changing her actions little by little – not out of a desire to be kinder to other women around her, but because the walls are closing in on her own access to power and power. security, and her ability to protect those she loves, namely Nicole.

But to talk about the changing perspective of Serena, we have to talk about Eden. Eden, whom we have alternately dismissed and suspected of these conversations. In this episode, she runs away with guardian Isaac, incurring the anger of Gilead's judicial arm. It turns out that our worst instincts about Eden were all wrong. This is not a spy or a sharp steel or an obstacle to the discovery of love by our heroes. It's a 15-year-old girl growing up in a hell, trying to understand God, her faith and her sexuality. There are few creatures Gileadean society, and our own society, are more fearful than curious teenagers.

Rita and Nick and Serena treat Eden largely as a nuisance, and even June only shows a few moments of compassion for the girl. (Reminder: Even though she is Nick's wife, Eden is definitely a girl.) Fred scarcely notices the existence of Eden, considering it as a simple reward to Nick for his loyalty – until he's gone. it threatens the commander's position. When she does, he is terrified by her, especially by her sexuality. For Serena, Eden is a "godly girl". For Fred, it's a "bitch", "a married woman carried away in her own selfish lust." In reality, Eden is a young woman who just wants to "make a real family", "And dares to imagine a world where she could pursue love and motherhood on her own terms." But this is Gilead, so her potential is cruelly extinguished.

Laura: I loved this phrase that June tells Eden in the kitchen: "I think in this place you catch love wherever you find it." Unfortunately, this council leads to the fall of Eden. This is not the first time June has encouraged a woman to break the rules of Galaad and to see her abused, tortured or murdered for her "transgressions."

We see a lot more emotions from Nick in this episode, finally. Eden becomes a real human when she admits to being in love with someone else, because he can finally relate to her. And I think, as you said, that the viewer has the same experience with Eden. She's no longer a snake in the grass, so to speak … she's just an extremely pious teenager trying to lead love and hormones.

Nick obviously cares about Eden because he is trying to save her, advising her first to lie and then offer, in what must have been a moment of desperation , to give him the baby that she wants. But she has already decided that she does not want to raise a baby in a family without love. "Nick, I love Isaac and he loves me and we want to be together," she says. "I do not want to have your baby, I'm really sorry."

Nick seems both relieved by his honesty and ravaged by the guilt of having been so ice-cold with her throughout their marriage (though forced) that she is essentially ready to walk on the board to get away from it. "You do not have to be sorry for that," he says.

Of course, Gilead always finds new ways to introduce violence into the show, and here we see a weighted drowning, similar to what some societies did to women who were considered "witches" . and Nick and June, it seems that this difficult scene can precipitate a turning point in the plot.

Emma: I completely agree. Nick, Rita, June and even Serena seem shaken by the murder of Eden, sanctioned by the government. And honestly, it's a relief to see the plot moving forward, as we finish this season and head to Season 3. If this series continues, we need new scenarios and motivations, rather than retrace the same ground again and again.

Emily is another character who sees things change for her in this episode. She is delivered by Aunt Lydia to her new post – Commander Lawrence's house. Commander Lawrence, played by the brilliant Bradley Whitford, is a strange bird. According to Lydia, he is an extremely important man, the architect of Gilead's economy. Obviously, it should be terrifying. And yet, he seems much less attached to Gilead's ideology than Commander Waterford. His house is filled with art and books. He responds to "Blessed be the fruit" of Lydia with "Glory be". And he seems to have a sarcastic rather than an oppressive relationship with his Martha. It oscillates between totally scary ("Have you healed correctly?") And totally intriguing ("Do you miss the class?"). All the time I kept thinking: are you a good witch or a bad witch?

Anyway, I think it's going to be very important in Emily's development and the development of the series world. It's so exciting that we finally have a male character whose values ​​are as messy and convincing as those of Serena Joy.

Laura: It's so interesting to see how we supposed at first that he was a "good guy" because he seemed so worldly. A man with books and sculptures and paintings and maps all over his house – of which Martha is comfortable enough with him to meet his threat of being beaten with "Try it, old man" – must be a kind of savior, right?

But there is a twist in the plot. His wife, who apparently lives a kind of cliche of "mad woman in the attic," enters Emily's room and announces that not only is Commander Lawrence the architect of Gilead's economy , but he has the idea of ​​sending people to the colonies. which are essentially concentration camps. "Real people dig up this earth, and that's poison!" She says. Of course, Emily is familiar with the reality of settlements, after being released.

We do not know why this man chose Emily as his maid. She neither. "I wonder why such a brilliant and important man would take such a shitty maid," she told Aunt Lydia. But we have the sense, as both face each other around the table sipping beers, that it can be a terrific match for Lawrence. They are both intellectuals, both extremely combative; neither buys in Gilead's premise. Will she associate with him or will she kill him?

Emma: At this point, both scenarios seem equally likely. My instinct tells me that he was a brilliant man who created Gilead in the abstract and now feels conflicted about his reality. Sometimes guilt is an effective motivator to do better.

To conclude, I just want to talk about the quiet beauty of this final scene. After so much horror, we see Serena and June tap into that inexplicable link you mentioned earlier in the chat. A common enemy may be helpful in uniting women, but a common desire to protect something (someone) could be even stronger. Serena's eyes have finally been open to what it means to have a daughter in Gilead.

Laura: How nice is that! Serena finally lets her slave nurse her own baby. The man who created Gilead may finally have some doubts. As June said when she gave a muffin to her not very tasty: "Praise fucking be."