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The Handmaid’s Tale: S2E13 “The Word” Hot Take Recap

The Handmaid’s Tale: S2E13 “The Word” Hot Take Recap

Posted on by Marc Alan Fishman
  • This is it! Just an hour left to this snuff film. I wonder if they’ll beat Hannah up in front of June for fun.
  • So, did June “plead for mercy” when SHE was accused of infidelity? Is that why she’s not at the bottom of a swimming pool? (Sorry, still making notes on the “previously on…”
  • Oh Martha. You treat EVERYONE like shit.
  • Great catch June! That Childwife WAS a total bitch. Writing in a bible. Thank God she’s chum.
  • Cry, Serena. Never stop crying.
  • Not gonna lie. Hulu’s “10 second rewind” allowed me to watch June smack Voldefred about a dozen times. Think I’ll watch it a few more.
  • I’m still not good with June’s “love” for Nick. So much of this feels false. She knows Luke is alive. She’s seen Hannah. So why can I not accept her feelings for Nick? Oh, cause he’s Nick.
  • Meanwhile in Stepford… the Wives “believe” in Gilead. So that their daughters may grow up… to not be literate. Subservient. And hey! If they accidentally fall in love with the wrong guy? Free swimming pass!
  • And now it’s time for sex with Bradley Whitford. This ought to be nightmarish. Least she brought a knife.
  • Something is really off with Whitford. In a good way. Yay! No sex. But somehow, that makes sense. And hey! Free knife.
  • “We, the conscripted Wives of you impotent idiots we helped usher into power, do ask that at like very least, we let the kids reads the bible. Mmm K?” Aww. Serena is trying to get smacked something fierce. Also? That was your chosen passage? Light in the darkness? C’mon, I thought you were the read brains in the family.
  • AWW MAN! Aunt Bitchbag stabbed and bitch-smacked?! It’s time for several dozen rewinds! NOW FINISH HER OFF!
  • “Call an ambulance! What have you done?” Bitch? Did you NOT see what I did when I stole a car? This was just for funsies.
  • No compassion given to Serena. Sew the seeds, enjoy your fruit, you childnapping thundercunt.
  • Make the Commander some tea, June. HOLD HIS FACE OVER THE OPEN BURNER. “Try for a boy this time…”
  • I hope Commander Bradley Whitford is going on a field trip to the airport, or Vegas or something. He’s all sorts of fun crazy. I was enjoying Annie Lennox…
  • THE MARTHAS ARE REVOLTING! THE MARTHAS ARE REVOLTING!
  • I’m half expecting a boss battle between June and Fred before she can escape. Again.
  • Or is it Nick fighting? Oh, Nick. Now I love you too.
  • Serena. SHE IS NOT YOUR GOD DAMNED BABY. I repeat it. She is not, nor ever was, or will be YOUR baby. Letting a woman be RAPED ritually on your lap, and repeating how much you love the baby never ever ever ever ever EVER gave you permission to STEAL HER as yours. Also? The Blessing of Aaron? Double-screw you. (That has very special importance to me. I do not like hearing it out of her vile mouth.)
  •  But hey. At least she let her go. So, that’s ONE good point for you. Don’t spend it too soon when you eventually burn in hell.
  • Thank god the baby is a sound sleeper.
  • “It will be written into the history books of the Underground Martha Railroad.”
  • Oh, yeah. Remember Luke? Awkward.
  • YAY! BRADLEY WHITFORD IS GOOD.
  • Hurray! So, June walks as if she hears the harrowing music playing. And… then…
  • I mean. What in the world? Is she going back to murder literally everyone? Because that’s like the only way I “get” that. Nick and the Martha’s just risked EVERYTHING! And I get it. Nicole / Holly / Whatever now has a chance. But, this show has made it clear: Season three will just be crueler than cruel. This is what I’ve been taught.
  • Oh well! Hope ya’ll enjoyed my ramblings.
The Handmaid’s Tale: S2E12 “Postpartum” Hot Take Recap

The Handmaid’s Tale: S2E12 “Postpartum” Hot Take Recap

Posted on by Marc Alan Fishman
  • No way out. Baby born. A jailed life may be better than being eaten by a wolf. The thumbnail to this episode alone — with Voldefred clutching what appears to be a baby in a blanket — fills me with dread. I know it won’t happen (because again, the thumbnail), but man, it’d be the bee’s knees if June awaited anyone to arrive in a vehicle. She lures them in with the baby. BOOM! Shotgun to their face. Steal running car. Get to Canada. Find Moira and Luke. Arm militia. Invade Gilead. Kill all commanders, wives, and Aunt Bitchbag. Save Hannah. Return to Canada. Live in peace. LET ME HAVE MY FANTASY, DAMNIT.
  • Kidnapper.
  • Go to hell Aunt Bitchbag. “I know this is difficult for you.” Go. To. Hell. Here. Have a fuck-muffin.
  • Nick’s alive! I don’t give a good God-damn.*
  • *Unless he literally murders the Waterfords. A lot.
  • There isn’t a punishment vile enough for literally everyone in the chapel. And yes, I get it. Lydia is trying to do the best in the worst situation. But it truly doesn’t matter to me at this point. The torture they are inflicted on June is such that I can’t think of a way where I DON’T want to have a full episode of Serena, Fred, and Lydia locked in a cage while June, and other handmaids are allowed throw stuff at them. Like dirty needles.
  • Meanwhile, elsewhere in Gilead, we’ve arrived at Commander … uhh… BRADLEY WHITFORD? Did he literally get picked up off the floor from “Get Out”?
  • And here I thought the Waterfords were the worst. They are. But at least they’ll have a wonderful dinner party with the rest of the child-stealing rapist families…
  • Hey! Childwife. Still don’t like you. At all. You brainwashed ninny.
  • “Our baby is so beautiful.” Oh Nick. Get a gun. And a car. Then shoot yourself. Give June the car.
  • This little roleplaying about Maui is making me nauseous.
  • Scream baby, scream. Because the crazy lady thinks she can have you because she wants you. She’s also feeding you a dry-ass titty. And that’s straight up mean.
  • Did Voldefred just ask for a I-let-you-see-your-child-before-stealing-your-second-child-blow-job?
  • By the looks of it, Bradley Whitford beats the crap out of his wife. I started typing this out before he literally dragged her out of the room. Someone get Martin Sheen to knock some sense into Josh!
  • “She wanted everything to be beautiful…” so, you know… marry Satan.
  • Whitford doesn’t drink the Kool-Ade. That’s what is most terrifying.
  • Welcome home, Childwife. Wait. Maybe she’ll be a Handmaid now! Yay!
  • Nevermind.
  • What… no goofy color-coded ceremony for this? Naw. Instead, we’ll just go ahead and watch two CHILDREN be murdered for the sin of love.
  • Cry, Serena. Cry for-fucking-ever. And then die. You STOLE a child. And continue to live in that sin until (I pray) you rot in hell. And I don’t even believe in hell.
  • One more episode to go in season 2. I pray for about 100 handmaid bombs.
The Handmaid’s Tale: S2E10 “The Last Ceremony” Hot Take Recap

The Handmaid’s Tale: S2E10 “The Last Ceremony” Hot Take Recap

Posted on by Marc Alan Fishman
  • The title of the episode is “The Last Ceremony”. This bodes well.
  • Hey! A commander has a heart attack after rape. Praise be! Bonus points for the nut shot.
  • Childwife and ManbabySoldier are sure getting friendly.
  • “Oh, I’m so pleased to be stealing this child!” Go to hell Serena Joy.
  • Make way for Aunt BitchBag everyone!
  • Wowsers. A black commander. A black VIRILE commander. Gird your loins, men.
  • Whoa whoa whoa. Wait wait. The wives have their own fake-birth ceremony? This clinches it. When the season is over? I’m doing some fanfic crossovers where Jessica Jones lays waste to Gilead.
  • HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. June 1. Serena 0.
  • Aunt Bitchbag’s spicy mango tea? I see Kermit sipping it already. Also, did June just mildly threaten Serena with an ass whoopin’? June 2. Serena 0.
  • Oh, June. You didn’t think he’d say yes, did you. But I appreciate the moxie. And I LOVE that on her way out she is burning every damned bridge she crosses. June 3. Waterfords 0.
  • Oh. This is. I can’t. I may stop the episode right now. The Waterfords are pure, unforgivable evil.
  • GASP! Childwife and ManBabySoldier! SHE’S UNCLEAN. And Nick likes to watch. Vurrrp.
  • Oh, poor Childwife. You know not what you say. I mean, you figured Nick like June. Good on you for that. But seriously. You’re 15. And this fucked up religious cult you are indoctrinated in has ruined your poor mind.
  • “Please stop crying.” Congrats Nick. NOW you’re a father.
  • PAUSE. Voldefred has a “surprise.” I swear to whatever God-Like-Being that is reading my recaps… If this asshat brings Hannah out as a present for raping a pregnant woman, I’m going to… OK, I don’t know what I’ll do. I’ll be really sad.
  • Fuck the Waterfords. There’s no bounds to the cruelty of this show. “Why didn’t you try harder?”… Tear my god-damned spine out of my body.
  • Telling your own child to “Love your parents” when YOU CAN’T BE HER MOTHER is one of the most gut-wrenching things I’ve seen June endure. AND SHE WAS LITERALLY RAPED AN EVENING AGO. 
  • For fuck’s sake. Nick? SHOOT THE WATERFORDS.
  • Holy shit. Nevermind. Well, I don’t think I can breathe now.
The Handmaid’s Tale: S2E9 “Smart Power” Hot Take Recap

The Handmaid’s Tale: S2E9 “Smart Power” Hot Take Recap

Posted on by Marc Alan Fishman
  • Martha is permanently stuck on sass-mode. Nothing deeper to report.
  • “Hi. I’m Issac. I like long walks on the beech. The writings of Levi. And this rifle.”
  • The Handmaid’s Tale is going to Canada! Wooooooo! Someone start a round of “If I Had A Million Dollars”!
  • And the award for deep-rooted irony goes to… Voldefred, for his “the Canadians need to know that you’re not an abused woman living in an oppressed society that YOU WERE TOTALLY IN-PART RESPONSIBLE FOR.”
  • Hey! Childwife made cookies. And HusbandBlankStare is sure… Nick.
  • Serena Joy sure is a bitch. “When the baby pops out, you gon’ bitch.” “Bu—” “Suck it, whore.”
  • Oh, hey! Luke woke the fuuuuuudge up when he saw his wife’s ritual rapist. YAY!
  • Moira… it’s time to learn strategic ninja star throwing.
  • That’s right, Serena. Gaze upon a metropolis filled with energy, life, words, love, and civility. It turns out you didn’t need to reduce society to some psuedo-Amish backwards-assed joyless patriarchy! Now, smile and be pretty for the meetings like a good bitch. (Get it. That’s a pun, because she’s an obedient female dog, and an ass!)
  • SICK GAY BURN, BRAH!
  • It’s hard not to make a thousand notes tonight. I’m sorry. DID THEY JUST GIVE HER A PICTURE-GRAM SCHEDULE?! Ha! I mean, I literally paused on her grimace just to soak it up.
  • Unwoman. Gun to the temple. I’m rewinding to Serena’s face.
  • Won’t even share the elevator with her. Suck it, Housefrau Bitchface. You are amidst free people.
  • Take the treason and coconuts, idiot. WHO KNEW THAT SCIENCE TRUMPS YOUR DOPEY FAKE RELIGION. I love Mr. America. He’s cruel in the BEST way.
  • Childwife… meet Childsoldier. Ya’ll should make with the sex.
  • Hey! BlandMartha. Poison the Waterfords.
  • Mark it down. It’s the first time I have ever loved Luke. I may never again. Oh, and screw off, Nick.
  • Aunt Bitchbag loves the children. Doesn’t think much of women. But lerves her some berbers.
  • Diplomacy over, bitches. Serena’s face? I could bathe in her sadness and shame.
  • You had me until the God Bless America sing-a-long. Just… no. Stop it.
  • Look upon your closet of teal, and weep… thundercunt.
  • Poor Nick. Now you know June likes em tall, dark, and mildly Canadian.
The Handmaid’s Tale: S2E7 “After” Hot Take Recap

The Handmaid’s Tale: S2E7 “After” Hot Take Recap

Posted on by Marc Alan Fishman
    • I took off Thanksgiving because I needed a break. So, to lighten my mental burden? I watched Get Out. Now I feel bad for being a man and white. Ahhhh.
    • “The world is a near post-apocalyptic nightmare. Make sure we spare no expense on wardrobe.”
    • I paused the stream to count. 31 dead. My first thought? It’s a start.
    • “I wish I could give you a world without violence.” BULLSHIT, BITCHBAG.
    • Seriously, how much of Handmaiden training is going over this pomp and circumstance? It took us 5 rehearsals to get graduation walking down.

via GIPHY

  • In the bus. “So, ladies. Who wants to play some bridge. Too soon?”
  • Damnit. Of course Voldefred is alive. And hey! It’s Nick in his Action-Jackson suit! Someone make me an action figure.
  • Oh Luke. Please compete with Nick for least-worthy of June. Please.
  • “Welcome to Handmaid school. Upon graduation, you’ll receive your work robes, death robes, and of course… your robes for Quidditch. Psyche! There’s no joy in Gilead, bitches.”
  • Suck it, soupbitch Martha. Commander Assface wants to have a private meeting with our hero.
  • Oh, dude. We absolutely cannot trust you. At all. At all at all. At all at all at all.
  • Wait. All soupbitches are “Martha”? Are all bitchbags “Lydia”? Who wrote the rules on this crazy ass town? Oh yeah. Serena Joy and Voldefred. Nevermind.
  • CAN PEOPLE SERIOUSLY STOP HOLDING JUNE BY HER FACE?!
  • I swear, Luke just makes me ill. Equally as ill as Nick, come to think of it. Both of them are literally too much. In that they are wasting oxygen. Smiling and/or brooding when they absolutely shouldn’t be.
  • So, they want us to just root for June and Moira to gay the everloving crap outta each other and make a NEW nation, right? Cause I’m shipping them so hard right now.
  • Nope. I have a six month old. That kid ain’t fresh enough for Moira’s vajayjay to be needing ice. Nice try, TV.
  • June’s eyeroll was audible. Also… What a promotion for ole’ One Eye and Road Rage!
  • Viva la revolution! I give it a week before they’re being whipped in the rain. Someone cue the whipping robes!
  • I don’t trust a damned thing Serena Joy says, does, or wants. Because, once again, she helped usher in this hilarious world of “legal” rape, torture, and kidnapping. But she’s giving June super secret documents and a pen. Is this like giving Dobby a sock? Or is this Serena’s “I’m Madame President now” Claire Underwooding?
The Handmaid’s Tale: S2E6 “First Blood” Hot Take Recap

The Handmaid’s Tale: S2E6 “First Blood” Hot Take Recap

Posted on by Marc Alan Fishman
  • Not going to lie. I sat down to watch tonight and thought “I totally don’t remember the big cliffhanger from last night.” and then a millisecond into the “previously on”, then remembered everything. Getting ice cream now.
  • “Mrs. Waterford… your baby is moving around in there!”— Oh blow it out your ass Dr. Fuckyourself.
  • I haven’t read the books, and I’m sure this would change the trajectory of so much, but I had a fleeting thought. If Nick had been black, and the baby came out beautifully mixed… the whole of Gilead would have to swallow that Fred’s loins are for crap. Of course that I say that NOW I imagine they’d raise THAT child in a locked tower. So, never mind. I’ll go back to my ice cream. I’m sorry, Aunt Lydia.
  • YEAH. MAKE ME SOME SOUP… BITCH.
  • So, they’re making a new larger center to subjugate women. Lovely. I can’t wait to see the all-marble rape rooms.
  • “Do you want to know the secret?” Sure, childwife. “I put pop rocks in them.” I DO love the guilt-ridden corpse face of Nick though.
  • I think I get it now. The show likes to make us think these are human beings, and THEN they remind us they are horrendous monsters who should be tazed in the face and kept on the brink of death and sanity for the remainder of their mortal lives.
  • June “Feels” back, with her scene in the kitchen with Freddy No-Sperm. But, I don’t get the angle. Yet.
  • “Just give it some time.”… you know, like until you’re legal? Like old enough to drink. Wait, sorry, we pause this joke for this interruption. SHE THINKS HE’S GAY!? Hahahahahahahaha.
  • So, run away for 90 days? Get choked nearly to death. Bleed from the  hoo-hah a bit too much? Free lunch for you and your friends! I can’t wait for the juicy gossip. “So, how did YOU get raped last month?”
  • So, infant mortality is what started all of this, eh? Who needs medical science, when you have God on your side! Too bad they didn’t fire a few more at her.
  • “I love you.” Oh, piss off, Nick. You have no idea what love is.
  • The thing is, Breaking Bad was evil, but behind it we saw the reasoning. Walter White was one man, who at his worst, was in it to benefit one man. And the drugs he made may have led to tons of death and badness. But again: he was one man. Serena Joy and all their ilk are a fricking nation formed under the guise of religion to make habitual rape and murder the norm. Being forced to see this much evil in every frame is maddening.
  • Do YOU feel guilt, shame, and remorse when YOU’RE having sex with underage girls at the threat of death? Well, say no more! Gilead-brand Fucksheets now come with glory hole and paper bag for her head.
  • “She wanted to see the child.” There it is, Serena. You’re soulless.
  • Oh, Fred. You’re making me regret the ice cream. I’m gonna be sick.
  • “You’ve been issued a women.”
  • “Blessed be the fruit.”, thanks, you 15 year old half-wit.
  • “Don’t you want to run a household, one day?” I think I’m gonna watch Serena get shot a few more times.
  •  Nevermind.
The Handmaid’s Tale: S2E5 ” Seeds” Hot Take Recap

The Handmaid’s Tale: S2E5 ” Seeds” Hot Take Recap

Posted on by Marc Alan Fishman
  • So, our opportune question here: is June broken? Burning the letters of her sisters-in-arms sure as hell sells that. Oh, and her dead eyed stare into our soul helps too.
  • I’d love for this to be a long con. But I can’t fathom that as a possibility. Sayonara, Marc’s hope!
  • Haha! Offred is musty.
  • If I didn’t know better, I’d say Serena Joy doesn’t like lobotomized June. That pleases me. Hell. If she was mildly constipated I’d be tickled, too.
  • Forgive me. If you’re in the slave labor camp… why live?
  • If June/Offred has miscarried, I think I’m gonna scream.
  • Gilead looks like Oak Park, Illinois. The people who live there are likely 10% less scary.
  • Baby Angela has some boogies. Oh, and her real mom is gone. But you know. Boogies.
  • Back from commercial and Offred is in a blood red bath. I seriously can’t tell now if there IS a problem, or we’re being duped. That the loss of self is causing some kind of hallucination?
  • Gilead seriously has some kind of fascination with ritual schtick. And like, it’s never once been anything short of super creepy as fuck.
  • Wait. Hold up. Are they giving the drivers some child-brides? I think I may vomit.
  • Because I still feel sick after the last scene, just hearing all the pick axes and shovels of the workers makes me think of the beginning of “Blazing Saddles” and now I’m sadder.
  • FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY SEE A DOCTOR, JUNE. This show is basically a horror show in slow motion. “Here. Be terrified for 13 episodes.” “Will someone die?” “By the time we’re done, you’ll sure hope so.”
  • I’m rooting for the baby to somehow be alive, because I want to see June remain alive. I know she’s our protagonist and that it’s unlikely she’d be taken from us. But that doesn’t take away the feelings.
  • SWEET JESUS JUNE IS ALIVE. And so is her half-dead-faced fetus.

Handmaid’s Tale S2E1 “June” Hot Take Recap

Posted on by Marc Alan Fishman

(all these thoughts are made chronologically as I “enjoy” the episode)

  • I just made myself a bowl of ice cream prior to hitting play, because I’m going to occasionally need to be reminded that joy does indeed exist in the world still.
  • I just finished the recap. I’m glad I added cookies to my ice cream. Also “Trust me.” No, Nick. I do not trust you. You were an out of work loser ass-bag in the before-time. So, no.
  • They KNOW she’s preggers, right? That should give us SOME feeling of safety for June, right?
  • STOPPED at 6:56 to take a breath. I mean, I get it. They have work to do, and apparently fast. But, like, wouldn’t it be just as easy to march down the handmaids who are going to be hung in a neat and orderly line, without all the rush-rush-rush? Time is money, sure. But Gilead don’t have no money! ALSO… They have folks hung like ornaments all over the place. If they need to murder you, they literally have rifles. This seems like WWE levels of idiocy.
  • OH FUCK YOU, SHOW.
  • Die Aunt Lydia. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. (Each ‘Die’ comes for a separate bit during the show.)
  • Why did we have another kid? Cause Fuck the Patriarchy! Great reason, millennials.
  • “How did Ofmike get such beefy biceps? That bitch-bag made her stand outside with a rock in her hand for 3 hours, and she’s got 24″ pythons now, brother!”
  • I’m glad I finished my ice cream ahead of the live burning. Aunt Lydia needs to be murdered. By an army of savage children all singing “Our God is an Awesome God.”
  • I don’t know who this nurse/social worker is, but I think Aunt Lydia must have been cloned. Also? I hate her.
  • I know that silhouette anywhere. Hello Mrs. Twatface! Also? “Don’t get so mad, Serena. It’d be bad for the baby?” Cue that gif of the kids all going OH!!!!!”
  • Nice try show. I’m not going to believe June’s getting out of this hospital! I bet this is just more theatrics! (He says, silently praying Mayday is gonna get her out of this, and full well knowing NOT on episode 1 of the 2nd season).
  • WAIT! WHAT!? Don’t make me have hope, show. I still don’t trust Nick!
  • Haha! Fuck you, red frock! Also… SWEET CHRISTMAS, WOULDN’T NICK KNOW AN EASIER WAY TO REMOVE THE TAG!? I’m going to be sick.