User Reviews

In episodes 8 (this one) and the Season Finale, I feel like they're doing too many subplots without enough time. However, unlike viewers who would like to have edited out some of the content, I'd rather have had a 13-15 episode Season.

There are those--read a selection of reviews online and in periodicals-- who criticize the inclusion of so much Nick. He's a man, after all, and one of the bad guys due to his working as Fred's assistant and also being a member of the menacing Eyes.

However, I thought it was interesting to see things from the point of view of a guy who started out as a loyal foot-soldier of the regime, especially when he is such an important part of June's life and may turn out to have her best interests at heart and even go over to May Day.

But this story should not have competed for space with the TV version of the Jezebels sequence, which should be about June's strange excursion to the titular den of vice and her reunion with Moira.

I did enjoy the short scenes of Nick and a Martha who was once an award winning cook who now works in the kitchens preparing food for the club's elite clientele. The two of them seem to have had an affair at some point and do some black market trading and exchange of information. I hope we learn more about her.

It also tells a lot about that society that Nick can't even go have one drink, but has to stay in a servant's area. Maybe it's because he's on duty, but I get the feeling that he's never allowed in on his own, or at least that he's kept away because an evening there would cost what he makes in a month.

But I'm more interested in June's emotions as she learns that she's taking an illicit trip and expected to wear allegedly sexy clothes and heels and makeup. The place and what goes on there is horrible, but there's also relief in being somewhere that feels like it's totally outside of Gilead-- almost as if the coup hadn't happened. It's yet another form of Gilead slavery, but creates the fantasy of having escaped to a free country and you chose to go to a sleazy nightclub while there.

This is the escapist fantasy that's sold to the dissident women who staff the place. Make the guests happy and indulge in whatever they want in their spare time. With this as an option instead of the regimentation of the usual roles of Handmaid, Wife or Martha or the horrors of the Colonies, the inmates see themselves as lucky.

Sure some of the guests mistreat them and they get killed once they're no longer attractive, but besides that, it's a big party. Moira, unfortunately, has bought into this philosophy, which is sad to see.

An interesting part of the story as the show tells it is Serena's absence from the house. She's off visiting her mother. It makes me curious about how a woman would travel by herself and how her mother lives.

There is also a sad revelation of the fate of the previous Offred. Does Fred lead them to their doom by treating them as his private toys? Why bother when Jezebels is there and there are so many laws governing even his behavior within the house? He seems to have a very strong attraction to the forbidden. More than just letting off steam like it seemed at first. What trouble will this get him into?

The eighth episode of The Handmaid's Tale once again plunges us into a disquieting narrative, this time delving into Nick's unsettling past. Previously a job seeker, he was recruited by Commander Pryce, serving him as an Eye and, in the present, Fred Waterford as a chauffeur. His role? To scrutinize every move of his commanding officers and alert Pryce if necessary. In this episode, we also uncover the grim circumstances of the former handmaid of the Waterford household, who committed suicide, with Fred seemingly bearing the blame, as implied by Serena's reproach.

Returning to the present, Fred clandestinely takes June to Jezebel's, a place where Commanders indulge in their fantasies of power by having relationships with whomever they desire. The environment is deeply unsettling, and the proximity between Fred and June becomes uncomfortably intimate as she complies with his desires. In this place, June encounters Moira and learns of her journey to this establishment. June vows to help Moira escape, but Moira is painfully aware of the impossibility of such a feat.

Nick, on the other hand, avoids June and refuses to speak to her, breaking the connection between them due to the events at Jezebel's. Serena reappears, offering June a music box with a dancing figurine inside. June interprets it as a metaphor, seeing herself as the trapped dancer who can only emerge when the lid is lifted.

This episode starkly underscores the deplorable aspects of a society driven by patriarchal power and perverse fantasies, where women are subjugated for the supposed greater good but, in reality, for the satisfaction of a privileged few. As the series approaches its conclusion, the tension and anticipation continue to build, leaving viewers eager to uncover the final outcome. The Handmaid's Tale remains unflinching in its portrayal of a dystopian world where the struggle for survival and freedom remains ever present, and this episode is no exception.

JEZEBELS is another decent episode in a series which really seems to be building momentum as it moves towards the climax. There are flashbacks from a different character this time around, which are interesting enough, but the main bulk of the episodes sees Offred finally leaving the dreary confines of the house and heading off to a brothel for some unexpected surprises. The change of setting works a treat and freshens the show up no end.

'Jezebels' follows a similar pattern that some of the previous episodes follow. The episode continues to excite, by creating memorial sets (in this case, Jezebels) but at the same time, brings together another slow-moving plot.

The sequences involving Nick, and his introduction to the world of the Handmaid's, while extremely important, can't help but be a bit off-kilter because of the pacing once again. It's hard to get pacing right, and I just wish that the pace could pick up in a few sequences, in order to make the episode better.

The Jezebels sequence is by far the best of the episode. June/Offred is taken to what is basically a strip club version of The Overlook Hotel, where there are a wide variety of eccentric characters, engaging in a ton of perverse acts. But this isn't the core of the episode. June/Offred eyes her friend, Moira from afar, and because of instinct, choose to each go to the bathroom, one after another. These are phenomenal sequences, that are important to the story once again. On top of that, Elisabeth Moss gives her best performance to date in this episode, having the most dialogue since the pilot episode. She also has to deliver an inordinate amount of emotion when Moira reunites with her for the first time in three years.

'Jezebels' can't help but follow this similar pattern of having one outstanding storyline, while at the same time, placing a slow-moving one right beside it. It is the continuation of these outstanding sequences which makes for such a good episode.

Episode 8: 'Jezebels = 90% -five points taken off for being one of the slowest episodes -five points taken off for focusing too much on Nick, and not enough on June/Offred

This episode has been a fierce ride in which we get to see back story of nick blain and episode takes into ride of surprises you wonder along the episodes what will happen next and in end it has significant ending it was solid episode.

The episode had some good moments, Elisabeth Moss continues to get better and better each week in this role, but they're deviating too much from the point of the show. The focus should be on the handmaids and this group of women trying to survive. The outside politics are interesting, but should be kept to a minimum as it sort of limits what you can do within this world.

June rises from a bed where Nick sleeps. He pulls her back into bed playfully. She gets up and dresses back into her clothes.

Back in her room, the Commander is waiting and he wants to do something different tonight. He helps her put on shaving cream on her legs and shaves her legs for her. He then gives her a pouch with Mac lipstick in it and other makeup. She puts on her eyebrow pencil, eyeshadow, blush, and the lipstick. He then hands her a golden dress and heels. She dons the outfit and comes down where he marvels at her beauty. He lets her hair down and they go to Nick.

Nick drives them to Jezebel's. There are two checkpoints on the way that Nick dutifully calls out (his voice is so hot). The Commander takes her out of the car and shows her in. Inside are women acting as prostitutes, serving high-ranking men. Across the room June sees Moira.

The women meet in the washroom. Later June goes back out to meet the Commander and the Commander takes her to the elevators where they enter upstairs into a private room. Nick eyes them anxiously while they are at the elevators. Like he knows what will happen. Nick gives illegal goods to a woman working in the back. It includes drugs and pregnancy tests. She goes in to kiss him but he says not tonight.

The Commander runs his fingers along June's arm and says they can do whatever tonight together and not worry about the noise. They have sex and June gets up while he is sleeping to meet Moira.

Moira is at her bed in the bedroom where there are dozens of beds and girls lined up. Moira was captured while escaping to Canada and told to go to either the place where they clean up toxic waste or to Jezebel's. Her outfit was government issued. She is forced to be a prostitute.