document_title: John Winchester (Supernatural)

question_text: what happened to sam and dean's dad

question_tokens: what happened to sam and dean 's dad

text: John Winchester (Supernatural)

text: Plot[edit]

text: The father of series protagonists Sam and Dean Winchester, John Winchester first appears in the pilot episode of the series, but plot devices such as flashbacks and time travel detail his background in later seasons. Apparently abandoned by his father at a young age—his father actually died while serving a secret order known as the Men of Letters—John Winchester grew up hating the man.[3] John left high school to join the Marine Corps, eventually attaining the rank of corporal and receiving many medals for his service in Vietnam. After leaving the service, he found a job as a mechanic, and fell in love with Mary Campbell.[4]

text: In the fourth season episode "In the Beginning," Dean is sent back through time by the angel Castiel. Dean meets his parents' former selves, and ends up convincing John to buy the 67 Chevy Impala that he eventually inherits. Dean later watches John being killed by Azazel, though the demon then resurrects him in exchange for Mary's permission to enter her house in ten years.[5] When the angel Anna Milton travels back in time in the fifth season episode "The Song Remains the Same" to prevent the births of Sam and Dean, John agrees to serve as a temporary vessel for the archangel Michael to stop her. Michael subsequently kills Anna and erases John and Mary's memories of the incident.[6]

text: Azazel later uses his pact with Mary to enter their home in the pilot episode, and ultimately kills her.[7] The second season episode "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part One" reveals that she had witnessed the demon secretly feeding his blood to Sam.[8] John investigated the incident and learned of the existence of the supernatural. His desire to find and kill Azazel led him to become a hunter of supernatural creatures.[7] He took his sons with him during his travels, but often left them alone in motels for long periods of time during his hunts,[9][10] leaving Dean with instructions to "shoot first and ask questions later" while watching over Sam.[9]

text: As revealed in the fourth season episode "Jump the Shark," John slept with a woman he met while away on a hunt. Learning over a decade later that he had fathered her son Adam, John made occasional visits over the years to partake in father-son activities with him. He hid the truth from Adam to protect him, and never revealed to him the existence of Sam and Dean, nor vice versa.[11] Meanwhile, John trained Sam and Dean to become hunters. However, Sam later left this life to start anew in college, leading to a fallout between John and his son.[7]

text: Twenty-two years after Mary's death, John disappears while on a hunt, forcing Sam and Dean to reunite in an unsuccessful attempt to find him. Sam returns to the life of a hunter after Azazel kills his girlfriend.[7] John reluctantly chooses to avoid his sons throughout most of the season while he investigates something,[12] eventually reuniting with them in the episode "Shadow." However, the demonic Meg Masters attacks them and reveals that Azazel is after John. After escaping from Meg, the brothers split up from their father to keep him from the demons.[13] When vampires murder his old mentor and steal the Colt—a mystical gun capable of killing anything—John teams up with Sam and Dean in "Dead Man's Blood" to retrieve it. Because demons cannot be killed by conventional means, they hope that the Colt will be effective against Azazel.[14] In response, Meg begins killing the Winchesters' friends in "Salvation," and threatens to kill more unless they deliver the Colt. John is captured after trying to give her a fake gun,[15] and reveals himself to be possessed by Azazel when the brothers come to his rescue in the first season finale "Devil's Trap." However, he manages to resist the demon's control. Despite John's pleas for Sam to shoot him with the Colt, Sam cannot bring himself to do so and allows Azazel to escape. As the Winchesters flee in Dean's Impala, a demonically-possessed trucker crashes into them.[16]

text: In the second season premiere, "In My Time of Dying," Sam and John awake in the hospital with only minor injuries, but a dying Dean is comatose. John secretly summons Azazel, and seems to know what the demon's plans are. He then makes a deal to save Dean, giving up his life, soul, and the Colt.[17] Before dying, John instructs Dean to kill Sam should he become evil.[18][19] The fourth season episode "On the Head of a Pin" reveals that the demon Alastair tortured John in Hell for over a century, with John refusing the demon's offer to stop if he himself would torture someone else.[20] His soul escapes from Hell in the second season finale "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part 2" when a gateway to Hell is opened. He saves Dean from Azazel, and distracts the demon by temporarily forcing him out of his host, long enough for Dean to kill Azazel with the Colt when he returns to his usual body. John then gives Sam and Dean a loving smile before becoming engulfed in a white light.[19] However, the fifth season episode "Dark Side of the Moon" suggests that he might not be in Heaven.[21]

text: Characterization[edit]

text: Actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan deemed John a "tormented soul," [22] motivated by an "equal combination of revenge and protecting his sons." [23] Following the death of their mother, Sam and Dean became secondary to John's quest of killing the demon responsible, although Morgan believed that this aspect changed once John began spending more time with them again.[23] Though he thought that John was not the world's best dad and "definitely made a lot of mistakes," the actor noted that "he did things, even when they were wrong, for the good of his sons." [22] John Kubicek of BuddyTV felt that this reasoning extended to John's decision to hide the truth from Adam to protect him. Kubicek also suggested that John became involved in Adam's life to achieve "some level of normalcy" as a father, an opportunity he had previously lost following the death of Sam and Dean's mother.[24] Overall, Morgan felt that John "loved those kids more than he loved his own life," with the character's demonic pact with Azazel serving as "his way of finding redemption." [25]

text: Regarding his portrayal of the character, Morgan commented, "I played him with extra angst. I think what was on the page, what I foresaw—not knowing where it was going, because no one would ever tell me anything—there was always a lot more going on in his head than he was going to show anybody, including his sons. Because, indeed, there was a lot more going on."[22] Kripke later confirmed this, stating, "It's our view that John knew everything the producers of the show know. John knew stuff we're not even ready to reveal, that won't come out for a couple of seasons. He was an awesome hunter, and by the time he showed up in 'Dead Man's Blood', he knew it all."[26]

text: Development[edit]

text: In writing the pilot episode, series creator Eric Kripke made several dramatic revisions to John's storyline. The first draft of the script had Sam and Dean being raised by their aunt and uncle, though this was changed when Kripke realized that the backstory became much less complicated by having John raise them on the road. Another revision had John dying at the end of the episode instead of Sam's girlfriend Jessica.[27] Though he survives in the final version of the pilot, the writers decided halfway through production of the first season that John did have to die,[28] as they believed his separation from his sons "split the show" by having him away "doing more interesting things than the boys are doing."[29] Kripke also felt that John kept Sam and Dean away from the "front lines", his death being required to allow the brothers to "explore, investigate and confront the yellow-eyed demon directly." The writers initially intended for John to die in the car accident in "Devil's Trap," but they ultimately postponed his death to prevent the finale from becoming too dark.[30] Following the character's eventual escape from Hell, executive producer Ben Edlund stated that even the writers are unsure of where John's soul ended up.[31]

text: Evil Dead-actor Bruce Campbell was Kripke's first choice to portray the character. However, Campbell was unavailable,[32] and Jeffrey Dean Morgan eventually received the role. Due to the fact that Morgan's scene in the pilot episode takes place 22 years before the series, Morgan expected to be replaced by an older actor for subsequent episodes.[22] Being only 12 years older than Jensen Ackles, who portrays the eldest son Dean,[33] Morgan was surprised when he was asked to reprise the role.[22] Ackles and Jared Padalecki often teased him about the age difference during filming.[34] Throughout the season, Morgan became frustrated at times due to his character's avoidance of his sons, stating, "It pissed off everybody, it pissed off us as actors, it pissed off the audience watching, because none of us really knew where we were gonna go." However, he reasoned that John's motivation for his actions was due to having knowledge that nobody else had.[23]

text: During production of Supernatural's first season, Morgan was also working on the shows Weeds and Grey's Anatomy, so he was often traveling back and forth between Los Angeles and Vancouver. This interfered at times with Morgan's acting, as he had trouble getting "Winchester-y enough" after portraying the nice character of Denny Duquette on Grey's Anatomy.[33] Morgan commented, "I was stuck in Denny-land, where I was being too nice. Winchester's harder to find. Denny's more me. He's an intense guy, John is. And Denny, for a guy who's having trouble living, he's just a charming dude."[33] Morgan was at first reluctant to return for Supernatural's second season due to his role on Grey's Anatomy.[35] Although he lent his voice for the third season episode "Long-Distance Call," [36] future appearances of Morgan as the character after the second season have been hindered due to the actor's busy schedule. Nevertheless, both Kripke and writer Sera Gamble have stated that they "would love to have him back."[36][37] The scheduling conflict has continued into the sixth season of Supernatural, with executive producer Robert Singer revealing that the writers had considered bringing the character back in the alternate reality episode "My Heart Will Go On" instead of Ellen Harvelle, but due to concerns that they would not be able to secure Morgan's return, they ultimately chose Ellen for the deceased character they would have (temporarily) return in the episode.[38] During the production of the fifth season, Morgan had an interview with MovieWeb in which he stated that no one from the show had contacted him about making another appearance, and expressed the desire to return for at least one more episode in what was then-believed to be the show's final season, as he had enjoying working with on-screen sons Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki and he felt that John's storyline had ended too soon.[39]

text: Reception[edit]

text: While critics praised Morgan for his performance in the role, their reaction to the character has generally been mixed. Don Williams of BuddyTV felt that John is a "rather divisive character", with some fans not understanding John's motivation for keeping his sons in the dark. However, Williams himself found the character to be "completely fascinating". He chose "In My Time of Dying" as the second best episode of the series, mainly because of John's contributions, stating, "Even if you're not a huge fan of Poppa Winchester, I think it's impossible not to be moved by the final ten minutes of this episode... John's final speech to Dean, where he finally tells his son that he's proud of him, is one hell of a tear-jerker, and both Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Jensen Ackles knock that scene out of the park."[40] Williams praised Matt Cohen's performance of a younger version of the character in the time-travel episode "In the Beginning", believing that he "did an excellent job at portraying a more innocent John Winchester than we've ever seen before".[41]

text: Diana Steenbergen of IGN also criticized John for his lack of explanation, feeling that "it is not exactly easy to watch John treat Dean and Sam so dismissively, especially after they have been nearly killing themselves all season to find him".[42] However, Steenbergen praised Morgan for his acting, writing, "Even though he is used sparingly throughout the series, Jeffrey Dean Morgan is always effective as John."[43] She also felt that he brought "emotional weight" to the character, allowing the audience to "feel John's weariness, and his resignation that things will most likely not go well".[44] While Brian Tallerico of UGO enjoyed Morgan's performance, he was happy that the character was killed off because John's presence made Sam and Dean into "followers" that were "merely existing in the wake of their father". With their father gone, the brothers are no longer prevented from "heading up the battle with the other side".[45]


document_title: The Red Wheelbarrow

question_text: what is the meaning of a red wheelbarrow

root

text: The Red Wheelbarrow

text: Writing and publication[edit]

text:
XXIIfrom Spring and All (1923)[1]

So much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens.

tag: div

text: The pictorial style in which the poem is written owes much to the photographs of Alfred Stieglitz and the precisionist style of Charles Sheeler, an American photographer-painter whom Williams met shortly before composing the poem.[2]  The poem represents an early stage in Williams' development as a poet.  It focuses on the objective representation of objects, in line with the Imagist philosophy that was ten years old at the time of the poem's publication. The poem is written in a brief, haiku-like free-verse form.[3] With regard to the inspiration for the poem, Williams wrote:

tag: p

text: ["The Red Wheelbarrow"] sprang from affection for an old Negro named Marshall. He had been a fisherman, caught porgies off Gloucester. He used to tell me how he had to work in the cold in freezing weather, standing ankle deep in cracked ice packing down the fish. He said he didn’t feel cold. He never felt cold in his life until just recently. I liked that man, and his son Milton almost as much. In his back yard I saw the red wheelbarrow surrounded by the white chickens. I suppose my affection for the old man somehow got into the writing.[4]

text: In 2015, research identified the man who had inspired the work as Thaddeus Lloyd Marshall Sr., who lived a few blocks away from Williams in Rutherford, New Jersey and is buried in Ridgelawn Cemetery in neighboring Clifton.[5]

text: When the poem was originally published in Spring and All,  it was simply titled "XXII", denoting the poem's order within the book.  Referring to the poem as "The Red Wheelbarrow" has been frowned upon by some critics, including Neil Easterbrook, who said that such reference gives the text "a specifically different frame" from that which Williams originally intended.[6]

text: Prior to the revelation about Mr. Marshall, some critics and literary analysts believed that the poem was written about one of Williams' patients, a little girl who was seriously ill:

text: This poem is reported to have been inspired by a scene in Passaic, New Jersey, where Williams was attending to a sick young girl. Worried that his patient may not survive, Williams looked out the window and saw the wheelbarrow and chickens.[7]

text: At the time, I remember being mystified by the poem. However, being properly trained in literary criticism, I wondered what the real meaning of the poem was, what it was really about. ... What is left out of Williams' poem is the fact that when he conceived that image he was sitting at the bedside of a very sick child (Williams was a medical doctor). The story goes that as he sat there, deeply concerned about the child, he looked out the window, saw that image, and penned those words.[8]

text: I remember well the sneer associated with sentimentality in the university English classes of the early 70s. William Carlos Williams' celebrated red wheelbarrow poem was written after a night at the bedside of a desperately sick child, but to directly mention the child and describe that situation would have been to court pathos. Such a poem would have been fit only for greeting cards or the poor souls who didn't know any better than to like Robert Service.[9]

text: Of course you can't figure it out by studying the text. The clues aren't there. This poem was meant to be appreciated only by a chosen literary elite, only by those who were educated, those who had learned the back story (Williams was a doctor, and he wrote the poem one morning after having treated a child who was near death. The red wheelbarrow was her toy.) [10]

text: Critical reception[edit]

text: The poet John Hollander cited "The Red Wheelbarrow" as a good example of enjambment to slow down the reader, creating a "meditative" poem.[11]

text: The editors of Exploring Poetry believe that the meaning of the poem and its form are intimately bound together. They state that "since the poem is composed of one sentence broken up at various intervals, it is truthful to say that 'so much depends upon' each line of the poem. This is so because the form of the poem is also its meaning."[12] This viewpoint is also argued by Henry M. Sayre who compared the poem to the readymade artwork of Marcel Duchamp.[13]

text: Peter Baker analyzed the poem in terms of theme, writing that "Williams is saying that perception is necessary to life and that the poem itself can lead to a fuller understanding of one's experience."[14]

text: Kenneth Lincoln saw humor in the poem, writing "perhaps it adds up to no more than a small comic lesson in the necessity of things in themselves."[15]

text: In popular culture[edit]

text:
The poem is referenced in Mr. Robot in season 2 finale "eps2.9_pyth0n-pt2.p7z", and also the sixth episode of season 3 "eps3.5_kill-process.inc" . In season 2 finale, the character Tyrell Wellick (Martin Wallström) recites it to protagonist Elliot Alderson (Rami Malek), explaining that it was the only English that Wellick's father knew.
This poem becomes a significant plot point in the second season of the podcast The Black Tapes. It is left as a message for Dr. Richard Strand by his missing wife Coralee.
In the television show Homeland Season 3 Episode 8, Carrie receives a text message that says "So much depends upon..." she replies, "a red wheel barrow."
Briefly referenced in the Jay Asher novel 13 Reasons why
Mentioned in the Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. In a chapter narrated by Adah.  Just like the poet, who was sitting at the deathbed of a child, so the reader is aware that one of the children is going to die.
In the "Rhyme for your Life" episode of Arthur, Binky is thrown into prison for not being able to speak in rhymes. His cellmate is William Carlos Williams, and together they escape using a red wheel barrow and a tunnel he had dug.
Mentioned in "The Fault in Our Stars" a novel by John Green and in the movie adaptation of the same name.
In the television show The Office (US) Season 8 Episode 4, Dunder Mifflin CEO Robert California recites it.

tag: ul


document_title: The Handmaid's Tale (TV series)

question_text: what is the most current episode of handmaids tale

text: The Handmaid's Tale (TV series)

text: Plot[edit]

text: In the near future, fertility rates collapse as a result of sexually transmitted diseases and environmental pollution.[5] With this chaos, the totalitarian, theonomic government of "Gilead" establishes rule in the former United States in the aftermath of a civil war.[6][7][8] Society is organized by power-hungry leaders along with a new, militarized, hierarchical regime of fanaticism and newly created social classes, in which women are brutally subjugated, and by law are not allowed to work, own property, handle money, or read.[8]

text: Worldwide infertility has resulted in the conscription of the few remaining fertile women in Gilead, called "Handmaids", according to an extremist interpretation of the Biblical account of Bilhah.[8] They are assigned to the homes of the ruling elite, where they must submit to ritualized rape by their male masters in order to become pregnant and bear children for those men and their wives.

text: Alongside the Handmaids, much of society is now grouped into classes that dictate their freedoms and duties. Women are divided into a small range of social categories, each one signified by a plain dress in a specific color: Handmaids wear red, Marthas (who are housekeepers and cooks, named after the biblical figure) wear green, and Wives (who are expected to run their households) wear blue and turquoise.

text: Econowives, the lower-class women who still have minimal agency, are a sort of mixture of all these categories, and they wear gray (a departure from the book in which Econowives wear clothing striped with the aforementioned colors). Women prisoners are called Unwomen and are worked to death clearing toxic waste in the Colonies.

text: Another class of women, Aunts (who train and oversee the Handmaids), wear brown. Additionally, the Eyes are a secret police watching over the general populace for signs of rebellion, Hunters track down people attempting to flee the country, and Jezebels are prostitutes in secret brothels catering to the elite ruling class.

text: June Osborne, renamed Offred (Elisabeth Moss), is the Handmaid assigned to the home of the Gileadan Commander Fred Waterford (Joseph Fiennes) and his wife Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski). Offred is subject to strict rules and constant scrutiny; an improper word or deed on her part can lead to brutal punishment.

text: Offred, who is named after her male master ("Of Fred") like all Handmaids, was married and had a daughter, a job, a bank account, and her own name and identity in the "time before", but all she can safely do now is follow the rules of Gilead in hopes that she can someday live free again and be reunited with her daughter. The Waterfords, key players in the rise of Gilead, have their own conflicts with the realities of the society they have helped create.

text: Cast and characters[edit]

text: Main[edit]

text:
Elisabeth Moss as June Osborne / Offred, a woman who was captured while attempting to escape to Canada with her husband, Luke, and daughter, Hannah. Due to her fertility, she is made a Handmaid to Commander Fred Waterford and his wife, Serena Joy, and is named "Offred".
Joseph Fiennes as Commander Fred Waterford, a high-ranking government official and June's master. Both he and his wife played an instrumental role in Gilead's founding. He wishes to have more contact with June outside of what is lawful between a Handmaid and her master, and starts inviting her to play nightly games of Scrabble.
Yvonne Strahovski as Serena Joy Waterford, Fred's wife and a former conservative cultural activist. She appears to have accepted her new role in a society that she helped create. She is poised and deeply religious, but capable of great cruelty and is often callous to June. She is desperate to become a mother.
Alexis Bledel as Emily / Ofglen / Ofsteven, June's shopping partner. Although June is initially wary of her, it is revealed Ofglen is not as pious as she seems, and the two become friends. Ofglen had a wife and son, and was a university lecturer in cellular biology. Being homosexual is punishable by death in Gilead, and most university professors are sent to labour camps, but Ofglen was spared and made a Handmaid, due to her fertility. She is later captured and cruelly punished for her relationship with a Martha, and is sent to another household where she becomes "Ofsteven". She is involved with a resistance movement called "Mayday".
Madeline Brewer as Janine / Ofwarren / Ofdaniel, a Handmaid who entered the Red Center for training at the same time as June and considers June a friend due to her kind treatment. Initially non-compliant, Janine's right eye is removed as a punishment. She becomes mentally unstable due to her treatment and often behaves in temperamental or childlike ways. She gives birth to a child for Warren and Naomi Putnam, whom they name "Angela", but Janine insists the baby's name is "Charlotte". Janine is later reassigned and becomes "Ofdaniel".  She was temporarily assigned to the Colonies until a bombing at the new Rachel and Leah Center.
Ann Dowd as Aunt Lydia, a woman in charge of overseeing the Handmaids in their sexual reeducation and duties. She is brutal and subjects insubordinate Handmaids to harsh physical punishment, but she also cares for her charges and believes deeply in the Gileadean mission and doctrine. She appears to have a soft spot for Janine, and even goes so far as to address her by her given name on occasion.
O. T. Fagbenle as Lucas "Luke" Bankole, June's husband from before Gilead. Because he and June began their relationship before his divorce from his first wife, their union is considered invalid in the new society. June is considered an adulteress and their daughter, Hannah, is considered illegitimate. Initially, June believes he has been killed, but it is later revealed Luke managed to escape to Canada.
Max Minghella as Nick Blaine, Commander Waterford's driver and a former drifter from Michigan who has feelings for June. June and Nick develop an intimate relationship and she eventually discovers that he is an Eye, a spy for Gilead.
Samira Wiley as Moira / Ruby, June's best friend since college. She is already at the Red Center when June enters Handmaid training but escapes before being assigned to a home. She is recaptured and becomes "Ruby", a Jezebel. She seems to have given up hope of ever being free, but on meeting June again regains the conviction to escape.
Amanda Brugel as Rita, a Martha at the Waterford home. She had a son who died fighting in the civil war when he was 19 years old.[9]

text: Recurring[edit]

text:
Ever Carradine as Naomi Putnam, Commander Warren Putnam's wife.
Tattiawna Jones as Lillie Fuller / Ofglen No. 2, who replaces Emily in the position after Emily is captured by the Eyes. She initially follows the rules and does not wish to upset the status quo, but this is because she believes her life as a Handmaid is better than the difficult, impoverished life she led prior to Gilead, rather than out of religious piety.
Nina Kiri as Alma / Ofrobert, another Handmaid who trained at the Red Center with June, Moira, and Janine. She is frank and chatty, and often trades gossip and news with June. She is also involved with Mayday and becomes June's first contact with the resistance group.
Jenessa Grant as Dolores / Ofsamuel, a local Handmaid with a friendly and talkative nature.
Bahia Watson as Brianna / Oferic, another local Handmaid who is friends with June.
Jordana Blake as Hannah Bankole, June and Luke's daughter. She is later renamed Agnes.
Erin Way as Erin, a young, apparently mute, woman who was being trained to become a Handmaid but managed to escape to Canada.[10]
Sydney Sweeney as Eden Spencer (season 2), a pious and obedient girl who was Nick's wife.[11]
Bradley Whitford as Commander Joseph Lawrence (season 2), the founder of the Colonies.[12]
Greg Bryk as Commander Ray Cushing (season 2)
Rohan Mead as Isaac (season 2), a Guardian assigned to the Waterford home.
Julie Dretzin as Eleanor Lawrence (season 2), Joseph's wife.

text: Guest[edit]

text:
Kristen Gutoskie as Beth (season 1), a Martha at Jezebel's. She has an arrangement with Nick whereby she trades illegal alcohol and other contraband for drugs, which the Jezebels use. She has a casual sexual relationship with him and is aware that he is an Eye.
Marisa Tomei as Mrs. O'Conner (season 2), a Commander's wife who is sent to the colonies as punishment for having sex with another man.[13]
Cherry Jones as Holly Maddox (season 2), June's mother, an outspoken feminist.[14]
Clea DuVall as Sylvia (season 2), Emily's wife.[15]
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Omar (season 2) a man who helps June attempt to escape.
John Carroll Lynch as Dan (season 2), Emily's boss at the university where she worked.
Kelly Jenrette as Annie (season 2), Luke's ex-wife.
Rebecca Rittenhouse as Odette (season 2), a Doctor and Moira's fiancée.
Sam Jaeger as Mark Tuello (season 2), a mysterious stranger who Serena encounters in Canada.
Oprah Winfrey (uncredited) as Newsreader (season 2) on a car radio.[16]

text: Episodes[edit]

text: Series overview[edit]

text: SeasonEpisodesOriginally releasedFirst releasedLast released110April 26, 2017 (2017-04-26)June 14, 2017 (2017-06-14)213April 25, 2018 (2018-04-25)July 11, 2018 (2018-07-11)

tag: table

text: Season 1 (2017)[edit]

text:
No.overallNo. inseasonTitleDirected byTeleplay byOriginal release date11"Offred"Reed MoranoBruce MillerApril 26, 2017 (2017-04-26)
A family is pursued by a group of armed men. The woman is caught, and separated from her young daughter and husband as shots are fired in the distance. She is now known as Offred, the Handmaid to Commander Fred Waterford. While walking with another Handmaid, Ofglen, they pass by a wall on which men have been hanged for crimes such as being gay, working in an abortion clinic, and being a Catholic priest.[17] In a flashback, various women are indoctrinated into their Handmaid roles by Aunt Lydia, and Offred notices Moira, a woman she knew in college. Handmaid Janine taunts Aunt Lydia and is shocked with a cattle prod, later her right eye is removed as punishment. In the present, Commander Waterford tries to impregnate Offred during "the Ceremony" as she lies in the lap of his wife, Serena Joy. The next day, the Handmaids are encouraged to beat a man to death after Lydia announces he raped a pregnant Handmaid. Janine tells Offred that her friend Moira is dead. On the way home, Ofglen tells Offred that she had a wife and son, and warns her there is an Eye in the Waterford house. Offred affirms to herself that her true name is June and that she intends to survive to find her daughter.
22"Birth Day"Reed MoranoBruce MillerApril 26, 2017 (2017-04-26)
Offred and Ofglen go shopping, and they reveal more personal information about themselves to each other. While they are walking, they see St. Paul Catholic Church, their local church, being destroyed by the new régime.[18][17] Ofglen tells Offred that the régime also bulldozed St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan to try to "erase" the fact that it ever existed. When Offred asks how Ofglen knows this information, she reveals that she is part of a resistance movement against the government, but Offred declines to join.[19] Commander Waterford's driver, Nick, tells Offred that the Commander wants to see her alone later that night, which is forbidden, and warns her that Ofglen is dangerous. Offred and other Handmaids visit a home to witness the birth of Ofwarren (Janine)'s child, named Angela by the Puttnams, but Charlotte by Ofwarren. In flashbacks, June (Offred) remembers the birth of her and Luke's daughter, Hannah. At that time healthy births were already rare, and a woman who tried to kidnap baby Hannah was arrested. Warily, Offred goes to the Commander's office, but he just wants to play Scrabble, to her relief. The next day, when Offred prepares to tell Ofglen what happened that night, a different woman introduces herself as Ofglen.
33"Late"Reed MoranoBruce MillerApril 26, 2017 (2017-04-26)
In flashbacks, the rise of Gilead is detailed. June and all the other women at her office were fired, and the government froze women's bank accounts and ruled they could no longer own property. In the present, Serena takes Offred to see Ofwarren and the baby, and Offred fears Ofwarren is delusional. Back home, Offred is interrogated by an Eye and Aunt Lydia about her knowledge of Ofglen. Offred eventually reveals she knew Ofglen was gay and for this, Aunt Lydia shocks Offred with a cattle prod. Before she can leave the room, Offred quotes one of the Beatitudes from the Bible, which would have earned her a much more serious beating, but Serena intervenes, believing that Offred is pregnant. When Offred later tells Serena that she's not pregnant, Serena angrily locks her in her room. In a flashback, June and Moira attend a protest against the new laws amidst automatic gunfire and explosives. In the present, Ofglen and the Martha she's in a relationship with are charged with "gender treachery". The fertile Ofglen receives a lesser sentence, but the Martha is executed by hanging as Ofglen watches, sobbing and horrified. Later, Ofglen (now referred to by her "old" name, Emily), to her grief and anger, undergoes female genital mutilation surgery as explained by Aunt Lydia.
44"Nolite Te Bastardes Carborundorum"Mike BarkerLeila GersteinMay 3, 2017 (2017-05-03)
Banished to her room, Offred retreats to her closet where she finds what appears to be a Latin phrase, Nolite Te Bastardes Carborundorum, scratched discreetly into the wall. When Rita, the Commander's housekeeper, finds Offred lying on the closet floor, Offred tells her that she fainted. Serena then has Offred sent to the hospital for a check-up. During the examination the physician remarks that the Commander is most likely sterile, as is common. He offers to personally impregnate her but she declines. In flashbacks, Aunt Lydia teaches the Handmaids about The Ceremony in which a Commander endeavours to fertilize a Handmaid. Later, June and Moira assault Aunt Elizabeth, and Moira takes Elizabeth's outfit. June and Moira plan to escape via train to Boston, which has safe houses. Moira manages to catch the train without June, who lets Moira know it's okay. June is later caught and punished by having her feet whipped. Commander Waterford has an unsuccessful Ceremony night with Offred, but later that night, they have another game of Scrabble. She asks him about the Latin phrase, and he tells her it means, Don't let the bastards grind you down. When she inquires about the previous Offred, he tells her that she committed suicide because life was unbearable. He then releases Offred from her solitary confinement.
55"Faithful"Mike BarkerDorothy FortenberryMay 10, 2017 (2017-05-10)
Serena suggests to Offred that she have sex with Nick in case Commander Waterford is sterile. Later that day, Serena leads Offred up to Nick's room and waits by the door while Offred and Nick have detached sex. Flashbacks detail Luke and June's first meeting and courtship. At the grocery store, Offred talks to the original Ofglen, now called Ofsteven, but Ofsteven is not as responsive as she used to be. During a Ceremony night, the Commander touches Offred's thigh, which she later tells him never to do again. In their ensuing conversation, the Commander admits that while they thought they were building a better world, they knew that "better never means better for everyone." Nick reveals to Offred that he is indeed an Eye. At an open-air market, Offred questions Ofsteven about the resistance group called Mayday. Ofsteven jumps behind the steering wheel of a security car and drives erratically around the plaza. She hits a guard, and is caught and put into a black van. Offred returns to Nick's coach house alone, and they have passionate sex.
66"A Woman's Place"Floria SigismondiWendy Straker HauserMay 17, 2017 (2017-05-17)
Mexican trade delegates visit the Commander's home to evaluate the effects of the Gilead cultural movement. The female head of the delegation questions Offred about her experience, but she lies, saying that she is happy. Offred visits the Commander's office later, but there is tension. She reluctantly obeys his demand to kiss him, but ferociously brushes her teeth afterward. The Handmaids and children are then taken to a function to demonstrate Gilead's success. Offred's friend remarks that the delegates are only interested in fertile women. The next day, as the delegates are leaving, Offred tells them the brutal truth about Gilead. She pleads for their help, but in response, the Mexican ambassador explains her own country's dire situation. However, the ambassador's assistant quietly claims June's husband is alive and that he can deliver a message to Luke. A flashback details Serena and Fred's life at the beginnings of the Gilead movement when Serena was a conservative cultural activist with passion and intelligence equal to her husband's. Serena Joy wrote a book about her beliefs, titled A Woman's Place. However, after the takeover, she is completely shut out of the new government planning and accepts her new limited role in the society she helped create. A copy of her book is seen being thrown out with the trash.
77"The Other Side"Floria SigismondiLynn Renee MaxcyMay 24, 2017 (2017-05-24)
A flashback chronicles Luke's story after he becomes separated from his wife and daughter. Luke is shot by Gileadan guards, but he escapes when the ambulance crashes, and he takes some medical supplies. He reaches a small abandoned town and, after passing out from his wounds, is rescued by a resistance group traveling to Canada. These survivors included a Roman Catholic nun, a seemingly mute escaped Handmaid, a homosexual man, and a daughter of a US Army soldier.[20] Initially reluctant, Luke joins them after one of the survivors, Zoe, shows him that Gileadan authorities hanged townspeople from the rafters of their church for resisting.[21][22] As they board a boat, Gileadan guards open fire, killing several members of the group, but Luke and Erin, the escaped Handmaid, survive. A further flashback shows Luke, June, and their daughter Hannah before they were separated. June and Luke are helped by Mr. Whitford, a man who knew June's mother. He leaves them at a secluded cabin in the woods while he arranges documentation for them to escape to Canada. Later, a local hunter tells them Whitford has been caught and hanged, but the hunter helps them cross the border. Three years later, in the present, Luke and Erin live safely in "Little America", based in Toronto, Ontario. While in the main administrative office, Luke receives the letter from June, which reads "I love you so much. Save Hannah."
88"Jezebels"Kate DennisKira SnyderMay 31, 2017 (2017-05-31)
Commander Waterford gifts Offred with makeup and a dress as he is taking her out for the night. Nick drives them to Boston to an underground brothel, where prostitutes (known as "Jezebels") work. Offred spots Moira working in the club, and they briefly reunite. Nick trades drugs and pregnancy tests for alcohol with one of the brothel's Marthas. Offred goes to see Moira again, and she explains to Offred how Quakers tried to help her escape but were caught.[23][24] Moira had the choice of being sent either to the colonies or one of the brothels.[24] Moira tells Offred, "Forget about escaping. This is Gilead. No one gets out." Offred reveals to Moira that she knows Luke is alive. Flashbacks detail how Nick got involved with the Gilead movement and how he became an Eye after reporting a Commander for breaking protocol with his Handmaids. There are other flashbacks to the suicide of the previous Offred, with Serena pointedly saying to her husband, "What did you think was going to happen?" In the present, after Nick drives Waterford and Offred home, he ends his relationship with Offred, which upsets and angers her. Offred receives a gift from Serena, a music box. The episode closes with Offred etching "You are not alone" into the closet wall.
99"The Bridge"Kate DennisEric TuchmanJune 7, 2017 (2017-06-07)
Ofwarren's daughter is handed over to Commander Putnam and his wife, and Ofwarren is transferred to another couple and renamed Ofdaniel. However, Offred is worried about Ofwarren/Ofdaniel's mental state. During the first Ceremony night with her new Commander, Ofdaniel forcefully stops it. At the market, Alma pulls Offred aside, tells her that she is involved with the resistance group Mayday, and requests that Offred retrieve a package from the bar at Jezebel's. Offred convinces Waterford to take her to Jezebel's again that night. After Offred and Waterford have sex in their room, Waterford presents Moira, as he believes they have a sexual attraction. Offred asks Moira to retrieve the package, but she refuses, seemingly resigned to her fate. The next day Offred is taken to a bridge where Ofdaniel is standing on the edge with baby Charlotte, while Gileadan guards, the Putnams, the Waterfords, and Aunt Lydia stand fearfully by. Ofdaniel shouts that Commander Putnam promised to leave his wife for her. Offred convinces Ofdaniel to give her the child, and Ofdaniel then jumps into the icy water below. Later, while Ofdaniel lies comatose in hospital, Commander Putnam is led away by guards. When Serena Joy tries to offer comfort to Mrs. Putnam, she reminds Serena of the first Offred's fate, causing Serena to doubt her husband's loyalty. At the market, Offred is given a package by the butcher, sent by Moira from Jezebel's. At the brothel, Moira kills a client and takes his clothes, then jubilantly drives off in his car.
1010"Night"Kari SkoglandBruce MillerJune 14, 2017 (2017-06-14)
A flashback shows June's capture and indoctrination by Aunt Lydia at the Red Center.  After Serena discovers Fred's trips to Jezebel's, she slaps Offred hard and forces her to take a pregnancy test. It is positive. Serena then angrily accuses her husband, telling him the child is not his. Upon learning the news, Nick shares a brief, tender moment with Offred. Serena takes Offred to where Hannah now lives, but Offred is kept in the car, and unable to attract her daughter's attention. Serena warns Offred that Hannah will be cared for as long as the unborn child is safe. Fred participates in Commander Putnam's trial advocating leniency, but Mrs. Putnam wants the harshest punishment possible, and ultimately Putnam's left arm is amputated at the elbow. The package from Jezebel's contains letters from women who have lost family members and been enslaved in the Gilead takeover. Later, an emotional Aunt Lydia gathers the Handmaids for the execution of Janine/Ofdaniel. The Handmaids hesitate, and Ofglen No. 2 is brutally beaten when she voices her angry refusal. Offred, then the other Handmaids, drop their stones. One of the guards threatens to kill Offred, but Aunt Lydia saves her, although assuring the handmaids that there will be consequences. Not long afterward, a black van comes for Offred. Nick urges her to trust him and go with them.  Offred's transfer is unusual, as neither of the Waterfords have any idea this would be happening.  As Offred leaves, she whispers to Rita where to find the hidden letters. In a side story, Moira reaches Canada and is reunited with Luke.

text: Season 2 (2018)[edit]

text:
No.overallNo. inseasonTitleDirected byTeleplay byOriginal release date111"June"Mike BarkerBruce MillerApril 25, 2018 (2018-04-25)
Offred and other handmaids are taken to a dilapidated Fenway Park, where they are made to believe they will be hanged, but it turns out to be a ruse to frighten them. During another punishment, Offred is freed after Aunt Lydia is told of her pregnancy. When she rejects a meal Aunt Lydia gives her, she is shown a pregnant handmaid, Ofwyatt, chained in a prison room due to her attempt to kill herself by drinking drain cleaner. Offred agrees to eat, and during her meal Aunt Lydia, who had told her that her friends would be punished for their disobedience, but her pregnancy would mean that she would be exempted, brings the other handmaids into the room. One by one they each have a hand burned over an open gas flame.  Later, Offred is at a pregnancy check-up, where she is visited by Fred and Serena, but afterwards finds a key in one of her boots, which she uses to escape to a van parked underneath the hospital. The van drops her off to a safe house in Back Bay, where she meets Nick, while Fred authorizes a highly resourced search for her. He tells her to change out of her handmaid outfit, and to cut her hair. After stripping off her handmaid's dress, she burns it before cutting the red cattle tag out of her ear. In flashbacks throughout the episode, Hannah is admitted to the hospital for having a fever while in school; June is questioned by one of the hospital workers about giving Hannah medication to bypass the school's fever policy, as well as about June and Luke's fitness as parents. Later, they arrive home to a news story about the Capitol Building and the White House being attacked.
122"Unwomen"Mike BarkerBruce MillerApril 25, 2018 (2018-04-25)
June has been transported to the abandoned former headquarters of The Boston Globe, another safe place arranged by Mayday.[25] Emily has been taken to the Colonies, where disobedient and lower-class infertile women ("unwomen") are forced to dig on highly toxic land.[26] Many of the unwomen are becoming sick, and Emily is doing what she can to help them. A commander's wife arrives at the Colonies and is not welcomed by the unwomen: Emily befriends her and finds that she was sent to the colonies for committing a "sin of the flesh." Emily holds her in contempt for "holding a woman down while her husband rapes her". She feigns giving her pills for her ailments that are in truth poison, which leads to her death. [25] The unwomen are warned that there will be consequences for this death. Janine arrives at the Colonies, where she is briefly greeted by Emily. June is visited by Nick at the Globe and gets upset when he tells her she needs to wait for several weeks before she can leave because everyone is looking for her. Nick ends up giving her the keys to a car and a gun but she decides to stay, and they have sex. In a flashback, after the attack on the Capitol Building and the White House, Emily is told by her boss, Professor Dan, that she will not be teaching the following semester at the university, giving her a lower profile to avoid attracting criticism for her sexual orientation. Professor Dan is later seen hanged at the university with the word "faggot" spray painted underneath him. While Emily, along with her wife Sylvia and son Oliver, attempt to emigrate to Canada, she is unable to leave the country because their same-sex marriage is no longer recognized, and it becomes known that she is the biological mother of Oliver. June makes a news-clipping memorial for The Boston Globe employees who were executed at the newspaper's former headquarters and prays to God to send an angel to watch over it.[25]
133"Baggage"Kari SkoglandDorothy FortenberryMay 2, 2018 (2018-05-02)
Having spent two months at The Boston Globe offices, June has found evidence in their archives of the early emergence of the Gilead movement. Nick visits occasionally. She is abruptly moved to a different place where she meets Omar, who tells her he is bringing her to a safe house near an airstrip in order to fly to Canada. He receives a message that the safe house has been compromised, and tries to leave without her, but she stands in front of his van to make him take her. He takes her to his apartment, where she meets his wife, Heather, and their son, Adam. Left alone when his family goes to church, June finds a hidden Qur'an and prayer rug under the bedsprings; Omar and his family do not return. She dons Heather's Econowife outfit and leaves the apartment, blending in with other Econowives. After a train ride, June runs into the woods. She realizes she has no way of rescuing Hannah and advances to the airstrip that Omar had told her of; however, the plane is intercepted before take-off, the pilot is executed, and June and another fugitive are apprehended by the Guardians. Meanwhile, Moira, now living with Luke and Erin (who is no longer mute) in Canada, gives a tour to a new co-worker but he has a breakdown, traumatized by what he did as a Guardian. In a flashback, June as a child is taken to a Take Back the Night rally by her mother, Holly. When she grew up, Holly was disappointed at June's career choices and plan to marry Luke, hoping that she would have been an activist.  Moira and June learned  during their training at the Red Center that Holly had been declared an Unwoman and was sent to the Colonies to be worked to death.
144"Other Women"Kari SkoglandYahlin ChangMay 9, 2018 (2018-05-09)
June is taken back and chained in a room where Aunt Lydia explains that she must choose between this imprisonment, followed by execution after the birth of her child, or return as a handmaid to the Waterfords.  She chooses the latter and is under close supervision from Lydia. The Waterfords, who still employ Nick, publicly treat Offred's disappearance as a kidnapping, but privately Serena is furious and grabs Offred by the throat. Rita returns the letters she found and tells Offred that she will no longer be involved.  A baby shower is held for Serena, incorporating prayer and a ritual binding of Offred to Serena. Offred learns from Alma that Ofglen's tongue was removed for speaking up to save Ofwarren (Janine) as she was about to be stoned and that Mayday has now gone silent. Aunt Lydia takes Offred out to show her what is presumed to be Omar's hanging corpse. She tells June that Omar's wife, Heather, is now a handmaid and that their child, Adam, was given away to another family. Aunt Lydia tells Offred that this was her fault, and Offred accepts the blame. Aunt Lydia encourages June to distinguish between Offred's identity and June's, saying June is to blame not Offred. In a flashback, June sees Luke's first wife Annie, who tells her that they made wedding vows before God, but Luke rejects her attempts to come between him and June. A few years later, Annie sees Luke and June in a restaurant with their child, Hannah. Offred has collapsed emotionally under the knowledge of Omar's family's fate. June prays that Hannah forget her. Ignoring Nick the following day, Offred appears to be conforming to the expectations of a handmaid.
155"Seeds"Mike BarkerKira SnyderMay 16, 2018 (2018-05-16)
Offred is very subdued, and starts to burn the letters she had been keeping for Mayday.  She notices vaginal bleeding, which continues and gets worse but does not inform anyone, although Rita notices her unsteadiness. Nick notices Offred's apparent depression and lets Mrs. Waterford know about it. Mrs. Waterford becomes alarmed at Nick's interest in Offred and informs Commander Waterford, who arranges for him to be married at a Prayvaganza where loyal Guardians are issued a wife as a reward for their work. Nick's new bride, Eden, moves into his room. Nick later finds Offred unconscious and drenched in the bushes outside the Waterfords' house and she is taken to the hospital. Offred, still pregnant, promises to her baby that they both will escape Gilead. Meanwhile, in the Colonies, Janine assures Emily that God is protecting them through their struggles in Gilead, and helps to arrange a small wedding for a dying worker, officiated by another Unwoman who is a rabbi. Emily, who has begun to lose her teeth, argues with her for attempting to bring brightness to a place that otherwise seems so bleak. When the newlywed Unwoman dies, the rabbi officiates at the burial as she is lowered into her grave in a cemetery adorned with crosses.
166"First Blood"Mike BarkerEric TuchmanMay 23, 2018 (2018-05-23)
Advised by a doctor that a harmonious household would be good for the child, Serena shows increased care for Offred, giving her the sitting room as a bedroom and inviting some handmaids to have brunch with her. When Serena shows Offred the nursery for the baby, Offred asks to see Hannah, upon which Serena moves her back to her previous room, and sets about humiliating her.  Eden reveals to Offred that she fears Nick may be a "gender traitor" due to his reluctance to have sex with her, so Offred warns him and he has sex with Eden to avoid suspicion, but only after he tells Offred that he loves her. Fred visits Offred in secret and gives her a photograph of Hannah, and wants to have sex with her, but Offred refuses. At the opening of the Rachel and Leah Center, a construction and ceremony overseen by Waterford, Nick asks Commander Pryce to be reassigned, and that Offred be protected, to which he agrees. Ofglen runs toward the stage, and detonates a bomb: only Handmaids are seen to have escaped. Flashbacks show Serena being verbally attacked while promoting her book A Woman's Place, and being shot by a protester, and Fred's punishment of those he believes to have been involved.
177"After"Kari SkoglandLynn Renee MaxcyMay 30, 2018 (2018-05-30)
31 handmaids and 26 commanders, and an unspecified number of civilians, have been killed in Ofglen's attack on the Rachel and Leah Center, including Commander Pryce, while others, such as Commander Waterford, were seriously injured. Following the attack, Commander Cushing takes Commander Pryce's role, instituting an increased number of checkpoints and having numerous people summarily executed. He questions Offred, asking who aided her when she tried to flee the country. Offred responds that she was kidnapped, an answer that Commander Cushing does not believe. Mrs. Waterford is alarmed at the possibility of her household being targeted, and is angry at his heavy-handed response to the bombing. She forges orders from her husband to have Commander Cushing arrested for treason and apostasy. Because so many handmaids were killed, some fertile women are taken back from the Colonies and are made to serve as handmaids once again, including Janine and Emily. Both reunite with Offred in the grocery store, with Janine happily telling her that it was God's plan that she be rescued. Offred, who had been sad to discover that none of the handmaids had known Ofglen's name, tells her real name, June, to Emily and another handmaid and following this, several of the handmaids whisper their real names to one another, which Eden overhears. Later, Mrs. Waterford enlists Offred's help in illicitly performing the Commander's work for him while he is in the hospital. At the refugee center, Moira looks through records to try to confirm whether her fiancée, Odette, has died. Through flashbacks Moira is revealed to have been a surrogate for a couple before the war. She met Odette, an obstetrician, during this process. In the present, Moira eventually finds photographs showing Odette was killed.
188"Women's Work"Kari SkoglandNina Fiore & John HerreraJune 6, 2018 (2018-06-06)
June has been helping Serena to complete Fred's work for some months while he is too ill from his bomb injuries to do so himself, but as soon as he returns home he excludes Serena from his office. Serena tells June that the Putnams' child, Angela, (called Charlotte by Janine, who is her biological mother) is sick. June advocates for Janine to be able to see the baby, and Serena agrees to ask about it for the baby's sake. Naomi Putnam dislikes the idea, but she is overruled by her husband, Warren. Serena petitions Fred to allow the sick child to be seen by a Martha who, prior to the Sons of Jacob coup, was one of the nation's top neonatologists. Fred denies the request, saying that whatever happens to the child must now be left to God's will. A dismayed Serena forges Fred's signature to a written order that transfers the Martha to the hospital for a day. Aunt Lydia tells June that she will hold her personally responsible if anything goes wrong with Janine's visit to the hospital. The neonatologist can find no physical explanation for the child's deterioration and can recommend no further treatment. She advises them to unplug the baby from all of the machines and help her to feel safe and warm. When Fred discovers that Serena forged his signature on an order to temporarily transfer the physician/Martha, he beats Serena with his belt as June is forced to watch. Serena later tearfully rejects June's offer of sympathy.  Meanwhile, Eden is working hard to please Nick, but after she rearranges his garret and uncovers the bundle of handmaids' letters he recovered from June, he becomes angry, demanding that she never touch his belongings. The episode ends in the hospital with Janine, partly undressed, singing "I Only Want to Be with You" to her child and bouncing her as her baby gurgles happily.

This is the first episode in this series that does not have scenes from before the formation of Gilead.
199"Smart Power"Jeremy PodeswaDorothy FortenberryJune 13, 2018 (2018-06-13)
Fred and Serena travel to Canada on a diplomatic mission accompanied by Nick, while a Guardian, Isaac, is to be left responsible for the household. Much to Offred's distress, Serena tells her that she will be transferred as soon as the baby is born. In Toronto, Serena is reminded of the time before Gilead, and the Waterfords are ambivalently greeted by Canadian officials. Later, Serena is approached by Mark Tuello, who works for the remnant of the US government in Hawaii, and offers to help her defect from Gilead, but Serena declines. At the Waterford's residence, June tells Rita that when Hannah was baptized, she and Luke chose godparents for her and wishes for Rita to be the godparent of her expected child as soon as it is born.[27] Rita states that she will try her best, though the government of Gilead has prohibited baptisms and severely restricts Marthas. June makes a similar request to Aunt Lydia, prompting her to reveal she was previously godparent to her sister's baby, who died in infancy.[27] At a protest, Luke confronts Commander Waterford. Afterwards, Nick finds Luke and tells him June is pregnant by Waterford, but safe, and gives him the bundle of letters from women enslaved in Gilead. Luke, Moira, and Erin make the letters public, causing an outcry that prompts the Canadians to cancel the rest of the summit. Moira holds a sign up to the Waterfords' car that says "My name is Moira" and Fred recognises her from Jezebel's. Serena burns the Hawaiian matches Mark left her. Meanwhile, Nick gives June news of Luke and Moira, and tells her that the letters were instrumental in getting the talks curtailed. June reveals that Moira is Hannah's godmother and is happy that she escaped to Canada.[28] Nick tells June that he loves her, and tries to kiss her, but she does not allow him to.
2010"The Last Ceremony"Jeremy PodeswaYahlin ChangJune 20, 2018 (2018-06-20)
The commander to whom Emily is newly assigned as handmaid collapses and dies during the Ceremony. June suffers contractions while shopping, forcing her home and to endure a "birthing ceremony" as everyone awaits the birth of the child. However, it turns out to be a false alarm and everyone is dismissed. Following the false alarm, June pleads to Fred to be positioned closer to her daughter Hannah after the eventual birth. After Fred denies this request, June implies that the child she is carrying is not his and that he will never have a biological child of his own. Later, Fred rapes June with Serena holding her down, under the guise of inducing the labor. Eden finds herself attracted to Isaac, a guard, and meets with him late at night. They kiss, but she breaks off once she sees Nick watching. She begs his forgiveness, which he readily gives with a detachment that infuriates her. She accuses Nick of liking Offred. Fred then arranges Nick to take June to an empty and remote house for a short visit with Hannah, who is now named Agnes. After they are once again separated, Guardians take Nick captive, and June is left behind, having hidden in the house.
2111"Holly"Daina ReidBruce Miller & Kira SnyderJune 27, 2018 (2018-06-27)
After Nick is taken away from the house, June finds a car in the garage and car keys and is able to start the car, but she returns to the house and gets a man's coat. Flashbacks throughout the episode show her first pregnancy, and  Hannah's birth and childhood. Fred and Serena arrive at the house in a panic, looking for Offred. They are arguing with each other, with Serena telling Fred she gave up everything for him and the cause, and only ever wanted a child. June finds a gun, and prepares to shoot them, but desists.  They are unable to find Offred and decide to leave, feeling both angry and concerned. After she's certain they're gone, June, having contractions, gets back into the car, but cannot get it out of the garage, which is frozen shut. June is exhausted and in pain, and lays down in front of the fire, finally going into labor and passing out. When she wakes, she's covered in blood, but the baby still hasn't come. She crawls outside and discharges the gun to attract attention, then she ends up delivering the baby by herself. She whispers that her name is Holly, after her mother. Light comes in through the windows, indicating that a car has arrived at the house.
2212"Postpartum"Daina ReidEric TuchmanJuly 4, 2018 (2018-07-04)
Some weeks after the birth, the baby, now named Nichole, is cared for by Serena, while Offred is providing milk through a breast pump. She is unable to pump enough milk and is brought to see her baby in order to induce lactation. Offred requests to nurse her herself, but Fred rejects the idea. Given that Offred's lactation increases during the meeting, Aunt Lydia convinces Fred to allow Offred back in the house for the baby's health. Serena becomes enraged and demands that Offred stay away from the baby. Nick, who is back in the Waterford household and presented as having been key to the rescue of Offred and the baby, suggests lightheartedly that he, Offred and the baby should flee, and Fred attempts to renew the illicit elements of their relationship. Emily is reassigned to a new household as a handmaid after being rejected by four couples. Commander Lawrence, the "architect of Gilead's economy", seems suspicious. His wife, Eleanor, reveals to Emily that Lawrence was the creator of the Colonies. Lawrence interrogates Emily, revealing that he knows much about her past. Meanwhile, Eden and Isaac elope but are soon caught. Eden and Nick admit their faults and ask forgiveness of each other.  Eden and Isaac are brought to a diving board above a swimming pool with chains and weights attached to each of them.  Both refuse to ask for forgiveness, and Eden instead begins to recite a biblical paean to love.  Both are pushed off the diving board and die by drowning in front of a crowd.[29] Distraught by the events, Serena and Offred get to an understanding and Serena allows Offred to nurse the baby herself.
2313"The Word"Mike BarkerBruce MillerJuly 11, 2018 (2018-07-11)
It is revealed that Eden's father was the one who turned Eden and Isaac in, leading to their execution. While searching through Eden's belongings, June discovers a Bible that Eden read from and annotated, despite it being illegal for women and girls to read in Gilead.[30] June argues with Serena about her daughter's future in Gilead, stating that baby Nichole (Holly) won't be able to know God unless she is eventually able to read his word.[30] Serena and a number of wives propose an amendment to the council that girls be taught to read the Bible and Serena reads from the Bible to make her point, resulting in one of her fingers being cut off.[30] Emily reluctantly prepares for her first ceremony with Lawrence, but he dismisses Emily without going through with it. The next day, Emily is visited by Aunt Lydia and, as she is leaving, Emily brutally attacks Lydia by stabbing her in the back with a kitchen knife. Emily continues to kick Aunt Lydia down the stairs, leaving her gasping for breath. Lawrence's Martha, Cora, finds Aunt Lydia and throws Emily into a room and locks the door. Fred suggests to June that he could arrange for her to remain as his handmaid, and when she rejects the proposal, he suggests that future meetings with Hannah could be arranged. As a fire consumes a house across the street, Rita tells June that she and her daughter, Holly, have this chance to get out and need to leave immediately. Fred tries to arrange their capture, but is prevented by Nick, who threatens him with a gun.  Serena catches her mid-escape, but after a tearful goodbye to the baby, allows June to take the baby and flee, assisted by several Marthas. June is reunited with Emily, who is dropped off at the escape van by Lawrence, who says he is getting himself "in deep shit" when asked why he's allowing them to leave. At the last second, June decides to stay behind and gives the baby to Emily. She tells Emily to call her Nichole, and to tell her she loves her.

text: Production[edit]

text: A straight-to-series order by Hulu of The Handmaid's Tale was announced in April 2016, with Elisabeth Moss set to star.[31] Based on the 1985 novel of the same name by Margaret Atwood, the series was created by Bruce Miller, who is also an executive producer with Daniel Wilson, Fran Sears, and Warren Littlefield.[31] Atwood serves as consulting producer, giving feedback on some of the areas where the series expands upon or modernizes the book.[31][32] She also played a small cameo role in the first episode.[33] Moss is also a producer.[34] In June 2016, Reed Morano was announced as director of the series.[35] Samira Wiley, Max Minghella, and Ann Dowd joined the cast in July 2016.[36][37][38] Joseph Fiennes, Madeline Brewer, and Yvonne Strahovski were cast in August 2016,[39][40][41] followed by O. T. Fagbenle and Amanda Brugel in September 2016.[42][43] In October 2016, Ever Carradine joined the cast,[44] and Alexis Bledel was added in January 2017.[45]

text: Filming on the series took place in Toronto, Mississauga, Hamilton, Oakville, and Cambridge, Ontario, from September 2016 to February 2017.[46][47] The first full trailer of the TV series was released by Hulu on YouTube on March 23, 2017.[48] The series premiered on April 26, 2017.[49]

text: On May 3, 2017, The Handmaid's Tale was renewed for a second season to premiere in 2018.[50] Moss told the news media that the subsequent episodes would cover further developments in the story, filling in some of the unanswered questions and continuing the narrative already "finished" in the book.[51] The second season consists of 13 episodes and began filming in fall 2017. Alexis Bledel returned as a series regular.[52] Showrunner Bruce Miller stated that he envisioned 10 seasons of the show, stating, "Well, you know, honestly, when I started, I tried to game out in my head what would ten seasons be like? If you hit a home run, you want energy to go around the bases, you want enough story to keep going, if you can hook the audience to care about these people enough that they're actually crying at the finale."[53]

text: Broadcast and release[edit]

text: The first three episodes of the series premiered on April 26, 2017; the subsequent seven episodes were released on a weekly basis.[49][54] In Canada, the series is broadcast by Bravo; the first two episodes premiered on April 30, 2017.[55] In Scandinavia, the series is available on HBO Nordic.[56] In the United Kingdom, the series premiered on May 28, 2017, on Channel 4.[57] In Ireland, the series premiered on February 5, 2018 on RTÉ2, with a showing of the first two episodes.[58] RTÉ also became the first broadcaster in Europe to debut Season 2 following its broadcast in the US and Canada.[59] In the Brazil, the series premiered on March 7, 2018, on Paramount Channel.[60]

text: In New Zealand, the series was released on the subscription video on demand service Lightbox on June 8, 2017.[61] In Australia, the series premiered on the TV channel SBS's video streaming service SBS on Demand, on July 6, 2017.[62]

text: The first season was released on Blu-ray and DVD on March 13, 2018.[63]

text: Reception[edit]

text: Critical response[edit]

text:
Season

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes

Metacritic

1

95% (107 reviews)

92 (41 reviews)

2

92% (73 reviews)

86 (28 reviews)

text: Season 1[edit]

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the first season has an approval rating of 95% based on 107 reviews, with an average rating of 8.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Haunting and vivid, The Handmaid's Tale is an endlessly engrossing adaptation of Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel that's anchored by a terrific central performance from Elisabeth Moss."[64] On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 92 out of 100 based on 41 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[65]

text: Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter called it "probably the spring's best new show".[66] Jen Chaney of Vulture gave it a highly positive review, and wrote that it is "A faithful adaptation of the book that also brings new layers to Atwood's totalitarian, sexist world of forced surrogate motherhood" and that "this series is meticulously paced, brutal, visually stunning, and so suspenseful from moment to moment that only at the end of each hour will you feel fully at liberty to exhale".[67]

text: There was much debate on whether parallels could be drawn between the series (and by extension, the book it is based on) and American society during the Presidency of Donald Trump.[68][69] A comparison has also been made to the Salafi/Wahabbi extremism of ISIL, under which enslaved women of religious minorities are passed around and utilized as sex objects and vessels to bear new jihadis.[70][71][72]

text: Season 2[edit]

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the second season has an approval rating of 91% based on 74 reviews, with an average rating of 8.31/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Beautifully shot but dishearteningly relevant, The Handmaid's Tale centers its sophomore season tightly around its compelling cast of characters, making room for broader social commentary through more intimate lenses."[73] On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 86 out of 100 based on 28 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[74]

text: However, the second season of the show received criticism for being excessive in its depictions of violence with critics questioning whether it was merely "torture porn" and going too far. The Atlantic's Sophie Gilbert wrote: "There came a point during the first episode where, for me, it became too much."[75] Lisa Miller of The Cut wrote: "I have pressed mute and fast forward so often this season, I am forced to wonder: 'Why am I watching this'? It all feels so gratuitous, like a beating that never ends."[76] And The Daily Telegraph's Rebecca Reid admitted she had an anxiety attack watching an episode of the show.[77]

text: Awards[edit]

text:
Year

Award

Category

Nominee(s)

Result

Ref.

Season 1

2017

Primetime Emmy Awards

Outstanding Drama Series

Bruce Miller, Warren Littlefield, Daniel Wilson, Fran Sears, Ilene Chaiken, Sheila Hockin, Eric Tuchman, Frank Siracusa, John Weber, Kira Snyder, Elisabeth Moss, Joseph Boccia, and Leila Gerstein

Won

[78]

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series

Elisabeth Moss (for "Night")

Won

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

Ann Dowd (for "Offred")

Won

Samira Wiley (for "Night")

Nominated

Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series

Reed Morano (for "Offred")

Won

Kate Dennis (for "The Bridge")

Nominated

Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series

Bruce Miller (for "Offred")

Won

Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards

Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series

Alexis Bledel (for "Late")

Won

Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series

Russell Scott, Sharon Bialy, and Sherry Thomas

Nominated

Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series (One Hour)

Colin Watkinson (for "Offred")

Won

Outstanding Period/Fantasy Costumes for a Series, Limited Series, or Movie

Ane Crabtree and Sheena Wichary (for "Offred")

Nominated

Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Contemporary or Fantasy Program (One Hour or More)

Julie Berghoff, Evan Webber, and Sophie Neudorfer (for "Offred")

Won

Outstanding Special Visual Effects in a Supporting Role

Brendan Taylor, Stephen Lebed, Leo Bovell, Martin O'Brien, Winston Lee, Kelly Knauff, Zach Dembinski, Mike Suta, and Cameron Kerr (for "Birth Day")

Nominated

Peabody Award

Entertainment, children's and youth honoree

The Handmaid's Tale

Won

[79]

Gold Derby TV Awards

Drama Series

The Handmaid's Tale

Nominated

[80]

Drama Actress

Elisabeth Moss

Won

Drama Guest Actress

Alexis Bledel

Won

Television Critics Association Awards

Program of the Year

The Handmaid's Tale

Won

[81]

Outstanding Achievement in Drama

Won

Outstanding New Program

Nominated

Individual Achievement in Drama

Elisabeth Moss

Nominated

American Film Institute Awards

Top 10 TV Programs of the Year

The Handmaid's Tale

Won

[82]

2018

American Cinema Editors Awards

Best Edited Drama Series for Non-Commercial Television

Julian Clarke and Wendy Hallam Martin (for "Offred")

Won

[83]

Art Directors Guild Awards

One-Hour Contemporary Single-Camera Television Series

Julie Berghoff (for "Offred", "Birth Day", "Nolite Te Bastardes Carborundorum")

Won

[84]

Andrew Stearn (for "The Bridge")

Nominated

Casting Society of America

Television Pilot and First Season – Drama

Sharon Bialy, Sherry Thomas, Russell Scott, Robin D. Cook, and Jonathan Oliveira

Won

[85]

Cinema Audio Society Awards

Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Television Series – One Hour

John J. Thomson, Lou Solakofski, Joe Morrow, and Don White (for "Offred")

Nominated

[86]

Costume Designers Guild Awards

Excellence in Contemporary Television Series

Ane Crabtree

Won

[87]

Critics' Choice Television Awards

Best Drama Series

The Handmaid's Tale

Won

[88]

Best Actress in a Drama Series

Elisabeth Moss

Won

Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

Ann Dowd

Won

Directors Guild of America Awards

Outstanding Directorial Achievement for a Drama Series

Reed Morano (for "Offred")

Won

[89]

Golden Globe Awards

Best Television Series – Drama

The Handmaid's Tale

Won

[90]

Best Actress – Television Series Drama

Elisabeth Moss

Won

Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film

Ann Dowd

Nominated

Location Managers Guild Awards

Outstanding Locations in Contemporary Television

John Musikka and Geoffrey Smither

Nominated

[91]

Producers Guild of America Awards

Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama

The Handmaid's Tale

Won

[92]

Satellite Awards

Best Drama Series

The Handmaid's Tale

Nominated

[93]

Best Actress in a Drama / Genre Series

Elisabeth Moss

Won

Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries or TV Film

Ann Dowd

Won

Saturn Awards

Best New Media Television Series

The Handmaid's Tale

Nominated

[94]

Screen Actors Guild Awards

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series

Madeline Brewer, Amanda Brugel, Ann Dowd, O. T. Fagbenle, Joseph Fiennes, Tattiawna Jones, Max Minghella, Elisabeth Moss, Yvonne Strahovski, and Samira Wiley

Nominated

[95]

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series

Elisabeth Moss

Nominated

USC Scripter Awards

Best Adapted TV Screenplay

Bruce Miller and Margaret Atwood (for "Offred")

Won

[96]

Writers Guild of America Awards

Dramatic Series

Ilene Chaiken, Nina Fiore, Dorothy Fortenberry, Leila Gerstein, John Herrera, Lynn Maxcy, Bruce Miller, Kira Snyder, Wendy Straker Hauser, and Eric Tuchman

Won

[97]

New Series

Won

BAFTA Television Awards

Best International Programme

The Handmaid's Tale

Won

Season 2

2018

Primetime Emmy Awards

Outstanding Drama Series

Bruce Miller, Warren Littlefield, Elisabeth Moss, Daniel Wilson, Fran Sears, Mike Barker, Sheila Hockin, Eric Tuchman, Kira Snyder, Yahlin Chang, Frank Siracusa, John Weber, Dorothy Fortenberry, and Joseph Boccia

Pending

[98]

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series

Elisabeth Moss (for "The Last Ceremony")

Pending

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

Joseph Fiennes (for "First Blood")

Pending

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

Alexis Bledel (for "Unwomen")

Pending

Ann Dowd (for "June")

Pending

Yvonne Strahovski (for "Women's Work")

Pending

Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series

Kari Skogland (for "After")

Pending

Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series

Bruce Miller (for "June")

Pending

Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards

Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series

Kelly Jenrette (for "Other Women")

Pending

Cherry Jones (for "Baggage")

Pending

Samira Wiley (for "After")

Pending

Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series

Sharon Bialy, Sherry Thomas, Russell Scott and Robin D. Cook

Pending

Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series (One Hour)

Colin Watkinson (for "June")

Pending

Outstanding Fantasy/Sci-Fi Costumes

Ane Crabtree and Natalie Bronfman (for "Seeds")

Pending

Outstanding Makeup for a Single-Camera Series (Non-Prosthetic)

Burton LeBlanc, Talia Reingold and Erika Caceres (for "Unwomen")

Pending

Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Contemporary Program (One Hour or More)

Mark White, Elisabeth Williams, Martha Sparrow, and Caroline Gee (for "June")

Pending

Elisabeth Williams, Martha Sparrow, and Rob Hepburn (for "Seeds", "First Blood", "After")

Pending

Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series

Wendy Hallam Martin (for "June")

Pending

Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One-Hour)

Joe Morrow, Lou Solakofski, and Sylvain Arseneault (for "June")

Pending

Outstanding Special Visual Effects in a Supporting Role

Stephen Lebed, Brendan Taylor, Kelly Knauff, Kelly Weisz, Kevin McGeagh, Anderson Leo Bovell, Winston Lee, Xi Luo, and Cameron Kerr (for "June")

Pending


document_title: A River Runs Through It (film)

question_text: who played young norman in a river runs through it

text: A River Runs Through It (film)

text: Plot[edit]

text: The Maclean brothers, Norman and Paul, grow up in Missoula, Montana with their father, Presbyterian minister John, from whom they learn a love of fly fishing for trout in the Blackfoot River. They learn to cast using a ticking metronome. The boys become accomplished fishermen as a result. Norman and Paul are home taught and must adhere to the strict moral and educational code of their father. As they grow older, it becomes clear that Norman is more disciplined and studious, while Paul is fun-loving, wild, and the more talented fisherman.

text: Norman attends a July 4th dance with his friends after returning home from six years away at Dartmouth, where he meets Jessie Burns. Paul has become a reporter at a newspaper in Helena. He has angered many of the locals by falling behind in a big poker game at a bar that is a front for gambling and prostitution. He is also dating an Indian woman, Mabel, who is deemed inferior by the community. Paul is arrested after fighting a man who has insulted her, and Norman is awakened in the middle of the night by a phone call from the police to come and bail Paul out of jail.

text: After Norman and Jessie go on several dates, she asks that Norman make an effort to get along with her brother Neal, who is visiting from California. Norman and Paul do not like Neal, but at Jessie's insistence they invite him to go fishing. Neal shows up drunk with a woman he met at a bar the night before. Norman and Paul decide to fish anyway and return to their car hours later to find that Neal and the woman have drunk all the beer and passed out naked in the sun.

text: Norman returns a painfully sunburned Neal home, where Jessie is waiting for them. She is angry that the brothers did not fish with Neal. Norman asks Jessie to drive him home, as he had brought Neal back in Neal's car, and he tells her that he is falling for her. She drives away angry but a week later asks Norman to come to the train station to see Neal off. After the train departs, Norman shows Jessie a letter from the University of Chicago: a job offer for an English Literature teaching position. Norman asks Jessie to marry him.

text: When Norman tells Paul about the job offer and marriage proposal, he urges Paul to come with him and Jessie to Chicago. Paul says that he will never leave Montana. Just before leaving for Chicago, Norman, Paul, and their father go fly fishing one last time. Paul catches a huge fish that drags him down the river through a set of rapids before he finally lands it. John proudly tells him what a wonderful fisherman he has become, and how he is an artist in the craft, much to Paul's delight. They pose for pictures with the huge fish.

text: Soon after the fishing excursion, Norman is called by the police, who tell him that Paul has been found beaten to death in an alley. Norman goes home and tells his parents the news. Years later, Mrs. Maclean, Norman, Jessie, and their two children listen to a sermon being given by John, who dies soon after. Norman is now an old man, back in the Montana river where he used to fish with his family many years before. He says that nearly everyone from his youth is dead, including Jessie, and that he is haunted by waters.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Craig Sheffer as Norman Maclean
Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Young Norman Maclean
Arnold Richardson as Old Norman (narrator, voice by Robert Redford)
Brad Pitt as Paul Maclean
Vann Gravage as Young Paul Maclean
Tom Skerritt as Reverend John Maclean
Brenda Blethyn as Clara Maclean
Emily Lloyd as Jessie Burns
Stephen Shellen as Neal Burns
Edie McClurg as Mrs. Burns
Nicole Burdette as Mabel
Susan Traylor as Rawhide, woman with Neal

text: Production[edit]

text: Filming[edit]

text: Although both the book and movie are set in Missoula and on the Blackfoot River, it was filmed in late June, early July 1991 in south central Montana in Livingston and Bozeman,[3]  and on the nearby upper Yellowstone, Gallatin, and Boulder Rivers.  The waterfall shown is Granite Falls in Wyoming.[4][5] Filming was completed in early September 1991.

text: An article published in the Helena Independent Record in July 2000, based on recollections of people who knew both brothers, noted a number of specifics about the Macleans — notably various chronological and educational details about Paul Maclean's adult life — that differ somewhat from their portrayal in the film and novella.[6]

text: Music[edit]

text: Mark Isham, who would go on to compose the scores to most Robert Redford-directed films, composed the musical score for the film. Originally, Elmer Bernstein was hired to score the film. However, after Redford and Bernstein disagreed over the tone of the music, Bernstein was replaced by Isham.[7] Rushed for time, Isham completed the score within four weeks at Schnee Studio of Signet Sound Studios in Hollywood, CA. Upon release, the music was met with positive reviews earning the film both nominations for Grammy and Academy awards. The A River Runs Through It (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) was released on October 27, 1992.[8]

text: In some home video releases of the film, Elmer Bernstein is credited as the film's composer despite his score being rejected during post-production.

text: Release[edit]

text: Critical reception[edit]

text: Released on October 9, 1992, the film grossed $43,440,294 in US domestic returns.[2] The film holds an 81% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 43 polled critical reviews. The site's consensus reads: "Tasteful to a fault, this period drama combines a talented cast (including a young Brad Pitt) with some stately, beautifully filmed work from director Robert Redford."[9] Much of the praise focused on Pitt's portrayal of Paul, which has been cited as his career-making performance.[10]

text: Awards and honors[edit]

text: The film was nominated for three Academy Awards in 1993, including Best Cinematography (Philippe Rousselot); Best Music, Original Score (Mark Isham); and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium (Richard Friedenberg). Rousselot won for Best Cinematography. At the Golden Globes, Robert Redford was nominated for Best Director - Motion Picture, but did not win.