document_title: Rattlesnake

question_text: how fast can you die from a rattlesnake bite

text: Rattlesnake

text: Ecology

text: Range and habitat

text: Rattlesnakes are native to the Americas, living in diverse habitats from southwestern Canada to central Argentina. The large majority of species lives in the American Southwest and Mexico. Four species may be found east of the Mississippi River, and two in South America. In the United States, the states with the most types of rattlesnakes are Texas and Arizona.

text: Rattlesnakes are found in almost every type of habitat capable of supporting terrestrial ectothermic vertebrates, but individual species can have extremely specific habitat requirements, only able to live within certain plant associations in a narrow range of altitudes. Most species live near open, rocky areas. Rocks offer them cover from predators, plentiful prey (e.g. rodents, lizards, insects, etc. that live amidst the rocks), and open basking areas. However, rattlesnakes can also be found in a wide variety of other habitats including prairies, marshes, deserts, and forests.[6] Rattlesnakes prefer a temperature range between 80 and 90°F (26 and 32°C), but can survive temperatures below freezing, recovering from brief exposure to temperatures as low as 4°F (−16°C), and surviving for several days in temperatures as low as 37°F (3°C).[7]

text: The most probable ancestral area of rattlesnakes is the Sierra Madre Occidental region in Mexico. The most probable vegetation or habitat of the ancestral area appears to be pine-oak forests.[8] Feeding habits play an important ecological role by limiting the size of rodent populations, which prevents crop damage and stabilizes ecosystems.[9]

text: Prey

text: Rattlesnakes consume mice, rats, small birds, and other small animals.[10] They lie in wait for their prey, or hunt for it in holes.[11] The prey is killed quickly with a venomous bite as opposed to constriction. If the bitten prey moves away before dying, the rattlesnake can follow it by its scent.[12][13] When it locates the fallen prey, it checks for signs of life by prodding with its snout, flicking its tongue, and using its sense of smell. Once the prey has become incapacitated, the rattlesnake locates its head by odors emitted from the mouth. The prey is then ingested head-first, which allows wings and limbs to fold at the joints in a manner which minimizes the girth of the meal.[14] The gastric fluids of rattlesnakes are extremely powerful, allowing for the digestion of flesh, as well as bone. Optimal digestion occurs when the snake maintains a body temperature between 80 and 85 °F (25 and 29 °C). If the prey is small, the rattlesnake often continues hunting. If it was an adequate meal, the snake finds a warm, safe location in which to coil up and rest until the prey is digested.[15]

text: Rattlesnakes are believed to require at least their own body weight in water annually to remain hydrated. The method in which they drink depends on the water source. In larger bodies of water (streams, ponds, etc.), they  submerge their heads and ingest water by opening and closing their jaws, which sucks in water. If drinking dew, or drinking from small puddles, they sip the liquid either by capillary action or by flattening and flooding their lower jaws.[16]

text: Predators

text: Newborn rattlesnakes are heavily preyed upon by a variety of species, including ravens, crows, roadrunners, raccoons, opossums, skunks, coyotes, weasels, whipsnakes, kingsnakes, and racers. Neonates of the smaller crotaline species are frequently killed and eaten by small predatory birds such as jays, kingfishers, and shrikes. Some species of ants in the genus Formica are known to prey upon neonates, and  Solenopsis invicta (fire ants) likely do, as well. On occasion, hungry adult rattlesnakes cannibalize neonates. The small proportion (often as few as 20%) of rattlesnakes that make it to their second year are heavily preyed upon by a variety of larger predators including coyotes, eagles, hawks, owls, falcons, feral pigs, badgers, indigo snakes, and kingsnakes.[17]

text: The common kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula), a constrictor, is immune to the venom of rattlesnakes and other vipers, and rattlesnakes form part of its natural diet. Rattlesnakes sense kingsnakes' presence by their odor.[18] When they realize a kingsnake is nearby, they begin enacting a set of defensive postures known as "body bridging". Unlike its normal erect and coiled defensive-striking posture, the rattlesnake keeps its head low to the ground in an attempt to prevent the kingsnake from gaining a hold on it (the head being the first part of the rattlesnake to be ingested). The rattlesnake jerks its body about, while bridging its back upwards, forming an elevated coil which faces the kingsnake. The elevated coil is used to strike the attacker, and is also used to shield the head from the kingsnake.[19]

text: Anatomy

text: Sensory organs

text: Like all pit vipers, rattlesnakes have two organs that can sense radiation: their eyes, and a set of heat-sensing "pits" on their faces that enable them to locate prey and move towards it, based on the prey's thermal radiation signature. These pits have a relatively short effective range of about 1 ft, but give the rattlesnake a distinctive advantage in hunting for warm-blooded creatures at night.[20][21]

text: Heat-sensing pits

text: Aside from this pair of simple eyes, rattlesnakes are able to detect thermal radiation emitted by warm-blooded organisms in their environment.  Functioning optically like a pinhole camera eye, thermal radiation, in the form of infrared wavelength light, enters, passes through the opening of the pit and strikes the pit membrane located in the back wall, warming this part of the organ. Due to the extremely high density of these heat-sensitive receptors innervating this membrane, the rattlesnake can detect temperature changes of 0.003 °C or less in its immediate surroundings. Infrared cues from these receptors are transmitted to the brain by the trigeminal nerve, where they are used to create thermal maps of the snake’s surroundings. Due to the small sizes of the pit openings, typically these thermals images are low in resolution and contrast. Nevertheless, rattlesnakes superimpose visual images created from information from the eyes with these thermal images from the pit organs to more accurately visualize their surroundings in low levels of light.  Research conducted recently on the molecular mechanism of this ability suggests the temperature sensitivity of these pit organs is closely linked to the activity of transient receptor potential ankyrin 1, a temperature-sensitive ion channel saturated in the pit membrane.

text: Eyes

text: Rattlesnake eyes, which contain a large number of rod cells, are well adapted to nocturnal use.[22][23] However, rattlesnakes are not exclusively nocturnal, and their vision is more acute during daylight conditions.[23] Rattlesnakes also possess cone cells, which means  they are capable of some form of color vision. The rattlesnake eye lacks a fovea, making it impossible for them to see sharply defined images. Instead, they mostly rely on the perception of movement.[22] Rattlesnake eyes are capable of horizontal rotation, but they do not appear to move their eyeballs to follow moving objects.[24]

text: Smell

text: Rattlesnakes have an exceptionally keen sense of smell. They can sense olfactory stimuli both through their nostrils and by flicking their tongues, which carry scent-bearing particles to the Jacobson's organs in the roof of their mouths.[25][26]

text: Auditory system

text: Like all snakes, rattlesnakes lack external ear openings, and the structures of their middle ear are not as highly specialized as those of other vertebrates, such as mammals. Thus, their sense of hearing is not very effective, but they are capable of sensing vibrations in the ground, passed by the skeleton to the auditory nerve.[22]

text: Fangs

text: Rattlesnake fangs are connected by venom ducts to large venom glands near the outer edge of the upper jaw, towards the rear of the head. When the rattlesnake bites, muscles on the sides of the venom glands contract, which squeezes the venom through the ducts and into the fangs. When the fangs are not in use, they remain folded against the palate.[27][28]

text: Rattlesnakes are born with fully functioning fangs and venom, and are capable of killing prey at birth.[17][29] Adult rattlesnakes shed their fangs every 6–10 weeks. At least three pairs of replacement fangs lie behind the functional pair.[30]

text: Venom

text: The venom is hemotoxic, destroying tissue, causing necrosis and coagulopathy (disrupted blood clotting).[31] In the U.S., the tiger rattlesnake (C. tigris) and some varieties of the Mojave rattlesnake (C. scutulatus) also have a presynaptic neurotoxic venom component known as Mojave type A toxin, which can cause severe paralysis.[31][32][33] Although it has a comparatively low venom yield,[34] the venom toxicity of C. tigris is considered to be among the highest of all rattlesnake venoms, and among the highest of all snakes in the Western Hemisphere based on LD50 studies conducted on laboratory mice. C. scutulatus is also widely regarded as producing one of the most toxic snake venoms in the Americas, based on LD50 studies in laboratory mice.[35]

text: Rattlesnake venom is a mixture of five to 15 enzymes, various metal ions, biogenic amines, lipids, free amino acids, proteins, and polypeptides. It contains components designed to immobilize and disable the prey, as well as digestive enzymes which break down tissue to prepare for later ingestion.[26][30] The venom is very stable, and retains its toxicity for many years in storage.[26]

text: Older snakes possess more potent venom, and larger snakes are frequently capable of storing larger volumes of it.[36]

text: Rattle

text:
Rattlesnake

The characteristic sound of a rattlesnake - the rattle shaking, as a result of extremely rapid tail movement
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text: According to Rubio, "The most widely accepted hypothesis for the evolution of the rattle is that the rattle is a warning device for predatory animals that might be a threat to the rattlesnake. It produces a signal to drive them away."[37]

text: The rattle is composed of a series of hollow, interlocked segments made of keratin, which are created by modifying the scales that cover the tip of the tail. The contraction of special "shaker" muscles in the tail causes these segments to vibrate against one another, making the rattling noise (which is amplified because the segments are hollow) in a behavior known as tail vibration.[1][38][39] The muscles that cause the rattle to shake are some of the fastest known, firing 50 times per second on average, sustained for up to three hours.[40]

text: At birth, a “prebutton” is present at the tip of the snake's tail; it is replaced by the “button” several days later when the first skin is shed. However, no sound can be made by the rattle until a second segment is added when the skin is shed again.[41] A new rattle segment is added each time the snake sheds its skin, and the snake may shed its skin several times a year, depending on food supply and growth rate.

text: Rattlesnakes travel with their rattles held up to protect them from damage, but in spite of this precaution, their day-to-day activities in the wild still cause them to regularly break off end segments. Because of this, the age of a rattlesnake is not related to the number of rattles on its tail.[1][39][40]

text: One of the differentiating features of males and females is the males have thicker and longer tails (because they contain the inverted hemipenes). Also, the tails of males taper gradually from the body, whereas the tails of females narrow abruptly at the vent.[42]

text: Skin and circulation

text: Rattlesnake skin has  a set of overlapping scales which cover the entire body, providing protection from a variety of threats including dehydration and physical trauma.[43] The typical rattlesnake, genus Crotalus, has the top of its head covered with small scales, except, with a few species, a few crowded plates directly over the snout.[44]  The skin of snakes is highly sensitive to contact, tension, and pressure; they are capable of feeling pain.[45]

text: An important function of the skin is the sensation of changes in air temperature, which can guide the snakes towards warm basking/shelter locations.[46] All snakes are ectotherms. To maintain a stable body temperature, they exchange heat with their external environments. Snakes often move into open, sunny areas to absorb heat from the sun and warmed earth, a behavior known as basking. Nerves in the skin regulate the flow of blood into the veins near the surface. Rubio states, "The skin's acceptance of radiant energy, its ability to determine the temperature, and the snake's ability to move toward or away from one temperature gradient to another are among the most important behavioral actions in its daily life."[45]

text: The skin of rattlesnakes is intricately patterned in a manner that camouflages them from their predators.[46][47] Rattlesnakes do not generally have bright or showy colors (reds, yellows, blues, etc.), instead relying on subtle earth tones that resemble the surrounding environment.[48]

text: Creases in the epidermal tissue connect the scales of rattlesnakes. When ingesting large prey, these creases can unfold, allowing the skin to expand to envelop a much greater volume. The skin appears to tightly stretch to accommodate the meal, but in reality, the skin is simply smoothing out from its creased state and is not under very high tension.[49]

text: Reproduction

text: Most rattlesnake species mate during the summer or fall, while some species mate only in the spring, or during both the spring and fall.[50]

text: Females secrete small amounts of sex pheromones, which leave a trail the males follow using their tongues and Jacobson's organs as  guides.[50] Once a receptive female has been located, the male  often spends several days following her around (a behavior not common outside of the mating season), frequently touching and rubbing her in an attempt to stimulate her.[51][52]

text: The males of some species, such as timber rattlesnakes (C. horridus), fight each other during the mating season, in competition over females. These fights known as "combat dances" consist of the two males intertwining the anterior portion of their bodies, often with their heads and necks held vertically. The larger males usually end up driving the smaller males away.[53][54]

text: Although many kinds of snakes and other reptiles are oviparous (lay eggs), rattlesnakes are ovoviviparous (give birth to live young after carrying eggs inside).[55] The female produces the ova ("eggs") in her ovaries, after which they pass through the body cavity and into one of her two oviducts. The ova are arranged in a continuous chain in a coiled section of the oviduct, known as the "tuba".[51] Male rattlesnakes have sexual organs known as hemipenes, located in the base of the tail. The hemipenis is retracted inside of the body when mating is not occurring. Females can store semen for months in internal recesses known as spermathecae, which permits them to mate during the fall, but not fertilize the ova until the following spring.[51] The Arizona black rattlesnake (C. oreganus cerberus), has been observed to exhibit complex social behavior reminiscent of that in mammals. Females often remain with their young in nests for several weeks, and mothers have been observed cooperatively parenting their broods.[56]

text: Rattlesnakes generally take several years to mature, and females usually reproduce only once every three years.[57]

text: Brumation

text:
In the colder winter months, some rattlesnake species enter a period of brumation, which is dormancy similar to hibernation.
They often gather together for brumation in  large numbers (sometimes over 1,000 snakes), huddling together inside underground "rattlesnake dens" or hibernacula.[58][59] Rattlesnakes regularly share their winter burrows with a wide variety of other species (such as turtles, small mammals, invertebrates, and other types of snakes).[58]

text: Rattlesnakes often return to the same den, year after year, sometimes traveling several miles to get there. It is not known exactly how the rattlesnakes find their way back to the dens each year, but may use a combination of pheromone trails and visual cues (e.g., topography, celestial navigation, and solar orientation).[60]

text: Species with long periods of brumation tend to have much lower reproductive rates than those with shorter brumation periods, or those that do not brumate all. Female timber rattlesnakes in high peaks in the Appalachian Mountains of New England reproduce every three years on average; the lance-headed rattlesnake (C. polystictus), native to the warm climate of Mexico, reproduces annually.[61]

text: Like most other snakes, rattlesnakes aestivate during very hot or dry periods, which is why they are rarely seen during the hottest and driest months of summer.[62]

text: Conservation status

text: Rattlesnakes tend to avoid developed areas, preferring undisturbed, natural habitats. Rapid habitat destruction by humans, mass killings during events such as rattlesnake round-ups, and deliberate extermination campaigns all pose threats to rattlesnake populations in many areas. Several species of rattlesnakes, such as the timber rattlesnake, massasauga, and canebrake rattlesnake, are listed as threatened or endangered in many U.S. states.[63]

text: A large number of rattlesnakes die from being run over by cars.[17]

text: In more heavily populated and trafficked areas, reports have been increasing of rattlesnakes that do not rattle. This phenomenon is commonly attributed to selective pressure by humans, who often kill the snakes when they are discovered.[64] Non-rattling snakes are more likely to go unnoticed, so survive to reproduce offspring that, like themselves, are less likely to rattle.

text: Safety and first aid

text: Rattlesnakes are the leading cause of snakebite injuries in North America and a significant cause in Central and South America.[33][65]

text: Avoiding bites

text: Rattlesnakes tend to avoid wide-open spaces where they cannot hide from predators, and generally avoid humans if they are aware of their approach.[66] Rattlesnakes rarely bite unless they feel threatened or provoked. A majority of victims (about 72%[67]) are males, often young and intoxicated. Around half of bites occur in cases where the victim saw the snake, yet made no effort to move away.[26]

text: Caution is advised even when snakes are believed to be dead; rattlesnake heads can see, flick the tongue, and inflict venomous bites for up to an hour after being severed from the body.[68][69]

text: Effect of bites on humans

text: An estimated 7,000 to 8,000 people are bitten by venomous snakes in the United States each year, with about five deaths.[70] The most important factor in survival following a severe envenomation is the time elapsed between the bite and treatment. Most deaths occur between six and 48 hours after the bite. If antivenom treatment is given within two hours of the bite, the probability of recovery is greater than 99%.[71]

text: When a bite occurs, the amount of venom injected is under voluntary control by the snake. The amount released depends on a variety of factors, including the condition of the snake (e.g., having long, healthy fangs and a full venom sack) and its temperament (an angry, hungry snake that has just been stepped on vs. a satiated snake that was merely surprised by walking near it).[72] About 20% of bites result in no envenomation at all. A lack of burning pain and edema 3⁄8 in (1 cm) away from the fang marks after one hour suggests either no or minimal envenomation occurred. A lack of edema or erythema in the area of the bite after eight hours indicates a lack of envenomation for most rattlesnake bites.[73]

text: Common symptoms include swelling, severe pain, tingling, weakness, anxiety, nausea and vomiting, hemorrhaging, perspiration, and eventually heart failure.[72][74] Local pain following envenomation is often intense, increasing with the ensuing edema.[72] Children generally experience more severe symptoms because they receive a larger amount of venom per unit of body mass.[73]

text: Antivenin

text: Antivenin, often referred to as antivenom, is commonly used to treat the effects of local and systemic pit viper envenomations.[75] The first step in the production of crotaline antivenin is collecting ("milking") the venom of a live rattlesnake—usually from the western diamondback (Crotalus atrox), eastern diamondback (Crotalus adamanteus), South American rattlesnake (Crotalus durissis terrificus), or fer-de-lance (Bothrops atrox). The extracted venom is then diluted and injected into horses, goats, or sheep, whose immune systems produce antibodies that protect from the toxic effects of the venom. These antibodies accumulate in the blood, which is then extracted and centrifuged to separate the red blood cells. The resulting serum is purified into a lyophilized powder, which is packaged for distribution and later use by human patients.[76][77]

text: Because antivenin is derived from animal antibodies, people generally display an allergic response during infusion, known as serum sickness.[78][79]

text: Veterinary care

text: In the United States, more than 15,000 domesticated animals are bitten by snakes each year. Rattlesnake envenomations account for 80% of the deadly incidents.[80]

text: Dogs are most commonly bitten on the front legs and head. Horses generally receive bites on the muzzle, and cattle on their tongues and muzzles. If a domesticated animal is bitten, the hair around the bite should be removed, so  the wound can be clearly seen. The crotaline Fab antivenin has been shown to be effective in the treatment of canine rattlesnake bites. Symptoms include swelling, slight bleeding, sensitivity, shaking, and anxiety.[36]

text: In human culture

text: Spirituality

text: Indigenous Americans

text: Aztec paintings, Central American temples, and the great burial mounds in the southeastern United States are frequently adorned with depictions of rattlesnakes, often within the symbols and emblems of the most powerful deities.[81]

text: The Feathered Serpent of Mesoamerican religion was depicted as having the combined features of the quetzal and rattlesnake.[82] The Ancient Maya considered the rattlesnake to be a "vision serpent" that acted as a conduit to the "otherworld".[83]

text: Rattlesnakes are a key element in Aztec mythology and were widely represented in Aztec art, including sculptures, jewelry, and architectural elements.

text: Christian snake handling sects

text: Members of some Christian sects in the southern United States are regularly bitten while participating in "snake handling" rituals. Snake handling is when people hold venomous snakes, unprotected, as part of a religious service inspired by a literal interpretation of the Bible verses Mark 16:17-18 which reads, "In my name ... they will pick up snakes with their hands".[26][84]

text: As food

text: Journalist Alistair Cooke claimed that rattlesnake tastes "just like chicken, only tougher".[85] Others have compared the flavor to a wide range of other meats, including veal, frog, tortoise, quail, fish, rabbit, and even canned tuna.[86] Methods of preparation include barbecueing[87] and frying; author Maud Newton, following a recipe by Harry Crews, described the taste, "at least when breaded and fried, like a sinewy, half-starved tilapia."[88]

text: Symbolism

text: The rattlesnake became a symbolic animal for the Colonials during the Revolutionary War period, and is depicted prominently on the Gadsden Flag. It continues to be used as a symbol by the United States military, and political movements within the United States.


document_title: The Handmaid's Tale (TV series)

question_text: when does handmaid's tale season 2 episode 10 come out

question_tokens: when does handmaid 's tale season 2 episode 10 come out

root

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]

tag: p

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]

tag: ul

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 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 are burned with a 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 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 taken to the colonies for committing a "sin of the flesh." Emily gives her tablets that turn out to be poison, which leads to her death. Emily blames her for "holding a woman down while her husband rapes her".[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. Nick visits June and she 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 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 place where she meets Omar, who tells her he is bringing her to another safe house near an airstrip 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 gets out of 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

The Handmaid's Tale

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: Purdue Pharma

question_text: when did purdue pharma begin manufacturing oxycontin in the united states

text: Purdue Pharma

text: History[edit]

text: Purdue Pharma is a privately held company founded in 1892 by doctors John Purdue Gray and George Frederick Bingham in New York, New York (USA) as the Purdue Frederick Company.[2] The company is not related to Purdue University or its founder John Purdue.

text: In 1952, the company was sold to two more doctors, Raymond and Mortimer Sackler who relocated the business to Yonkers, New York. In the intervening years the company opened further offices in New Jersey and Connecticut. The headquarters are in Stamford, Connecticut.

text: The current company, Purdue Pharma L.P. was constituted in 1991 and focuses on pain management medication, calling itself a "pioneer in developing medications for reducing pain, a principal cause of human suffering". In September 2015 the company's website said it has some 1,700 people on its payroll.[3]

text: In September 2015 the company announced it would acquire VM Pharma, gaining access to worldwide development and commercial rights to an allosteric selective tropomyosin receptor kinase inhibitor program – specifically the Phase II candidate VM-902A. The deal could generate more than $213 million for VM Pharma.[4]

text: Structure[edit]

text: The company's different branches include Purdue Pharma L.P., The Purdue Frederick Company, Purdue Pharmaceutical Products L.P. and Purdue Products L.P. The company's manufacturing takes place at three different sites, Purdue Pharmaceuticals L.P. a plant located in Wilson North Carolina, The P.F. Laboratories Inc in Totowa, New Jersey and Rhodes Technologies L.P. in Coventry Rhode Island. Purdue Pharma L.P. also has research labs in Cranbury New Jersey. OxyContin is currently distributed throughout the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Distribution takes place from the P.F. Laboratories Inc in Totowa, New Jersey.

text: Management[edit]

text: Craig Landau was appointed CEO on June 22, 2017. He joined Purdue Pharma L.P. in 1999. During his 14 years with the U.S. organization, he has served as Chief Medical Officer and as Vice President of R&D Innovation, Clinical and Medical Affairs. In this role and as part of the Company’s Management Team, he and the R&D organization were responsible for a number of health policy initiatives as well as product registrations in the U.S. and other regions, including Butrans, reformulated OxyContin, Targiniq ER and Hysingla ER. In 2013, he was appointed President and CEO of Purdue Pharma (Canada).

text: Craig earned his B.Sc. in Physiology and Anatomy from Cornell University and his M.D. from Mount Sinai School of Medicine. He completed his Anesthesiology residency at Yale University, with specialty training in chronic pain management, obstetric and peripheral vascular anesthesia. He is also a U.S. Army Veteran, having concluded a distinguished 14-year career in 2005.

text: Controversy[edit]

text: Purdue Pharma makes pain medicines such as hydromorphone, oxycodone, fentanyl, codeine, and hydrocodone. It is widely known for the production of drugs such as MS Contin, Oxycontin, and Ryzolt. In 1972, Contin (a controlled drug-release system) was developed. In 1984, its extended-release formulation of morphine, MS Contin was released. In 1996 its extended-release formulation of oxycodone, OxyContin was released.[3]

text: The controversy behind the company emerged as a result of the drugs that they made and how they carried high potential for abuse by drug abusers and people with a history of addiction. The most commonly abused medications that the company produces are MS Contin and OxyContin. Both can be abused by crushing, chewing, snorting, or injecting the dissolved product. This is a significant risk to the abuser because it can result in overdose and death. Drug-seeking tactics that addicts undergo to obtain the medication include “doctor shopping”, which is visiting a number of different physicians to obtain additional prescriptions and refusal to follow up with appropriate examinations. Along with the high potential for abuse among people without prescriptions, there is also a risk for physical dependency and tolerance for patients that are prescribed them. Nevertheless, strong analgesic drugs remain indispensable to patients suffering from severe acute and cancer pain.[5]

text: OxyContin, introduced in 1995, was Purdue Pharma’s breakthrough palliative for chronic pain. Under a marketing strategy that Arthur Sackler had pioneered decades earlier, the company aggressively pressed doctors to prescribe the drug, wooing them with free trips to pain-management seminars and paid speaking engagements. Sales soared[6]. The drug was marketed as “smooth and sustained pain control all day and all night” when taken on a 12-hour schedule and as having lower abuse potential than immediate-release oxycodone because of its time-release properties even though there was no scientific evidence backing that conclusion.[7] However, at the start of 2000, widespread reports of OxyContin abuse surfaced. The results obtained from a proactive abuse surveillance program called Researched Abused, Diversion, and Addiction-Related Surveillance (RADARS) sponsored by Purdue Pharma L.P. pronounced Oxycontin and hydrocodone the most commonly abused pain medications.[8] In 2012, New England Journal of Medicine published a study that found that "76 percent of those seeking help for heroin addiction began by abusing pharmaceutical narcotics, primarily OxyContin",[9] and draws a direct line between Purdue's marketing of OxyContin and the subsequent heroin epidemic in the U.S.

text: A 2016 Los Angeles Times investigation reported that in many people OxyContin's 12-hour schedule does not adequately control pain, resulting in withdrawal symptoms including intense craving for the drug. The journalists suggested that this problem gives "new insight into why so many people have become addicted." Using Purdue documents and other records, they claim that Purdue was aware of this problem even before the drug went to market but "held fast to the claim of 12-hour relief, in part to protect its revenue [because] OxyContin’s market dominance and its high price — up to hundreds of dollars per bottle — hinge on its 12-hour duration."[10]

text: OxyContin became a blockbuster drug. Purdue had increased its earnings from a few billion in 2007[11] to US$31 billion by 2016.[12] That had increased to US$35 billion by 2017.[13] According to a 2017 article in The New Yorker, Purdue Pharma is "owned by one of America’s richest families, with a collective net worth of thirteen billion dollars".[13]

text: Oxycontin-related lawsuits[edit]

text: Purdue was involved in measures against prescription drug abuse, particularly of Oxycontin. In 2001, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal issued a statement urging Purdue to take action regarding abuse of Oxycontin; he did note that while Purdue seemed sincere, there was little action being taken beyond "cosmetic and symbolic steps."[14] After Purdue announced plans to reformulate the drug, Blumenthal noted that this would take time and that "Purdue Pharma has a moral, if not legal obligation to take effective steps and address addiction and abuse even as it works to reformulate the drug."[15] The company has since fabricated research to make Oxycontin appear less addictive than it really is.[citation needed]

text: In 2004, the West Virginia attorney general sued Purdue for reimbursement of “excessive prescription costs” paid by the state. Saying that patients were taking more of the drug than they had been prescribed because the effects of the drug wore off hours before the 12-hour schedule, the state charged Purdue with deceptive marketing. In his ruling the trial judge wrote: “Plaintiff’s evidence shows Purdue could have tested the safety and efficacy of OxyContin at eight hours, and could have amended their label, but did not.” The case never went to trial; Purdue agreed to settle by paying the state $10 million for programs to discourage drug abuse, with all the evidence remaining under seal and confidential.[10]

text: In May 2007 the company pleaded guilty to misleading the public about Oxycontin's risk of addiction and agreed to pay $600 million in one of the largest pharmaceutical settlements in U.S. history. Its president, top lawyer and former chief medical officer pleaded guilty as individuals to misbranding charges, a criminal violation and agreed to pay a total of $34.5 million in fines.[16][17] Those executives are: Michael Friedman, the company’s president, who agreed to pay $19 million in fines; Howard R. Udell, its top lawyer, who agreed to pay $8 million; and Dr. Paul D. Goldenheim, its former medical director, who agreed to pay $7.5 million. In addition three top executives were charged with a felony and sentenced to 400 hours of community service in drug treatment programs.[18]

text: On October 4, 2007, Kentucky officials sued Purdue because of widespread Oxycontin abuse in Appalachia. A lawsuit filed by Kentucky then-Attorney General Greg Stumbo and Pike County officials demanded millions in compensation.[19] Eight years later, on December 23, 2015, Kentucky settled with Purdue for $24 million.[20]

text: In January 2017 the city of Everett, Washington sued Purdue based on increased costs for the city from the use of oxycontin as well as Purdue not intervening when they noted odd patterns of sale of their product, per agreement in the 2007 suit noted above. The allegations include not following legal agreements to track suspicious excess ordering or potential black market usage. False clinics created by unscrupulous doctors using homeless individuals as 'patients' to purchase oxycontin, then sell to the citizens of Everett was the factual basis of the suit. The blackmarket sale of the drug out of legal pharmacies based in Los Angeles with distributions points in Everett is also part of the experience of the city. No intervention was made by Purdue to contact the DEA for years despite knowing of the practice and the overuse and sale of their product. The suit is asking for a yet to be determined reimbursement related to costs of policing, housing, health care, rehabilitation, criminal justice system, park and recreations department, as well as to the loss of life or compromised quality of life of the citizens of the city directly.[21][22][23]


question_text: who sang i got my mind made up

question_tokens: who sang i got my mind made up

text:
"I Got My Mind Made Up (You Can Get It Girl)"

Single by Instant Funk

from the album Instant Funk

Released
1979 (1979)

Genre

Disco
funk

Length

5:17
3:20 (single version)

Label
Salsoul

text: "I Got My Mind Made Up (You Can Get It Girl)" is a song recorded by the disco band Instant Funk in 1979. Released from their self-titled debut album, the song spent three non-consecutive weeks at number one on the R&B singles chart (interrupted by "He's the Greatest Dancer" by Sister Sledge). It also enjoyed success on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, peaking at number twenty.[1] The single also peaked at number one on the disco chart.[2] It was recognizably sampled by De La Soul in their track "A Rollerskating Jam named 'Saturdays'".

text: Throughout the years 'I Got My Mind Made Up' has been remixed to varying degrees of success in the clubs. In 1990 the song was remixed by Freshline Allstars and Hithouse. In 1995 the song was remixed by Johnny Vicious. In 1997 the song was remixed by Alex Neri. In 1998 the song was remixed by Succi and in 2003 the song was remixed by Thunderpuss.

text: The original production of this song was done on 8 tracks and was a simple 3 minute R&B song. It was transferred to 24 track tape at Blank Tapes, NYC and work began on it by the producer Bunny Sigler and engineer Bob Blank. Among other things, Bunny brought in a woman to say 'say what?' throughout the record. Standing behind her, his directions ("scream") were amplified and used as part of the production. Remixing was done manually (no computerization) and was attempted by Walter Gibbons, Ken Cayre (the owner of Salsoul Records) and finally by Larry Levan. Done in Blank Tapes's old studio A, on a console that was not automated, the remixes were done with spicing tape, playing a small section of the music and then resetting the console, then recording the next piece. For the groove part that defines the song, 4 bars of groove section was edited in over and over to create the format of the song as it exists today. Bob Blank, the engineer for this production, estimates that it took over 60 hours of mixing time to create the versions that exist today.

text: In 1985, Salsoul Records removed all the multi-track masters from Blank Tapes (hundreds were stored in air conditioned storage areas in the studio) and destroyed them, except for some that were saved from destruction by John Morales. This master was among them.