1:05 - We're drinking Ommegang's 21st Anniversary Ale - a spiced saison ale co-fermented with New York apple cider. Fun fact: Ommegang, out of Cooperstown, NY, is a sister brewery of Duvel.
5:00 - We're jumping back into "Birth Day," season 1 episode 2 of Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale. We're back in the birthing room and Janine is in the throes of labor.
8:30 - In comes the train of ridiculous wives and a Naomi joins Janine on the two-seater birthing stool.
8:50 - It's not lost on Janine or any of us how absurd it is that Naomi is pretending to be in labor. How many wives have been punched by their laboring handmaid by pulling this nonsense.
10:33 - Madeline Brewer is brilliant in this labor scene. It is so believable.
14:16 - Why is there no medical interventions available for these precious babies?
15:09 - Gilead's extreme fundamentalist mentality regarding the medical care available for newborns feels like an intentional mirroring of the anti choice Christian fundamentalist of today. They're pro birth not pro life.
26:07 - The sound of the wind carries us from the present Gilead to a flashback of June in the hospital, waking up to see that Hannah is missing.
33:45 - The handmaids are in the birth mobile and heading home. Ofglen is not discreet. Roxy makes a great point that she was drinking spiked punch.
36:11 - Back at the Putnam's it's feeding time for baby Angela.
43:05 - The bells toll back at the Waterford's and it's time for Offred to meet Fred.
45:20 - Offred is outside the office door and the writing in June's monologue is brilliant.
51:48 - Fred wants to play a game with June. Isn't this secret meeting game enough for him?
53:48 - Offred gets the first move in scrabble and Roxy has a great take on the nuance of this scene.
1:01:59 - We look at all the words they played on the Scrabble board
1:08:04 - Fred and Offred say their goodbyes. Offred retreats to her room and the absurdity of the situation hits her.
1:10:30 - The upbeat music as June strides out of the house and down the driveway. They really want you to feel good and let your guard down for just a second. But this is Gilead, it's never safe.
1:11:42 - The joy comes to a screeching halt as we meet New Ofglen and everything feels a lot more like Gilead now.
1:16:55 - Margery points out some of the scenes from the first two episodes of season are almost identical to scenes from season 3 and wonders if this could be a signal that season 4 is going to shift gears in some way.