Karen Wiseman

I really enjoyed this series. In fact, I could hardly wait for each new episode. When I heard that this would be the final season, I was disappointed. The way that the last episode ended was very frustrating for me indeed. June went through so much to only get her little girl, Hannah, back so that they could escape to Canada to rejoin her husband, Luke, only to choose to stay in Gilead to keep fighting for the rights of the “stolen” children & the women who had no rights of their own. At the very least, Luke had Nichole with him in Canada & Commander Waterford, along with his wife, Serena Joy, were arrested & were being imprisoned for their many “war crimes” against all the men & women that they had controlled the lives of. So many people cry out that this can’t happen in this modern age, that “we” won’t “allow” it, but look around. It already is happening. How many girls &/or women choose to leave their lives, family, & friends to “run away” so that she can become a “cherished” wife? That is what they are told that they will become. She would no longer have to choose who &/or what she will become. She will no longer have to make any decisions as her husband will take care of her & her children so that life will be so much easier for her to live from day to day. What she isn’t told is that she will no longer have any say as to whether she is allowed to do by her husband, just as she will no longer have any rights to say or do anything with or for their children because, once the child has reached a certain age, they are no longer hers. The child is his property, to do with as he sees fit. Even to the extent as to whomever he chooses to give the girl to be his wife, even if she is hasn’t yet become a woman & the man is quite a bit older, so as to make sure that any children born into that family is of the man’s bloodline. If or when the man finds that his wife no longer appeals to him but another does, he is within his rights to cast his wife & all of her belongings out into the street to “divorce”her so that he can tell his children that their mother is dead & then bring in his new wife to introduce his children to their “new mother”. Even though the children can see & hear their birth mother, they are raised to turn deaf & blind to her as if she truly is dead. In fact, even the woman’s own family will give the former wife enough money to leave as if they were paying for her funeral & then the woman is dead to them as well. The only reason that I all of this because one of my family members married a woman who this happened to. I also know personally that a woman doesn’t have to become a “kept”woman like what I described above. Any woman can be in a relationship where she is so well loved that one day she “wakes up” to find that she is no longer under her own control of her life & she can’t easily escape even if she is given the opportunity to do so, simply because she fears for the health & well-being of her loved ones. If she leaves, then they will be hurt, or maybe even killed. The only chance she has to protect them is to stay, no matter what is done to her. In spite of the fact that she could be beaten, possibly even to death, she will stay. Her only hope is that her “husband” tires of her & throws her out of his house before it is too late. This is the life of a “battered” woman. Don’t think that it can’t happen to you. It can, no matter how much you deny it. There are men like that in the world & you just might know one already & not realize it.