Tyler wrote: If season 3 doesn’t air by next June does that mean the show is eligible for all its usual categories next year based off 3 episodes?

Yes. Just watched the finale, which is titled “The Word” (might have missed what this refers to), was written by Bruce Miller and directed by Mike Barker with unconventional framing.

It is Alexis Bledel’s tape for next year. Maybe the episode even tips things in her favour at the Emmys this year because I think that Ann Dowd and Madeline Brewer each only have one scene. Elisabeth Moss could use this, but she already has #11. Yvonne Strahovski continues to get her moments that should satisfy the Serena fan base. Glad that the show stopped calling her Serena Joy because that was stupid. Not a tape for Joseph Fiennes, but it is the kind of episode that he might be forced to submit because he never gets a tape and he has some material here. O-T Fagbenle only appears in the episode’s only flashback. Samira Wiley does not appear, so she was only in four of the season’s thirteen episodes and the last time that we saw Moira in the present was #9. Not a fan of Bradley Whitford’s character. He should submit #12, as should Eden.

The episode itself is solid, but what happens at the very end is dumb and capped off by a poor directorial decision that makes the moment almost comedic. The second season finale of The Handmaid’s Tale will leave you saying, “WTF?” and not in a good way. So I cannot tell how the reception will be. People should be on board for over an hour of this extended episode, but that last minute is the most important one, as it is the note that the show will leave the audience on for a year.

I should not say whether it comes to fruition, but there is the suggestion of another reset in the middle of the episode (for next season) that had me groaning. I suppose that the plot is driven on some level at this point by Fred being weirdly and unhealthily infatuated with June.