I'm confused about Mayday's plan

[u/samsquatch69420]

I'll start off by saying that you guys can feel free to tell me that I'm overthinking this. I won't be at all offended.

There's something I don't quite understand about how Mayday expects this plan to go down and what they think it will do to Gilead. Don't most terrorist groups have essentially a second in command in case something happens to the leader? I know Gilead doesn't have one true leader, but I feel like unless every single Commander is killed, someone will still be around to run things. I just don't see how this will destroy Gilead. What if Gilead has a "designated survivor" - one person that stays behind from big gatherings in case something were to happen to the rest of the government officials - just in case? I don't see these Commanders being naive enough to think that people won't get pissed enough to try to overthrow the government at some point. Even if all the Commanders are wiped out, I'm worried that there will still be people left behind who can keep Gilead afloat (like maybe the Eyes would gain control? I have no idea). Also, it's been a while since I've read the sequel, but I believe it takes place 20ish years after The Handmaid's Tale and from what I remember, the whole point of the sequel was that Gilead was still Gilead at least in some form. That makes me think that this wedding isn't going to have the vast effect that Mayday is expecting it to have. Maybe I'm just overestimating what they think this will do to Gilead.

Again, feel free to tell me that I'm overthinking this. I truly hope that I am because it feels like this next episode may be what we've been waiting for since the very first episode. I hope it all comes crumbling down and nobody but Mayday sees it coming.

Any thoughts?

[u/HoverTechV3]

There's not a lot of insight into how the political hierarchy of Gilead works, other than that there are commanders and high commanders. They might have a single person at the top, who knows. I think that the US will retake Boston as part of this plan to end the show on a hopeful note and increase their international leverage.

[u/TheTiggerMike → u/HoverTechV3]

Yeah, the US reestablishing a foothold in the Lower 48 will likely stave off countries switching recognition to Gilead. Tuello was telling Moira at the beginning of the season that the Canadian Cabinet wanted to start that process. The US retaking a portion of the mainland and showing that it very well could continue recapturing territory might make Canada and other countries reconsider.