To think Luke should have taken Hannah and June should have fled alone?

[BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz]

Putting both the "assets" (females) together to flee was not the best plan. Catch one, you've got two.

Had June fled alone she could have run further. Taken more risks. Stayed silent. He had a gun. He was stronger and faster. He could have carried Hannah further.

Not many mothers would agree to run off without their child in that situation

I agree, but surely there's a greater chance of their survival? I know my husband could carry dd further and for longer than me.

It would break me. But I'd rather he took her than them.

Oh this is a great thread. I teach HMT and have thought about this a lot. In the moment, I think I’d want DC to stay with me: there’s just something primal and instinctive that tells me I wouldn’t want DH carrying them off. Your way does make more sense though.

That's true. Nature would probably override.

I love that the book is studied in school. I saw a copy of the cliff notes in a second hand book shop a few months back and wish I'd bought it.

Dd is going to be pissed when she starts studying it at school and I try and hustle my way into her notes.

I'm also not sure how much June and Luke would have known about Gilead's plans when they were trying to flee. I don't think they knew that Hannah would be taken or June made a handmaid

That is a very good point.

It’s great to teach to 6th form. So many interesting debates and parallels to present day life (especially current US abortion laws etc). I absolutely adore teaching it and I’m sure your DD will enjoy hearing your opinion, although I know what teenagers can be like!

I'd have been all over it like a rash in sixth form. I can't wait for s5. I'm not sure how it will go given her second book....Will they head that way?

I love teaching it (alongside Medea & Miss Julie last time - that was a good combo.).

I agree Hannah should have gone with Luke...there was no way June was going to get through, to be brutally honest. She was absolutely going to be hunted down.

She'd have done better running in the opposite direction as a visible target to allow Luke to get away with Hannah.

Possibly biggest hindsight ever, though!

I do wonder where they’ll go with it. I enjoyed the second book but it didn’t have the intensity of the first, whereas the programme has always felt really intense, if that makes sense? Maybe they’ll go with the general plot but have it happen sooner (without the big time gap) and potentially fewer key characters?

Amazing as the first book was, it never felt intense. Maybe the producers just know how to ramp it up and will apply the same method to Testaments.

I agree that it makes more sense for Luke to take Hannah. We debated this in fourth form and the overriding consensus was that Luke abdicated responsibility and should have stayed with them, but with a more mature eye I can see that would have not ended well.