Handmaids Tale, Season 2: SPOILERS / VIEWING AHEAD OF UK SREENING

[Aridane]

I'm starting a thread for those of us watching Season 2 and who want to discuss ahead of its screening in the UK.

So far I've watched the first 3 episodes.

God the 1st episode was grim.

Just watched episode 10. I definitely think waterford set them up sending wolves to the slaughter. Makes no sense that he'd be fuming with her one minute and giving her treats the next . I found the scene with hannah heart wrenching how do you explain to a child you didn't abandon them which she obviously feels. Not sure if I could have let go of her if it was one of children it was like ripping your heart out . Of course I drew parallels to america with this week and parents being seperated from their children on the Mexican border god lads we're closer to gilead then we think. Scary times .

Not watching trailer spoilers so no idea what will happen next episode but surely june staying put is the only option. It's a great big house she could have the baby there assuming there's food/water. Surely as well waterford can come get her?

I agree - it did seem really strange that Waterford would set the meeting up with Hannah. He would be in deep trouble at a very pregnant handmaid going missing so although we know he wants rid of Nick, I'm not sure that he would choose that moment and the Guardians that took Nick would have been briefed to take Offred as well.

Very unexpected turn of events for Offred to be left on her own.

IDK, Waterford is weird. He does cruel things then he turns around and does something 'nice' to make up for it. Like taking June to Jezebel's. In his mind that was a 'treat'.

As far as a set up, if he did he took a big chance. There was no guarantee that June wouldn't have been injured if she tried to interfere or that she wouldn't have been seen by the guardians he sent, something I'm sure he would have wanted to avoid. And I don't think he would have set things up so that June was left alone. He knows she escaped once, would he really take the chance that she'd set off on her own, even in her condition? Plus, if he wanted rid of Nick all he would have had to do would be to pick up a phone. I'm sure he has enough power to arrange to make someone disappear with no questions asked.

I definitely think waterford set them up sending wolves to the slaughter

Quite literally it seems. Perhaps that is the reason for the presence of the wolf...

Looked to the pics from the link earlier....

So definitely Eden is one of the two in the pool. The guard with her looks more like Isaac than Nick. thank goodness.
Serena is definitely bathing a baby in the posh baby room of her mansion. I am gutted by that picture - to think that she gets her fucked-up hands on June's baby after all the cruelty and shittiness those two subjected her to. How on earth does that happen?? Poor June. And Nick. Doesn't bear thinking about 😕.

I must admit that I'm going to have to draw the line at this show soon if Serena and Fred don't get some serious comeuppance. They certainly should NEVER have got their hands on June's baby. They can't keep doing this to us - we know its a dystopia - but it's too close to modern reality at times (uncomfortably so) and we need some hope. After that brutal rape scene every single one of us wanted June and her baby away from that pair of sickos.

Oh but it is compelling. But too depressing now I think if the Waterfords got June's baby. June as a person, character or real, is being put through too much. It will start to strain reality that she could even retain sanity, let alone life.

Emily and her new commander are going to have a strange relationship. But a good one ultimately I think - the new commander (Bradley Whitford) seems to have second thoughts, and we know that Emily is a strong woman who has very definite rebellious thoughts - she's also a scientist, and has experienced the Colonies too, so she has a lot of information for him. I hope that's the start of the end.

There must be a dismantling and hope soon, there must be.

Did anyone think how disturbing it must have been for Hannah meeting her mother after so long and then being left bereft again as they said their goodbyes.
Was it truly in the best interest of the child ?

I think Fred must have known it wouldn’t be good for either of them. His use of the word treat was just him being nasty. He is one of those abusers. Quite like my mums husband was. Hewould hurt me and then give me some sort of treat as if that made it better or to prove he was nice or something. It’s a mind fuck. Also noticed that he hasn’t seemed to enjoy the sex (rape) quite as much as he seemed to in that awful scene. I don’t think Fred did send for nick though, if he did he would have mentioned offered surely and she would have been looked for too. It would be too much of a risk to give June any chance to escape while so close to the baby being born. I think Fred would be violent towards the baby if he is annoyed in any way and that worries me. I caught myself wishing the baby passed away in the womb during the rape scene just because it cold possibly have been easier for both June and the child but then I felt awful for even thinking such a thing.

You could also really hear how young Eden was in that episode. Dealing with things she has no experience of but still coming across as quite manipulative. Or just a stroppy teenager basically.

Poor Eden. I thought she was going to be scheming and manipulative, but perhaps she's just an example of what happens when you indoctrinate the very young into a horrible culture and life like that. She's got no idea about reality at all because it'll all have been cloaked in religious dogma, and she's (quite literally, it seems 😔) just a lamb to the slaughter in Gilead.

All those lives being ruined utterly for a few very wealthy men to feel superior and powerful. Quite sickening.

Eden is a conundrum. She is both scheming and naive. And someone like that has a very strong self-protective instinct. She may not know why, but she'll sense danger and throw you under the bus without a second thought. But she's also too stupid to know when she's running headlong into danger herself.

I'd like to see her stick around for a bit, she could be a very interesting, pot-stirring, says stupid things that complicates the lives of other characters by her actions (intentional or otherwise) character. But it doesn't look like that's in the cards.

She is both scheming and naive.

Pretty standard teenager then!

Just watched episode 6 again, it's one of my favourites.

I love reading the other thread too and reading their reactions.

Yes, just reading the UK thread now to see their reactions!

Mavis Ha! Yep!!

I think Eden is going to twig that Nick released the letters in Canada, then Nick reports Eden and Isaac kissing to deflect from that.

I like Max Minghella's performance - he looked fit to kill and heart broken at the same whilst maintaining a front when all the Commander's were cigar smoking and back slapping about his baby and the old guy was talking about possibly having June next. He also knew straight off that the commander had done something awful to June (although she wouldn't tell him) as he was giving her a "treat".

I think Eden will threaten to tell about how Nick fancies the handmaid and other goings on and he will reluctantly dob her in or perhaps she will talk to Serena to get advice about her feelings for Issac and Nick's lack of affection etc and Serena who can't have any investigation into the baby's parentage will rat on her. I actually think June has some power as she could argue to the powers that be about how she was forced and coerced into Nick sex, the writing her and Serena got up to, how the commander transgressed with her and the Waterford's would be in deep trouble. No one seems to be safe from "purges" if a rival wants rid of you.

I think that Eden shows that even indoctrination in a cult can't over ride human instincts. Eden and Issac are young and just fancy one another - you can't beat nature despite all their adherence to the rules and parroting of them. Although, Eden has some memories of time before Gilead - when her mum "made" her dad take out the rubbish so she isn't a pure Gileadean.

Those pictures just show how beautiful the staging actually is. Not that I needed much convincing.

I also think the commander set them up. She basically told him that he wasn't the dad of the baby, and had brutally raped her the night before. It would just be 'odd' for him to arrange a 'treat' the next day for her. I suspect he also worked out that Nick was the actual father.

I think that Eden shows that even indoctrination in a cult can't over ride human instincts. Eden and Issac are young and just fancy one another
I think Eden seems desperate to be loved/ wanted. She was genuinely heartbroken that Nick didn't love/ fancy her. Issac is paying her attention so falls for him. She just seems so lost.

Seeing the scene with Hannah I think Gilead are just going to have very psychologically disturbed adults once these kids grow up and I think Eden is an example of that.

I think it's a real shame that they've effectively shut down the whole subtle angle of Serena having any kind of regrets, or maybe caring about the women of Gilead, or having a decent side. I don't think any one who saw and heard her and Fred in that violent rape scene will be able to ever think of Serena with any compassion again, or feel that either of them would be safe with a baby. It was such an interesting angle, but now if they try to do anything similar with her it'll just ring false.

I love the actress who plays Serena and she has done a superb job of playing the role. All through I have felt a lot more compassion for her than I should and even after the last episode I still can't see her as completely evil. It's totally illogical because her character has done some despicable things but I think it's the way the actress plays her that makes her seem tortured and trapped in a similar way to Offred

The actress does do a brilliant job of playing Serena. She reminds me of a US High school queen bee or prom queen who has been master of all she surveyed in the past but now is being thwarted. She pretends kindness for June but only to get what she wants - it is all about her. She never thought at all for a moment that she would be curtailed and oppressed like other "lower" women as she was "royalty".

I think I'm getting my head around Serena now. She was a vocal campaigner with controversial ideas about what was wrong with society. She believed that men and women had different roles to play (equal but different), and that women should embrace their "intended" role as wives, mothers and homemakers. All this was backed up by her religious fervour, and because Fred shared her faith she made the mistake of thinking he saw eye to eye with her on this plan for society. But she envisioned the brave new world coming about by educating and persuading women - hence writing that book and giving lectures. She wished for women to choose a supportive role in society. She never intended women to become subservient to men or to have all their choices taken away.

The subtle signs that suggested she was going to rebel really just showed her frustration at having her own power, choices and independence taken away. She still thinks that women belong in the home and she still uses her warped religious beliefs to justify her hideous actions. But she's furious that the new society hasn't been created according to her terms, and she takes it out on the one person she still has any power over.

I think you're right, this isn't the society she envisioned. She was naive in her ideology and thought she alone had this tremendous insight into how to fix all the things she deemed to be broken. That being said she is fully on board with homosexuality being a sin, she is on board with enslaving people as Martha's and she is on board with using another woman's womb to get what she wants. Despite all this I find it hard to hate her the way I know I should.