The Handmaid's Tale Season 2 (UK Pace) - thread 2

[CruCru]

Hi all

Here is the next thread for those who are watching The Handmaid's Tale Season 2 on Channel 4. Please don't put any spoilers on this - the other thread (for those in other countries who are watching ahead of the UK) is www.mumsnet.com/Talk/telly_addicts/3239228-Handmaids-Tale-Season-2-SPOILERS-VIEWING-AHEAD-OF-UK-SREENING.

@theredjellybean I agree, I didn't think they actually managed to have sex that time, I thought Serena tried oral sex and Fred rejected her.

But I can't work out why they're not allowed.

Surely the more opportunity to get somebody pregnant the better, and you can guarantee that the Wives would still get the blame if no pregnancy occurred.

I wondered if it's perhaps to stop the Wives getting pregnant to the doctor or the Chauffeur and passing off that baby as her husband's child.

It's one thing for everybody to pretend the Handmaid is pregnant by the Commander when they all know differently, another thing entirely to pretend that a Wife hasn't been unfaithful in order to get pregnant.

Do what do Econowives do? Where were they all going?

And what do the children of handmaids do? Hannah has been stolen to be what?

And what about the children of the econofamilies?

Hygge, in the book, the wives are older - post-menopause. Serena certainly is. That's one area in which the adaptation is quite different - all the wives seem pretty young.

in the book, the wives are older - post-menopause. Serena certainly is. That's one area in which the adaptation is quite different - all the wives seem pretty young

Are there fertile Commanders with fertile wives in the book?

I think... that though it's true that in the book they are older.

Hannah was clearly a rarity. June was the only one in Labour and someone tried to steal her. They are being stared at in the cafe when they go out as the sight of a baby is so rare

It's likely that all the Wives are infertile but their social position means they are assigned a Handmaid, like a luxury item.

Remember in S1 some bitching about as to why God would have granted such a gift to these awful "sluts" and the unfairness of it ?

Once that Econowife proved fertile they probably had eyes on her to find some minor fault in their conduct so they could Handmaid her. She probably knew which is why she was so mad at Omar.

I always thought the lack of outside perspective on the Gilead regime is deliberate, to emphasise the claustrophobia and compete lack of contact with the outside world.

A very sad episode this week.

We saw Hannah in a pink cloak.

The hope is, possibly that girls of fertile women will themselves echo that fertility

Just watched episode 4. June seems to be losing her sanity a bit.

Love the way Serena is being wound up by June though.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/TheHandmaid%27sTale

Link above is to Wikipedia, it explains more about the wider society of Gilead and the different roles and people.

Yes, I've read the book. So this could be a part where they remain true to it.

But having made many of the Commanders and their wives younger (not all of them, but a good amount) for the series, you would think that they'd be encouraging marital sex between them in the hope of some kind of pregnancy eventually.

Tractor - the link is broken

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/TheHandmaid%27sTale

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/TheHandmaid%27sTale

One more try, don't know why it's not working.

Don't know why the link isn't working, but if you google the handmaids tale on Wikipedia (book not tv series), it gives a good synopsis of the different roles of members of Gilead society and how they came to be.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Handmaid%27s_Tale

Think this works

And thanks - had previously only looked at the Wikipedia article on the tv adaptation

I thought that the Econofamily were Muslims? I know they were hiding it but, in order to stay together and be obedient etc, wouldn't they have had to prove that they'd married in a Christian church? Just musing...

I found Aunt Lydia terrifying in this episode. Just a master manipulator. I do think that on some level she cares for her 'girls', or maybe only to the point where they are useful as incubators. Loving this season

I agree with a pp that the focus on the three women, June, SJ and Aunt Lydia, was great in this episode. Their acting blows me away!

"I found Aunt Lydia terrifying in this episode. Just a master manipulator. I do think that on some level she cares for her 'girls', or maybe only to the point where they are useful as incubators."

Perhaps that's it. Maybe it's the same way that a farmer cares about sheep or cattle, up to the point that they go to slaughter. You care for them but you can't get too attached because they are animals with a purpose.

I was wondering the other day why the wives don't have pets? You'd expect them to have little dogs in handbags or pampered cats on cushions or something, just to keep them going until they can take a baby from a Handmaid. They do have dogs as the guards have them.

BastardMs a priest maybe forged the necessary paperwork? Some have been killed due to sympathies with May Day (well they were in the book anyway), so I imagine some would have been willing to help.

@MaryPoppinsPenguins the Econowives will have been doing things like picking veg, making soldier uniforms etc. They wouldn't be working for pay, as women aren't allowed. It would keep the regime going, but also keep them busy.

That's a good analogy Hygge, that she sees them as her breeding stock. How chilling.

I wondered about pets too the other day. I wonder if the infertility affected animals too, although do they eat meat in Gilead?

Ah that's probably true Curbside. What a way to have to survive. Denying your faith. Although infinitely preferable to the lives of others under the regime!

What would happen to single or divorced women without children of childbearing age at the start of Gilead? In the book I remember it said that Nuns were offered a choice between being a handmaid or the colonies. Just wondering how an unmarried woman might become an econowife? If they deemed a woman to not be sinful would they offer her the opportunity to marry an economan?

I'm also wondering what could have happened to Annie, Luke's ex wife? Would she be deemed to have sinned for being divorced even though not her choice? It sounded like she was Christian. I wonder if she will pop up later.

I expect that aunt Lydia knows if she doesn't do well enough at producing fertile Handmaid's that she will be sent to the colonies so she will do whatever it takes to avoid that.