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.

I hope we get a background for Aunt Lydia. I would love to understand how she arrived at her beliefs. She seems to be one of a minority of true believers. The analogy of a farmer and cattle is really accurate I think, she cares for the handmaids to a degree, but not beyond her view that they are sinners for breeding.

Have they broken june or will she come good?? Love this season.

I think aunt Lydia is actually the only real true believer out of all of them.

I think Serena wants a baby so much it has taken her over. She hates anyone who can have a child, especially if they seem less deserving than her. You see it now, people say why is it fair that single parent on benefits can have three kids and I can't even have one. She has nothing to do but brood about the unfairness of it all. She doesn't care that June has to lose a baby to give her one.

June needs Moira to tell her to get her shit together, like she did to Moira. I thought it was a little unfair of the other handmaid to blame their punishment on June. June was the first to refuse to stone Janine but she didn't make the others join in. And June put herself at risk going back to Jezebels for the letters for her. But I suppose June needed to feel guilty in order for aunt Lydia to be able to break her.

What do you think Aunt Lydia’s real name is? I expect she got a new name when she became an Aunt, in the same way nuns do. Maybe we’ll find out later in the season.

I’d like to know aunt Lydia’s back story, and how she came to believe in gilead.

I don't think we're going to get aunt lydia's back story. Because in that interview Ann dowd did she said she supposed Lydia would have been a headteacher in her previous life. Hope I'm wrong though.

Just caught up on the episode and the thread. It was a hard watch this week, and all my hopes that Mayday were behind the 'recapture' came to nothing

I agree that the three lead women actresses were utterly superb this week. I think Serena is losing it even more than June. I thought the scene where she 'spoke' to the unborn child was so chilling.

When June was lying in the cupboard, was that where nolite te bastardes carborundorum had been inscribed and now boarded over as if it had never been there? Or have I misremembered? Because if it was, it would be a metaphor for losing hope and being robbed of voice.

I noticed that June nowhas a single bed at the Waterford's, I'm sure in series 1 it was a double bed. Did I imagine that?

Just joining - I binged watched series one about six months ago and am now booked on series 2!

Read this with interest. One thing - the loving look at Nick at the breakfast table. I think that was contrived by June as a dig at Serena. Serena told June to sleep with Nick to get pregnant. She knows as a Martha, that could get her sent to the colonies. June knows it's another thing she has over Serena, a piece of blackmail. I think she gazed at Nick like that as a two fingers up at a serena, and a watch what you say.

The Omar death and heather becoming a handmaid and being separated from her son really affected me

And the recapture too. I really wanted June to escape. For them to take the story from another perspective 😞

*hooked not booked!

One thing - the loving look at Nick at the breakfast table. I think that was contrived by June as a dig at Serena. Serena told June to sleep with Nick to get pregnant.

I have just watched the episode, having already read this thread, and I think you could be right. Up until now her looks and expressions have been quite minimalist and subtle - that lingering look was really over the top.

I agree with the “look” theory.

Yes the Latin saying was in the cupboard where June lay down, now painted over.

I think June always had a single bed.

Is her bed a mattress on the floor now? Was it always like that? I thought the Latin had been sanded off.

Yep that look was extra. Considering June's frame of mind at the time too.

Yes, the Latin was sanded away. I agree it was a metaphor for June being worn down as well as a message to her.

June always had a single bed but she at least used to have a bed frame. It’s just a mattress on the floor now. Her room has been stripped of anything hard that could potentially cause harm to the baby. Eg, she used to have a rack full of dresses hanging but Rita has to bring her a fresh one each morning now. No forming a rope to hang herself or using the hangers to hurt herself/the baby.

Completely agree with pp on amazing acting, esp Ann Dowd and Elizabeth Moss.

An important episode I think where a part of June goes into shutdown in the face of what happened to Omar's family and guilt over breaking up a marriage. At the end outside the gate she just looked like she'd completely zoned out.

Seriously depressing slog though, struggling a bit to stick with it tonight.

Loving this discussion almost as much as the series! Great to see what other people have picked up on.

At the end outside the gate she just looked like she'd completely zoned out

Did you hear the music?

Cat Power - Hate

I wish I could tell you a lie
Hey, come here
Let me whisper in your ear
I hate myself and I want to die

The music in every episode has a message, it's amazing isn't it!

Wait till you hear the end music for episode 6! Google the lyrics afterwards, so apt! It's one of my DP favourite bands/songs (not mine as I'm too young )

chocolatetea I think you've nailed it. The cow eyes at Nick wasn't a stupid oversight on the part of the directors, it was a clever dig at serena that she has something over her. At that point June was still firey and angry and fighting back.

I think she has now decided the best thing for her and everyone else is for her to try and give up the fight. They have boarded up the inside of the wardrobe. I think losing that message was the last straw for her spirit. I wonder what/who will shake her back to herself?!

I have watched every episode 2 or 3 times this series (season 1 I binged watched and don't remember the detail so much) and I see/hear new things every time I watch an episode again.

I didn't know the songs were a hidden message, how interesting!

Oh the songs are brilliantly apt and hooked me from the first episode "you don't own me". They're a brilliant accompaniment to the book.

Love the idea of re watching to see other bits!

Are you songs not a bit of a nod to the book? It's been a while since I read it but IIRC in the epilogue it was stated that Offred's story was found on a load of tapes with music at either end to hide its contents.

Really interesting discussion. I felt the cow eyes were more of a reaction to seeing one friendly face, and relief that he is still alive, but that may well be far too simplistic!