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 hate the way Aunt Lydia keeps referring to June as a 'good girl'. Her emphasis on the word girl is so dismissive.
I find it so grating and it really hits home when we look at society today with grown women calling themselves girls (girls' night etc). June is a woman, not a girl.

Girl is such a childish term. It's used to cleverly on the show- it's dismissive but also takes away adult responsibility from the handmaids and locks them in their place by absolving them of any role and allowing them to be passive and looked after.

For those who find men more sympathetic. How?????

Every time I watch this show I end up hating men.

Yes I'm not getting the sympathetic men thing, I guess it's natural for men to be running mayday as they have the power.

I expect men are more involved in Mayday as they have more freedom to move around and communicate with others. I expect women aren't allowed to drive so men like the delivery drivers will have to take the active roles.

I've just found Season 2 on Showbox!!!

I was also wondering how nobody noticed Nick home for large chunks of time when their handmaid was also missing...

Maybe he was out "looking for her" so it made sense he was away.

What has everyone found the most difficult / disturbing part of episode 4 ?
For me it was serena stroking June's belly at the end . It was an ultimate violation of June - walking into her room , waking her up , laying down with her and touching her and her baby made me feel sick . I found it really hard to watch .

That June had to sit there and beg to be allowed to "keep her place" a place were she has been systematically abused and her own child will be stolen from her.

I also think, that considering how few Handmaids seem to get pregnant - she will almost certainly be reassigned rather than killed after the baby is born despite her escape attempt.

Surprisingly I was very upset when Serena was effectively told to shut up and allow June to remain in the house.
Fred clearly doesn't give a shit about her feelings- all he wants is to keep up appearances.

It basically shows that no women, even the supposedly powerful ones, have any control over their lives. I know Serena is complicit in creating Gilead but I still felt utterly sorry for her in this scene.

Aunt Lydia crushing June by showing her Omar' s body was also horrific.

One question I have is what will all those 'miracle children' be like?
Their biological mothers are raped and psychologically abused throughout their pregnancies and they are then given to bitter jealous women with no experience of motherhood and no one to show them what to do.
Surely all those kids will be fucked up?

Yamayo my thoughts exactly about the children and also I found the two scenes you mentioned came a close second . Also, when serena slapped the Martha I reeled .

The bit where Serena lashed out at Rita and nobody said anything about it.

Because Rita and June can't and Aunt Lydia didn't care.

I felt really upset for Rita because she seems to have taken to being in the household and she cares about the people in it. She is obviously frightened by Gilead, as we saw when she gave back the letters, but also she seems genuinely fond of Serena and June as women in the house. She was excited before when she thought June was pregnant, and concerned about Serena when something happened (I forget what, but I don't think Serena was sleeping) in the last series.

It bothered me to see her treated violently because Serena wanted to hurt June.

I think that the other Wife was at the baby shower, the one that has Janine's Charlotte (they call her Angela) and I don't think that she's overly bothered about having a baby. She doesn't seem to care in the way Serena does. I think she likes the status of being a 'mother' more than she likes being a mother.

I wondered what that was like in Gilead, for Wives who don't want to be a mother but they are expected to be because children are everything, not least a status symbol of your husband's fertility.

Rita was excited when she thought June was pregnant because it elevates the status of the entire household in the community. There's a deference and a respect shown to those in an expectant household.

I THINK there's also an increase in ration IIRC

I don’t think Rita was excited because of potential status, that wouldn’t be in keeping with her character. I attributed it to being just a normal response to happy news, possibly with an aspect of hoping that Serena would be nicer after getting what she wants.

In the book, the Marthas did a lot of the everyday caring for the baby so maybe she was looking forward to that too. Her life must be pretty mundane.

I thought that Aunt Lydia’s reaction to that slap was interesting- she immediately ferried June out- like you would separate 2 children who were fighting- and I think for 2 reasons- to keep June safe from being slapped herself and to stop June from slapping. I think aunt Lydia took June to the hanging body to hammer home the point - June needs to stop rebelling or she will be killed, and she gave June an ‘out’ by saying June is to blame, leave June behind and be Offred, Offred is a good girl. I think Aunt Lydia’s emphasis on ‘girl’ is deliberate. I think Aunt Lydia is a complex character, I think she does care about her charges, and does see herself as a mother figure to them, and in 1 sense if she is punishing them then at least she is in control - what would happen if the men did the punishing?
I also have a theory that AL cried because June’s pregnancy meant June wouldn’t be killed/sent to the colonies by the Waterford’s.

I really feel like that it's made explicit in the book about that RE elevated status but I wouldn't know the exact quote or page.

The most shocking thing for me was the handmaid having her tongue cut out. I couldn't stop it playing in my mind. The ability to talk taken away forever.

I think Rita is looking forward to the baby because her son was killed in the war and she likes the idea of a surrogate grandchild. And probably because it might make Serena easier to live with.

I think aunt Lydia ran a church adoption agency before Gilead. She was probably the type to hang around outside abortion clinics persuading women to have their babies adopted instead.

I liked the bit where Fred alluded to the other commanders arm, you can see he regards himself as teflon, as he was messing around with his handmaids too, but just didn't get caught.

I wonder whether, now June had gone all stepford handmaid, they will all go to Canada together to show how wonderful the regime is, and June will see Moira and come back to her senses.

This was the quote from the book about Cora, who worked alongside Rita:
owever, at the end of the novel (chapter 46), Cora ‘has begun to cry' when Offred is apparently arrested. It is not, as Offred realises, out of sympathy for the Handmaid, but from pity for herself: ‘Now she will always be childless.'

Aunt Lydia is just spectacular!

Thinking about the Handmaid who had her tongue cut out (I think she was the new Ofglen once Emily was moved on) I'm sure she shouted out that they couldn't stone Janine before June dropped her stone and said "I'm sorry Aunt Lydia" so blaming June for that or June blaming herself is wrong.

Susan you're right, that bit was as shocking as the scene where Emily realised she was a victim of FGM in the first series. Just cut off the troublesome body part, put a stop it to it all. Clitoris, arm, tongue, eye, it's all the same to Gilead as long as it keeps people in their place.

Aunt Lydia is reminding me more and more of an abusive partner. I love you and I'm tasering you in the neck for your own good because I love you.

MrStark, I think we’re both half right

The quote you posted reminded me, in the book there are two Marthas; Rita is quite cold to Offred, a harsh and unfeeling woman whereas Cora is kindly. Rita wants the baby for status and Cora wants to be a mother figure to it and have someone to look after.

TV series Rita is supposed to be an amalgamation of both Marthas as they didn’t think the Martha required 2 parts/actors as it would be confusing and make each role quite one dimensional according to an interview I read when watching S1.

Yes that's what I thought. Both Rita and Serena are markedly different really.

Serena is a much more nuanced character on the show

I think Serena is a fascinating character. Great actress too!! Beautiful as well!!!

Yy. I wasn’t sure about a young Serena at first but I think she’s being portrayed brilliantly by Yvonne Strahovski. Same for Amanda Brugel who plays Rita, so understated but she says so much with a glance.

I dont agree at all Aunt Lydia cares for the women in any sense or "can't get too attached because they are animals with a purpose."

She is evil and knows exactly what she is doing!!! I'm really surprised of any doubt. What if it was a man. Would you say he cares for them as sinners?

Yes I'm finding it hard to feel for Serena or believe that Aunt Lydia has any semblance of care.
I loathe the commander also.