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 like to think Serena is conflicted rather than just evil. She wants a child more than anything but to get one she knows she has to take it away from someone else who has been raped repeatedly by her husband. there's no possibility of her being able to reject the baby, i imagine that would get her sent to the colony. Whenever she sees pregnant June she is reminded that it will never really be her baby so she has to deal with the reality of the regime that she supported which she is now trapped by. It would be easier for her for June to go away so that she isn't constantly reminded that she's going to forcibly take a baby away from its mother for her own benefit.

Conflicted characters show compassion and Serena hasn't ever shown any remorse or compassion. She's a bully and probably wouldn't have been a pleasant character before Gilead either . The way she keeps smashing people in the face shows a total lack of empathy . She's distraught about not being able to conceive and it's bribing out the worst in an already unpleasant personality .

I lost any compassion I had for Serena as she is often very nasty to June when they are alone in private. Hitting her, strangling her, taunting her. There is nobody else there so she has nothing to lose by being neutral, or even superficially pleasant, to June. Even if Serena's warped beliefs and baby obsession mean she is going to take June's baby, there is no rationale for hitting her and taunting her in private. She is just being plain nasty there.

Even when she has seen evidence that June is a person, with a family, she continues to treat her equally badly, or worse.

I would love to hear more about her back story to find out how she became so horrible. I'd imagine cruel uncaring parents who were all about putting on a front and church but were actually beating and abusing their 'sinful' children in private.

In the book Serena is older and was a tv personality. I can't remember if there was a mention of her upbringing. It would be interesting to know where her beliefs came from and she became this cold woman. The same goes for Fred. What sort of man would want to be part of the creation of Gilead? I can't decide who he is. Considering he happily flouts the rules (that he helped to create) on a regular basis, it's impossible to just put him in the "believer" category.

I think Serena has previously shown some compassion. In series 1 when she went to visit baby Angela with June they have a conversation. I can't remember the exact words but they're talking about the situation they are in and Serena says it must be awful, but then changes the word to awfully and then says something else but I think she did genuinely mean that she thought June's situation was awful. She has got nastier from when she found out june had consensual (as far as she is aware) sex with her husband and has then threatened 'her' baby on multiple occasions. I think she probably bitterly regrets the hand she had in making Gilead what it is. I think the reason the commander won't have sex with her is because she is no longer the woman he fell in love with due to the constraints that Gilead has put on her and she knows that. But she desperately wants a child and is willing to put that above all others including herself. I do wonder when she gets the child, if June is compliant and hands it over whether she may help June (then hopefully nick will take the baby and go to Canada with June so Serena can live childless in the hell hole she has created).

Curbside I don't think he is a believer as such, just that he's a weak man who has found a way to be powerful, and he's taken that chance.

I think Fred would go along with anything that put him in charge, he's got money, power, status, his wife has to be subservient to him, he's been given a woman to rape, a women to serve in his home, a job that allows him to entertain diplomates and bring about laws, and still a connection to the old way of life through Jezebels.

I think Fred would claim to believe in anything if it came with all of that.

Signing in for tonight’s episode.

Yes that's a very accurate description of Fred!

ditto zibb

Watching. Almost felt Lydia was sticking up for June when she said "no small effort has been made...." and "the baby needs a harmonious environment". Almost.

I interpreted that as June being a pawn in the power struggle between Serena and Lydia.

Small talk is always going to be difficult in such a situation.

is she miscarrying?! Surely they'll execute her if so?

I hate aunt Lydia but love the way she sticks it to Serena.

I wonder if June will be punished if she loses this baby.

I can see Serena losing it

Serena made the point of Mrs Putnam complaining about baby Angela. I still don't think she wants her, and she hated Janine.

Serena's just put the boot into Nick with that comment as well. Fred must at least suspect that it's Nick's baby now.

I think Serena is desperate for any kind of human interaction at this point. She's realised she has absolutely no power (when she tried to send offered away) and now realising the aunts can read and write has twigged just how short a straw she has drawn.

Oh very good serena. Waterford will now remove nick from the house. Let’s hope Rita warns him before he is spirited away.

Yep. There it is.

Is Andrew the one who has nick spying on Waterford?

Red I think you are right.

Nothing is real in Gilead. Those Commanders' wives are not real friends, they can't be when they have to be so guarded all the time, and her husband has withdrawn, and there's a power imbalance between Serena and all the other women except the wives. Most are below her and subservient, Serena herself is subservient to the men, and Aunt Lydia has just revealed she has more power by being allowed to read and write.

Nick's getting married!

It's disturbing that Bible quotes were used this week by the Trump administration to justify their actions.

I think Serena is starting to lose it!

Omg a wife for nick !

So who's handiwork was that? The commander or serena?