The Handmaid's Tale Season 2 (UK Pace) - thread 3

[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

oooh checking in!

Where’s June’s narration gone?!

Yes, I was wondering that!

It made sense to lose it in the episode where June vanished into Offred, but now she's back...

Exactly. I’m a bit bummed out about that actually. The contrast between Offred and June was key although I guess there’s not so much of a divide anymore and the two are mixed since she was able to be June again in her absence.

“She’s back”

Yes but barely - she is happy to snark Serena and is connected to her baby, but the fight is gone

I have been thinking about Luke and i am hoping that his nonchalance is a form of self preservation. Perhaps he is afraid of letting his emotions get the better of him because once he lets his grief out he might not be able to stop.

At the end of the last episode Serena was deliberately connecting to June, not Offred.

I wonder how long that will last?

I think Luke has moved on with his life.

And he was a shit to his first wife, so it fits with his character, or maybe he is just a weak man. He didn’t listen to June to get out at the start, and he knows he was very wrong, but he is arrogant, imo, and he is doing just fine, so probably has another partner now, or will have soon.

I think both Luke and Nick are hot but ultimately weaker than June. Luke feels guilty and distressed, but finds those feelings so uncomfortable he is moving on from them. Nick pretends (to June) to be much more in control of things than he actually is. No one could call him a coward, but - remember their different reactions when they were dragged out of the plane? - he's not got the women's guts. We're going to see a lot more about the complex power plays that Nick is part of - but he's a pawn, not a controller.

remember their different reactions when they were dragged out of the plane?

Nick wasn't the one in the plane though?

It is of course a theme running through that the women are stronger than the men. Serena way tougher than Fred; June tougher than Nick; Emily tougher than the other gay lecturer; Samira Wiley tougher than Luke. Aunt Lydia more frightening than the two-dimensional guy who has Nick in his pay.

Wasn't he??

Nick wasnt in the plane it was some other guy who got shot and dragged out.

Nick wasn't in the plane.

Ha, that's what happens if I watch TV without my glasses - major plotlines pass me by

Alright, I'll forgive Nick. For now. He's got a weak chin, though.

It was some other driver guy who wanted to escape.

He royally fucked over June as they were on to him and only caught her by chance.

If it hadn’t been for him she’d be in Canada

Ahhh, that makes more sense. I got how it was decided to just re-integrate June into the household, but couldn't understand how Nick was just let off. All is clear!

The absense of June's narration in that episode shows how she has lost her self and her voice, her story which she no longer is telling. And when it comes back, this represents her return to self

Re nick: my impression from the book and this series - especially the most recent episode - is that his "driver" status is completely fake and he's possibly more powerful than the commander, as an eye.

We need more footage of Nick with his kit off ( lowers tone ).

He does nothing for me, he looks like a boy, not a man

Re nick: my impression from the book and this series - especially the most recent episode - is that his "driver" status is completely fake and he's possibly more powerful than the commander, as an eye.

I think it said in the book that most drivers were Eyes, there to watch their Commanders.

So, if the eyes are there to watch their commanders and Nick previously seemed to report to Commander Pearce, who gave the appearance of being head honcho, and we were told he died in the bomb blast - who does Nick report to now?

At the end of the last episode Serena was deliberately connecting to June, not Offred.

Yes, she acknowledged her as more than a walking incubator – as an individual with an identity prior to Gilead. I thought interesting that she used the present tense: 'You're an editor. Is that right?' It was June who said 'Used to be.' When June walked back towards Serena with the drafts I was worried she was going to refuse to read them, suspecting a trap. Loved the way that, rather than asking for a pen, she simply stated that she would need one.

There have been several comments (by Commander Pryce, Lydia, etc.) about the need for Fred to maintain harmony in the household between his two 'wilful' women, whereas in fact it's his absence that has introduced a more equal dynamic and the possibility of an alliance. It feels very fragile, but holds promise. (Would it be too much to hope that Serena might call June by her name at some point before the final ep?!)

@EmpressOfSpartacus that's what I thought too. Also serena was asking him for help with the drafts because she knew he was untouchable right? So he reported something Cushing had supposedly done and presumably told serena that June was an editor and could help.