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

Dh has really got into this series! He's more into it than me.

He delivered her to June as a gift at one time when they were in Jezebel's so he definitely knows their connection I completely forgot about this! He might be the type of arsehole to not recognise someone he shagged, but I think he's the type of person to remember someone he 'used' to manipulate his handmaid with.

I was really intrigued by "It wasn't my fault" too. And she never got to hear her nephew call her "Aunt Lydia".

The “aunt” title makes total sense now. Also an indication of how involved AL was in the formation of Gilead and her role.

i don't think Serena could even think about staying in canada - at the moment she is still in 'that would be betrayal' mode; of husband, country, faith etc.

I think she has a great deal of pride yet to swallow too. She created Gilead (with others), this was her ideal, her religious paradise, everyone would be happy in their role. it would take a huge amount of strength to go cap in hand to Canada and admit she was entirely wrong. And serena isn’t running on full strength right now. She has just been beating severely by her husband, she is in shock and fears of a repeat for stepping out of line again, her baby is about to be born and she wasn’t with it. Also, she didn’t exactly get a warm reception in Canada, how does she know the man she spoke to didn’t want to stick her in prison? Or have her spirited away and secretly killed? Or maybe even spying for Gilead?

AWoman - exactly. She can't trust anyone.

Re Aunt Lydia (I thought all the 'Guardians' of the Handmaids were Aunts?) - I think she definitely 'did' something to her sister's child. 'It wasn't my fault' is a total get-out. Maybe it was something religious (along the lines of circumcision) which went wrong.

I think they are all called aunts, yes, which I suspect was Aunt Lydia’s idea. She was a real aunt “before” gilead, but she didn’t get to fulfil that role, so she has recreated it in gilead, giving herself (and the others) the official title of aunt, she calls the handmaids sisters, (her sister had the baby pre Gilead) and she has permanent access and control over all the babies. she is reliving the life that she didn’t get to live in the former life. I bet her sister was a “fallen woman” like the handmaids are deemed to be. I bet there was something that caused the baby’s death like drug abuse or something. And aunt Lydia is trying to relive that over and over with the handmaids and babies. She sees those babies as her nephew and her as their aunt/godmother/protector because their mothers can’t look after them, due to being sinners, like her sister.

Ah, my mind was running in completely the opposite direction re Lydia's guilt. I wondered if it was nothing at all she did to the baby but she feared God took him as a punishment for her general sinfulness. The Gilead view is that infertility is caused by God punishing humankind for sin, especially women's (is it my imagination or was this stated at some point in this episode?).

Ooh it could be that! I wonder what ALs “sin” was.

I'm wondering if AL is using the same logic she used re. June is at fault, Offred is free from guilt.

Perhaps Aunt Lydia was responsible for the death of her sister's child in her previous life, but as the reinvented Aunt Lydia of Gilead, she is now free from sin and guilt having repented.

Alternatively, Perhaps the child had to die at her hands because of the rules of Gilead... maybe both defect or something? She would still consider that not her fault whilst still being the one to have carried out the killing.

There's definitely more to it.

*birth defect

I loved this episode. Sobbed at last week's with The baby so it was nice to feel like things are going the right way for once.

I thought Eden and the guard were interesting. Very flirty and as Rita said he was about 20 so a similar age. I wonder if that will be a story line that is explored.

I think aunt Lydia's nephew died from some sort of virus or disease which could have been prevented. She's very careful to make sure June is cleaning herself to get rid of 'nasty bacteria'. Maybe Lydia kissed her nephew and gave him a virus which went on to kill him, maybe her sister had an STI or disease which was passed onto the baby and Lydia could have stopped it happening? Her sister could have been a prostitute? Who took drugs/drank/smoked (remember also she told Serena off for smoking), which would explain why Lydia is desperate for 'clean' and 'pure' women to carry the gilead children.

That guard scares me.

All he's seeing is the colours the women wear.

The unwomen are not people to him. And Eden is crying out for a bit of attention.

She could easily get the entire household into trouble if she says the wrong thing to him.

Thanks for the thread. I often forget what happened in previous series and what was the book and what was TV so this is all very useful and interesting perspectives on it.

I thought the picture guide to Serena's day was Canada trying to be culturally sensitive. But we know Serena can read from the time before. I thought that was very striking scene.

Also when Nick tells Luke that the baby is Waterford's. At the time didn't Serena force Nick and June? So Nick is either reluctant to admit his part in rape and/or doesn't want to get a punch off Luke?

I don't see how June can escape now heavily pregnant.

I missed the picture schedule. I really want to see that bit again.

I'm also thinking the next episode will be horrendous. I think June will either be removed after giving birth and forced to pump or put straight into a new Commanders house. I've heard about a fertility spike after giving birth if not bf - not sure how true it is not that it matters to Gilead - but could see Gilead taking advantage of this. Poor June

So Nick is either reluctant to admit his part in rape and/or doesn't want to get a punch off Luke? I don't think he told Luke it was his as he didn't want him to think he raped her too or didn't want tell him the truth that he is essentially the 'other man' in some twisted grey area. Luke is still her husband and is fighting for her, he doesn't need to know she's having consensual relations with another man regardless of her circumstances.

Luke would never have believed it wasn’t consensual between nick and June. It would mean accepting that the man infront of you was saying your wife happily cheated on you an conceived a child. Nick needed Luke on side. Telling him the truth would have blown any chance of that.

I thought that Nick was more likely to find Luke in a police station, having been arrested for his attack on Waterford, than in a bar.

Loved this episode overall though.

Ach, if it is a spoiler, annoying for the Guardian to write it in their commentary for episode 9.

In the book, it was the women who couldn’t have babies who were called unwomen - so, to me, it makes no sense that the Guardian would call Janine an up woman - she has given birth within thr Gileadean regime, so cannot be an unwoman.

I can imagine Fred not recognising Moira. He thinks of her as Ruby - as Ruby she was wearing skimpy clothes and lots of make up. As Moira she’s wearing no make up and is dressed for winter - sometimes I find it hard to recognise someone wearing a winter hat.

It is a spoiler for a later episode (I just googled) and should not have been mentioned in that recap, so their reviewer, Julia Raeside, has cocked up with that one. According to the comments on the recap it's not for the first time either.

Ironic since they put a big message on the recap asking people not to post spoilers from later episodes, then they do it themselves.