Handmaid’s Tale, Season 2 - FINALE - US pace

[Aridane]

This is a continuation of our Season 2 US-paced thread.

Roll on episode 13, the 90 minute season finale!!

so she stayed for Hannah, fair enough. And there's an underground network of Marthas. Plus some pissed off wives. Surely all they need to do next season is kill one commander each at a preordained time and Gilead is dead.

I think the network of Marthas is possibly the underground female-road mentioned at the end of the book? Different to Mayday.

Coffee and bowl of fruit made, baby has gone out with Daddy. Sitting down in peace to watch it now! So excited but also sad it's coming to an end and we'll be waiting a year for the next season.

Oh Rita! You marvellous woman.

How did Joseph deal with Aunt Lydia?! Is she alive or dead? If he called an ambulance, how did he explain the knife in her back without incriminating Emily?

How will he explain where Emily's gone if Aunt Lydia lives? How will the Waterfords deal with the disappearance of Nichole? Will June be punished or will they cover it up? Where will she go? Will Emily find Moira and Luke in Canada so they can have Nichole, will she find her wife and son? Will she kick Gilead's arse?

So so many questions. I'd stay for my daughter too. I think that was realistic. I wouldn't leave.

I think this may be one the best TV series, ever. I'm not even sad this season has ended, I'm just excited for next year.

On the wall it says the bastards thing from in the cupboard in season 1. Don't let the bastaŕds bring you down. Fred and offered talked about it before.

I liked the episode. Offred staying will allow it to all be blamed on Emily, which is fine because she is out. Leaving June and the new commander professor to work inside. Hope Rita is safe though

That nod of ago acknowledgement to Nick through the window.
He knew she was going. It was goodbye.
How on earth will this pan out???

Random ago there sorry

Time to hibernate until April 2019 :P

I’m hoping June doesn’t return to the Waterford’s maybe she seeks out Joseph to help hide her and find Hannah. I think he has a much bigger role. I think once Emily is out it’s easier to blame her as they can’t touch her. I wanted June to go but I understood she made that promise to Hannah and she kept the promise to holly. I was bit irked she renamed her Nicole when she was named after her mother.

Gosh lots of questions, obviously they can blame everything on Emily as she's out (she definitely is isn't she?!)

They must cover for June somehow because she wouldn't just be punished she would be killed for 'stealing' a child and endangering its life. Think what happened with Janine at the end of the last season.

I have to wonder would June have been better placed to get Hannah back from Canada? She knows Luke and Moira are there, she knows her new name and that she presently isn't in danger as she's too young to be a wife yet and is protected as a child. I'm not sure what I would have done as a parent, although I understand her need to stay she's no good to Hannah if she's on the wall and surely she would think that's likely to be what happens now she's stayed? I think it may have been the stronger and more difficult thing to do, to go in order to keep herself alive so she can work on getting her out and back to her and Luke.

I feel much more interested in Emily's story getting out, and hope we see her reunite with her wife and son and take Nicole to Luke. I also hope we see her explaining what Gilead was for her and this will push for the Canadian government and allies liberating Gilead.

Concerned for Rita's safety, as someone needs to be blamed for how Emily got Nicole.

Serena is such a well written character, she's absolutely awful and I felt I could never feel sympathy for her again after the last ceremony but I did feel pleased she made the decision to let Nicole go rather than us seeing June just take her.

OK - still haven't seen the finale - but can't help looking at this thread.

Can anyone tell me if the Reddit spoilers for the finale were broadly accurate? I think from what's being discussed above they probably were - but did the thing happen with Aunt Lydia on the stairs, and did the thing happen with Serena in consequence of her wanting bible reading?

OMG!

Yes they are op.

I just finished it. I liked the ending, it made me cry though as all June ever does is make sacrifices for others. What a woman.

Yes 100% correct. Though I vaguely recall something about a car crash...? There was no car crash.

I cannot wait!

I really liked this as a finale. It started a number of plot lines to be continued next year.

MAJOR SPOILERS, skip the rest if you haven't watched it yet.

I wish June had urged Serena to run, too. And I think June's 'renaming' her baby Nichole was to honour Serena's sacrifice, and her silence. All Serena would have had to do was scream and all would have been lost. I think June is going to either go to one of the Marthas or to Cmdr Lawrence. And I loved the scene of the Marthas 'handing' June off to each other as she made her escape through their various backyards, right under their Cmdr's noses. Very Underground Railroad! And HELL YES, Rita, you kick ass!!! Who thinks, like me, that the house fire was set deliberately by a Martha? And what's going to happen to Nick after the way he subtly threatened Waterford?

The bit with Serena and the other wives and Serena's 'punishment' was (no pun intended) bone chilling. I think, unfortunately, that it's killed whatever spark there was in her. She's given up. And the scene in the kitchen with June and Fred about 'obedient women' made me want to vomit!

I have a feeling Aunt Lydia is dead, ambulance or no. If she wasn't dead when Joseph came in, I think he finished her himself before he got Emily out of the house. He couldn't risk that AL heard or saw anything, even though she appeared unconscious. And don't ask me why, but I think that Emily is going to keep the baby herself rather than turn her over to Luke. She has no idea where he actually is in Canada, knows that he has no bio tie to Nichole, and is unsure of what his life is now. She may also figure it will be easier for June to find her (Emily) in Canada. Of course, that's assuming she makes it there!

I did notice another hint on the timeline. Emily said it was her son's 7th birthday. IIRC he was a toddler at the airport, not an infant. So that means we are around 5-6 years into the main 'crackdown' in Gilead.

Major spoilers

Emily knows Moria escaped to Canada June told her at the market. I would imagine she will seek Moria out and in turn Luke. I noticed June put Hannah’s picture in with Nicole it might give a clue where she is maybe.

I don’t think June asked Serena to run as I don’t think she emotionally had the strength to run. Don’t forget she is complience in the raise of Gilead.

I wish Serena had run. That would have been so interesting.

Marking place

Snapped, at least the picture can probably be used as proof of who Nichole is/belongs to. Wonder if Emily knows Moira's last name? But they've shown that there's 'record keeping' going on in the refugee centre in Canada so I expect Emily knows enough to help them make the connection.

Does anyone know what city in Canada Luke and Moira are in? I can't remember hearing that.

I got to wondering how they're going to feed Nichole during the journey (at least to the border)? I 'Mapquest-ed' it and it's 221 miles (drive time 3 1/2 hours) by the most direct route from Boston to the current Canadian border. But we really don't know exactly where the border is in the Gilead 'universe' and I'd assume they're going to have to take a circuitous route and possibly have to stop to hide or change cars. If so, they're going to need bottles and formula and they can't very well just walk into the nearest shop and buy them!

I thought the finale was complete BS! Just couldn't believe Serena after wanting a baby for so long would just give her up like that and June after attempting to run away so many times would decide to stay. Both seemed so out of character!

Loved S1. S2 has been hard-going. Still brilliant but not sure I want to watch another season of torture porn. If June had left, at least we would have a different dynamic.

I just finished watching the finale and I am so disappointed.

The episode seemed long winded and drag out and I was a little bored to be honest.
I am still unsure of who Emily’s commander was and what his role in Gilead is? I am also confused as to why he went to great lengths to save Emily?
I appreciate the complexities in the relationship between June and Serena, however I don’t understand it. Why would June have any sympathy or a ‘friendship’ with a woman who held her down to be raped and then took and mothered her child? In my humble opinion, Serena has done more damage to June then commander Waterford?

I also understand that June stayed behind for Hannah, however I cannot put up with another season with her being exactly in the same position.
On the bright side, I love Emily’s character and I’m so pleased that she escaped Gilead.

I was very disappointed. June should have run.