The Handmaid's Tale Season 2 (UK Pace) - thread 4

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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

Someone on the last thread asked for a link to the previous threads:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/telly_addicts/3216737-The-Handmaid-s-Tale-Season-2

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/telly_addicts/3269725-The-Handmaids-Tale-Season-2-UK-Pace-thread-2

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/telly_addicts/3290403-The-Handmaids-Tale-Season-2-UK-Pace-thread-3?pg=38

Why was the radio in the car in the garage tuned to a Gilead traitor station?

Is it just a plot device, or is someone from the Mackenzie household in Mayday? Maybe someone would go and sit in the garage and listen to it in secret?

ooooo good question.

I think she flicked through a few stations while tuning the radio before she found that one. She can't be far from American or Canadian territory if she managed to pick up the signal though.

The car looked very pre-Gilead - commanders all seem to get driven in the big SUVs. When the whole car was revealed I was thinking it would look very distinctive on the roads.

@OOAOML - that's what I was thinking.

If June got that car out of the garage it would be noticed on the roads.

However she disguised herself, anybody spotting that car would be curious at the best, even if they didn't realise it was a pregnant woman / woman with a newborn who was driving it.

She would have had to keep to back roads and hope for the best.

That's an interesting point noblegiraffe. When June looked at the photo of Hannah the new 'mum' did look really happy and natural.

I thought that too OOAOML about the car being quite different from all the other cars on the road. It would be such a shame if she got so close to the border, had transport and a weapon and still couldn't get away.

I am just intrigued to see where the writers take it from here.

That's an interesting point noblegiraffe. When June looked at the photo of Hannah the new 'mum' did look really happy and natural.

Yes. Plus somebody cared enough to frame Hannah's drawing & put it on the desk.

Did Hannah's drawing have a figure in red in it?

I thought the figure on the left was in red and looked like a handmaid.

Yes it did Hygge, I noticed that too. I think there was a figure in red on the left hand side of the house and a figure in either green or black on the right hand side.

I thought it was pink, and represented Hannah. A standard happy family picture.

It went pink, black, green. Hannah with mummy and daddy.

I also thought of red riding hood. DH thought maybe the wolf was something to do with Nick, which I did kind of see with it being all black. I didn't think about the wolf symbolizing June's mom but it makes sense.

The birth scene was fantastically done, I felt such a primal reaction when the baby came out which I don't even feel as strongly when watching one born every minute! I'm already broody most of the time but it felt like something else I can't put my finger on, maybe if/once I give birth I will know how to describe it.

I thought the pictures the dolls house, the pink bike in the garage were all subtly placed pointers to give sense that not all gilead 'families' are evil/bad... It was such a bitter sweet moment, I thought it was leading June to escaping without hannah, as she knows hannah is loved and well looked after.. While she knows new baby is going to psycho nutter Serena.
So given choice.. Escape with new baby, giving it a better chance, leave hannah behind as she clearly has a happy settled privileged life

But it made my cry... Thinking of being in that position

I watched it again last night. I was struck by how every flashback scene had the mother figure dressed in black - when June is getting dressed up to go out she wears the little black dress that emphasises her bump, when she's dropping Hannah off at nursery she's wearing a black jacket, Holly arrives at the hospital dressed in black, the depiction of the mother figure in Hannah's drawing is in black. And when June decides to make a break for it, she puts on a black coat. So yes, I'm now seeing the wolf as an imaginery figure for June evoking motherhood and maternal care. And when it bares its teeth and licks its lips, it's defending its young.

I also found myself wondering why we didn't see any bright red blood on the snow. Either when Nick was shot, or when June starts to bleed. And boy, for someone whose only exercise is those demure walks to the shop, June is in brilliant condition for someone in the final stages of pregnancy, running up the stairs and out to the garage!! This makes me wonder how much of the episode is supposed to be 'real' - or whether June is in a heightened, stressed and almost delirious state and her recollections are partly based on reality, partly what's in her head. Perhaps Serena never yelled at Fred, but June saw them there and filled in the argument that she imagined bubbling under the surface.

I just thought the wolf was a l

The mother figure in the picture/drawing was in green like the other women in Gilead.

I found a , and of the photo of Hannah as Agnes with her 'new mother' (can't quite bring myself to call her Agnes or the women her mother as Hannah has been stolen.)

I think it does show Hannah with her new parents now. The colour of the dress looked more red than pink on my TV but on the laptop it looks pink and the figure is smaller than the two adult figures. So I've changed my mind, what I thought was a handmaid is actually Hannah in the drawing.

Just a thought. When Serena took June to see Hannah before, and made her threat, that was at a different house.

So it could be the MacKenzie family country home and city home. And they trusted Serena enough to let her see Hannah and bring her outside.

The Waterford's have had access to Hannah before, either though the parents or through the Martha and guard / driver. They've visited her, got photo's of her, and arranged to have her brought to the country house.

Serena felt comfortable to walk into the house screaming Offred while Fred was more cautious in calling for Commander MacKenzie.

Serena seemed to be convinced the house would be empty and certainly not expecting the family to be in it. Fred seemed more cautious but questioning. He wasn't expecting Commander MacKenzie to be there but he wasn't sure.

Just a thought. When Serena took June to see Hannah before, and made her threat, that was at a different house.
was that not a school Hannah was walking out of when Serena took June? I thought there were other children around.

and yes, i thought the coat in the drawing was red on the tele but that's definitely pink in the photo

I was also worried about the practicality of the car in the snow! Maybe because I've lived somewhere with winter weather like that but I couldn't see how it would work especially on back roads while it was still snowing!

I've just noticed that there are books on the shelf near the photograph. Books in the same room where Hannah/Agnes obviously played with the dolls house, and not kept behind locked doors, as in the Waterfords' household.

It looked almost like an ordinary family room - used for playing, work, reading etc.

There are maps on the wall as well @brokenshoes and they seem to be of America but with different states in different colours on each map.

In the first one the states look more white than red, but in the second more of the states are in red. A bigger area of the country has been coloured red. I wonder if that's progress of Gilead taking over or something?

There's a third map that looks more red again.

I was trying to read the book titles and the only one I can make out is 'How to use your miniature camera' but you are right, the books aren't locked up or kept away from the women, as they are in the Waterford's house.

Throwback to previous episode, sorry; but I wondered whether Hannah saying to June "You should have tried harder [to find me]" was foreshadowing what June may say to Luke assuming they are reunited one day. Given that it could well be argued whether he really has done enough to try to save her (recognise there isn't much he can do but not sure that's going to be much of an excuse!).

Really love this board, your insights are making the whole experience much richer for me!

So the Mackenzies were given a toddler, but the Waterfords were given a handmaid.

I wonder how all that was decided?

I wonder if it’s seen as more of a privilege to have a handmaid because then the child is biologically the commanders?

I keep wanting to mention the fact that June seems to still be religious. She often prays and seems to believe in god. I find this is a bit strange!