The handmaids tale-thread 6

[SisterNotCisTerf]

Let’s get June out of there!

I agree Whatthe.

I thought keeping Nicole as a name was a nod to Serena and also for Nick.

Well she has no baby, or promise of a baby to keep her in line, no chance in hell they’ll be given another handmaid, they couldn’t keep hold of the one they had and lost their baby, and serena has publically declared her desire to teach girls to read so no way will she get another HM or baby. Knitting (for who?) won’t keep her satisfied, her greenhouse? Doubtful. Sonyes, I definitely see Serena finding a bit of fireball in her belly and joining the resistance.

Serena is definitely done with Gilead. The question is will she fight it or be so heartbroken about Holly/Nichole that she'll crumple and be no help.

Yes, Eden reciting ‘love is’ was the first we have heard of the New Testament and then Serena read from Eden’s bible. I thought it quite fitting as Serena would have only heard the OT for so many years and become completely brainwashed by Gilead’s values that her ‘rediscovery’ of the NT prompted her to take a stand. A reminder of what Christianity actually stands for.

And Fred has utterly betrayed her. She knows there is no love between them now. He has beaten and mutilated her. And she hasn’t even a baby to show for it.

I need a lie down. Couldn't she have helped her daughter more from outside? I mean what exactly can she do? Argh I just wanted them out!

As a previous poster has said, Luke hasn’t been able to do anything from the outside, so what would make June any different?

I think she knows she can't help Hannah from the outside - because Luke & Moira haven't been able to help her.

I can’t sleep! Adrenaline still pumping. Off to read the digital spy theories.

I can't breathe.

What June has done for her daughters is the biggest act of love a mother could do at a huge personal cost to herself.

She's placed Nichole into safety and she's going back for Hannah. She'll join the Marthas.

Loved the final scene with June pulling her hood up and that look. It's fantastic.

Aunt Lydia I think will survive and I deffo, Waterford will lose his position. What a dick.

No I don’t think June would be more useful to Hannah from Canada. From what I undertsand the war still goes on? So it would be almost impossible to get back into Gilead safely and back out again.

IIRC in the book it says that it was mainly Caucasians who had falling birthrates.

Aye but that’s Luke who’s pretty ineffectual imo.

Comment or description about something that hasn't yet been broadcast in the UK (even if it will be broadcast in the next 10 minutes) = spoiler, not allowed

Preferably not even "ooooh episode six!!!!!" or "June has a decision coming up!!!" comments. I saw something about spoilers on the thread this morning, I've been avoiding it all day & im bloody thankful I did now!

I finished watching the finale on catch-up about half an hour ago and WOW. I spent most of it gasping. I had more respect for Serena in this episode than I've ever had before.

I thought Serena reading John instead of the Old Testament felt like a direct tribute to Eden & a bigger challenge to Gilead. It doesn't look as if the Wives will be much use now though .

No, once the wives see Serena’s hand they will be properly silenced. She’ll have to go to Rita to be of any use to the victims of Gilead. Will the resistance trust her?

June has announced her love for Nick ... Nick is the baby's father - using the name Nichole is a nod to her father ... that is my interpretation of it anyway.

Fantastic series, brilliant finale, I cannot wait for it to return.

Who will care for the baby once in Canada? I can’t see Luke wanting to raise what he believes is a rapists baby. Will Moira take her? Or Emily? But she has her own son to find.

I can't sleep either.

Just been thinking about Emily.

I think she had resolved to die. She said to June she was glad she came back and saw her again. I think that was a farewell. She planned to attack and kill cdr Lawrence during the ceremony that didn't happen after which she would be summarily executed. Having psyched herself up for that, but then thwarted when cdr Lawrence said he wouldn't, she redirected her murderous death wish suicide-by-guardian attempt onto the next target who came in reach - Aunt Lydia.

She's obviously deeply traumatised and not very stable. I do hope Holly/Nichole is safe with her.

As a PP said, it seems that Fred has been harbouring traitors - which is also mentioned in the book's epilogue.

It will be interesting to see where S3 goes. I was listening to a discussion on R4 about how some series (particularly Box Sets) just drag on for too long, continuing once the story's arc is over.

I'm not really sure where they can go from here. Either:
June eventually dies in Gilead
June gets out of Gilead with Hannah
June gets out of Gilead without Hannah

If June does get out and they show what happens to her then it really becomes a different programme as the premise changes completely.

We know that Gilead did end but I'm not sure that there would be much drama (or point) in showing that, would love to be proved wrong though.

she redirected her murderous death wish suicide-by-guardian attempt onto the next target who came in reach - Aunt Lydia

Would she have done it if AL hadn't said "it's as if I cut out your tongue" though?

I was relieved that Gilead didn’t make Nick drown Eden in the pool. It’s the sort of thing they do. I know that in Saudi Arabia a father used to have the right to drown his daughter if she had sex before marriage.

Did anyone else find June being so bolshy a bit unrealistic? She’d just watched someone be drowned for offending the state.

She chose to stay for Hannah when she saw Nicole could be handed off to Emily. If Emily hadn't been there she'd have gone

@MrStarkdontfeelsogood, I didn’t pick up that June definitely only decided she would stay once she saw Emily due to the direction of the scene before she saw Emily. I felt they made it a little ambiguous. When I watched her put the photo of Hannah in Nichole/Holly’s blanket I started to think she might not be going with her. When she stepped out into the tunnel I half thought she might put baby Holly on the road for them to take.

Yes OP, I mentioned that RE Luke/Moira and their respective acceptance of Nicole but 'twas lost in the bunfight.

Although!

June said to Emily :

Call her Nicole and tell her I love her.

This indicates she thinks Emily will raise her.

Emily only knows June's first name and Hannah's

She doesn't know Luke's, I don't think

She might remember Moiras name from Season 1 were Janine was pregnant and said she was dead ??

It will be months before Emily finds them. In the meantime she'll have severe PTSD, a 7 yo with no memory of her and a DP who might have moved on.

She also could have cancer.

@CruCru I thought it was a push for her to both slap Fred and tell him to go fuck himself. She is breastfeeding but she isn't pregnant anymore, eye, hand, tongue, wouldn't end her milk flow

I think she has forgotten her person isn't protected by her pregnancy anymore.