The handmaids tale-thread 6

[SisterNotCisTerf]

Let’s get June out of there!

Females are not allowed to read. It's a way to keep them submissive by taking away their access to books/education

They aren't allowed to read The Bible because they aren't allowed to read at all because they have vaginas.

Men will tell women what is in the Bible not vice versa

From Timothy 2:12

12 But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence

Thank you! I've watched the whole series eagerly but somehow missed this!

They declared Emily's marriage void at the airport so I'm surprised they didn't declare her wife's parental responsibility for their son void also. I assume they were just lucky he had a Canadian passport.

Why did Serena read from John instead of just quoting it? Even I know the first bit by heart just from Christmas services? Couldn't she have asked for permission to read, and quoted, without actually defying the current law? Seems a bit wreckless?

Teen I thought that too. There's no way that Serena wouldn't have known that passage from previous Gilead times. She was making a show of it I'm sure.

The other wives said she had gone too far and she quoted something to explain it - God favouring bold gestures or something?

Didn’t work though, she still lost a finger. Just like Eden quoting Isaiah 43 about walking through fire but not being consumed by the flames didn’t save her.

Was commander L in the room with the rest of the commanders? When the women came in?

I love the use of music in this episode. I'm going to have to rewatch it.

I think the next episode will start with a jump forward in time. So months later.

Serena chose to read because of the quote she said afterwards - something about taking big risks in faith & a multitude coming to your defence, I think. It was her way of showing God she was serious about wanting women to be able to read His word & expecting Him to come to her aid. It was never going to happen though - they can't teach girls to read the Bible without giving them the ability to read everything.

theblacklist
Does anyone else feel quite angry towards those that refuse to watch it? I feel like it's required viewing to show what can happen and also could happen pretty much anywhere....

Yes! I've never felt like this towards DH before - I'm utterly incredulous every time he leaves the room or complains when I want to watch it. He says it's "not really the sort of thing I like to watch". It's so bad that I feel like I've lost a bit of respect for him, in the way that I would if these were real people & he was just ignoring what was happening around him. Hopefully I'll get over it eventually...! Reason for divorce: Unreasonable behaviour - refusal to watch THT.

I thought CL's sending Emily off was very gleeful, like he was finally getting the opportunity to do something he's been wanting to. I doubt they'd keep sending him handmaids if he kept "losing" them. I think it's more likely that he keeps them there for as long as he can before they're moved on for being unproductive. Maybe he sees it as giving them a holiday, doing what he can in his own small way.

NotaBeliever that's why when she was in Canada Serena was given pictures of her itinerary rather than be written down.

That scene was very powerful ginger. Serena looked so crestfallen and embarrassed.

DH and I watch eagerly and have long debates about which bit was the worst and how we’d cope with our family if this happened in the uk. I really feel we need to decompress after each episode!

One could argue serena is the worst kind of collaborator. Was fine with the regime till it was her daughter and her finger.

Sorry “coward and collaborator”

I think there is a discrepancy between the stated ages of Hannah and Oliver and the timeline, but I think it's possibly explainable.

Early in Season 1, June states to Emily that Hannah would be 8 now. I can't recall if Emily states an age for Oliver in that scene but in my head I'm guessing she said 5.

About a year passes during Season 2 - June's entire pregnancy, making Oliver being 7 next birthday accurate.

It also makes sense that Emily and her wife tried to run well before Luke and June tried to run perhaps even as much as a year before, because Gilead almost certainly went after the gay population first and things changed whilst they were in the airport, whereas June was still at the being interrogated for being a working mom, and then being made redundant stage, rather than the emergent "We need to run now" stage

Love this thread. I have read all the way from 9pm last night to now. Missed the spoilers as I watched this morning (sorry guys! What a dick)
So many little bits that I missed. Probably from watching on an iPad, the screen is quite dark.

I wonder if Commander Lawrence is a bit of an eccentric, has come up with the economic model for the regime but the other commanders are quite happy to leave him to it in his house and his title is honorary.

I don't think the regime will punish Eden's sister, it was more the father's insistence that he would make sure she didn't repeat her sister's mistake that have me chills. I have a feeling that he will be abusive towards her to bring her into line, to make sure she doesn't embarrass him too.

What a finale!!

I didnt anticipate any of those major events.

Is aunt Lydia dead? She must be. Or locked in CL cellar?

I thought that the scene with Eden's father "apologising" to Commander Waterford was very powerful. He clearly loved his daughter, but he turned her in without question. The Commander was his usual dickish self, telling him to make sure he kept his other daughter in line, but Serena was much more compassionate. I think she realised at this point (and when Fred allowed her own punitive mutilation) that no father in Gilead could ever be trusted to protect their daughters.

Commander Lawrence was a horrible person who was absolutely toying with Emily and enjoying her confusion and distress. However he was also in the resistance. I love the shades of grey in this program.

I still can't get behind those of you sympathetic towards serena or wishing June took her with her though! She's a total sociopath. Even sociopaths love their children (and this wasn't her child, she stole her). How much do you think serena would have loved Holly-Nicole if she had been rebellious or disrespectful as she grew up?!

Oh, and what did people make of C.Waterford placing the wedding ring down on the bedside table? Was it his, or Serena's? Is it a metaphor for the collapse of their marriage?

And...I completely understood why June stayed. Her own survival isn't very important to her any more. Her whole focus since the miscarriage scare and when she first bonded with the baby has been to keep her safe - she tried to do a deal with aunt Lydia and then with serena to keep her safe. She got her out - she got her safe - now she has to do the same for Hannah or die trying. She's amazing.

Women aren't allowed to read at all in Gilead.

I don't agree about Commander Lawrence. I don't think he realised the impact he was having on her and I agree with a PP, not saying what they were doing was probably sensible in case they were stopped. He came across as a bit eccentric to me, that's all

I've never got behind Serena, even with her flashes of compassion. Because she's always turned on June again. These tears and giving up Nichole was because she had been directly affected (the finger). Without that she wouldn't have thought of what would be best for Nichole.

Glad I wasn’t the only one saying ‘nooo the baby will need fed soon!’ Mine wanted milk constantly at that age 😂.

I hope Nick makes it, I’m hoping he and Rita can somehow turn this back on Waterford and really crumble any credibility he has left.

Much as I hope she’s dead I’m pretty sure Aunt Lydia will survive.

I imagine they took Serena's ring off her wedding finger before they chopped off her little finger. In case it got in the way, you know

And I imagine that the Handmaids' punishments (Janine's, Emily's, everyone's) would be done torture-wise. Not surgically, not under anaesthetic. Unlike Warren's, - he woke up in a ward and his hand was gone. Janine was taken and returned to her dorm without an eye. And who was it who had her hand burned by the gas cooker? Just like that