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The handmaids tale-thread 6

829 replies

SisterNotCisTerf · 12/08/2018 22:11

Let’s get June out of there!

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Flaskfan · 14/08/2018 09:20

Thing is, if it's keeping to the book, we know what happens with Fred. Just depends when the series decides to do it. In the future, there's no record of June other than the tapes, so going undercover is feasible.

EmpressOfSpartacus · 14/08/2018 09:23

I think Emily is at the end of her tether and wouldn't be predictable or calm enough to be much help to the resistance. It's one thing for her to look after a baby for a few hours or possibly days, quite another to go back undercover in Gilead for which you would need nerves of steel.

Yes. I think Emily's had enough. Hopefully in Canada she'll be able to get the care & counselling she needs.

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 14/08/2018 09:27

It would be interesting to see more about the problems faced by the Gilead refugees in Canada. There's no reason to think it would be any more straightforward for them than it is for refugees in reality and there's a lot they could draw on for inspiration.

HannahnotAgnes · 14/08/2018 09:28

I agree Rousette - Emily will absolutely fight to the death for Nichole. I hope she makes it to Canada & back to her wife & son.

HannahnotAgnes · 14/08/2018 09:31

I disagree TheCountess as there are such close links between the US & Canada that there aren't the same racial or religious tensions to come to the fore - there's no 'othering' as they could easily see themselves in each other, so I fully believe that any immigrant tensions would be much less (im sure it wouldn't be perfect, but nothing like the current experiences).

HannahnotAgnes · 14/08/2018 09:32

Sorry, should have said refugee, not immigrant.

Barbadosgirl · 14/08/2018 09:51

I think it is significant that the episode in which the rape took place was called "The Last Ceremony". That was the last time it is going to happen to her. She is not going to be a Handmaid any more.

Destinysdaughter · 14/08/2018 09:52

We’re all assuming that Emily and the baby will successfully escape Gilead. But what if they don’t? June has almost escaped before but been thwarted at the last minute...

Really curious to see how the next series will play out. Where on earth will June go?

MissSingerbrains · 14/08/2018 10:13

I think it is significant that the episode in which the rape took place was called "The Last Ceremony". That was the last time it is going to happen to her. She is not going to be a Handmaid any more

I assumed it referred to the last ceremony before giving birth, but I like your theory and hope it’s true!

Flaskfan · 14/08/2018 10:33

There seem to be lots of places June could hide. She will have to become a fugitive though. Trouble is, I always got the impression you were watched all the time and I assumed cameras. Mind you, maybe being watched is more about the people around you and reporting on you. She can't become a Martha, unless she pretends to do that for commander Lawrence.

I.hope 10 sessions was a joke, cos I didn't think series 2 was aa tight as 1 and i'd worry about quality control. It's Homeland/Lost vs Breaking Bad. Bbc, like THT had a definite end point to lead up to.

Barbadosgirl · 14/08/2018 10:36

Me too, Miss Singer! If she is going to stay then I want it to have been for something good and not just going back to being raped every month. There has to be something better for June now.

brokenshoes · 14/08/2018 10:38

Is anyone else wondering how the Martha's were able to come up with such a tightly organised escape plan, given that they never seem to leave their respective households? I know there was a group of Marthas talking near the Wall during the final episode, but for the majority of the time they appear to be stuck inside. Have we ever seen Rita out and about?

How do they manage to communicate?

BlessedBeTheFruitLoop · 14/08/2018 10:38

I've just finished binge watching both series and I'm hooked. One thing I love about the show is the subtleties that you miss first time round and then notice when you watch it again, then something suddenly clicks and you have an "ah ha!" moment about other scenes.

For example the first time June goes to Nick willingly. The first thing she does is take her cap off and let hair down (hair previously being bound and covered as it's considered too sexual). Then he stands passively while she undresses him first. He knows she needs to feel in control after their earlier 'forced' encounter. She undresses him while he watches her, then she grabs him by his privates and pushes him back towards the bed (something I missed the first time round but you can clearly see her grab him with 'that' look on her face, and he gasps). Then she undresses for him and he's desperate to touch her - after she removes her shorts/knickers he instinctively reaches out his hand towards her but then pulls it back and bites his lip like it's killing him not to touch her (another thing I missed first time round). And he doesn't touch her until the very last item of Offred's clothing is removed and she is truly just herself. I thought that was beautifully done.

Afterwards when her voiceover recaps what happened. She says something along the lines of "Once....no twice for him. And twice, almost three times for me. Almost. So close". I thought the wording was a bit strange that she couldn't remember how many times he'd come and he must have left her unsatisfied at the end (he doesn't seem the type!). But rewatching it I realised she corrected herself and said twice for Nick because she remembered he'd come during the first time too, when Serena was there. And so I think her 'almost' time was also during this encounter. Watching back the earlier scene, I'd seen her involuntarily reach up and touch his arm, then pull it away when she realised what she was doing. But you also see her bite her lip and look as though she's enjoying it, and afterwards she's breathing heavily and looks confused. She also had her legs around him throughout, in contrast to the rape scenes with Fred where she just passively lies legs apart. I also think Nick knew she was getting into it because of the way he looks at her during the scene. He starts off looking ashamed of himself but then something in his face changes like he's asking her some silent question and feels her answering with the way she's responding to him. There's also a moment when Serena looks at then and does a double take, like she can see it's not just strictly business. I think she was envious of that fact too.

I also love that he never calls June 'Offred' again after she tells him her real name (either when speaking to her or anyone else) except once when he's talking to Serena about her mental health. He says Offred once, then catches himself and next time just says the handmaid. Even at times when he could have been heard, like her walking past him on her way to the gate. Always June.

There's just so much subtle body language and so many subtle comments that I'm always noticing something different. Until I watched the nursery scene with subtitles I completely missed Nick saying "hey sweetie" to baby Holly when he holds her. So sweet!

I'm so interested to hear what other people have noticed!

Flaskfan · 14/08/2018 10:54

I've just read the notes at th e end of the novel again. We're currently early Gilead, with middle Gilead still to come. The underground femaleroad and may day are two separate entities, with MY day the military version.

I do worry that having June running around all French Resistance would deviate from the whole tone of the book, but then, she was a prisoner in an.unfamiliar familiar world, and the horror emerges from that. By this point, we know Gilead, so in some ways, it becomes less terrifying. June has seen the cracks and presumably wants to.exploit them.

thatone · 14/08/2018 11:03

The book mentions that she may have hidden in safe houses - would be interesting, and in keeping with the book, to explore that side. I really need the writers to stay true to what happened with in the book.

EmpressOfSpartacus · 14/08/2018 11:04

Me too, Miss Singer! If she is going to stay then I want it to have been for something good and not just going back to being raped every month. There has to be something better for June now.

I think that even if June got caught she wouldn't go back to the Waterfords. They've had their chance & their track record with handmaids would be seen as pretty atrocious. I think that now Fred has been proven incapable of controlling "his women" he'll be lucky to stay a Commander.

EvilTwins · 14/08/2018 11:10

brokenshoes the Marthas are often out and often together - every time the wives get together they seem to have Marthas there to be servants. When Serena & Naomi Putnam were talking, before they all went before the council, Rita and the Putnams’ Martha were there looking after Nicole and Angela. I think they will have managed it because they’re ignored. They’re basically invisible.

brokenshoes · 14/08/2018 11:20

Ah yes, that's a good point, @EvilTwins (ha - that just auto corrected to "Emily wins"!).

Time to re-watch both series to see all the potential opportunities for the Marthas to communicate, I think.

SisterNotCisTerf · 14/08/2018 11:38

I think they will have managed it because they’re ignored. They’re basically invisible.

I agree with this.

Also there will be some houses who don’t have a handmaid and so their Martha will do their grocery shopping. The putnams don’t have a handmaid anymore, I expect their Martha probably does some walks to the park with Angela in the pram.

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QuackPorridgeBacon · 14/08/2018 11:47

BlessedBeTheFruitLoop That was interesting to read and well written. Some food for thought, it’s making me want to try and watch from the beginning to see what I haven’t already. I’ve always struggled with watching things more than once though, but considering it for this.

QuackPorridgeBacon · 14/08/2018 11:51

I agree that the Martha’s are pretty much ignored and are almost forgotten. They are also older women and may have the confidence but also the rationality to pull off and underground network of sorts. The handmaids are all fairly young and they have seemed more brazen such as the bomb, the refusing to stone janine etc whereas the Martha’s have always been quiet and in the background yet look what they pulled off.

MargoLovebutter · 14/08/2018 11:56

Can someone remind me how Martha's got to be Martha's. Is it because they are unmarried & infertile women? I'm trying to remember the rationale.

EmpressOfSpartacus · 14/08/2018 12:07

I'd guess either unmarried or widows, either infertile or too old for more kids - Rita mentioned her son being killed in the fighting. And presumably of good enough character not to be sent to the Colonies.

Mustang27 · 14/08/2018 12:15

Question? What is Emily going to do with the baby is she supposed to keep nicole/holly or is she supposed to take her to Luke and moira?

I think Emily could have been utilised she is murderous.

If I was in June's shoes I think I'd have left Hannah. She is safe for now. Two escaped handmaids (the first?) telling their story could they rally the world enough for them to step in and stop Gilead? Although I understand why she stayed she has freed one daughter one too go but I just can't see how she rescues her. Won't they just kill June on sight now?

SisterNotCisTerf · 14/08/2018 12:23

Emily is done. She is mentally exhausted and very possibly terminally ill. She was ready to kill herself when she thought C Lawrence was going to have the ceremony with her. She is done fighting. She’s given enough. She needs to get out while she can.

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