Handmaid’s Tale Season 3 US PACE! ##Spoilers for UK viewers##

[AcrossthePond55]

We had a similar thread for season 2. This is specifically for those watching on Hulu in the US/elsewhere or UK streaming at the US pace so there be spoilers ahead for those watching at UK pace.

Please no spoilers if anyone has ‘advance knowledge’ of season 3 beyond the current episodes.

I’ve watched 2 of the 3 episodes dropped today. I’m pretty satisfied with things so far..I admit I got a bit emotional when it was clear that Emily and Nichole made it to Canada.

My only niggle right now is Mrs Lawrence. It’s pretty obvious she’s suffering from some type of MH condition. Yet everyone (pro Gilead)seems to buy Cdr Lawrence’s ‘she’s just tired’ or whatever excuses. Seems to me they’d be on the lookout for people outside the acceptable norm and anxious to ‘deal with them’.

I’ll be watching Ep 3 later tonight.

She can't get pregnant, she was shot on her womb

(I think)

I agree, furry - plus so much gurning to the camera. Fleetingly I wished her on the wall

@Aridane I had cometly forgotten about that! Bah, that's my plot prediction thwarted!

Serena was shot in the hip. The show runner has said she's not infertile.

I know Serena was shot in the lower abdomen but I don't know if it was ever definitively established that she was barren as a result. There's more 'proof' that Fred is. Three prior Handmaids with no results, Nick being brought in by Serena to get June pregnant, and now the conversation in the woods. Serena's remarks about Fred finding a fertile woman seemed 'off the cuff'. Fred's response seemed to be more him admitting a truth that they've refused to face in the past.

[What's a 'show runner'?]

Thanks & Wow to the trailer linked above!

Would it be too contrived if CDR Nick takes the place of CDR Fred & CDR Winslow in a military coup?!

Wow! What an episode. I think Cmr Lawrence is going to be this series unlikely hero, but end up getting killed as a result.

Cmr Lawrence reeks quirky Nazi with his looted art collection. Creepy fucker

I see Lawrence as someone hoist with his own petard. He's living the nightmare he created.

His redeeming quality is his deep love for his wife. It's pretty clear that he'd do anything to keep her safe.

I wonder who provided the black outfit for Jezebel's. Do the Marthas keep a selection in various sizes?

And that was one powerful vacuum cleaner sucking up the blood with no stains!

I need to read this thread before watching the episodes- I'm such a chicken- I find watching the series very difficult- "hands over the eyes" stuff but this thread makes it bearable. You are an episode ahead of what's being shown on RTE 2, the channel it's on in Ireland, which is one episode ahead of Channel 4 in the UK.

I can't help but think of the Magdalene Laundry / unmarried mothers as portrayed in the film Philomena and the seizing of their babies in the not so distant past in Ireland, I think too of the runaway but recaptured Dubai princesses too and of course Nazi Germany, when watching The Handmaid's Tale.

Did you know, in Ireland today, adopted people have no right to see their original birth cert, to know who their mother is.

It's that way for me, too Beana. Many states here in the US don't allow adoptees to see their birth certificates.

Wow I didn't know that about Ireland, that's awful!

What an episode, finally feels like it has got going, I was so glad when Serena and Fred got arrested! Didn't clock she had set him up though. I wonder if June will end up pregnant with Lawrence's baby, hope not.

Thought it was really sweet of June to tell Janine that her son was living by the sea, I don't think Janine could have handled the truth.

Can't wait for the next episode!

I rewatched the episode now that I know Serena was behind Fred's arrest. Even knowing it, any 'hints' were extremely subtle. The most obvious one to me was that their Martha made reference to Serena 'overpacking' toiletries but apparently not clothes. I thought it was odd the first time I saw it and thought "Overpacking toiletries? What's that about?" but just shrugged it off. Naturally Serena will be wanting new 'civilian' clothes so why bother to take her Gilead 'Wife's uniform'? Other than that there were just her glances up or down the empty road when they were stopped, her silence during the drive, and an occasional small smile. You could tell that Fred was a bit puzzled by her behaviour.

I loved the scene between June and Janine, too nowifi. It was so touching.

hagsrus0 It's a carpet cleaning machine.

Acrossthepond55
A relative of mine was trying to get their birth cert but couldn't officially, so they went to the Office of Births, Marrages and Deaths in Dublin and over the course of a few days, armed with few facts, porong over records, found his birth registration and ordered a copy of his birth cert.
Watching June going through the records of stolen children reminded me of my relative.
It's a right given to adoptees in the UK since c1975 but they're still humming and hawing here about it,hoping all the birth mothers will bedead by the time the law will be changed, worrying about the implications for the birth mothers.

How kind June was to Janine, making up that story about her dead child.
Amongst the decay, still the roses bloom.
Despite all she's been through she hasn't lost her empathy.

"It's a carpet cleaning machine."

Of course - thank you!

An adopted person's original birth certificate here is sealed beana. I know enough information to get my original birth certificate but if I tried all I'd be told is that the record is sealed and not available. There are now 'open adoptions' but back when the Earth was cooling (when I was adopted) adoptions were sealed.

I just watched the promo. I can't wait for the confrontation between Luke and Fred. And Fred and Serena. I was hoping Serena would be full of fire about how Fred treated her and allowed Gilead to treat women in general. I don't want an apologetic 'I betrayed you for the baby but I luurrvve you!'.

I thought the US would be on par with the legalities re adoption in the UK and not as backward on the law as Ireland.
The reason cited for the delay is that the identity of the birth mother was never to be disclosed under the terms of the original signing up for adoption.
How has that worked out for mothers who gave up their children in the UK I wonder?

That was part of the reason records in my state remain sealed. Because adoption was considered a legal contract between the birth mother and the adoptive parents. And both parties have to agree to legally break a contact. The adopted child 'technically' has no legal standing in court. We have the option to take it to court and ask a judge to break the contract, but it's not guaranteed.

I have a great deal of sympathy for birth mothers who want to remain unknown. In most cases they did what they did to provide a better life for the child. In my case, I was the result of an extramarital affair whilst my mother's husband was in prison. Can you imagine the life I'd have had with him in the home? I've never had any desire to contact her and disrupt her life. In fact, I'm eternally grateful to her and I feel my not contacting her is the gift I can give her in return for the gift of the wonderful life I've had that she gave me. Although I'm lucky in the respect that I know a great deal about her as I was a private adoption and she shared a great deal of information about herself with my mum.

Adoption laws in the US are state by state, not national (Federal) laws. These days there are 'closed' (records sealed) and 'open' (records available) adoptions. The parties involved make that decision during the adoption proceedings. Some state do have laws saying that an adopted child may have access to their records when they reach majority even in 'closed' adoptions and in those cases, the birth mother is made aware of that. My state has no such law, and even if they were to pass one, they're usually not retroactive.

Which brings me back to THT. The Waterfords didn't adopt Nichole as it wasn't necessary under Gilead law. Nichole has no biological tie to the Fred (as Serena well knows). By this time chances are that Luke has had her in his care longer than the Waterfords did. Just how does Serena expect to get Nichole back? To my way of thinking, the American forces that captured Fred have no authority to make a 'deal' with Serena to exchange Fred for Nichole. That authority would lie with the Canadian authorities as (I assume) Nichole has 'refugee status' in Canada with Luke having custody/guardianship. And it was made clear in the arresting officer's speech to Fred that he was in American custody and that Canada was only 'holding' Fred on their behalf until he could be transferred to the Intl Courts.

AcrossthePond55
That is so interesting.

Re The Handmaids Tale- Im an episode behind this thread. Which makes actually watching it bearable- Im such a wuss.
Does anyone else find it really hard to watch ?

I loved it! I was on the edge of my seat when they arrested Fred. We even watched it a second time.

Can't wait for tomorrow- so glad I'm on holiday so I can watch it earlier too! June is going to get those kids out and back to their rightful parents. Let's just hope they're all still alive and well and in Canada or somewhere safe.