Handmaid's Tale. EPISODE 2 (season 3). Channel 4. 9pm 16/6/19 UK pace. NO SPOILERS

[OriginofSpecies]

A new thread to discuss Episode Two (season 3) of The Handmaid's Tale.

We are watching UK pace, Channel 4.

We have only seen episode one so far.

Please NO SPOILERS.

Another thing that struck me was when the doctor was talking to Emily and referred to her fellow Canadians as 'your people', which I always think is a slightly derogatory way of talking about foreigners. I wonder if it was intended to highlight the refugee experience.

I really want to like C Lawrence but he frightens me with his unpredictability. The Lawrence’s don’t want trouble, don’t want strangers on the house....the Lawrence’s are hiding something.

Does anyone remember Bradley Whitford in that supremely harrowing episode of ER, 'Loves Labour's Lost?

Does anyone remember Bradley Whitford in that supremely harrowing episode of ER, 'Loves Labour's Lost?

Is it worth trying to find on iTunes? I am going to go through his credits on imdb and see what interests me.

It's definitely worth a watch, he's terrific in it as is Anthony Edwards; it won an Emmy I believe. Hankies at the ready, mind.

Another thing that struck me was when the doctor was talking to Emily and referred to her fellow Canadians as 'your people', which I always think is a slightly derogatory way of talking about foreigners. I wonder if it was intended to highlight the refugee experience.

I took it to mean handmaids and in reference to the oppression and cruelty they've endured.

I wonder if Commander Lawrence is the one who is unstable / mad and his wife is pretending to be to cover for him? It’s a bit of a disaster for her if her husband is committed under Gilead.

And yes, Cora was the Martha in Jezebel’s. I wonder if she knows that June is the Handmaid that Nick was interested in / involved with?

I wonder if Commander Lawrence is the one who is unstable / mad and his wife is pretending to be to cover for him? It’s a bit of a disaster for her if her husband is committed under Gilead.

Finally got to watch tonight.

Agree with many of the comments here. It’s not as gripping as previous seasons and it’s all getting a bit implausible.

Mrs Lawrence seemed genuinely scared/upset in previous season. Now seems totally with it, knows exactly what she was doing, taking control of the guardians situation.

If she is faking illness, (which C Lawrence seems to be trying to hide) what is the benefit in that? I don’t get it.

Suppose Emily isn’t getting the support she needs in Canada because there are so many people needing support. Lots of people will have fled before things got really bad in the US/pre war. And many since I suspect. Luke, Moira And blond lady, and now Emily all sharing one flat. And it seemed like a crowded building, like it’s housing lots of refugees. Expect there are huge demands on the health service.

I'd like to see more of what happens in the future rather than the same old handmaid stuff. Like how Luke, June and Nick would navigate their relationships with June and Nick having a thing and a daughter now too, I think would be more interesting and take it in a new direction. Plus I just want to watch more Nick haha.

If she is faking illness, (which C Lawrence seems to be trying to hide) what is the benefit in that? I don’t get it.
Maybe she's faking it to avoid the Ceremony. Maybe she knows C Lawrence would go through with it if she was well.

But then he saw her take control of the situation when the guardians were there so he knows she isn’t always unwell.

I think she's incredibly distressed by her husband's part in Gilead but I think somehow she knew exactly what was going on in the house that night & saw an opportunity to stick 2 fingers up to the regime so pulled herself together long enough to do it.

I spend most of my days in my house an anxious mess but the second we have visitors or I leave the front door I can appear perfectly normal. I'm great at masking it when I need to. Maybe she is too!

I agree that June doesn't have to be likeable, but I think she does have to be relatable - and I'm struggling with that now.

Yup, June's behaving ludicrously, endangering everyone around her and there's no logic to it - she had two chances to reach Canada with one of her children and blew them both - I still don't buy I have to stay for Hannah when she knew Hannah was safe and loved and she could have planned a rescue attempt from Canada. You lose sympathy.

Plus Aunt Lydia surviving, June having such a tiny punishment and being reposted, it's all stretching credulity. I'm still going to watch for now, but they're losing me

I wonder if Lawrence is hiding a deep dark secret, and his wife has him over a barrel. Perhaps he is gay or something else not permitted in Gilead and she is using it against him. She could be the leader of the Martha network perhaps, they must be getting help from someone, and she might have forced him to help Emily. She could also unstable or mentally ill of course. I didn't enjoy all the martha stuff tbh, hopefully the next episode will be better.

Perhaps Cmdr Lawrence doesn't really agree with the religious part of Gilead but went along with it and has a bit of a God complex and felt that only he could truly show the world how to clean up its act and live a simpler life and still have a working economy, saving humanity but was blind sided by just how oppressive the regime would be (even though their are countless examples of this in history ad the present). His wife was horrified by it all and became mad with rage and frustration and somewhat depressed (?) but is now helping the struggle.

Deadringer you could be right that the wife is running the Martha network.

I think last week I said I was worried that they were just going to turn it into a guns and dynamite resistance story. And I think this trend is why some of the story lines about the role of Handmaids etc., dont make sense.

Also, I thought Commander Lawrence was one of the founders of Gilead, or part of creating the theory for it.

From a quick google it says he was responsible for the economic theory for Gilead. Not sure what that would be as it seems to survive of slave labour and limited trading with free states.

But this sloppy attitude to the politics is why I would have preferred in Margaret Atwood had agreed to do the story outlines.

(And like others so aggravating that they cant get the sound level right. It is always these big production series that seem unable to do the basics, ie get the volume level of speech to be at least as loud as, if not louder thanincidental music etc.. Dont they ever play these things back on a tv to see how bad their production values are??!!)

I'm not a massive fan of Camilla Long but last weekend in the Sunday Times she said the show had become like a video game and I'm inclined to agree

I think commander Lawerence and his wife have "dirt" on each other that would be scandalous if it got out. Maybe she is a member of the resistance and he is gay or they've both murdered someone. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Sorry - dont want to repeat myself but got interrupted when posting earlier.

The point I was trying to make was that because Commander Lawrence has special status he could get away with organising to have June sent as his new Handmaid.

Whatever his role (economics) I think he just isn't interested in the roles assigned to women.

And yes I would love it if his wife turned out to be supporting the underground movement as she seems to have been trapped in Gilead through her marriage but not part of it.

Luke, Moira And blond lady, and now Emily all sharing one flat. And it seemed like a crowded building, like it’s housing lots of refugees

Really? My thoughts on the flat was that it was unbelievably light, airy and spacious. I would have expected refugee accommodation for that number of adults (with no kids till Nichole turned up) to be about a quarter that size.

The flat seemed spacious, (Luke and baby sleeping in living room though) but the building appears crowded. (“And it seemed like a crowded building”) when you see all the people outside it all the time and when look was sitting on his front step there were loads of other people milling around on the landing.

Look=Luke

I agree that the flat in Canada seems pretty nice. I wonder whether this is just to make filming easier though - the thing about this show is that it always looks attractive (even when gruesome) and a really poky flat would look awful. I think there was some show about twenty-somethings in the 90s that was set in realistic accommodation but no one watched because it was so claustrophobic on screen.

I think the flat is maybe meant to contrast the big but sparse/ minimalist style of houses in Gilead. It's a warm homely place with lots of personal items etc.