Handmaid's Tale. EPISODE 3 (season 3). Channel 4. 9pm 23/6/19 UK pace. NO SPOILERS

[OriginofSpecies]

Welcome to the new thread to discuss Episode Three (season 3) of The Handmaid's Tale.

We are watching UK pace, Channel 4.

We have only seen episodes one & two so far.

Please NO SPOILERS.

I like the light and shade. For me that was a look through the keyhole into the commander world and how the core is pure hypocrisy and misogyny. Quite apt considering what's happening at the moment in politics in the UK / US etc.

I thought Serena was going to drown herself, then something was said about women finding their place and I wonder if that was the point when she realised she needed to listen to June about women helping each other.

I think the crux of the matter is we’ve deviated away from the book and Margaret Atwood, hence the quality has dipped quite significantly.

Yes, and I'm also missing the insights into the utterly bizarre and horrifying nature of Gilead and its obsession with controlling women's fertility. The wives mimicking labour contractions, the scans which the actual mother didn't get to see, the recalcitrant pregnant women chained to beds until they gave birth, and so on.

Now, it's all a bit nothing. Just close ups of June looking cross and deep conversations in dark rooms. It's almost like any run-of-the-mill drama. It's lost - or is losing - its uniqueness.

This episode was slow-moving, but the cinematography was beautiful.

It is always a challenge to maintain a series after the book(s) it's based on have run out - look at the last two seasons of Game of Thrones! I do think The Handmaid's Tale needs to be careful to keep the consistency of what would be possible within Gilead.

Trying to watch this on All4 catch up but audio description is ruining it for me. Does anyone know how to turn it off? I can't find a button, either next to the speaker or subtitles icon to turn it off. Tried stopping and restarting but that hasn't made a difference either.

Please help!
TIA

I wondered if Commander Lawrence commenting on June's history was to show that once upon a time he would have taken the decision to make her a handmaid, rather than send her to the colonies. Just like the women June had to decide over.

Yes, and I'm also missing the insights into the utterly bizarre and horrifying nature of Gilead and its obsession with controlling women's fertility. The wives mimicking labour contractions, the scans which the actual mother didn't get to see, the recalcitrant pregnant women chained to beds until they gave birth, and so on.

I wonder how many pregnant handmaids there are right now in Gilead?

I'm getting bored halfway through and looking at my phone which I didn't do in the first two series.
I'm also fed up with June's expressions last week continually smug, this week vengeful. I think Elisabeth Moss is a great actress but there isn't enough plot at the moment so she's having to try and convey how she's feeling with her expressions which are a bit cartoony. It was better when she was suppressing emotions whilst all the horror was unfolding around her.
If it doesn't pick up I may not bother watching.

I liked the fact that Serena didn't fully submerge herself.. to me it showed she was turning her back on religion.

I agree it was pretty slow!

I’m a bit confused by all the Martha’s (were they Martha’s or econopeople?) gathered for the colonies. (Did he say there were thousands?) what could they all have done to deserve death/colonies? And how can Gilead afford to lose so many workers? He said there were only 5 Martha vacancies. I’m guessing to replace the 5 that were hanged.

I agree it was slow but did still enjoy it. I thought the comment re there being no children left to adopt in Africa was insightful.

Also, how was Nick promoted to commander as he just didn't seem on a par with the others in the room? If he was a commander, then why would he be sent to the front line?

I'm missing the flashbacks and how things came to be - would love to see more of CL and his part in it all.

I liked the episode. It set the scene for the building of the resistance. It'll be interesting to see what Serena does next. She has rejected religion, her mother, the community and Fred.

If he was a commander, then why would he be sent to the front line?

That confused me too.

I’m not understanding why Serena has the freedom to leave her husband and everyone talks about her marriage problems. Surely that would be a HUGE taboo in Gilead? It would end any and all standing Waterford had for people to know he couldn’t keep his wife in line. Last series he was physically chastising her fgs.

Did June pick up a Darwin book? Surely that's not allowed in Gilead???

I think CL must be helping June otherwise she could let all his secrets out of the bag.....all the secret goings on in his house, his wife and her problems, him helping the baby escape. I still don't think he can be trusted at all though. He'll always be one step ahead of her. Everyone knows how toxic it is and theyre just trying to protect their own backs.
It was quite a vague eppisode. Lots of details missing.

I'm wondering if June and Nick had sex and if so could she possibly be pregnant again?

Will be interesting to see how it all unfolds.

Didn't they say something about the women coming from Chicago? I thought they were captured as Gilead advanced. The dilemma then was whether to put them to work in the colonies or the publicly murder them as a reminder of what happens to those who don't fall in line.

Nick may have been made a commander but as a total newbie he's not going to be high up. Seems natural that they'd send the lower-ranking commanders to oversee the actual fighting while the truly powerful get to stay safe & make decisions. I'm hoping that we see Nick back later in the series having proved himself. Perhaps he'll be in charge when Chicago falls.... But that involves more people being trapped in Gilead so I also hope that doesn't happen!

It seems odd that there should only be 5 Martha vacancies - you'd have thought they'd be happy for more servants. Although, I suppose it's more mouths to feed & more uppity women to try to control. Can't have too many underlings or they'll get stronger than you.

I missed the significance of the comment about "back when there were orphans." I was concentrating too hard on trying to hear what was being said that I couldn't really listen/process it!

Didn't they say something about the women coming from Chicago? I thought they were captured as Gilead advanced. The dilemma then was whether to put them to work in the colonies or the publicly murder them as a reminder of what happens to those who don't fall in line.

Ahh! Thank you. I was confused about what happened with Chicago. I thought Gilead had lost Chicago, rather than taken it. So Gilead is gaining ground, not crumbling. Scary.

They must have a surplus of Marthas. C. Lawrence has two.

I agree with PP, and I think even the writers would agree, that no-one can write like Margaret Atwood and this is her story. thought this episode had too many implausible moments - June going to see the people destined for the Colonies, Nick being allowed to see June, even Fred and June talking at the house. And I don't like it when they try to make us sympathetic to Serena, she has a lot of blood on her hands.

I think there can't be many people left in Gilead!

What with the killings/hangings, the escapes, that huge mass of people (women?) being sent to the colonies - how are there any ordinary members of the public left? Surely with an ultra-low birth rate, they'd need all the citizens they have, to do the work? They seem to have endless men-with-guns, guards, commanders, Marthas...

Ah - I didn't see that about Chicago being taken! So, loads more normal citizens to prop up Gilead? Or wouldn't the city have been evacuated of all but essential military staff?

Ah who knows. It's all a bit vague.

I am still enjoying it tho.

I liked this episode - particularly because I remembered to put on subtitles, so I caught everything!!!! I liked the slow exploration of character and the fact that I still can't work out what the fuck Lawrence is up to.

There were weak bits, as I really am struggling to believe that Nick & June had 'private time' in her room!

Serena's mother was suitably cold and repressed, which made perfect sense!!!! Nice to slowly see the penny dropping with Serena too, although I don't know how that will all pan out, as I'm convinced she has psychopathic tendencies, if not a full blown psychopath.

There was quite a bit of scene-setting too, as we're clearly being teed up for a big battle. Nick was being sent to the front etc. I wonder whether that will bring the collapse, or at least the start of it. If they are having to deploy men, presumably lots of those gun-totting meat heads that stand around watching, will get sent off and it will be harder to control things at home?

I enjoyed it too. I liked:

The fact that June's behaviour made more sense in this episode. She seemed to have realised that she had been too cocky. She saw the Marthas hanging, Commander Lawrence humiliated her, she acknowledged that she doesn't know or understand him, and she played her cards pretty carefully in the conversation with Fred. I think it suits her better to work the "politics" (trying to persuade Serena to act for example) than randomly joining in the Martha's escape attempt.

Serena's scenes. YY to comments about her awful mother helping us to understand her a bit better. Her character development has been fascinating and I can't wait to see what she does next.

Scenes with Fred and Nick - Fred's speech was suitably awful and I liked that June was awful to Nick but then let him in (as implausible as it seems )

Is Nick really a commander? Was June just guessing about why he was there? If he is a commander it must be a very junior one, for him to be sent to fight. Although I suppose they might want someone they trust to lead the soldiers?

I was frustrated not to see more of Emily (the reunion!) and the others in Canada but hopefully we'll get more of that in the next episode.

I agree with PPs that the plot and general quality has significantly deteriorated since departing from the books, but I do feel that episode 3 was a bit more "true" to previous episodes and more thought-provoking than episode 2.

I can see why they released all 3 at once in the US (and elsewhere I think?) as I think they work well together to set the scene for the rest of the season.

It seems odd that there should only be 5 Martha vacancies - you'd have thought they'd be happy for more servants.
I assume there's some sort of training centre, like for the handmaids. Also, there may be some sort of hierarchy - I think the Waterford only had one Martha, and CL has two.

I think your husband getting demoted and having your baby kidnapped would be seen as pretty big marital problems, and not ones you could hide.

*Trying to watch this on All4 catch up but audio description is ruining it for me. Does anyone know how to turn it off? I can't find a button, either next to the speaker or subtitles icon to turn it off. Tried stopping and restarting but that hasn't made a difference either.

Please help!
TIA*

Mine too! I can't turn it off!

Maybe they've pushed it too far with 3 series. Though if what I've heard is true, they're planning on 10 series. I find that impossible to imagine. They're already struggling with the plot.

Bruce Miller pitched it to Hulu as 10 series, he said in an interview recently that he doesn't actually think 10 will get made.

Margaret Atwood's sequel is set 15 years after the first book and she's been sharing her drafts with the series writers, so it would make sense for the show to come to an end where the new book starts, or to film the new book as the final series. It might account for a bit of a clunky change in the writing as well, if she took them in an unanticipated direction.

I am not sure as I didn't get all the dialogue in the meeting of Commanders, but think Commander Lawrence sees the women as his lab rats.

Equally being nice and nasty.

June is his latest experiment and it is clear that he has bothered to do research before using his influence to get her into his household.

Maybe he needs the threat of revolution to keep the momentum of authoritarian rule in Gilead.

But also for him what he has done by telling June she can save 4 women from going to the colonies is to implicate her in the brutality.

From this point on she isn't just fighting back against the system but is able to overcome hesitation about who will live and who will die (or barely survive) because she thinks she has chosen the most useful women to be part of the under ground.

So basically without Margaret Atwood to input the politics and the menchanisms used to supress women, we now have Mission Impossibe - the Handmaid version!