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Handmaid's Tale. EPISODE 6 (season 3). Channel 4, 14/07/19. UK pace. NO SPOILERS!

375 replies

OriginofSpecies · 14/07/2019 20:27

Thread for Episode 6 (season 3) of The Handmaid's Tale.

We are watching on Channel 4, UK pace and have only seen episodes 1 - 5 so far.

Please, NO SPOILERS.

OP posts:
EBearhug · 15/07/2019 23:32

I was thinking along the lines of Fred making sure the footage went directly to Luke.

Fred doesn’t know that Luke knows about Nick. If Luke saw a video of June and Nick, it wouldn't be as much a shock and betrayal as Fred is probably hoping for.

Binforky · 16/07/2019 06:04

I'm finding this season less and less interesting. I find it especially irritating how June suddenly had a free pass to wander about. Like in the scene where she walked into the room with all the children wives and commanders and just starts having a chat with Serena. It just wouldn't have been aloud in earlier seasons. Also the way she seems to have become a marriage guru to the wives and how they are now calling Luke her husband even though they originally didn't recognise their marriage.

She just seems to be untouchable. Janine lost her eye in the first season for answering back where as June can do whatever the hell she wants.

Add to that all the women clearly reading now. For example when Serena shows Martha the gift she openly reads it and says how beautiful it is.

Junes constant staring confused me too (may be more of a me problem) I know people say shes really expressive but I find myself thinking "is she happy, angry, upset, constipated....?" As I say it may be I'm just bad at reading facial expressions but it's like shes constantly pulling these faces.

I could carry on for days with all the things that are ruining it. I just seem to keep watching in the hope it gets better.

Ginger1982 · 16/07/2019 08:05

@Binforky I agree.

I wonder if the 'slipping' in the rules is a subtle sign of Gilead's control slipping? Maybe not.

JoxerGoesToStuttgart · 16/07/2019 10:49

It wouldn’t make sense that Gilead’s control over their handmaids/people was slipping at the same time as them growing in military strength and claiming more cities. That’s not how it works. If anything the military victories would give these men the confidence to tighten their grip.

BeyondDangerousTshirts · 16/07/2019 11:00

True. Though I guess if more men are being sent to the front/dying there - even if Gilead are winning the battles - there will be fewer guards etc around to police the population?

JoxerGoesToStuttgart · 16/07/2019 11:22

That’s a point. But it doesn’t seem to be reflected in the show. There seem to be more guards than in previous seasons that are happily ignoring June’s running out to kiss commanders in the middle of the night.

Also a point I forgot to mention before, the Martha of the DC house cane to tell June that nick was outside waiting for her. No way would that happen. That Martha has seen their handmaid have her mouth stapled shut. There is no way in hell she would risk her own life to tell a stranger handmaid that her boyfriend was outside.

BeyondDangerousTshirts · 16/07/2019 11:24

Wasn't it Rita who came to her?

JoxerGoesToStuttgart · 16/07/2019 11:27

It didn’t sound like Rita. And Rita would have said “nicks here”. The Martha said “someone’s here”

BeyondDangerousTshirts · 16/07/2019 11:30

I didn't see her face, or hear (sound very low as DP was sleeping next to me). Subtitles didn't say who it was, so I assumed Rita as she'd know the relationship between them

BeyondDangerousTshirts · 16/07/2019 11:31

(so if you say it wasn't her, you're probably right as I'd only assumed)

JoxerGoesToStuttgart · 16/07/2019 11:33

I’m not certain, just that the voice was quite a high pitched voice and the “someone’s here” didn’t suggest they knew who it was. But Rita knows nick

EmpressLesbianInChair · 16/07/2019 12:04

It was definitely the other Martha.

BeyondDangerousTshirts · 16/07/2019 12:11

Ah thanks empress. Makes me wonder what the point in Rita being in Washington at all was, though? Grin

JoxerGoesToStuttgart · 16/07/2019 12:17

I think Rita must be performing a “lady’s maid” type of role for Serena. Is that what all the Martha’s do or are some just cooks/cleaners, some just lady’s maid and some a mixture performing all roles?

What was the point of Aunt Lydia after she had left June at the red dot? She didn’t need to stay did she?

Nousernameforme · 16/07/2019 12:28

Aunt Lydia is there for handmaid transportation and supervision but as she is not part of the family unit will be staying elsewhere presumably Washington's red centre. Rita is a part of the family unit so thats why she is with them. Plus what would she be doing if left at home to her own devices. Women, even marthas need to be watched.

Unless of course you are june sneaking out for snogs with ex drivers

BesselVanDerKolk · 16/07/2019 12:52

Did anyone else think it was Emily coming down the escalator when June was looking at the gagged handmaids?! My stomach proper dropped!

BeyondDangerousTshirts · 16/07/2019 12:55

One of the earlier women had her tongue cut out, didn't she? I wonder why they moved from tongue cutting out to completely shutting their mouths...?

AGnu · 16/07/2019 13:43

I wonder why they moved from tongue cutting out to completely shutting their mouths...?

Visual effect? You wouldn't necessarily notice someone walking passed with no tongue but the coverings & the staples are a reminder to others. We don't know for sure that all handmaids in DC are stapled, it could just be the more rebellious ones but they make them all wear covers to remind them to keep their mouths shut, or else.

Clawdy · 16/07/2019 14:08

For me the stapled mouth thing is jumping the shark. There is no way they could live on a liquid diet if they are supposed to be healthy enough to conceive, and the staples could not be regularly removed and put back in without destroying the entire mouth. They haven't thought it through. Unless as someone said, it was a punishment for that one particular handmaid.

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 16/07/2019 14:24

The staples are weird and implausible and pornified and I do not believe they have ever been used in that way in real life, thus taking away one of the show's most powerful points, the fact that everything done to women has been done for real at some point in history somewhere in the world.
Someone upthread mentioned scold's bridles - it's true that these are similar in that they are metal devices meant to silence women, but they were used as visible exemplary punishments for brief periods, not as lifestyle things to be worn for more than a day or two, which is how the staples appear.

AnotherEmma · 16/07/2019 14:29

Agree, Countess.

MotherOfSoupDragons · 16/07/2019 14:56

I also thought the Handmaid on the escalator looked like Emily.

EmpressLesbianInChair · 16/07/2019 16:37

Unless as someone said, it was a punishment for that one particular handmaid.

The one Aunt Lydia looked at had it too though.

JoxerGoesToStuttgart · 16/07/2019 17:06

I wonder why they moved from tongue cutting out to completely shutting their mouths...?

I suppose It’s a way of controlling the handmaids by offering the “carrot” of having their staples removed if they behave/produce a child/whatever.

But agree with all the other comments about the stapling. It doesn’t ring true to the story.

TildaKauskumholm · 16/07/2019 17:22

Re the comment about Gilead showing its strength in having so many fertile women, surely other countries would be producing test tube babies and having a much higher reproduction rate?