The Handmaid’s Tale (UK pace, so no spoilers from the US/Israel/Aus please)

[Ivy40]

This is a new thread where we can refer to the original book, published in 1985 (including the epilogue). Everyone is welcome to speculate on how the writers will get us from the book (end of series 1) to the epilogue (we’re assuming this will be series 10). Plus any other interesting plot developments that you have noticed.

No spoilers from the US/Israel/Aus etc please, as we in the UK are 2-3 episodes behind. We don’t want to KNOW what happens next, we just enjoy speculating and enjoy the plot development.

The basics:
Margaret Atwood wrote the Handmaid’s Tale in the 1980s, it was first published in 1985.

She said that she didn’t use anything that hadn’t happened in real life.

Series 1 finished at the end of the book.

There is an epilogue though.

Hulu have said that there will be 10 series.

We are assuming that series 10 will be the epilogue.

That means that Hulu have a lot of creative licence in series 2-9, as long as what they create leads to what we know is the epilogue.

Margaret Atwood is a consultant writer on the tv series.

The Testaments are being released in September 2019, written by Margaret Atwood. Set 15 years ahead of the ending in the original book and will be the stories of 4 different narrators, not June’s story. MA said that she based the Handmaid’s Tale on Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, so we’re expecting “A Wife”s Tale”, “A Martha’s Tale” etc.

Will we need a separate thread go discuss Testaments when it comes out? Can't wait. And I'm going to the live screening of the MA talk at the cinema too. Lots to look forward to.

We can do could link it back here though. I'm hoping they put the MA talk up on youtube afterwards there isn't one near where i am.

@MotherOfSoupDragons - that’s interesting, the phone could well be contraband if they are basing it on the book but modernising it. Think the book said the contraband was books and magazines. I’ve wondered though, if Commander Lawrence maybe heading for the wall instead of Fred. CL isn’t getting away with avoiding the nastier aspects of Gilead anymore so may sacrifice himself to get Eleanor and / or the children out.

I’m hoping the Testaments will link into what we discuss here. Although it’s 4 different narrators and set 15 years (I think) after the TV series, some of the narrators maybe people we know. I’m hoping Nick has disappeared because we’re getting “An Eye’s Tale” in the Testaments.

The Testaments comes out in a Tuesday, seriously thinking of booking a day’s holiday to curl up and read it with no distractions!

I’m not convinced Fred has the motivation to leave Gilead. He’s got so much more power in the Gilead system than he ever had in the normal world. He doesn’t care about getting Nicole back either. I do hope that Serena hasn’t cocked up by showing him that phone and it’s deliberate and part of her plan.

"He lives on the beach" made me sob!

@Ivy40 when June was looking through the Red Centre records in the basement she said something like "it's been 5 years now. He was 1,now he is 6. She was 7, now she is 12".

I think Serena will press Fred to make deal and handover info to Canada in exchange for Nicole. Fred will have to decide if Serena is worth it.

More cast notes:

Rita is in season 2 of Workin' Moms.
Janine was Trisha in OITNB.
The creepy doc from the first season is Donnie from Orphan Black. I noticed that imdb says he was also in season 2 but I must have missed that. (i'm a huge Donnie fan. Not so much the creepy doc.)

What is the testaments please? New book?

The Testaments is Margaret Atwood’s new book, released on 10th September.

Thank you Skaife I’m dipping in and out of here and on catch up tv. Is it related to the handmaids tail like a follow up or not at all? Thanks!

Random question, (muffins mean yes)
wouldn’t commander Lawrence wonder where all the hundreds of muffins came from; or other households wonder where they had gone?!

The Testaments is supposed to be set 15 years after the tv series and will be the stories of 4 different people, somehow related to Gilead. So we may get an “Eye’s Tale”, a “Martha’s Tale”, a “Refugee’s Tale” etc. We don’t know which ones yet though.

Margaret Atwood said she had used Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales as an inspiration. We read both at school and I remember my English teacher saying that she thought Atwood had left the Handmaid’s Tale open so she could write sequels from other perspectives.

The the muffins, LOL. I can only guess that Commander Lawrence has no idea what goes on his kitchen. He’s a man!

It is quite an interesting take on how people in oppressed communities communicate. I’m considering having a muffin party for the final.

Trying to work out Commander Lawrence, a flashback would be so useful. I’m guessing he was a highly thought of academic. He was responsible for designing the economy of Gilead so maybe in economics. Deigned Gilead’s economy purely from an economic mindset, no thought for the human repercussions and had no idea how far it would go. Winslow said he knew Lawrence from Church pre Gilead so thinking Winslow knew Lawrence and got him to come up with the economic structure. That’s how he became a highly ranked commander without observing much of the religion. It’s common in the US to be a church goer so going to church on a Sunday wouldn’t automatically make him an extremist.

The books on his book shelf are:

The Wealth of Nations - Adam Smith

The Descent of Man - Charles Darwin (not Greyson Perry )

The End of Alchemy - Mervyn King

Capital in the 21st Century - Thomas Pickett

The above are all quite well known books, the below are made up books that were placed there to give us a better idea of what makes him tick:

American Prosperity in a Warming World

The Case for Relaunching the Mercantile Economy in Developing Nations - Joseph Lawrence

Economic Effects of the Religious Revival during the Fertility Crisis (this one is quite interesting as it must have been written during the build up to Gilead).

The Religious Geneology of Western Economies

Brink of Extinction - Joseph Lawrence

Problematic Populism: Upheaval during the fertility crisis and the long term effects on American Prosperity- Joseph Lawrence

@Tattybogle89 - re. all the muffins - earlier in the episode all the scones were explained as gifts from other wives, to Mrs Lawrence, to make up for her medication being taken away by the regime - so I assume they will think the muffins are “more sorry-you-can’t-have-your-vital-drugs” baked goods.

@Ulverstonian, thanks for that list of books. very interesting to see what CL himself has written.

Economic Effects of the Religious Revival during the Fertility Crisis (this one is quite interesting as it must have been written during the build up to Gilead).

This is interesting as it’s THE Religious Revival and Fertility Crisus not A. I think it’s something that’s difficult for us to grasp, with our generally laissez faire attitude to religion in the UK. In the build up to Gilead, most people couldn’t have children and they turned to religion to solve that (in a country prone to much more religious conservatism than ours). I’d say the majority of the population got swept up in that, that’s how Gilead was able to take over.

We’re seeing this through a Handmaid’s eyes. Someone who we know was liberal and not religious pre Gilead - from what I’m gathering, June and her circle of non religious liberals became a minority in pre Gilead America.

I wonder how many of the econopeople are true believers. Gilead couldn’t have happened without support from the masses. Eden’s family seemed to be true believers. As we’re just seeing this through June’s eyes, so we’re only seeing what happens to and around June, we’re not seeing what the econopeople (masses) think or do.

I’d say the majority of the population got swept up in that, that’s how Gilead was able to take over.

We are in a different type of mess now, with Brexit and with wokester bullying taking over, be it Brexiteers, remainders, extinction rebellion, vegans, queer ideology, Intersectionals, Momentum etc.

I am fed up of the totalitarian bullying though police.

Lawrence was/is a doctor of economics (given the reading list maybe with a slant towards sociology or social anthropology). I think that is why he had respect for Emily and got her out - she is his equal as a Dr of Molecular Biology. Didn’t he say that he helped her escape because he thought she could do some good in the world too?

In pre Gilead, I imagine him as being an ivory tower academic, arrogant, with no respect for anyone other than other academics such as Emily and his wife.

@Skaife yes that was why Lawrence helped Emily. He is the ultimate hypocrite. He acknowledges women like Emily can make an important difference to the outside world, yet in Gilead women should be seen and not heard.

It was very interesting to see him crumble at the enforced ceremony. His horror and distress at something he created and expected everyone else to carry out, just not him.

I'm sure it was easy for Gilead to sneak into power. Most ordinary people were afraid and kept quiet to protect themselves and their family. They saw their friends and neighbours being disappeared, then ultimately put on the wall.

We're all online now. If Gilead started up here they could easily find out who has views that go against their ideology.

Thank you for your insights.

This thread dramatically enhances my enjoyment of this series.

Love reading this as much as I love watching the programme.

Fascinating insights and thoughts on this thread. I much prefer it to the episodes thread, it definitely enhances viewing!

This series is definitely finally ramping up, the last 2 episodes have been the best so far of the series.

In the book they mention that Fred was purged for having banned reading material, but also for hiding a subversive and it speculates if that could have been his Handmaid or Nick. From this episode I'm actually wondering if that is Serena? Pure speculation... I can't wait for the last 2 episodes.