Handmaid's Tale. EPISODE 9 (season 3). Channel 4, 04/08/19. UK pace. NO SPOILERS!

[OriginofSpecies]

This is the thread for Episode 9 (season 3) of The Handmaid's Tale.

We are watching on Channel 4, UK pace and have only seen episodes 1 - 8 so far.

Please, NO SPOILERS.

I can't believe we're up to Episode 9 already! I hope it all starts coming together in the next five episodes.

@Roussette and @JoxerGoesToStuttgart thank you! That makes sense. I guess it signals June(berries?!)’s transition to selflessness- trying to save everyone’s children, not just her own.

I think I would have found this episode riveting, if I hadn’t had to listen to the C4 narrator describing it for the blind. I don’t know how to stop that randomly happening. If anyone knows, I’d be eternally grateful!

I don't know about the different blue colours but the wives do have a lot of leeway in their clothes compared to the other women. In the hospital they had different shades and different styles. One woman wore blue tights and heels. Eleanor Waterford always wears loose knits to reflect her state of mind whereas serena wears tailored stylish dresses.
The fertile girls will be allocated to higher status men as rewards. If wives are fertile they don't need handmaids.

the costume designer said the colour of the wives' dresses was related to their husbands' rank. The darker the colour, the more powerful the commander. i assume that's why the umbrellas at the end were two shades of teal/green

Ah but June is with Joseph now not with the Waterford's

Funny how Aunt Lydia berates Janine for vanity then says there's nothing wrong with wanting to look your best when she gives her that pirate eye patch.

Ohhh sorry I didn't mean Waterford at all I meant Joseph whatever his name is

I really enjoyed it. It reminded me of the narration in the book about her bedroom at the Waterfords and how little there was to do to fill the time.

We've been commenting for weeks about June's behaviour and why hasn't she ended up on the wall for it, other than being needed for PR for Canada. She has been gradually losing her grip on rational behaviour through the series. She's not had any established "safe" alliegence for some time and being punished with the prospect of months of social isolation of any meaningful interraction is bordering on torture. The conversation with the doctor is the first time all series that someone else has looked out for her as a person.

It's a turning point. C.Lawrence commented about her usefulness (or lack of) to others a good few episodes back. A Lydia and Janine reinforced that. Deciding to stay with Natalie until she died was the first act of kindness from June this series and was a rebellion against the system where she was not the patient, and just the incubator until her body gave out.

It needed to be slow. Condensing it to 15 minutes would have made the change of heart unrealistic. Realising that the doctor was protecting her from the consequences of her actions and even Serena downplaying the attempted attack and not carrying out the words from their argument in Washington was important.

June's needed to gradually unravel to rock bottom then have some glimmers of support to have a change of perspective and direction.

@GoingplaceZ you don’t need to PM me to tell me to shut up. You can do it publicly on the thread where everyone else can see it.

I thought it was a really good episode. Interesting that June told the Dr he was torturing Natalie when she was also being tortured (her knees and the way she couldn’t walk - I seize up if I kneel down for about 10 minutes!) Serena was kind. I think there’s more to it than wanting her alive for potential video clips.

June needed to find a reason to keep fighting. It would have been disingenuous if she’d gone through that process quickly.

I thought the episode perfectly conveyed the stultifying, suffocating tension and loneliness of being utterly at the mercy of a regime which considers you subhuman and which is prepared to strip you of everyone who love without a second thought. How that drives people repeatedly to the brink of madness and beyond, how that utterly crushes all hope in people and makes them turn on one another, like caged animals jockeying for some tiny advantage or sense of power.

But small flashes of recognition (the doctor), pity (Serena) and honesty (Janine) and compassion (Janine saying “she’s one of us” about the comatose handmaiden) can turn desolate desperation into deep, resolute, defiance and indomitability. A determination not to let this go on for others who come after you. That being stripped of what you love can turn love to bitterness, but it can also be turned into a broader, fiercer compassion for and solidarity with otherswho are also oppressed.

Oh well I knew that was coming! you’re so predictable @GoingplaceZ!

For anyone else on the thread who gets a PM from GoingplaceZ, don’t open it. It’s a massive spoiler. I’ve reported it to HQ.

Don’t worry GoingplaceZ you haven’t ruined anything for me. I’m not enjoying the show that much

Threatening you in PMs?? I didn’t even respond to your PMs. I have taken screenshots and I have reported your spoiler PM. @MNHQ can confirm I have sent no PMs to you, let alone threatening PMs you idiot.

you’re transparent.

Hi hrft yet! Been watching from the very beginning but I’ve just had a mind blank. The children hidden away, the girls in pink, they won’t become Handmaids will they as they’re commanders children? What will boys of commanders become? And am I right in thinking that the girls from ‘normal’ families will be chosen for Handmaids, Martha’s etc and boys will be army etc? Or I on totally the wrong plot lol. Tia

Aww you’re so sweet @GoingplaceZ! And not at all transparent. thanks for caring about me. I’m sure you didn’t mean to upset me with that massive spoiler all because I said we didn’t want people alluding to what happens in future episodes on the thread.

You’re making yourself out to be the bad guy. I’m not doing anything other than calling you on it.

You PMed me telling me to shut up and then PMed me again with show spoilers. I didn’t respond to either PMs. I responded on this thread. All my posts are here for everyone to see. As are yours.

Aww, look