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

277 replies

OriginofSpecies · 04/08/2019 20:26

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.

OP posts:
ZazieTheCat · 05/08/2019 01:41

Maybe Emily could be Harriet Tubman, and June could be another person in the Underground Railroad for Handmaid’s children Countess

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 05/08/2019 10:16

'June is really a handmaid in name only now.'

Good point!
Name and, crucially, costume, given the importance of visual imagery to the show.

I don't see Emily having the strength and resilience to be Harriet Tubman. One of the things I like about her as a character is that she is realistically broken by what they have done to her - it's so common in fiction and TV for people to bounce back implausibly easily.

Ontheboardwalk · 05/08/2019 10:16

JoxerGoesToStuttgart apparently GoingplaceZ doesn’t like people calling them out on the thread for their annoying posts. I got a pm saying 'Shhhh’ 😂

I’d be fucked of if they mailed me spoilers like they did you, thank for the tip off. I’ve just blocked them

littledinosaurs · 05/08/2019 11:49

Having read this thread I think I must be the only one who took June's plans to mean blowing up the hospital or killing kids...not getting them safely out of gilead. Obviously it's not dark enough for me!!! I really hope you're all right and she gets some kids out to Canada.

I enjoyed the episode. Soooo tense to see what happens.

littledinosaurs · 05/08/2019 11:49

Having read this thread I think I must be the only one who took June's plans to mean blowing up the hospital or killing kids...not getting them safely out of gilead. Obviously it's not dark enough for me!!! I really hope you're all right and she gets some kids out to Canada.

I enjoyed the episode. Soooo tense to see what happens.

JoxerGoesToStuttgart · 05/08/2019 13:18

My post was deleted? Because I called a liar, a liar? Really HQ? Grin

LODfan · 05/08/2019 13:39

I still want to know what Serena is going to do with that phone.

I cant decide what i think she's up to, especially after the wobble last week when Serena said that she wanted Nicole because she loved her.

I'm hoping she didn't report June as she is close to executing her plan and getting her & June out of there. Can't see it happening though as the end of Gilead/main characters in Gilead means end of show.

I was also confused by AL's touch of kindness to Janine.

Nothing makes sense. They are good at dropping things in and then not referring back until the right tome.

Crinkle77 · 05/08/2019 13:42

If anyone has got a private message off goingplacez don't read it. they are a tit and have sent me a spoiler about what happens in the rest of the thread. They have been reported.

Crinkle77 · 05/08/2019 13:42

Sorry the rest of the series.

Crinkle77 · 05/08/2019 13:43

Just seen they've done it to others. Will block too.

MichaelMumsnet · 05/08/2019 13:46

We're just going through the thread and modding where appropriate. Please bear with us - and hopefully things will get back on track.
Email or report if you have any questions.
Ta, MNHQ.

sweetkitty · 05/08/2019 13:48

I accidentally clicked on the US thread last week and read some spoilers before I realised then couldn’t help myself I am a weak person I’ll admit it Blush I’ll never dilvulge on here though.

All this aggro is a joke it’s a TV programme people. I’m dying to know how they will spin it out for another 5 seasons will it jump through to Gileads downfall? Or just keep this timeline now?

Nousernameforme · 05/08/2019 13:56

Isn't june getting a new placement . Aunt Lydia said so last week before it all kicked off so she is between commanders at the moment no ceremonys to miss

MargoLovebutter · 05/08/2019 14:08

I liked the episode and didn't find it boring. I thought it delved into June's mental state really well.

I thought it was interesting how little it takes to give a person hope in the bleakest of situations. The tiny interactions with others became even more interesting because they were so thinly stretched. 32 fucking days on her knees in that room being ignored by everyone.

Already looking forward to next week's episode!

Roussette · 05/08/2019 14:09

I'm glad I'm insignificant enough not to get a spoiler email Grin

I think yesterday's episode was quite good but it went very quickly! Wish they could do 2 hour episodes and then we could get on with it!

EBearhug · 05/08/2019 14:23

There are times where it seems they have put scenes in for the visual impact of the colours and cinematography more than it being a useful part of the plot.

StayAChild · 05/08/2019 14:31

EBearhug Totally agree. I thought this week's episode especially was more a work of art, brilliantly executed. The plot however, I found that a little too tedious. Still enjoyed it though.

JoxerGoesToStuttgart · 05/08/2019 15:04

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Please email us about moderation decisions

inmyfeelings · 05/08/2019 17:06

I'm not convinced by Natalie's characterization . On one hand she is seen as extremely sensitive and vulnerable and on the other she was happy to callously hand in a Martha to be brutally executed . She was smug to June when June was devastated about the Martha's execution . I think she is inconsistent . June on the other hand I can relate to and I think is well rounded and credible, but that's probably because she is an original Atwood conception.

ptumbi · 05/08/2019 17:18

I thought the episode was brilliant - her descent into madness, for sure. Her tiny expressions were so -expressive!

I almost screamed at the TV when June told Janine what she was planning! i'd have kept the scalpel well hidden and tried to make the tiniest cut in the drip-bag (maybe with the needle she stabbed her self on [eeek] or reopen Natalie's wound on her thigh, but I also think they would know it was her.

And Janine know has something on June, which could come out at any time. Janine is not stable, and seems to be one of AL favourites (Guilt) so she's dangerous.

I actually think Serena has a massive, hidden plan. maybe she's even going along with the TV appeal - for her own ends. She was really understanding to June when she saw that she was 'sick'. I really don't think she wants Holly/Nicole back. She knows what a Life sentence that would be for her. And she has that hidden phone - when and how will she use that?

I don't think June went back into the hospital room to stay with Natalie until her death. I think she went back in because she realised that at some stage Hannah will be there (Soon, June thought.) She wants to stay to see her.

It was heartbreaking to hear the little pink girl saying how her future as a breeder was so longed for Sad

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 05/08/2019 17:32

I would love it if Serena had a hidden plan. If she hasn't she is backtracking on all last season's character development, which would be extremely annoying.

JoxerGoesToStuttgart · 05/08/2019 17:49

Yes when Serena responded to seeing June struggle it was like the mask slipped a bit and her genuine concern for June surfaced. I did wonder if all the rest was a cover. But her argument with June at the Washington monument seemed very real. It would be great to think there was another level at play there. We know Serena still has the satellite phone from Tuello. That will have to come up again at some point.

I think Natalie’s character was a result of the requirement for absolute submission to god and Gilead. I didn’t think she handed the Martha over to be hanged out of anything other than a sense of duty. Her piousness and smugness was horrible but I think entirely predictable and natural for a woman who has managed to “please God” so well and as a result will have had her commitment vindicated. In her mind she was devoted and god blessed her with all the babies. I think when she saw the reaction to the Martha’s death, particularly from June, she realised it wasn’t a simple black and white situation.

HQ are refusing to confirm I sent no messages to the poster that accused me of it. Despite it being a very simple and swift way to end the matter.

legolimb · 05/08/2019 17:57

I found this episode a little dull.

Although I thought that Natalie had died in the store.

Will be interested to see howJune can free all of the children within n the next three episodes..?

stumbledin · 05/08/2019 18:09

Early on in this series I said I thought that it was becoming more like a Mission Impossible / lone avenger style show, where cinematic effects are more important that plotting. ie dialogue is just strung together to get to the next fixed cinematic cliche (the hospital set was straight out of a well know SF film). Or Natalie getting shot and then the pretension overhead shots. Let alone guards dragging her off when she is / was a "precious vessel" for a baby.

It would have been quite possible to convey the time spent wating for Natalie's pregnancy to progress, without actually spending most of the time looking at June's face (is any actress good enough to sustain that?).

But I think this is because the current writers just dont have the ideas or even thinking through the politics of Gilead so just go set pieces of horror to convey a regime of terror.

Why aren't we being shown how the Handmaid's communicate with each other. They all knew about Natalie, spitting into her drink and so on.

I want more of the politics and the underground plotting.

Agree Serena does not want Nicole to grow up in Gilead.

I think Aunt Lydia is going to question the Lawrences as her role is to become pregnant so she should be posted elsewhere, as it has happened there.

Aunt Lydia's attitude to June is inconsistent and she seems to favour her and let her get away with stuff that others aren't. It actually undermines the plot to have June being treated as special when in terms of Gilead she should have been punished on any number of occassions, ie be now she should have only one eye, no fingers on one hand, and ...

Am beginning to think the suggestion someone else made of giving up on watching the series, wait for the next on to start and just watch the series recap!

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 05/08/2019 18:20

Wouldn't taking a whole load of children to Canada be quite politically problematic? Taking Nicole, whose mother is brave enough to say to the Swiss that she wanted her to go, and can be proven if necessary not to be the child of her putative father, is one thing. But if you swiped a whole bunch of random Gilead children you would probably be abducting children of biological parents who would go on TV and appeal for their return - commanders, obedient handmaids and people whose children have been taken by the state at some point but who have not themselves escaped.