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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:
Fragalino · 05/08/2019 18:26

Can someone fill me in on June's plan to get kids out? What episode was that in? What have I missed Confused

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 05/08/2019 18:30

We don't have a plan, we're speculating based on a couple of lines in this episode about how Natalie's son shouldn't have to grow up in Gilead (someone else probably remembers better than me) plus it makes narrative sense.

Roussette · 05/08/2019 18:31

It's disappointing to see ALydia seems to have made a pretty full recovery, I preferred her shuffling round in pain.

I have no idea how June thinks she's going to take lots of children but glad to see she's got her resolve back.

I wonder if the sympathetic Dr will become more important in the plot. He obviously had sympathies with June

Roussette · 05/08/2019 18:32

Fragalino it was right at the end of this episode as Natalie died. June says how beautiful her son was and he doesn't deserve to be in Gilead and she won't let him stay there and she will be taking other children away too

Fragalino · 05/08/2019 18:33

Silly me! I've watched some back and see now where she says it.

How bizzare. Bizzare I didn't enjoy this episode at all.
It's been hard enough for her to get one out let alone the other she doesn't even know where she is.
The dc Have grown with their captors they won't want to be pulled away.

Fragalino · 05/08/2019 18:35

But her smaller plot has been be an absolute non starter, she's not got near her dd, thwarted at every turn, but now she the plan has evolved?!

JoxerGoesToStuttgart · 05/08/2019 18:47

Agree AL is very inconsistent with June.

This series- interaction between characters has been far more relaxed than previous series. Like June just walking in and sitting down in the playroom in Washington. She was able to run out in the street and see Nick and stand around chatting with C Waterford in that house a few weeks ago. (I think it was the christening?) And her speaking so freely with the doctor last night. You don’t get the sense at all that anyone is listening, or might be an eye or that communication is risky like we did in previous series.

CurbsideProphet · 05/08/2019 18:57

I don't think June will take take children at random. I wonder if they she will try to find out which other handmaids had their children removed when Gilead took over and try to use the Martha network to get them out of Gilead to relatives in Canada. This might be the focus of season 3.

Soubriquet · 05/08/2019 19:05

Currently watching it now

I thought the reason there was no medical help for the baby last week was because it was born still. So therefore already passed

Whereas this baby is still living for now

Soubriquet · 05/08/2019 19:11

I also think the reason why June went back was she reached an epiphany

At first she thought it was a punishment. Which it was

When the doctor said “what world will you leave for your daughters” she realised she had a bigger job to do.

She also realised, the least she could do, was sit with Natalie as she passed

This to me was a good episode as June has finally realised how selfish she had been and how her actions had affected everyone.

Now she will do what she needs to do for the good of the people, not just her

AnotherEmma · 05/08/2019 19:32

^YY

Shakennotshook · 05/08/2019 20:15

I'm so close to giving up on this

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 05/08/2019 20:54

Don't give up now, it is just starting to feel like it might all come together!

AnyFucker · 05/08/2019 21:19

I don't remotely feel like giving up Confused

Ontheboardwalk · 05/08/2019 21:32

The book stayed with me for 20 years plus.

I'll admit I wasn't originally a fan of the first series because 'it wasn’t the book' but I soon got over myself.

Many episodes of the first two series stayed with me after watching them. I’m just not feeling this series

I’m really hoping Serena has a plan and isn’t accepting all that they've done to her over the years and has just given up.

Oh and please no more lingering shots on June's face at the end of each episode. We need action now!

Abraid2 · 05/08/2019 21:50

I liked this episode.

feesh · 05/08/2019 22:04

The big take-home from this episode is that June now has a way to get to Hannah. The episode has taught us that all pubescent girls go to the hospital for a check. June knows now that she has a way to reach Hannah.

YobaOljazUwaque · 05/08/2019 22:08

I thought the "shredder" term was used for babies that were born with unsurvivable deformities. The baby that they didn't try to save may have been one such, but just the screen didn't (thankfully) show us the details.

I was 90% sure June was planning to "free" people by becoming a terrorist and killing them (death being a welcome freedom when the alternative is Gilead) right up until the last line, but I think that made it clear she was planning a railroad.

CaptainMyCaptain · 05/08/2019 22:36

I don't think the book went into details about what constituted a shredder. I also assumed deformities but it could have meant stillborn.

Binforky · 05/08/2019 23:56

I just wish they would stop having so many close ups of June's face. She seems to constantly pull the same face so I just dont get it.

GodDammitAmy · 06/08/2019 00:08

Back from the derail...
the girls in pink will get married to a guardian or angel so won't need a handmaid but will be able/expected to have children of their own

how though? How are these girls expected to be fertile after everything?

AGnu · 06/08/2019 01:39

The stillborn baby died of natural causes, therefore it's an act of God. Natalie's baby was put at risk by human intervention so human intervention is right to save him.

I liked June's look of relief when the doctor said "him" - Natalie was wrong, it's not a girl. He's not going to have to suffer in the way a girl would.

I think seeing June at her lowest point shocked Serena. She's always seen her as a worthy adversary - someone she can fight with who gives as good as she gets. Seeing that Gilead has destroyed someone she considered as strong as herself was disturbing for her. I'm predicting it's the jolt she needed to get passed her urge to bring Nichole back & start fighting for her freedom because she doesn't think June can anymore. I think on some level Serena thought she could indulge her selfishness because June would stop it from happening.

I was confused that Aunt Lydia was still calling June OfJoseph. She said at the end of last week's episode that June should be reassigned. Perhaps she has to be officially OfSomeone & will be reassigned once she leaves the hospital. It'd be interesting to see how she copes with going back to playing the meek handmaid & doing the ceremony after so much freedom recently.

I think Hannah's probably a few years off her hospital visit yet. June said it would be Hannah soon, but not too soon. I think she went back because of Janine's comment about Natalie being "one of us." She's been brought back from the brink & is trying to make amends.

I quite enjoyed the episode on the whole. I'm actually starting to like the tediousness of it all - it's more realistic than if there was stuff happening all the time. One thing that grated on me though was June's sleeping arrangements. To begin with it looked like she had to be praying on her knees 24-7 with bathroom breaks?! Food?! but then she was allowed to sleep in her nighty with her flowing hair when male doctors, etc., might come in at any moment. At that point she seemed to be sleeping in the chair by the door. After the doctor had sewn up her hand there was suddenly a bed in the room & she slept there. Surely there'd have been some provision for her to sleep somewhere & that's where she'd have had to be?!

What's the significance of the song? Anyone know/have a theory? Was it just ironic given that she's basically living through hell on earth?

AGnu · 06/08/2019 01:54

How are these girls expected to be fertile after everything?

Whatever it was that caused the toxic waste was obviously a while ago now - maybe that's settled down a bit. Besides, Gilead are trying to raise the children in a Godly way, free from all the things that were damaging God's planet. Surely He will reward Gilead's faithfulness by blessing the next generation with many, many babies.

I'm assuming that the pink girls are being raised to be future commanders' wives. Econo-children will be allowed to marry each other to produce more econo-people. Any woman who doesn't agree with this will be subject to the same rules as at the beginning of Gilead - wall or colonies for the infertile, handmaid or Jezebels for the fertile.

I'd love a few spin off episodes that looked at the lives of econo-people, Marthas, guards, even Aunts - what do their days look like? Do they get any downtime? Is there someone higher up who they have to report to? They could probably get at least a miniseries out of that!

YobaOljazUwaque · 06/08/2019 07:30

I think only immoral fallen women who have sex before marriage/a child out of wedlock etc have to be handmaidens because commanders can't be expected to divorce their infertile wives (if already wed) or to marry a fallen woman (if not wed).

I'm the bright Gilead future all the young girls will have been brought up without any dangerous ideas and will remain pure, so can be married directly to commanders. The Handmaiden programme won't completely be disbanded because there will still be a small number of fertile fallen women but the numbers will be tiny.

EBearhug · 06/08/2019 08:16

I think only immoral fallen women who have sex before marriage/a child out of wedlock etc have to be handmaidens

Will there? Eden was killed for having had an affair.

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