Handmaid's Tale. EPISODE 10 (season 3). Channel 4, 11/08/19. UK pace. NO SPOILERS!

[OriginofSpecies]

This is the thread for Episode 10 (season 3) of The Handmaid's Tale.

We are watching on Channel 4, UK pace and have only seen episodes 1 - 9 so far.

Please, NO SPOILERS.

I think all the econopeople would have to be married as they need them to produce babies.

Oh - ignore me - I was thinking of Rita.

Ah, so are these all unwomen?

i.e. if you'e adult and unmarried you are...

a) fertile so a handmaid
b) infertile but with previous housekeeping/cooking experience so a martha
c) infertile but previous experience with social work or similar, so an Aunt
d) infertile with no useful background so sent to a colony to get digging

is that right?

And if you're sufficiently attractive but considered potential trouble, you go to Jezebel's. Moira was sent there & Fred told June in the book (& possibly in Series 1, not sure) that a lot of the women there had had high-powered jobs.

The neonatologist who treated Charlotte was a Martha, wasn't she?

Yes, I'd forgotten the jezebels in my last post.

Thanks very much all - it's started to slot into place a bit.

Sounds right missbattenburg, though only the women in the colonies are called unwomen.

I've just listened to the book again on audible. Margaret Atwood was so clever! There is a chapter at the end which is a supposed anthropologist talking about gilead in 2100 something. He explains how the regime incorporated elements of existing cultures to become accepted and also how the aunts were used to police their own (women) and which women would have chosen to become aunts. It would have had to be a voluntary position as the brutality and oppression would only be possible for women who wanted to enact them.
A clever detail of this last chapter is the way she has a man talking about the handmaid's tale and how his misogyny is still evident. He makes a joke about the 'underground frailroad' (female railroad) which really grates and just shows what Margaret thinks about how far attitudes will shift in the next century

Presumably unmarried men would still have had jobs (like Nick in season 1). They would be assigned an econowife as a reward for service to Gilead.

He makes a joke about the 'underground frailroad' (female railroad) which really grates and just shows what Margaret thinks about how far attitudes will shift in the next century

Yes, and as I recall there are also jokes about the 'Handmaid's Tail'.

Presumably unmarried men would still have had jobs (like Nick in season 1). They would be assigned an econowife as a reward for service to Gilead.

Talk about incel heaven.

Haven't RTFT but is CL a bit like Serena in that he created Gilead but didn't think the rules would apply to him?

The thing is, the Handmaids get three postings and then are sent to the Colonies. It’s tempting to think of the Lawrences as kind but their policy of not doing the Ceremony may have sent one or two women to the Colonies.

CruCru I don't think Commander Lawrence abstained from the ceremony to be kind to the handmaids. He knew his wife wasn't mentally stable enough for it.

I would have thought Handmaids are very unlikely to get pregnant by commander Lawrence anyway (given male infertility) so would be sent to the colonies regardless.

For me, regardless of CL's reason, he helped create a world in which handmaid's get 3 'opportunities' to produce children. He is wasting one of those opportunities for them and bringing them 1/3 closer to a slow and painful death. They have no choice - he is making it for them.

I have no sympathy for the selfish, shortsighted fool.

Checking in. Probably watch tomorrow

Just catching up after my holiday - thought it was a great episode. I'm still really enjoying this season & hope it finishes strongly.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/telly_addicts/3668997-Handmaids-Tale-EPISODE-11-season-3-Channel-4-18-08-19-UK-pace-NO-SPOILERS?watched=1

^ thread for tonight's episode.

Only realised when I found this thread wasn't in "threads I'm on" that I never commented about last week's episode. I loved the end so much it brought tears to my eyes. That's all.