Handmaid's Tale. EPISODE 11 (season 3). Channel 4, 18/08/19. UK pace. NO SPOILERS!

[OriginofSpecies]

We're heading for the final countdown, only three more episodes to go, folks...

This is the thread for Episode 11 (season 3) of The Handmaid's Tale.

We are watching on Channel 4, UK pace and have only seen episodes 1 - 10 so far.

Please, NO SPOILERS.

If I’m right then handmaids have been in operation in Gilead for 5 years? So have the Lawrence’s just been supplied with handmaid after handmaid for all those years, no questions asked despite no babies produced?

Yy, I like that theory too! It would be convenient for everyone... "Oh, your husband's not come home? Hmm... He definitely wouldn't have gone to the brothel we all like to go to because that's not a real thing... It must be the reason the Waterfords tried to get into Canada. They must've murdered him for some unknown reason. Soz... Shall we find you a new husband now?"

I got the impression that the Lawrences just tried to leave the district when they were stopped. The guardians who stopped them won't have known they were trying to get to Canada. I'm sure it'll be reported that Lawrence now knows that some of his privileges have been revoked but "they" could claim that it's a wider thing & they've been made aware of a security issue so anyone who wants to travel between districts needs special permission & a valid reason for doing so. I think the "they" they think are coming are the post-Jezebel "they" coming to arrest them after OfLawrence was seen with Commander Creepy who was then found dead & OfLawrence was seen getting into Commander Lawrence's car, which Commander Lawrence was driving. They don't know the Marthas have destroyed all evidence.

It is rather baffling that the Waterfords could flow so easily from Gilead to Canada without any check points. I'm assuming this isn't the case, even out in the sticks, between Canada & the USA at the moment. Perhaps the Canadians/exiled Americans bribed whoever was supposed to be guarding the roads that night & removed any infrastructure/signs. Even if they had to drug the guardians it would've been relatively easy to do.

How great would it be if Fred was blamed for Big Cheese's disappearance & CL was promoted & given free reign (rein? Not sure of the origin of the phrase!) & able to get the children out relatively easily! I'm sure that won't happen but I can hope!

Yes, I know she's produced one healthy baby but no-one's fertile forever. What I was wondering is whether her first no-baby placement counts as one of her 3 strikes or whether she'll get 3 post-Waterford opportunities to prove her fertility.

I'd forgotten the house burnt down! I just got caught up in the poetic irony of Fred being arrested & his old driver taking over his household.

free reign (rein? Not sure of the origin of the phrase!)
It's rein, as in reins used to control horses. I'm only mentioning it since you asked .

Thanks @CaptainMyCaptain - I did wonder as soon as I typed it (never thought of it before so obviously never written the phrase before!)

I never know whether it should reign or rein either.

You can 'give a free rein' or you can 'rein in'. Think horse.

Another reason to love THT thread

I am sure the three strikes rule resets. Once they know you are fertile, it just might take a while, it doesn't make any sense to give up on you after just one sterile posting.

Yes I'm sure the fact she has produced a healthy baby is part of the reason June has been spared despite her many misdemeanours. It would be helpful if they made reference to that once or twice, or it seems perilously like she is being used for ever more ridiculous plot turns where any normal citizen would have been on the wall a few times over.

Did anyone else want June to stomp on Big Cheese's bollocks wearing those Louboutins?!

Nah, her brutally stabbing him was enough for me. #forgiving

But shoddy plot wise that she just turned up in dress/shoes/make up. Presumably stashed somewhere in the Lawrence household but how convenient they fitted. And pretty lax security that she could just walk in.

Yes, I wondered where she got the clothes, not Eleanor's style I would have thought.

But shoddy plot wise that she just turned up in dress/shoes/make up. Presumably stashed somewhere in the Lawrence household but how convenient they fitted. And pretty lax security that she could just walk in

Do you mean walk in to Jezebel's? She had to walk in wearing a 'costume'. No handmaid could walk in there

I'm keen to hear what the Martha's shipment is bringing. I assume not just black market goods as the Martha told Beth they had been waiting for this for a very long time.

Fred and Commander Winslow were the ones to instigate the reduction in Commander Lawrence's privileges, so I wonder will he regain his importance now they are gone. That would be very convenient for June's shipment of children on the other hand he might go much further the other way!

Yes, the sudden availability of 'suitable' clothes, shoes and make-up for Jezebel's was irritating.

'm keen to hear what the Martha's shipment is bringing. I assume not just black market goods as the Martha told Beth they had been waiting for this for a very long time

I wonder if it's explosives. The last bomb shook Gilead

I meant that she just walked in what was presumably the back door - fair enough they don't want to draw attention to it but to just park out the back and walk in? Nobody on guard. Clearly necessary for the plot but struck me as strange.

In Jezebel’s I thought I heard June get called ofjoseph by the creepy head commander, why did he call her that or did I miss hear?

I meant that she just walked in what was presumably the back door - fair enough they don't want to draw attention to it but to just park out the back and walk in? Nobody on guard. Clearly necessary for the plot but struck me as strange.

But didn't the same happen when she went with Fred? So she knew the score on getting in....

In Jezebel’s I thought I heard June get called ofjoseph by the creepy head commander, why did he call her that or did I miss hear?
Because he recognised her as Joseph Lawrence's Handmaid. You didn't mis-hear.

Soooooo I read a spoiler on the net when trying to google the music played in each episode

*nooooooo not so !