Handmaid's Tale. EPISODE 12 (season 3). Channel 4, 25/08/19. UK pace. NO SPOILERS!

[OriginofSpecies]

This is the thread for Episode 12 (season 3) of The Handmaid's Tale.

We are watching on Channel 4, UK pace and have only seen episodes 1 - 11 so far.

Please, NO SPOILERS.

I can't believe there are only two more episodes - tonight's and the season finale next week. Very patchy series, which picked up last week.

I don’t think June and Cmdr Lawrence can marry - it might be seen as giving the handmaids ideas/encouragement to move beyond their ‘place’ rather than accept being downtrodden (just bump off the Wife to move up!). But as the writers have written storylines that put June in as many costumes as possible even when it doesn’t make sense (WHY did they let her dress as a Martha and go out with them?), I guess it could happen.

I think June will definitely shoot someone with that gun.

@TheSpottedZebra my understanding was Bradley Whitford was married to the actress who plays Mrs McKenzie, Hannah's 'mother.'

Does anyone know the criteria for commanders getting handmaids? Presumably they have to be married for a certain length of time to be sure that they're not fertile. At least, I'm assuming that they don't get a hm if they're producing babies.

What about if CL & June were to get married I do think that's unlikely but didn't produce children - would they be given a handmaid on the basis that they as a couple didn't have children, even though June is known to be fertile?

What if a previously fertile couple got older & stopped producing babies - do they get a hm because they're no longer fertile? I'd have thought the most logical people to give handmaids to would be those couples who've had children but the wife's reached menopause. The husband's proven his fertility & might still be able to father children. That's assuming the ultimate goal is to increase the birth rate, not just to allow misogynists to rape women & be applauded for it...

The Fred and Serena in the book are older. There is a limited supply of handmaids (hence bringing Emily and Janine back from the colonies after the bomb) so they probably prioritise superior commanders and those who are older and give younger ones a chance to let nature happen first. CL is hardly in his first flush of youth!

I wouldn't have thought a handmaid would be allowed to become a 'wife'?

I always felt there was a grey area around who got a handmaid. A commander recently was commended because his wife was pregnant / gave birth. Serena and Fred are much older in the book and have a handmaid because Serena definitely wouldn't be able to conceive. In the telly prog they have separate bedrooms and I can't work out if that is a normal rule, or just them. The wives can't get pregnant if they never have sex, so how would they know if the wives are fertile?

I read somewhere that he was actually a doctor who got promoted to the heady heights of Commander as a reward for getting his own wife pregnant. I don't really remember the scene myself.

There’s no way a handmaid would become a wife. A handmaid is a sinner and only kept alive for one reason. If CL must have a wife he’ll likely be given a new young wife who has been checked for fertility.

If they do keep it going for many seasons as rumoured, I expect sooner or later we will see Hannah age 15 either becoming a wife or a handmaid. The additional fury that will inspire in June will be an interesting development of the concept maybe?

I don't think this has been discussed yet but clearly Eleanor's suicide is most directly a consequence of her running out of the contraband medications that were keeping her stable. That makes her another victim of Gilead, killed by the state policy to treat mental illness through prayer only rather than medication.

Pp
Mentioned nick. What's actually happened to him? Seems odd that the last we see of him is him on a train happily commanding some Gilead troops...

Seems odd that the last we see of him is him on a train happily commanding some Gilead troops...

Being sent to the front? I didn’t think he looked that happy. I hope he’s working with Canada behind the scenes.

Had she been saving and hiding her medication for this? You could see the moment where she decided to actually do it, when CL said ‘think about our lives’.

I think the Martha's got her medication on the black market. She was unmedicated a few episodes ago and clearly unwell.

What if June can't get Hannah out, and Hannah eventually becomes a wife, a devout one, holding women down to be raped? How would June react to that?

I kinda presumed it was old random pills she had in the house. It could have been just painkillers.

What if June can't get Hannah out, and Hannah eventually becomes a wife, a devout one, holding women down to be raped? How would June react to that?

I remember when Nick & Eden had sex, there was a ceremonial sheet between them with a hole in it. And no suggestion at all that either of them might be expected to enjoy the process. Maybe commanders with new young wives would be expected to do it that way too for a while before being assigned a handmaid.

If handmaids do become unnecessary because more wives are fertile, that makes me wonder what would happen to women who would have been assigned as handmaids. Jezebels / Marthas / the Colonies?

I'm wondering if they would carry on with handmaids even if the wives were producing babies. The biblical precident for handmaids is Rachel & Leah. IIRC, Rachel started it because Leah was giving Jacob babies & she was jealous. Then Leah got jealous & pimped out her handmaid too. Rachel did also eventually produce a couple of babies. Infertility definitely wasn't the only issue going on in that family.

I can see the higher up commanders basically saying their wives aren't producing enough babies, or perhaps they've only had girls & he needs a male heir, & using that as justification for having handmaids.

I remember when Nick & Eden had sex, there was a ceremonial sheet between them with a hole in it.

Oh yes I remember that. Why aren’t the handmaids afforded a sheet with a hole?

Why aren’t the handmaids afforded a sheet with a hole?

Because it's also about humiliation and punishment.

If handmaids do become unnecessary because more wives are fertile, that makes me wonder what would happen to women who would have been assigned as handmaids. Jezebels / Marthas / the Colonies?

In theory, there shouldn't be new handmaids, because there won't be any living in sin or anything (Eden was killed for having an affair.) Presumably older handmaids who pass their usefulness will either become a Martha if they gave good service, or to the Colonies if they were problematic, assuming they didn't get sent to the Wall beforehand. I would assume they would be considered unfit (too old and unattractive) for Jezebels, and that would be saved for punishment for younger econowives who hadn't sinned quite enough to go up on the Wall.

It’s funny because if everyone lived the Gilead way, no sinners etc. There would be no-one to work in the colonies, no handmaids and no Jezebels. So if fertility rates never recovered how would they get more babies? They would have to invent new sins in order to create new handmaids. And there would be no women for the men to fuck outside of marriage.

They have created new sins already. The econo family who hid June ended up on the wall / as a handmaid. The original Ofglen had her tongue cut out for refusing to stone Janine (I think). Janine lost an eye for some other infraction. Very easy to create new sins to keep handmaid numbers up!

Eden was given a chance to repent though. If she had, there's a good chance she could've ended up as a handmaid if Nick refused to take her back.

Or perhaps sent to Jezebels until she's proven her fertility.

Don't they sterilise them when they send them to Jezebels Agnu - or did I just imagine that?