The Handmaid's Tale S4 at C4 pace (no spoilers from Hulu subscribers)

[Faircastle]

A thread for those watching Season 4 of the Handmaid's Tale on Channel 4 starting this evening. There's another thread for those who have already streamed it via Hulu, so it would be good if we could keep this one free of spoilers for episodes beyond those Channel 4 has broadcast.

oh could be, interesting.

Oh but actually that wouldn’t make sense I suppose because they just shot the guardian she was with.

Surely June must be Gileads most wanted after the Angel flight? I can’t see how Nick can save her? He’s not that high up.

@AlohaMolly

This might be a bit of a stretch, but if those guardians are all from a different district(?) than June was in originally, could nick saying ‘where are the handmaids?’ And saying I’m trying to keep you alive… is he going to try and make out like she is a Martha at the farm and not June Osborne escaped handmaid? So she might be interrogated by those guardians but she wouldn’t necessarily be carted off to aunt Lydia because she ‘isn’t’ a handmaid?

Good call!

@OverByYer

Surely June must be Gileads most wanted after the Angel flight? I can’t see how Nick can save her? He’s not that high up.

Yeah she must be the most high value fugitive they’ve ever had. They’ll all have big hard ons at the thought of getting to torture her. I don’t know if they have photographs in Gilead? Would they have circulated her image?

I'm glad I have this thread because without all of you to explain it to me I wouldn't have a scooby what was going on.

I'm equally clueless.

Martha's are invisible, only slightly "above" the economy wives, whom we haven't seen since series 1.

So, yes, that's good suggestion, Aloha, if Nick can pretend that June is a Martha then he can keep her safe. Ish.

He must have known that June was going to be there, though. I don't understand why they shot the Guardian she was travelling with.

I'm going to listen to the podcast tomorrow. I've got a week to obsess ponder.

@UhtredRagnarson

I agree- it isn’t buyable that nick can protect June.

Nick's position is ambiguous. Remember his connection to Commander Pryce and the Sons of Jacob? It has been suggested that Nick heads up the Eyes and is undercover as a junior commander / lowly driver.

Oh remind me about Cmdr pryce and co?

Also, the Swiss negotiators apparently refused to deal with Nick, back in S3 and we still don't know why.

I say apparently because I suspect he's a double agent but they don't want June to know that.

Oh yes! That’s right!

I would love for nick to be a double agent!

Martha's are invisible, only slightly "above" the economy wives, whom we haven't seen since series 1.

Omar and Heather were Econopeople, as was Eden Blaine and her family. The Waterford's also stay with Econopeople on the way to Canada.

@UhtredRagnarson

I really would recommend Eyes on Gilead.

I just finished binge watching from episode one.

For me the most powerful theme in series 3 is when June finds that Mrs Lawrence has taken an overdose. He instinct is to rouse the house. Then she starts to weigh the pros and cons.

This woman is a loudmouth and a liability who can throw the entire plan in danger. Its not just June but all the other handmaids, marthas and the 80 odd kids they plan to save.

Then she makes her decision. She leaves the tea outside the door, goes quietly to bed and leaves Mrs Lawrence to die in the night.

That takes guts. And its tearing her apart.

My other theory on Nick is that he committed genocide / mass murder during the crusades, so the Swiss refused to negotiate with him. According to Serena, he was a Gileadean hero during the crusades - she seemed surprised that June didn't know this.

Nick's position is ambiguous. Remember his connection to Commander Pryce and the Sons of Jacob? It has been suggested that Nick heads up the Eyes and is undercover as a junior commander / lowly driver

Yes but because being an eye is so cloak and dagger, I think no body but commander pryce knew, when he was blown up it left Nick out on a limb as his was now only known as a driver and a soldier who'd done a good job in the war. He lost all his influence when Pryce died.

He also does play on the side of the resistance as he has often influenced them too and has connections. but again it very unclear what his roll is.

He got given his commander status because Fred wanted him out of his house, So Fred pushed for "this war hero" to be promoted. His initial assignment was to the front, which Fred was probably hoping he wouldn't come back from.

The longer it goes on, the more I think nick is probably just quite weak. I think definitely in the beginning before he met June that his strengths lay in being able to do as he was told and having no other agenda apart from to stay alive. Even when he was undercover for Price, I bet that was just because he was told to do so by the highest up man if that makes sense?

Maybe June sparked a bit of rebellion in him, maybe it just made him sad that life was so different to pre Gilead. He certainly didn’t seem as proactive or determined to get Nicole out.

I’m feeling uncharitable this morning, so I am going to say that I bet nick quite enjoys the ambiguity of being an eye. He can imply to people like June that he’s working behind the scenes to bring Gilead down, but I don’t believe he would actually do anything to put himself in danger.

@Confusedandshaken

I'm glad I have this thread because without all of you to explain it to me I wouldn't have a scooby what was going on.

After each episode I search for episode reviews on t'internet. Den of Geek is a good one and sometimes I find things out on there which I didn't cotton on to when watching it.

Aloha I recall him saying to June in series one something about his life is much better as an Eye. Something about before Gilead he was sort of drifting through low paid, low skill jobs and didn't have security or a social/family network? I remember thinking then that he had quite a passive nature.

I can’t bear to watch next week
Now she has been captured

Never has a programme made me so tense 😬

@vivariumvivariumsvivaria

Aloha I recall him saying to June in series one something about his life is much better as an Eye. Something about before Gilead he was sort of drifting through low paid, low skill jobs and didn't have security or a social/family network? I remember thinking then that he had quite a passive nature.

Yes there was an episode in series 1 where he was at the job centre and Commander Price was the job coach. Nick kept losing his jobs and Price offered him a job as a driver.

I caught up last night and so far I think season 4 is just as gripping as the other series. It has so many layers and the dark whisperyness just underlines the need to operate in the shadows, quietly.
One question I need to check up on having read this thread: did Nick say Where are All The handmaids or Where are The Other handmaids?

@Willowkins I thought he said "Where are The Handmaids?"

He definitely said “where are the handmaids”.