The Handmaid's Tale S4 at C4 pace (no spoilers from Hulu subscribers) Thread 2

[OverByYer]

Under his eye

I re-read the book every year or so, so I k ow it very well

*know

I also remember several interviews with Bruce Miller where he was asked that very question and always replied with the responses. He must've got so tired of being asked about whether the show would feature racism.

*those responses.

Apologies, it's late and I've had a long day

Just caught up! Mainly relieved not to endure any more torture scenes...felt like a nice break!
I also felt like I'd want to see AL and the guard in the aftermath of the train incident...perhaps that will come next week? Also enjoyed Rita but then I always do!
Agree the milk container was a bit ridiculous! So relieved for them to be back in normal clothes though!

@Iggi999

..she escaped from the red centre, but was recaptured. Moria wasn't black in the novel, I'm sure the Gileadeans were more racist in the novel than in the series!

They definitely were.

@WitchSharkadder

In the original book, PoC were 'children of Ham' and given the option to be shipped off to their 'homeland' (they were actually then dumped in the ocean).

Bruce Miller made the deliberate choice not to include this in the TV series for a few reasons. 1) time has moved on since 1985 when the book was written 2) he wanted to tell the story of women and have that the main focus 3) if he remained true to the book on this issue there would be no black characters at all as they'd have been sent away during the initial takeover, leaving the show open to being criticised as racist for not having BAME actors. So he made the decision that fertility trumped everything in Gilead.

Re disabled babies, they are 'shredders' and killed at birth in both the book and the TV series. It was briefly referenced iirc. We also had a flashback scene at some point in which people with Down's syndrome were rounded up and taken away somewhere, presumably to be killed.

Ooh that's all really interesting. I love this thread - saves me doing my own research 😂

I think in The book Janine's baby Angela / Charlotte was a shredder. It's mentioned as something in passing.

I'm sure it also mentioned that if a handmaid had a 'good baby' she could go into a type of retirement and not have to do it again.

I seem to remember one book talking about the long term plan for handmaids. They'd expected women to choose to do it and be posted with just one family and not moved around. Their thinking was that being a wife, mother and domestic servant was too much for one woman so split the roles out. A happy household would have a wife to lead the women and be her husbands comfort, a Martha to do the housework and a handmaid to have the babies.

Econowomen wore striped uniforms in the book to show they had to be wife, Martha and handmaid.

I think I'm going to have to read the book again!

Is anyone else having problems catching up?

I've got Virgin TV but the CatchUp system only lets me see up to Episode 3 The Crossing. The 4th Episode is not on there as at yesterday.

@lorca

Is anyone else having problems catching up? I've got Virgin TV but the CatchUp system only lets me see up to Episode 3 The Crossing. The 4th Episode is not on there as at yesterday.

Same here - I couldn't find it on Virgin catch up (and it didn't record either), so I watched it on the All 4 app instead.

I’m surprised that there are people watching the series who haven’t read the book.

Has it not inspired you to do so?

@JayAlfredPrufrock

I’m surprised that there are people watching the series who haven’t read the book.

Has it not inspired you to do so?

I haven’t read it but I have it on my list. I haven’t been able to read a book for years. Extremely short attention span. I’ve tried many but my brain just seems to be getting worse and worse.

@JayAlfredPrufrock

I’m surprised that there are people watching the series who haven’t read the book.

Has it not inspired you to do so?

yes it has, I am actually normally a reader but for some reason I never really came across this at the time. I also got into the series late as it didn't look like something I would be interested in. I think I watched it around the time series 3 came out as folk were talking about it at work.

So yes, I will buy it and read it now I think.

There you go, just ordered a used copy for £3.13 delivered from ebay. Looking forward to it arriving now.

R.e. the racism issue, wasn’t there a scene in the last series with the aunts marching handmaidens to commanders, and there was a comment made about one family ‘not wanting a black handmaid’ or similar?

I’ve just ordered it too @ElephantOfRisk I’ll challenge myself to at least start it.

@PatchworkElmer

R.e. the racism issue, wasn’t there a scene in the last series with the aunts marching handmaidens to commanders, and there was a comment made about one family ‘not wanting a black handmaid’ or similar?

yes, i referenced that earlier and the only comment I remember mentioning anything about race/colour.

@MotionActivatedDog

I’ve just ordered it too *@ElephantOfRisk* I’ll challenge myself to at least start it.

Good for you! I hope we enjoy it.

As well as re-reading the book, I think I'm going to have to watch all of this again from the beginning! There's so much I've forgotten. And I love how richly textured and nuanced the whole thing is. It's such intelligent television.

@BIWI

As well as re-reading the book, I think I'm going to have to watch all of this again from the beginning! There's so much I've forgotten. And I love how richly textured and nuanced the whole thing is. It's such intelligent television.

I loved series 1 and 2, immensely thought provoking and well crafted. The acting has been amazing throughout, but the last episode felt a bit action thriller for my liking. Conveniently placed milk containers and handmaids with implausible upper body strength 🤔 Janine flashbacks were very well done though.

@JayAlfredPrufrock

I’m surprised that there are people watching the series who haven’t read the book.

Has it not inspired you to do so?

I bought the book after season 1 with the intention of reading it but have never got round to it. "Never got round to it" is the story of my life - I'm a master of procrastination 😩

@TheCountessofFitzdotterel

I also don’t think The Ceremony is the most efficient way to get the handmaids pregnant. I think we have to accept a bit of Gilead illogicality around all this. You can see the leaders fixating on a particular culture who have a lot more children but don’t tend to have high intervention births (is that true of the Amish for instance?) and deciding that God was telling them to lay off the medical intervention and accept His will. We know they are very anti abortion and extending that to general medicalising of births isn’t too much of a stretch.

There's a bit in the book where Aunt Lydia shows the handmaids a video of a woman giving birth in hospital, all hooked up to wires & so on, & there's talk about how that's ungodly because women are meant to give birth in pain & suffering.

Hurrah for those of you who are going to read it. I must find my copy and read it again.

I’d love to watch the whole of the series again but where is it available?

I’ve read the book several times but will have to re read. Will probably go back and watch the series again as there are probably subtle nods to the book that I’ve missed as it’s been a few years. I did laugh at the Eyes of Gilead podcast when they talked about June changing out if her Handmaid’s outfit, that she had remarkably cleanly shaved armpits for a woman that had been on the run for a few days and imprisoned before that

@JayAlfredPrufrock

Hurrah for those of you who are going to read it. I must find my copy and read it again.

I’d love to watch the whole of the series again but where is it available?

Amazon Prime has series 1-3