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

[OverByYer]

Under his eye

Got goosebumps omg

I can't remember who becomes a Martha - virtuous women who are infertile or too old to have more children? I seem to remember Rita saying she had a son who died in the War.

Didn't on of the handmaids (the black one who lost the plot and beat up janine) have more than 3 babies? I'm sure she was on number 4 but i'm happy to be corrected.

Yes, virtuous women too old to breed are Marthas.
Barren women are unwomen and sent to the colonies.
Virtuous fertile women are econo wives.

@TheMoth

Yes, virtuous women too old to breed are Marthas. Barren women are unwomen and sent to the colonies. Virtuous fertile women are econo wives.

Thanks for this. I think we've seen some younger Marthas though eg the one at Jezebels so I was wondering if there's more to it.

Infertile young woman, by pre-Gilead sterilisation or a medical issue, could become marthas.

I'm getting confused - why would Moira risk leaving Canada?

@Clawdy

I'm getting confused - why would Moira risk leaving Canada?

She's doing charity relief work for an NGO.

it's an official cease fire, they can't just come and snatch her back. Presumably if they spot and recognise her they might try to extradite her back to gilead as part of any deals they might make?

thanks OP for the I-tunes info.

How did Serena get pregnant - I don't remember her sleeping with Fred.

Didn’t they have a moment after Fred letting her drive?

There were def 2 single beds somewhere that became one

I mopped up a cup of spilt milk the other week and left the cloth in a basket overnight. When I came down the next morning, the whole bottom floor of the house absolutely reeked. You would have smelt June and Janine coming! And they would have been so sticky too. I spent most of the episode distracted by that!

Also the dystopic Chicago and the warehouse all those people in was very The Walking Dead and it kind of cheapened the episode for me.

There is quite a massive suspension of belief needed for this series so far. Seems like too much of a transgression from the feel of the first 3 series to be a good verisimilitude (new word I learnt recently!)

Will keep on keeping on though!

I keep having to remind myself that it is just a story though!

@OnTheBoardwalk

Didn’t they have a moment after Fred letting her drive?

There were def 2 single beds somewhere that became one

ahh yes, I probably glazed over that bit

Blessed day

Whatever you do, don't follow handmaidsonhulu on Instagram! Just seen a massive spoiler by accident 😖

I’m reading the book again at the moment and when Janine gives birth to Angela it mentions how she can now be certain she won’t be declared an “unwoman” and shipped to the colonies. It says she will be kept at the house for a few months to breastfed and then passed to another commanders family to see if she can manage to get pregnant again.

Aunt Lydia says the aim is for each household to hold a wife, a handmaiden and a Martha living in perfect harmony, each fulfilling a separate role. She wants the handmaids to have the same status as wife’s though and be allowed to use the front door and to have their own garden.

Also in the epilogue of the book (which I accidentally read first as my kindle opened it to where I finished reading last time and I didn’t realise) it says that Nick is presumed to be an Eye and a mayday operative. Which is what I think he is (double agent so to speak) but which came first and how far he believes the Gilead line I am not sure.

I absolutely sobbed at the end of this episode when Moira appeared. I also rewound and paused a few times and feel quite certain the woman being led off through the smoke was Janine. I really hope so as couldn’t cope if she was killed. I think she’s my favourite!

The reason I question it being janine is that I thought June looked right at her, but was still looking round for janine. I hope I'm wrong though

I finished listening to the Eyes on Gilead podcast yesterday and their theory about Janine is that since earlier in the episode you saw the new handmaid's being paired up and Janine said to June - handmaids always walk in twos... Moira (used to be a handmaid-in-training) is now back to replace Janine as June's partner.

😭😭😭 if that speculation proves to be true.

@SkepticalCat

I finished listening to the Eyes on Gilead podcast yesterday and their theory about Janine is that since earlier in the episode you saw the new handmaid's being paired up and Janine said to June - handmaids always walk in twos... Moira (used to be a handmaid-in-training) is now back to replace Janine as June's partner.

😭😭😭 if that speculation proves to be true.

Ha yes! That comment bothered me too. I’ll think I actually talked back at the podcast at that point with an “oh come on!!! Nooooooo!”

Aunt Lydia says the aim is for each household to hold a wife, a handmaiden and a Martha living in perfect harmony, each fulfilling a separate role. She wants the handmaids to have the same status as wife’s though and be allowed to use the front door and to have their own garden.

I also seem to remember that Serena was a lot older in the book, so the idea of wanting Wives to look on their Handmaids as daughters would fit - isn’t that in there somewhere? Although it’s a very creepy idea.

@GrandPrismatic , I know! I think I gasped slightly at that.

As an aside, that was the first Eyes on Gilead I'd listened to, and I'm not particularly familiar with listening to podcasts generally. I hadn't realised it had started auto playing the next episode, so when I put my headphones back on, I quickly had to work out how to stop it playing for fear of spoilers.

Oooh forgot about the podcast. Yay!

Thanks for the podcast suggestion! It's really good.
I listen to lots of podcasts on different subjects and some I have to turn off but this one is good.