The Handmaid's Tale Series 4 - finale coming up, no spoilers please.

[Clawdy]

New thread, looking forward to finale, but wishing it really was the last episode, with all storylines and characters ending satisfactorily.

I think Nick will find Hannah, bring her to the border but somehow die as he gets her across. Mind you, that would be it as far as another series goes, so maybe not.

(I kept thinking how freezing cold that abandoned school must have been, couldn’t they have found a nice warm motel instead for the meeting. Poor June, it must be in her contract that she has to spend half every series in cold abandoned buildings.)

@YoutubeZoom

Do we think Nick loves June? He has nothing to gain and everything to lose remaining close to her.

Yes very much. Look what he did re getting information on Hannah

@AuntLydiasNewHairdo He was in Black Widow.

I can't make up my mind whether Nick is a double/triple agent with a desire to overthrow the whole of Gilead or just a regular guy who seems to have good intentions but is way over his head most of the time. I have a childish desire for him to come out of this as one of the good guys. But it's never that simple.

I love the complexities of the characters. Especially Aunt Lydia and Commander Lawrence.

I think Lawrence is someone who thinks he is playing a game and enjoys the game and all the power that brings. But when faced with someone like June he is forced to face the enormity of what the game entails and it knocks him. I think he probably wishes he could be more like June, she reminds him of his humanity.

He obviously did love his wife and wanted to protect her. He also didn't want to rape June. And he helped June. It's like he is playing a power game but then when faced with the real human consequences he is shocked at how far he has gone. I can't fathom him out a lot of the time. He is a wild card. You never quite know what he will do.

I keep wondering if Commander Pryce was a double agent/spy and then when he died Nick was left in the lurch.

@Breathmiller

I can't make up my mind whether Nick is a double/triple agent with a desire to overthrow the whole of Gilead or just a regular guy who seems to have good intentions but is way over his head most of the time. I have a childish desire for him to come out of this as one of the good guys. But it's never that simple.

I love the complexities of the characters. Especially Aunt Lydia and Commander Lawrence.

I think Lawrence is someone who thinks he is playing a game and enjoys the game and all the power that brings. But when faced with someone like June he is forced to face the enormity of what the game entails and it knocks him. I think he probably wishes he could be more like June, she reminds him of his humanity.

He obviously did love his wife and wanted to protect her. He also didn't want to rape June. And he helped June. It's like he is playing a power game but then when faced with the real human consequences he is shocked at how far he has gone. I can't fathom him out a lot of the time. He is a wild card. You never quite know what he will do.

I think Lawrence will come out as a good guy in the end. He seems to have a heart and helped Emily and June. Tried to get out himself. He knows how close to being executed he was (saved by Nick), so he's got no option but to go along with things for now.

Fred didn’t start going on about the cause, God etc in court until Serena had pointed out that rolling his eyes in response to Moira’s testimony wasn’t a good look.

Thank you for the new thread @Clawdy

Thank you for the thread. What was Gilead hoping to achieve by sending the Puttnams? Why did the Canadians let them in? Did Tuello really think that Fred would turn as a result? I enjoyed the 'biting' comment 😁

Jumping in at the end here! I've not read any other threads as I've been behind all series and only just caught up.

I think Commander Lawrence is going to turn against Gilead. He was really hamming up the contrariness on the phone call which I assumed was because Gilead were listening in as well as the agents with June. He's nervous and guilty but I think he's going to come through. He knows Nick saved him so maybe he will help him?

I also think Lawrence is pushing Aunt Lydia - either until she commits an atrocity (even bigger than those already committed) and cannot live OR until she realises she is becoming a monster and then tries to redeem herself. She's already soft on Janine so maybe...

I hope Janine and Esther become May day.

And I think Nick is in love with June. And that he will either die a noble death or will somehow end up the commander in charge of all Gilead with no notion how he got there.

My predictions are that June heads back to Gilead for another 2 series of angry eyes camera shots and shouting at Commanders resulting in a mass bomb. Luke will save Hannah and end up living with both girls and his guilt.

That's about it.

Oh. And maybe Fred and Serena end up just feted and celebrated by fans in Canada which begins to turn gileadish. But they get taken out by June. Or Nick. Or Rita.

I'm swinging between naively optimistic and expecting the whole thing to end in an explosion.

I'm not surprised Fred and Serena would do anything to avoid being sent back to Gilead. They were always self serving and power hungry. They don't want to be back in Gilead as lesser beings. Serena was surely never a true believer? She wanted a baby by whatever means and always believed women should "just" be the home maker (but not her, she was better than that obviously 🙄). She's horrified that her baby is classed as belonging to the state, even though everyone else's children belong to Gilead. I loved that irony.

I'm hoping Janine and Esther are plotting together to be the new Mayday. Janine said something to Esther like "you need to be around for when things get better". If Janine is seen as a good little helper at the Red Centre she could be the new recruiter for the resistance. There must be new handmaids who were also picked up in Chicago after the bombings and don't want to just submit. Aunt Lydia said something about the behaviour of the new handmaids being "deplorable" at the recent inspection. It doesn't sound like they're all meek and good little Gilead believers.

Nick is always a conundrum, but I like that. He only got involved with Sons of Jacob because his life was rubbish. He's clearly not a believer. He knows who the "friendlies" are in Hannah's area and he knows which Marthas were part of the resistance. Switzerland didn't want him as an official agent because of his actions, but that doesn't mean he's not quietly putting things together himself.

June is now very angry. We must be heading for something major in the last episode.

I don't think Cdr Lawtence quite knows what he is yet. All his energies were taken up with protecting his wife. Now nothing is stopping him from going all out for Gilead power OR the resistance.

I usually have an irritating knack for predicting what'll happen in programmes. It's really frustrating because it feels like my brain has spoilered itself when I just "know" what's going to happen. I love THT because I can never predict where it's going next! There's always so many possible ways a storyline can work out & it never goes down the route I thought it would, & often does something I'd never even thought of!

I so want Nick to be a triple agent, but I'd like it if he was just trying to survive & has accidentally ended up where he is. I think that's probably quite realistic for a lot of people - they go along with something seemingly harmless but can't get out when it starts to snowball.

I thought Naomi was trying to support Serena by telling her they belonged in Gilead in a "it's your home" sort of way & was trying to reassure her that they'd look after her baby & raise him in the Gilead way if she couldn't. It did make me laugh that they were suggesting taking her baby but I didn't get the vibe that they'd do it by force or turn her into a handmaid. Of course, that is probably what would happen, but I didn't think Naomi was being threatening.

I think June met Nick right on the border, possibly just inside Gilead. It was in an abandoned girls' school so I assumed Gilead.

I think he hid the fact that he's married again because he wanted the fantasy of being a little family with June & Nicole for a while. At least it seems unlikely that he'll be forced to marry Hannah - that was my worst case scenario, although he could then have run away with her & sent her back to June.

I hadn't considered Esther becoming his handmaid. I do think she's going to be the new handmaid whose tale we follow but I'd be surprised if Nick's given a handmaid already when he's presumably got a young wife who may be fertile.

I can't see Janine being turned into an Aunt quite yet. I don't think anyone would be convinced that she could be ruthless enough. I do think that Lydia will use this to keep her around & keep manipulating her to help control the more unruly handmaids. I really hope she doesn't get sent to another commander though.

My predictions for the finale are Serena giving birth & the baby either dying or being given to Fred who's now free, leaving Serena to rot in prison. They only said the charges against him were dropped & I can totally see him spinning it that he's so righteous that God has blessed him but that Serena went against Gilead & tried to bring him down having allowed herself to be corrupted by Tuello.

I'd also like to see some resolution of June/Luke's relationship. Either a "we can't make this work but we'll keep fighting for Hannah together" or June saying she'd try to put Nick behind her & move forward with Luke. I'd prefer them not to be together, tbh. I think June needs time without a man around & I'm confused by Luke's whole "go see Nick" thing. I can't decide whether he was sucking it up for Hannah's sake or if it was some sort of test. Either way, I don't think that's healthy for either of them.

I'm also predicting that the next series will open in a similar way to the first series, but with Esther in June's place. I'd love it if they passed the narration to her & we got to see her meekly obeying all the Gilead rules while simultaneously plotting its destruction. I think her & Janine would be great as Mayday Central - Esther could come up with all the plans & Janine could serve as the contact for all the handmaids. She's in the perfect position to be gaining the Aunts' trust by convincing the handmaids to be complaint but also to be teaching the handmaids secret Mayday ways to communicate & setting up a whole network before they've even left the Red Centre. The two of them could definitely bring down Gilead together!

Lawrence is intriguing, I'm still hoping we'll get a flashback at some point.

Is there going to be a series 5?

@wasthataburp

Is there going to be a series 5?

Series 5 is confirmed and they have signed for up to 10 series.

I guess if we go past series 7, the story would centre on Hannah. Which means Hannah stays in Gilead.

Thanks for the new thread. I always get nervous coming up to the last episode as some asshole always deliberately posts a spoiler. Same with homeland threads too. So I might avoid this thread until I’ve watched the episode on Sunday.

I don't think the baby will be a shredder. I presume Canada does all the normal scans and tests and that would apply even though she is in prison?

The baby would have canadian citizenship presumably and that would entitle the parents to remain anyway? Not sure how it works normally never mind at the time this is meant to be in (and made up!) but there won't be any bar to people moving to gilead I would think (though I am sure they would be screened)?

but there won't be any bar to people moving to gilead I would think (though I am sure they would be screened)?

Like those idiots who were cheering the Waterfords on. I wonder how many of the women in that group would see themselves / their daughters as potential handmaids or even Marthas?

@EmpressWitchDoesntBurn

but there won't be any bar to people moving to gilead I would think (though I am sure they would be screened)?

Like those idiots who were cheering the Waterfords on. I wonder how many of the women in that group would see themselves / their daughters as potential handmaids or even Marthas?

But then look at the folk that ran off to join Isis?

And I imagine it might appeal to some types of men? Go off and become security and get to have power and free shags? Obviously just as abhorrent a system to most men as it is to women but you can see the appeal to people of a certain mindset.

@wasthataburp

Is there going to be a series 5?

Yes, it's been confirmed. I don't know if they've started filming yet.

Obviously just as abhorrent a system to most men as it is to women but you can see the appeal to people of a certain mindset.

If anyone else read Houellebecq's much criticised novel Submission, that was the topic. University-educated men readily submitting to an ISIS-type caliphate in Paris after being offered 12-year-old brides.

I'm not sure whether Luke was testing June, I think he will do anything he can to get Hannah back, even if it means sending June to meet the man she loves(which is is well aware of) his face crumpled when June said Nick would do anything for her. As it confirms to him that it was a definite 2 way love. It's a lot of pain to swallow acknowledging your wife loves another man, and then actively pushing for them to meet up. I do feel sorry for him.