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.

Why are June and Janine wearing red clothes?I can't for the life of me imagine that they would ever wear red again, is it symbolic?

June also still has her red ear tag. She ripped it out herself the first time so why has she kept it this time?

@SoupDragon

Why are June and Janine wearing red clothes?I can't for the life of me imagine that they would ever wear red again, is it symbolic?

June also still has her red ear tag. She ripped it out herself the first time so why has she kept it this time?

Yes this has been bugging me. What is the reasoning behind it?

Sorry I wasn't clear, Janine chose a bright red jumper when she was free.

@mm8989 and June chose a bright red dressing gown coming out of the shower in Canada.

I think the red clothing symbolises the shared experiences and strong community of the handmaids. June and Janine are not able to leave the memory of their friends behind, and their actions serve to honour them and protect the living handmaids. They will never try to move on like Moira or Emily. Janine joined June before the bombing saying "Handmaids walk in pairs."
You can take a woman out of the Red Centre, but you can't take the Red Centre out of a woman.
Janine may not be highly educated, but she was always a catalyst for June and supported moral guidance. Her heart is gold and fragile.

The Last Supper picture was amazing. That is all I am going to say.

I imagine marriage in Gilead, for commanders - is arranged, but given an illusion of choice, in that when they're the right sort of age, a group of commanders will have a tightly chaperoned social event where they meet carefully screened potential wives, and any interest shown will be taken as compatibility and they'll be married off pronto. Probably the potential wives get up to 3 events or so where if they're not selected, they'll be given the "option" of becoming a handmaid. And the fledgling commanders will also be aware that not finding a wife will not be good for their careers, so they can't afford to be too fussy.

Hopeisallineed "awkward dumping conversation"

I saw the "go and see Nick and take Nicole" from Luke as "I know we can't work as a couple and you love him, but we both want Hannah back so we must do as much as we can to work together"

Luke doesn't think there will be a Happily Ever After for them. He's raised Nicole, and cares for her, but when June first got to Canada and Tuello was interviewing her he said that he was taking his wife home to see "our baby". Last night he said to take Nicole to see "her father".

And then June, when she saw him, she was properly smiling - in a way that I haven't seen her do with Luke.

I think Lune are doomed. I also think Juick are doomed.

But, I'm hoping Moira and Emily can make it work!

Youtube "The Last Supper picture was amazing. That is all I am going to say."

I'm on tenterhooks. The Last Supper was just before a brutal self-sacrifice.

Soup is the ear tag evidence that she needs, now she's in Canada?

She's been a HM for so long it's become part of her and she's no longer rejecting the label?

Dunno, but I did notice the ear tag was in shot the whole time while she was turning her head, looking for Nick.

It's significant, presumably we have been reminded about it for a reason that will become clear next Sunday...

I can see I am going to have to watch next week's episode as it is broadcast to avoid spoilers. Normally I save it till Monday early evening so I don't have to go to bed with Gilead on my mind 😀
I thought it was poignant that the doll Nick gave to Nicole was dressed like a little Gilead Girl in the pink dress. Probably the same doll every little girl in Gilead has. 😒

The ear tag must be significant somehow. She basically ripped it out last time she was so keen to be rid of it.

@sluj

I can see I am going to have to watch next week's episode as it is broadcast to avoid spoilers. Normally I save it till Monday early evening so I don't have to go to bed with Gilead on my mind 😀 I thought it was poignant that the doll Nick gave to Nicole was dressed like a little Gilead Girl in the pink dress. Probably the same doll every little girl in Gilead has. 😒

I guess that’s all that available in Gilead

Hannah had a black doll, though in the same outfit.

In the episode where June & Mrs Lawrence went to the school, I was surprised that June could hear the girls playing. Somehow I'd have thought that good little Gilead girls would be expected to sit quietly nursing their dolls.

@vivariumvivariumsvivaria I didn’t get that but I do see your point if I have totally missed where June told Luke she loved Nick. I thought Luke only knew about her being ‘forced’ to have sex with him in order to have a baby by Serena. Hadn’t realised she had divulged her true feelings. I assumed Luke was being kind because she had to face someone who had ‘raped’ her and this would of course be hugely uncomfortable.

[quote Hopeisallineed]@vivariumvivariumsvivaria I didn’t get that but I do see your point if I have totally missed where June told Luke she loved Nick. I thought Luke only knew about her being ‘forced’ to have sex with him in order to have a baby by Serena. Hadn’t realised she had divulged her true feelings. I assumed Luke was being kind because she had to face someone who had ‘raped’ her and this would of course be hugely uncomfortable.[/quote]
It was in the episode where she managed to smuggle cassette tapes out to Luke - she told him about Nick in the tapes. (Can't remember which series - possibly series 2?)

I also noticed that immediately after the scene where we see Nick putting his wedding ring back on, June is driving home and raises her right hand up to the top of the steering wheel - and we see that she isn't wearing a wedding ring.

@BIWI thank you! I think I need to re-watch them all.

This site is very useful!

@SoupDragon

The ear tag must be significant somehow. She basically ripped it out last time she was so keen to be rid of it.

I think it serves to remind people that although she now looks strong and well [“ freedom suits you” Nick said!] she has been a victim of horrific abuse. Might come in handy when she goes public, surely she must go public, about how F and S are being released without having to face the charges of rape, imprisonment and abuse. One thing to hear it from a woman who looks well, another to hear it from a woman who has been tagged like an animal. I notice that neither Moira nor Emily have kept their tags, though Emily of course has her own physical reminder about Gilead.

The eartag is a visible sign of her being enslaved and treated as property in a similar way to the tattooing of numbers on jews in ww2.

She needed rid of it in the escape as she was still in gilead and being found in non handmaid clothes with a tag would immediately cause issues. She is safe in Canada so it doesn't matter if people see it. She has nothing to be ashamed off for being a handmaiden. I'm sure when emily arrived she had it removed with the initial health checks. I'm presuming June either didn't do all those or chose to keep it or has a reason for keeping it.

I think the ear tag is a symbol of June not really being 'free'. She still lives with the trauma and I don't think June will think of herself as free from Gilead until Hannah is.

I also think the last supper imagery was a little foresight into the finale. Can't wait for Sunday!

@BIWI all I can find is that she tells him Nicole was born from love, nothing about how she really feels about Nick now?

It doesn't matter if she still loves Nick - or whether Luke thinks she does. The key fact is that she told Luke that she did love Nick, and that Nicole was conceived from a loving relationship, rather than rape. So Luke knows now that there is another man in June's life. What he's not sure about/what he's testing her for, is whether that's still the case.

@BIWI but that’s what I’m struggling to find. I can’t find anywhere that she actually tells him point blank she loves Nick. Saying ‘conceived in love’ can be construed differently but am saying this all in context to @vivariumvivariumsvivaria point really about the ‘dumping conversation ‘ as she puts it above. I didn’t see it as such and have just found this article with the actor ( Luke) which is interesting…I agree with your above post about trying to work out where he stands so he obviously hasn’t been ‘dumped’. He clearly dies think there might be the potential for a happy ever after.
www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features/handmaids-tale-ot-fagbenle-luke-june-nick-season-4-1234966293/

I know it is a different show, but "if you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention."

But what else could ‘conceived in love’ mean?! June could have left Luke believing that Nicole was conceived via the ceremony, aka rape, by Nick. Instead, she chose to tell him that wasn't the case. Of course she was telling him that she loved (loves?) Nick.