The Handmaid's Tale season 5 contains spoilers

[IconicKitty]

The new season starts on 14th September in the US. No UK date yet but likely be be later in the year

Trailer:

It looks set to be as dramatic as ever. I'm looking forward to the new series but I hope this will be the last, or it risks being one of those series that goes on too long.

[Title edited by MNHQ at OP's request]

What an episode. I thought it was beautiful actually. Took a bit of adjusting to the change of pace after the previous episodes - I kept wanting them to get the hell out of the barn and back to Canada! But I can see why they slowed it down. I felt it was June's redemption, as she'd gone to a very dark place when she killed Fred and afterwards, and I feel that her choosing to help Serena and her baby was a hugely positive step for her.

Absolutely shit that Luke undermined it all.

Why couldn't Serena claim asylum as she had before? Surely she could have said that she'd been kept prisoner towards the end of her pregnancy so she had changed her mind about declining asylum before?

Why would Luke do that without at least talking to June about what happened first?

Serena could potentially have helped them get Hannah back - but not if she's in a detention centre.

He didn't have a chance to, June spoke to Moira and then Luke just appeared. He has his own anger from being imprisoned and in their last moments together he saw her trauma and anger more clearly. He had with the information available to him, no reason to think June wouldn't support him.

I think they are just both used to acting independently, now, as they've been apart for so long and even when physically united, there has been a gulf between them that they had only recently been bridging again. So I'm not surprised Luke went ahead, I just find it so frustrating that it jars completely with June's instincts; like when they were captured and he was pacing and panicking and she had to beg him to stop.

The fact that they continue to keep recreating a gap between June and Luke suggests they are going somewhere with it.

There's only one series left, they don't seem to be wanting to go down The Testaments route, so it wouldn't surprise me if they ended it with June's death.

what are The Testaments regarding THT ?
thanks

I thought they were making a separate TV show based on The Testaments? Rather than continuing THMT into it?

The Handmaids Tale was originally a novel.

The author Margaret Atwood wrote and released a sequel, The Testaments a few years ago.

The three characters in The Testaments are Aunt Lydia, who is now semi-retired, questioning the past and training Aunts, Hannah who is in training and Nicole who is now a Young Adult in Canada. Nicole infiltrates Gilead via The Pearl Girls who are young women sent to Canada to recruit for Gilead

I listened to the audio, and Ann Dowd who plays Lydia read her parts.
Mae Whitman reads Nicole and Bryce Dallas Howard reads Hannah.

@FrankTheThunderbird

I hadn't heard that. June is alive at the end of The Testaments IIRC and I really do feel they are going to end THT with her death

ah thank you had heard of it on old threads but had no idea
love the sound of it what was your view on them did you enjoy them?)

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit

ew.com/tv/handmaids-tale-final-season-6-testaments-sequel/#:~:text=Creator%20and%20showrunner%20Bruce%20Miller,starring%2C%20Emmy%2Dwinning%20series.

It wasn't a patch on the original no, but the ending was very interesting/good

Oh brilliant! I had no idea they had confirmed it, cheers Frank

Does Serena know how to shoot?

I'm going a bit nuts here thinking I've a memory of her target shooting (and being v good) from seasons ago. Though it could be another programme. Or a false memory!

Am up to date now. Thought the acting was superb. Actually watched episode 7 twice!
Have just started re-watching Season 1, god it's brutal.
Can't wait for next week's episode.
Praise be.

I expect she does, just not mid-contraction?!
She shot her bodyguard pretty accurately...

True.

What I mean is, what there a scene in the first series (or early series) that showed her shooting and being very accurate - better than Fred?

My memory is terrible but I think you may well be right.

I've just finished episode 7, very intense! I'm feeling conflicted as I feel sorry for Serena, but at the same time, she was complicit in many women getting their babies taken then from them so I understand where Luke is coming from with it being justice.

I find the whole show just so emotive though, I didn't start watching it till I was pregnant, or maybe in my maternity leave with DS1, it makes me so angry on women's behalf!!!

This season has been absoloutley incredible. Each episode is better than the one before it. They've done si fucking good this season.

It may of already been mentioned but The Eyes On Gilead podcast is brilliant. I listen to it after every episode and it brings up things I don't always notice

Really enjoyed the last two episodes. When Serena said she was like a handmaid it really was powerful.

Great series.

I thought this season started a bit weak but they've pulled it back in the last few episodes. I'm really interested to see what they do with the remaining few.

I'm finally up to date with episodes and with this thread. I'm enjoying this season so far. I think that going through birth with Serena and then seeing her baby taken away has triggered June's memories of being a handmaid so she can't help but empathise with Serena. Whereas for Luke, Serena is just getting what she deserves.

They seem to be moving towards the testaments in some of the other character developments so I would be surprised if they don't follow the same story line.