C4 / UK pace: No Spoilers Please - Handmaids Tale returns anyone else excited?

[Ladybird69]

YEY. just seen the new season is starting 23 October. I binge watched the others earlier in the month so can’t wait for it to start again. The ending was a shocker that I didn’t see coming. I can’t wait to see where they’re taking it. Will serena joy get let go because she was under his orders AND she’s having a baby. Or will she get put into jail and baby taken away when he’s born.

They knew that Hannah was alive and June saw her a few times in Gilead. Luke obvs hasn't seen her.

Janine can't be dead, right?

I think it's Serena's retaliation to wind June up and show her who's in control...

@Crinkle77 thank you, that makes sennce.
What an ending

she very much is,great actress

Is Serena still due to face a trial in Canada? I can't remember what was said last week.

yeah....no. The Canadians wouldn't be broadcasting thar all over big screens in the a city 🙄 and popping over the boarder and Serena having any influence at all, not long along the were threatening taking the baby off her, plus she is a traitor.

Also without Fred's immunity she is still on trial. I mean who gives a crap if she whines about were Fred should be buried.

so much utter shit in this season

I think we left realism behind a long time ago.

She doesn't have any influence in Gilead that's the point. She had to basically blackmail Nick and Lawrence to back her plan. The Gilead top brass are being all nice and polite at the moment but it's all for show. They will turn on Serena once Fred's funeral is over and they've got out of it what they wanted which is to show Gilead in a good light.

Nothing about a trial, or about Gilead agreeing to her return, or about Gilead agreeing that Tuello would be allowed to shadow her while she was in Gilead! He has no power or juristiction there. Really unbelievable considering the only way they could arrest F and S in the first place was by tricking them into crossing the border.

The way I see it is that Gilead are trying to avoid a diplomatic row with Canada who would be backed by the rest of the Western world. Serena's reasoning for the big funeral was to let the rest of the world in, show how compassionate they can be and thus to be allowed back on to the world stage. I remember in previous series it was mentioned that there were sanctions against Gilead so they'll be hoping to get some of these lifted maybe?

So if you ignore the implausible then fuck me.

What a great bit of TV.

Checkmate June.

(Amazing acting from Yvonne)

(Have we just forgotten the economic crisis (colonies??!) /disaster that led to the low birth rate)

I've been re-watching the West Wing and I'm enjoying seeing Josh Lyman 20 years later on the dark side.

I think the falling birth rate was happening in other countries too. I think the colonies are the result of some kind of nuclear 'incident' (possibly during a civil war when Gilead was first set up?)

@dapsnotplimsolls

Yeah but it's not been mentioned for series lol.

yes they had a visit from a female rep from chile i think seeing how Gilead had made the birth rate rise as it had fallen in most country's

Fairly certain it was The Sleeping Beauty.

@XanaduKira I've just watched the entire show in a week after discovering it last weekend. She ripped the tag out when she escaped via the drs office when pregnant. But when she was caught and taken back, you saw them putting it back on her. It's not a tracker, it's simply to show that she's property. If she somehow escaped and found "normal clothes" etc, the tag on her ear would give away that she is actually a handmaiden.

Thanks @Tillow4ever but that doesn't explain why she still has it in as she could have it properly removed now?

Presumably she has chosen not to have it removed yet. I'm sure the significance will be revealed, given the extreme lengths she went to first time round to remove it!

I thought you asked why she had it back on after you remembered her removing it - that was what I was answering.

I hope Esther and Janine survive... both great characters...

@JustGotToKeepOnKeepingOn

I dont.

I'm not sure I can watch Esther be raped.

I think the ballet was Sargassum.

I've not heard of it but there was a poster for it in the scene with June and Luke after the ballet.

I wonder if that's made up for the show?

There isn't afaik a ballet called Sargassum (although there is one called Sargasso), and I'm fairly certain the music playing was the Rose Adagio from Sleeping Beauty.

@AuntieDickhead I think you're probably right. I think the imagery works well. My take on it....

June was in her own fairy tale. She was free with Luke etc. her white dress symbolised that she was free from Gilead (free from red handmaid outfits etc). Serena had her own fairytale ceremony of sorts - all the hype and big parade etc. however her black dress symbolising a more sinister tale.

But at the end the white flowers Serena held contrast so starkly with her dress. They represented that June is still very much not free, and Serena has her in the palm of her hands. Because of Hannah is in Gilead, Serena can get to her but June can't.

Fairytale over.