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.

Loved loved loved this episode! Putnam…so arrogant….and then so dead 😆 I cheered! although Esther…that poor poor girl…I hope they dont leave her tied up in chains for the remainder of her pregnancy.

Lydia…starting to see reality and double down on her care for the girls.

Lawrence…winding up Lydia but seeing a route to get rid of Putnam. His “thank you” at the end…Lydia took as a dismissal but I think was genuine.

Serena….what a satisfying feeling seeing her treated like a handmaid…although….I don’t know what the hell is wrong with me but when it cut to the scene of her sobbing in her bedroom…I did feel sorry for her (I know I know!).

I also thought when Wheeler told her that he planned to kill June that her tears were actually distress at the thought of June being murdered although she hid it very well.

I could see the shooting Ezra thing a billion miles away…it was her last and desperate route to escape…your enemy’s enemy and all that…

next stop…June delivers Serenas baby….it’s got to be. Serna can’t go back to Gilead and needs to watch her back in Canada given Ezra will survive and Wheeler will be after her (and the baby).

Cant wait to see what happens next!

I'm so desperate to look up spoilers! I won't...but I'm dying too!

There’s a lot about how the Aunts started in The Testaments. Although it’s not quite clear how close the TV show is sticking to that.

It's better that Ezra lives. Serena is not a natural killer, that was the action of desperation. She's finally understanding June...
I do find it hard to believe that June and Luke would be

Would be dumb enough to go into no man's land though. That made little sense other than being a plot device!

That bit actually did make sense to me as they're desperate to get Hannah back so would try anything for a chance at that.

I'm following at tv pace and loving this series. And the thread! Can anyone tell me if I read The Testaments now, will it spoil the TV series please?

I don't think the Testaments will interfere with the tv series. It's set around 15-16 years ahead IIRC?

Reading The Testaments now might start giving you some interesting insights into how the TV series is starting to lead up to it.

Will Ezra say it was June who shot him? Serena should have finished him off.

Thank you. I'm downloading it now.

I also thought the series was pointing us to:

• the struggle June is having fitting into civilian life now and a tendancy towards violence and drama (or at least a greater comfort level with them than with terrestrial life)
• the struggle Luke is having with his guilt and lack of opportunity to 'save' his wife and daughter

Meaning both of them are likely to make more risky choices than they might otherwise.

Yes. Also June, being more experienced, might have handled things differently if she was on her own.

I suspect that Aunt Lydia was a fundamentalist Christian before Gilead.

I've just finished reading it for the second time. I think it has the potential to spoil the tv series for you if you haven't read it already. There are some questions asked on here at one point and another that The Testaments would answer if it follows the same storyline for each character.

(Trying so hard to explain without spoiling anything)

there was a flashback episode a few seasons ago for Lydia…I’d need to watch it again but I think she was a teacher…a jolly sort who really cared about the kids and was lonely…possibly a bit socially awkward (I remember the scene when she misread the signals from the guy she was with and tried to kiss him and he rejected her). She didn’t come across as OTT religious but perhaps turned to religion as a route to survival and I think it gave her hope. But then of course….she lost the plot and found the religious fever…

She was a kind/jolly sort - ish. But she also showed judgemental tendancies even in her flashback. I recall she judged the little boy's mum very harshly when she didn't actually know her but softened as they got to know each other.

Perhaps not unlike she is with the handmaids: harsh when she doesn't know them well but softens (to an extent) as she grows to know them. e.g. Janine. Even June sometimes.

And yes, very sensitive to rejection. Perhaps that is also playing a part here as Janine and Esther have the courage to tell her some home truths and she is forced to feel the sting of their rejection.

Listening to THL on audible again and it's so interesting how much the characters and story have moved on from Attwood's original premise.

Just watched this week's episode. Not sure if its already been mentioned but I think Serena intends to escape to Canada with June and that was her intention right from asking to witness Junes death.

Yes, we chatted about that upthread - I don’t think Serena’s really thought this through beyond escaping the Wheelers. She’s changed sides so much that Canada & Tuello don’t exactly have much reason to trust her at this point.

I reckon Tuello will accommodate her.. he's no fan of Gilead.

I reckon she'll have the baby in Canada and then strike a deal with the Canadian authorities to spill the beans on Gilead.

I feel like Canada would be too dangerous for her…the Wheelers and co would surely be after her? Maybe off to Hawaii like Tuello offered her right back at their first meeting? Thing is she could never disappear off quietly somewhere. Serena needs to be in the limelight.

so where is she going to have this baby then? My bets are in the woods in no man’s land. She looked pretty close when they were getting back into the car. June will help her deliver the baby I think.

I think things could have gone either way. If June had been viscous when Serena told her to pray, which she may well have been in order to leave with the final word, Serena would have shot her. But instead her prayer was full of grace for all of their children, that’s the thing that saved her.

That was such a good episode!!! Can’t wait for tomorrow’s to be released. But wonder what they’ll do to Luke?