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.

Lawrence’s attempt to persuade him by suggesting that he could have June, Rose, Nicole and the new baby all together was somewhat weird. I suspect the absolute last thing Rose would want would be June as a neighbour.

I have been pondering this too!

She's committed murder, been captured, escaped, delivered a baby and it doesn't move!

Truly in awe of the hair 🤣

it seemed unlikely to me that Gilead could fund a 'colony' like New Bethlehem- unless those were existing houses they commandeered? And taking Hong Kong as a model doesn't seem so smart either. I agree it was good to see the motivations of the Lawrence character. The despair he expresses at the state of the world pre Gilead is very recognisable I think and will resonate with many of us now.

I think Nick realised that Rose isn’t going to be up for having June living close by.

If I’m honest, I’d be surprised if anyone in Gilead would want June living near them. She organised the kidnap of 80+ children, wound her walking partner(s) up until they got themselves killed and both of the last houses she was posted in fell apart as soon as she left. They’d be petrified of her.

I think it’s weird that she never mentions her first posting. Didn’t she hate them as much as Fred and Serena? Mind, Serena never mentioned the first Offred.

Just when I think Serena is starting to show a bit of normal human empathy, in she swoops to show just how much she upholds Gilead beliefs. Moaning to Lawrence about her baby being taken away and he asks if she has an irony deficiency (lol) and she says “I don’t give a damn I’m it a Handmaid”.

Not “Yes I know and I was wrong” - she still thinks, sitting there in her prison outfit, that she’s superior to most other women out there. She still believes handmaids deserve their babies to be taken off them. I go between feeling sorry for her and despising her. I’m pleased June told her to do one

Absolutely!

I think there is an empty New England island they’re gonna use for New Bethlehem.

Anyone else think that New Bethlehem actually looked like a rather nice place to live?! I mean apart from the close proximity to religious fanatics, public hangings and institutionalised rape. I thought the houses looked rather nice 😊

Looked a bit Stepford to me! Maybe that’s the New Gilead Bethlehem , reprogramme those pesky wives as robots

I thought it looked nice too - the New England vibe.
Reminded me of Disney's Celebration Community.

I’m re watching from the beginning (not sure why I’m doing it to myself) and am loving the first interactions between Lawrence and June now the relationship, no positioning/bargaining between them has evolved

still hating/loving Serena from her looking to induce labour naturally to her giving up Nicole

I don't trust Lawrence.

@Ladybird69 We are going to need a new thread soon....Praise Be.

And I wouldn't trust Lawrence as far as I can throw him.

Hopefully the new thread title will be clear from the start - I was nervous about posting on here before it got altered. I've nearly opened the wrong one by mistake a couple of times!

I've found it strange to see how much the Gilead escapees are now hated & the support that Sereba got from followers recently - compared to the earlier episodes where refugees were applauded. Not sure I understand why that has changed.

And I can't fathom how Nick & Lawrence haven't been killed off for treachery!

Or June's miraculously coiffed hair!

Liked the dynamic of June shouting at Luke that he had done nothing for 7 years, he is a weak character, lacking in ruthlessness.

June evolved so much in the birth episode - her humanity & motherhood could not allow her to deny Serena the role of parenting her baby. But she was so clearly conflicted.

I've found it strange to see how much the Gilead escapees are now hated & the support that Sereba got from followers recently - compared to the earlier episodes where refugees were applauded. Not sure I understand why that has changed.

I interpreted it as a representation of the general shift towards the right IRL at the moment and the increasing number of far right groups. I think there are two issues - Canadians with empathy fatigue and Canadians coming round to the idea of Gilead. I can’t remember why birth rates were dropping off, was it about infertility? It would make sense that an increasing number of women are supportive of them, many of whom would have been too young to remember the beginning of it all (like the young man who tried to help June and Luke). ISTR it was mostly young women fawning over Serena?

I too can't understand how Lawrence and Nick haven't been killed off for treachery. They have been treading a very thin line.

Similarly June has committed so many crimes against Gilead as if they’d INVITE HER back to New Bethlehem

I think Canadians are worried Gilead will attack if they keep accepting refugees and that's why they are no longer welcome.

I thought there was a worldwide crisis re fertility and the handmaidens were Gilead's solution yet Canada doesn't seem to have a problem.

I think fertility is still an issue in Canada but they haven't resorted to rape as a solution

With the Handmaid's, it's rape, plus strict control of what they eat and drink and enforced sexual activity of all women with the potential to be fertile, with their menstrual cycle being monitored so it occurs at the right time. Contraception is banned. That's how they have managed to claw back having children.
Presumably in places where freedom to choose still exists, this isn't happening on the same scale, hence low birth rates.

I wonder how Elisabeth Moss feels about surrogacy? I mean, everyone else is doing it in Hollywood arent they?

There are meant to be food shortages too aren’t there? I’m sure there was a big fuss about Gilead being able to grow oranges etc. Maybe Canada have limited resources & are increasingly less willing to share.

By chance I saw there is a Gilead Foundation that has existed in the UK for the past 30 years. It is Christian based and for women. 😟

Don't be daft. It's a rehabilitation centre for women with addiction problems