HANDMAIDS TALE S6 - thread 2 - time various but sun ch4 - TV PACE NO SPOILERS

[Blondeshavemorefun]

New thread for the last two EVER episodes as either going to be a lot of replies as last 2hrs will be amazing and all loose ends tied up

Including seeing Hannah whether new head or not

Or

Be totally crap and wonder why we have just spent the last 10hrs of our lives watching s6

Sadly does seem like they have run out of ideas even tho based on a book. ?

below is thread 1

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/telly_addicts/5323712-handmaids-tale-s6-starts-sat-3rd-may-ch4-9pm-tv-pace-no-spoilers?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=app_share

I was was wondering about the Waterford’s house…was it ruined because of the fire or was it ruined in the Boston bombing? Just seemed like such a lovey house to be left all that time since the fire…I would have thought some rich Commander would have claimed it and rebuilt it.

also liked seeing the Boston Globe offices…took me back to season 2

They were originally shopping partners. The intention was they'd spy on each other. June thought Emily was a pious little shit. Then they stopped outside the dress shop and Emily it used to be an ice cream parlour before. They're not supposed to talk about before but that kind of broke the ice between them when Emily said it sold the best salted caramel ice cream which was better than sex.

Well, thats it folks. Until The Testaments of course.

I was a bit mixed about the last episode. I found it overly saccharine in so many bits but I did enjoy certain moments. I kind of liked the (albeit slightly implausible) story of Janine not only being free but getting Charlotte back. The theme throughout has been about wanting June to be reconciled with Hannah, we got a mother and child reconciliation, just not the one we hoped for.

What I did like was...Emily being back (yay) and not too an easy ride for Serena. Serena has had lightbulb moments before but I don't think she will be able to help herself bossing everyone around in time. I do wonder if we will see more of her.

I thought there were a few times that it went dangerously close to repeating Gilead retribution. People hanging on the wall and just left there? How Gilieadean of them.

I think seeing June forgive Serena was interesting. I agree with a PP, that was for June's sake to move on. Not for Serena's.

Things that jarred and didn't seem true were the fact that Naomi gave up "Angela". Twice wife of high commanders or no, she would be strung up for giving away a child from a handmaid. Also, Lydia, I know why what happened happened with her but after being so public with her anger at the hanging in ep9 how has she been forgiven and brought back to duties? Hmmm.

The imaginary "flashback" to what it would have been like had these women all met without the horrors of Gilead that brought them together was quite frankly shite. I could have had that sentence said and be left wistfully to imagine it. Its scenes like that, that cheapen the whole thing for me. But hey ho, I wasn't forced to watch it.

But, I did like that we went back to June or Offred at the end. It is her story so it felt very fitting to end with her on her own in that room where it all began. And to be honest, it reminded me not only of the book but the first series which absolutely captured the essence of the book. It has made me want to re read it for the umpteenth time.

I also felt a little bit of sadness at the end of it but to be honest the last few series' have been a labour of love so I will wish it a fond farwell and not weep too much at its ending.

I look forward to chatting with you when The Testaments come out. I look forward to seeing how they adapt it for the tv series. There are storylines and characters that I knew had to go a certain way but (without giving any spoilers) those that have read it will know that it can't follow it exactly.

Late to the party...but Laurence giving the book to Naomi and her mixed feelings playing over her face was such a fantastic moment

It was a very slow episode but I did like the end when June started recording the story. I did think they might dedicate the episode to all the women around the world who are living under oppressive regimes.

Although Serena and Toello have chemistry, he’d be mad to get involved with her. None of his colleagues would ever trust him again.

I liked that, as she was about to get on the bus, her roots were really showing. She no longer has the Gilead machine behind her.

The bit about Toello being a Commander was interesting. That and having hanged the Guardians means the new regime isn’t necessarily better than Gilead. Fred Waterford was charming and handsome too.

Things that I really wanted to see:

Some sign that Hannah still knows who she is, ie a clip of a girl writing Hannah, just anything really to give us an indicator of what might be coming in the future.

How and why Gilead agreed to popping Janine and Charlotte over the border. So unbelievable.

Tuello to give a real reason for why he's doing all this, ie a sister he's searching for. His son and ex wife in Hawaii fell flat for me like ok, so what?

A final glimpse of Moira heading out of Boston to fight the good fight/ goodbye with June.

Serena facing some consequences.

Scenes from other cities where MayDay / the people are fighting back.

It just all felt a bit dull and we didn't need 2 conversations about how June should write a book, nudge nudge.

I will watch The Testaments. I've read today it will be set 4/5 years after this ending of THT, not 15 years later like the book. I'm not sure how true that is.

It may make sense to set the Testaments only 5 years later. Aunt Lydia is now portrayed as fairly elderly and if they want to use the same actress for Hannah, they can’t assume she is 15 years older. If she is 12 now then she would be 17.

THT book obviously stopped at least 2 or 3 years before the TV adaptation so the timeline would be different anyway.
I'm thinking about reading them both again before the Testaments starts. Might put them on my Kobo for my holiday in August.

Late to the party but just watched the last episode and thought it was a total anticlimax. It didn't really tie anything up and Hannah still hasn't been rescued, which was the entire point of the show.

I think it's hard to keep up quality after the first few seasons of any show. Same with CTM. Was good in the early days.
THMT was good up to I think end of S3 when the kids left on a plane. Then the quality started slipping. They forgot things that they had said in S1 all the time like you're only allowed to go anywhere in pairs. That was strictly observed in the early days of the show and then they kind of forgot they'd said that... Issues like that.

Last episode was a complete anti-climax for me.

Was June wearing a blue/green coat when she visited the old house at the end a sign that she now had power? The wives used to wear that blue/green colour at the beginning, in comparison to the red of the handmaids.

Quite a good read

https://www.elle.com/uk/life-and-culture/culture/a65311167/the-handmaids-tale-book-show-differences/

That stood out to me too that June was dressed in wife green.
I thought Naomi was magnificently vile but loved her scenes.
I’m sure Aunt Lydia manipulated the Janine and Charlotte rescue. She had a weird love for Janine.

Hannah has been recast

This was my reaction on Saturday night, immediately after watching the finale. I've read the comments over the last few pages since writing this, and agree with many of the points made:

"Oh that last episode made me cry...

From the moment June and Janine, then Charlotte were reunited, and then Grandma and granddaughter Holly too.

It was such a touching episode with flashbacks to life before Gilead, and the journeys chosen by June and Luke in the end were very fitting to their story and how they'd developed.

I cried at the very end too, the start of the book..."

Just listened to EOG and one of the things they pointed out was the last scene when she clicks on her dictaphone and starts to narrate her story…is replicant of one of the first scenes in series 1 episode 1 in the Waterford’s house where June starts her narration…right back in episode one, there is an audible click and then she starts talking…so basically implying that the show starts at the end. Something really nice about it coming full circle. Loved that little spot…those ladies are way more observant than me!

I love EOG, I listened to all their interview episodes once I’d watched the finale.

Ever Carradine, who plays Naomi Putnam, said one of her inspirations for the character was Nellie Oleson from Little House on the Prairie.

I was wondering whether we should have a new thread 'The Testaments - wild speculations with spoilers from the book' as I'm worried re saying too much here as some haven't read the sequel.

Yes please! A thread for people who've watched the whole series and read the book would be great

Why did Toello call himself a Commander? I didn't understand that. Wasn't concentrating fully as I found the whole episode slow and boring.

That's his rank in the US army

I think he was just telling her he had been promoted?

Or did we not know he was Forces before then?

Perhaps there was a point being made about reclaiming language from Gilead. 'Commander' meaning military and intelligence expertise, rather than entitled and selfish men grabbing rights at everyone else's expense.

I didn't think he was military but more government official