Handmaid’s Tale season 4

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I saw speculation on the interwebs that if Serena is sent back to Gilead she could become a handmaid, now that she has “sinned” and is proven fertile. I thought of that when June says “I want them to hurt like we hurt” in the preview for the next episode. Maybe she wants them shipped back to Gilead for harsher punishment than Canada will dole out.

What? I am sorry, but that makes zero sense.

https://screenrant.com/handmaids-tale-serena-waterford-pregnant-season-4-impact/

That article speculates that Serena could be treated as a traitor if she returns to Gilead after testifying against Gilead, not that she would in any way be punished for having her own biological child.

People seem really hung up on the sex/fertility thing and it's just not that complicated. The men are allowed to have sex with the handmaids and the women at Jezebels - why on earth would there be some rule against them having sex with their own wives?

Serena's pregnancy would be seen as a miracle/God's will and huge propaganda for Gilead.

Serena had her handmaid impregnated by someone other than her husband. I don’t know who in the Gilead power structure knows that, but Fred does and won’t hesitate to use it against her if he needs to for his own benefit. That’s the sin, not having her own bio child. As far as Gilead is concerned, they would possibly be better served by Serena being a handmaid vs a Commander’s wife, assuming she is sent back to Gilead.

Okay, but the PP said earlier the "sin" was that Serena was proven to be fertile. So which is it?

And the fact that Fred has presumably fathered the child that Serena is currently pregnant with introduces the question of who is Nichole's biological father. I don't think it's a real stretch for Fred and Serena to portray June and Nick's relationship as something sneaky that they didn't know about.

And the idea that Gilead would be happier to bring Serena back as a Handmaid instead of as a triumphant wife that has beat the modern world and had a miraculous child to boot is head-scratching. Serena conceiving her own child is basically the highest goal of Gilead.

No, I am the pp and that’s not what I meant. I see now that i didn’t word it the best way, so I apologize for the confusion.

A. Serena has sinned/ there are reasons why Gilead might choose to punish her if she returns, and B. Given that she is now proven fertile there is a decent chance that rather than sending her to the colonies or the wall they would make her a handmaid.

IMO a lot depends on how Fred chooses to play this, whether Serena agrees to his demands, and the outcome of negotiations between Canada and Gilead. Just fun speculation.

[Anonymous]

What is Canada going to do now that June is there
Will they make Canada hand her over?


Or will Canada never know she’s there since used used an alias to enter?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is Canada going to do now that June is there
Will they make Canada hand her over?


Or will Canada never know she’s there since used used an alias to enter?

The promo for the next episode starts with a voice (we don't see who) asking her basic asylum questions. So she will stay the same as Emily, Rita, and Moira.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Jumping in a milk tanker was seriously stupid. Why didn’t they duck down inside one of the humvees? Were those locked? I get the poetry of putting these handmaids in milk but come on.

I loved how this episode explored the various ways that characters’ faith inspired them to action. Whether that be Christian faith (Rita) or faith in the future or the movement (June, Janine). We also got to see how June’s desire to always be a leader gets in the way of her survival. That’s what I love about this show. That she’s a hero and an antihero all at once. How often do we get to see women as those kind of lead characters in tv shows? Shown in all their complexity and ugliness/beauty.

Agree with this and it's also why I think Serena is fascinating and the actress playing her is so good. I mean, how are you happy for this woman's pregnancy when she was a full participant in creating Gilead, who has done so many truly mean and terrible things, etc.

And, technically, by Gilead rules, her pregnancy was a result of an illegal act. Remember, she's not allowed to have sex with her husband anymore.... In Gilead she would never be allowed to have her own child after they declared her infertile.

I don't remember any rule against marital sex, just the assumption that it was pointless because no pregnancies would likely result. I think the rules only concerned handmaids.

No, I recall a spontaneously pregnant Commander’s Wife earlier.

It's interesting that the only "happy" commander marriage shown was the one in DC. The lack of rights and forced participation in the Handmaids rituals seemingly eroded the marriages even of true believers. It's also not uncommon in some conservative Christian sects for sex to be promoted only in relation to procreation.

Not just conservative Christianity. In some sects of Judaism, married couples are supposed to abstain from sexual outside of the woman’s fertile window and acts that are not procreative are seen as sinful.

Nope. Infertile couples still are supposed to have sex in Orthodox Judaism.

[Anonymous]

I liked this episode and the conflict t with Moira Nd her girlfriend. They were both coming from love and truth that couldn’t reconcile.

[Anonymous]

I guess Janine really is dead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I guess Janine really is dead.

I think the writers are keeping their options open!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess Janine really is dead.

I think the writers are keeping their options open!

I hope so. Body or it didn't happen!

[Anonymous]

Serena is going back and that's why they made the baby a boy. She wouldn't return with a girl baby because of the whole reading issue

[Anonymous]

Something has been bugging me about this episode and I finally figured out what it was:

Moira's girlfriend Oona was right about not taking June b/c "we save people, not a person," BUT Moira should have never been allowed to go on that rescue trip.

Moira isn't just some random refugee - she is an asylee from Gilead, a former handmaid, and she was involved attacking an Aunt. Maybe Oona didn't know that, but she should.

So while it's certainly dangerous for June to be on that boat, it's also dangerous for Moira.

I can suspend disbelief to set up June and Moira meeting in Chicago because I loved that moment, but this just bugged me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Something has been bugging me about this episode and I finally figured out what it was:

Moira's girlfriend Oona was right about not taking June b/c "we save people, not a person," BUT Moira should have never been allowed to go on that rescue trip.

Moira isn't just some random refugee - she is an asylee from Gilead, a former handmaid, and she was involved attacking an Aunt. Maybe Oona didn't know that, but she should.

So while it's certainly dangerous for June to be on that boat, it's also dangerous for Moira.

I can suspend disbelief to set up June and Moira meeting in Chicago because I loved that moment, but this just bugged me.

It's called "holes in the plot" and "bad writing"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Something has been bugging me about this episode and I finally figured out what it was:

Moira's girlfriend Oona was right about not taking June b/c "we save people, not a person," BUT Moira should have never been allowed to go on that rescue trip.

Moira isn't just some random refugee - she is an asylee from Gilead, a former handmaid, and she was involved attacking an Aunt. Maybe Oona didn't know that, but she should.

So while it's certainly dangerous for June to be on that boat, it's also dangerous for Moira.

I can suspend disbelief to set up June and Moira meeting in Chicago because I loved that moment, but this just bugged me.

You are not alone. I had the same thought.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Something has been bugging me about this episode and I finally figured out what it was:

Moira's girlfriend Oona was right about not taking June b/c "we save people, not a person," BUT Moira should have never been allowed to go on that rescue trip.

Moira isn't just some random refugee - she is an asylee from Gilead, a former handmaid, and she was involved attacking an Aunt. Maybe Oona didn't know that, but she should.

So while it's certainly dangerous for June to be on that boat, it's also dangerous for Moira.

I can suspend disbelief to set up June and Moira meeting in Chicago because I loved that moment, but this just bugged me.

You are not alone. I had the same thought.

+1000

When the Gilead officer questioned Moira and she didn’t use an alias I was shocked and thought she would be captured.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess Janine really is dead.

I think the writers are keeping their options open!

I think she's alive. You could see other aid workers helping a person in the background at the beginning of this episode. And when people for on this show they usually make it pretty obvious - this seems purposefully ambiguous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess Janine really is dead.

I think the writers are keeping their options open!

I think she's alive. You could see other aid workers helping a person in the background at the beginning of this episode. And when people for on this show they usually make it pretty obvious - this seems purposefully ambiguous.

My thought as well.