Handmaid's Tale Season 3

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh. It seems like there are so many things that just aren't that well thought out or inconsistent.

So the plan was to get Mrs. Lawrence out of Gilead because there was no medication to treat her mental illness, but somehow she has access to enough pills to overdose??

I rewatched all previous episodes before watching season 3 in order to fill in memory gaps. You might be surprised how many easily forgotten little moments and comments form early in the series help make sense of seeming inconsistencies. It is a remarkably well thought out series, with little hints and details dropped that seem irrelevant until much later.

The specific medication that was not available for Ms Lawrence was a mood stabilizer, because the commanders don’t give a damn about mental health. They love to give sleeping pills to women at Jezebel’s, though, so those are easily obtained on the black market.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ugh. It seems like there are so many things that just aren't that well thought out or inconsistent.

So the plan was to get Mrs. Lawrence out of Gilead because there was no medication to treat her mental illness, but somehow she has access to enough pills to overdose??

I thought that too. It may have been sleeping or other pills and not the mental health ones. It did seem odd.

They'd established that the Martha's had been smuggling pills for her so I just assumed she had hoarded some of them, or she ran out of some before others. It didn't bother me tbh as much as the sort of vagueness about her mental illness in general and why it would explain (with all the trauma of course) her behavior.

Yes, and I'd say this about Janine too--was never clear what sort of mental illness either one was supposed to have (and I'm a mental health professional!). It's as if the show writers/producers had this idea that people with mental illness are just sort of childlike and confused. I can't imagine they consulted any mental health experts when crafting these characters.

I haven't read the book, though--is Janine's portrayal pretty close to the book?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can't tell if the writers are trying to get people to sympathize with Serena? She has ZERO RIGHT TO NICOLE!!! Ugh. I cannot STAND her. Also, the scene with Luke punching fred did not last nearly long enough. Finally... I think I've watched way too much West Wing because whenever there's a scene with June and Lawrence, I cannot stop thinking "hey, there's Josh and Zoe, how nice."

They had to make promises to Serena in exchange for Fred. Who knows what those promises were- at this point it looks like visitation with strict limitations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ugh. It seems like there are so many things that just aren't that well thought out or inconsistent.

So the plan was to get Mrs. Lawrence out of Gilead because there was no medication to treat her mental illness, but somehow she has access to enough pills to overdose??

I thought that too. It may have been sleeping or other pills and not the mental health ones. It did seem odd.

They'd established that the Martha's had been smuggling pills for her so I just assumed she had hoarded some of them, or she ran out of some before others. It didn't bother me tbh as much as the sort of vagueness about her mental illness in general and why it would explain (with all the trauma of course) her behavior.

Yes, and I'd say this about Janine too--was never clear what sort of mental illness either one was supposed to have (and I'm a mental health professional!). It's as if the show writers/producers had this idea that people with mental illness are just sort of childlike and confused. I can't imagine they consulted any mental health experts when crafting these characters.

I haven't read the book, though--is Janine's portrayal pretty close to the book?

Janine came into the Red Center that first time like a bada$$, and not a dimwit. Heckling the Aunts got her a severe punishment, and her behavior was forever altered after that. I have always wondered if she was brain damaged, deliberately or otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Except I think suspicion was already high after she starting saying stuff to the other two wives. They might have insisted on seeing her.

Dead men tell no tales.

If that made them suspicious, then her death would raise questions, too.

But they couldn’t actually question her. And obviously, they rushed a burial.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find it hard to believe they would give Eleanor such an honorable funeral in Gilead. It if wasn't deliberate suicide, her downing in meds and OD-ing would be a major sin against God.

But I wonder if the Marthas has anything to do with her death. Remember when they told June that they could kill her and make it look like a suicide? Perhaps they were afraid that Eleanor would spill the beans on the escape plan - jeopardizing the children, and also the Marthas themselves. So they killed her, making it look like an overdose.

Good point. Suicide is a sin (according to the Bible), and I would think Gilead would be pretty severe in its view of it.

There are few rules in Gilead that can’t be bent or broken by whichever commanders are at the top of the pile at the moment. Remarkably, Lawrence has gone to the top of the pile with the current power vacuum.

For a second at the graveside I thought that Lawrence and June were going to agree to get married in order to keep Aunt Lydia from dragging her immediately back to the Red Center or whatever it’s called these days.

[Anonymous]

i wonder if June can stay in a house with a widowed man. Seems to me that’s a no. If kids cannot stay with a widowed woman then a single man and a handmaid in his house would be very improper

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:i wonder if June can stay in a house with a widowed man. Seems to me that’s a no. If kids cannot stay with a widowed woman then a single man and a handmaid in his house would be very improper

Doubtful. That would be Aunt territory, and they are some of the most rigid rule enforcers in Gilead.

But Lawrence might try to find some way around that rule for the next week until the plane comes, if he still gives a sh!t about their plans. It was all about getting Eleanor out for him, so next week’s episode should be interesting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:i wonder if June can stay in a house with a widowed man. Seems to me that’s a no. If kids cannot stay with a widowed woman then a single man and a handmaid in his house would be very improper

I thought the same things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i wonder if June can stay in a house with a widowed man. Seems to me that’s a no. If kids cannot stay with a widowed woman then a single man and a handmaid in his house would be very improper

I thought the same things.

I feel like not enough time will go by for it to be an issue/he might just get another wife?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i wonder if June can stay in a house with a widowed man. Seems to me that’s a no. If kids cannot stay with a widowed woman then a single man and a handmaid in his house would be very improper

I thought the same things.

I feel like not enough time will go by for it to be an issue/he might just get another wife?

I don’t think that he would marry again if he could avoid it. Eleanor was clearly the only woman he would ever freely choose to be with. No telling what he might be forced to do, though. I wonder if handmaids can be elevated in status to commander’s wife? I would assume no, since Nick didn’t jump on the opportunity when he was promoted, but he wasn’t as senior as Lawrence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i wonder if June can stay in a house with a widowed man. Seems to me that’s a no. If kids cannot stay with a widowed woman then a single man and a handmaid in his house would be very improper

I thought the same things.

I feel like not enough time will go by for it to be an issue/he might just get another wife?

I don’t think that he would marry again if he could avoid it. Eleanor was clearly the only woman he would ever freely choose to be with. No telling what he might be forced to do, though. I wonder if handmaids can be elevated in status to commander’s wife? I would assume no, since Nick didn’t jump on the opportunity when he was promoted, but he wasn’t as senior as Lawrence.

June is technically married. I doubt they'd marry a handmaiden to a commander.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i wonder if June can stay in a house with a widowed man. Seems to me that’s a no. If kids cannot stay with a widowed woman then a single man and a handmaid in his house would be very improper

I thought the same things.

I feel like not enough time will go by for it to be an issue/he might just get another wife?

I don’t think that he would marry again if he could avoid it. Eleanor was clearly the only woman he would ever freely choose to be with. No telling what he might be forced to do, though. I wonder if handmaids can be elevated in status to commander’s wife? I would assume no, since Nick didn’t jump on the opportunity when he was promoted, but he wasn’t as senior as Lawrence.

June is technically married. I doubt they'd marry a handmaiden to a commander.

Technically married outside of Gilead. I doubt they would allow a handmaid to marry as well, since they are considered fallen women and not wife material, but wonder how much pull different commanders could have to break that rule, given that few of them actually care about the doctrine if it doesn’t serve their purposes. It seemed like Winslow, for example, was powerful enough to change the rules rather than just follow them.

[Anonymous]

I thought Wives were all infertile. Have we ever seen a life with biological children. I doubt they’d give up a breeding woman to the exclusive use of a single Commander. That’s a good incentive for marrying off the young Daughters to young loyal men like Nick.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought Wives were all infertile. Have we ever seen a life with biological children. I doubt they’d give up a breeding woman to the exclusive use of a single Commander. That’s a good incentive for marrying off the young Daughters to young loyal men like Nick.

The wives aren’t necessarily infertile. They are just the Gilead elite who either helped bring Gilead to power or married someone who did. Most of them are infertile, and they have the power to force fertile “fallen” women to breed for them. There are also the econowives, who are not considered fallen, may or may not be infertile, and don’t have the power to force anyone to breed for them.

I think once Nick became a commander he no longer was subject to forced marriage, but would be considered a good catch for one of the other commander’s daughters, probably.