Handmaid's Tale Season 3

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So is her new commander a good guy or a bad guy? Or just a psycho? His character is difficult to read. I thought bad guy until the very end when I realized June was able to pick a particular group of women to help her movement. He had to have known that’s what she’d do, right?

I've watched all three episodes now - WARNING: SPOILERS if you haven't watched -


>>I'm going against the Post review that they've run out of source material and story (but the Post has also seen up to episode 6 I think, so we'll see). I think they are putting this season together pretty deliberately and with a new focus. I didn't care too much for Episode 1 - too drawn out with lots of meaningful glances, but not a lot of substance. Didn't need the extra drama with Emily, but she made it. All good.

Several reviews seem to imply that Gilead is going to make a diplomatic play to get baby Nichole back. That could be interesting, tense, and satisfying if they do it right. And by right I do not mean a sobbing Moira and Emily handing Nichole over to Canadian authorities to send the baby back to Gilead. That might do it for me.

I'll combine comments on Episodes 2 and 3 - I think we are seeing a re-setting of the chess board, so to speak. Someone asked if Commander Lawrence is good or bad. I think he's both. He was the academic that developed the economic system, but I don't think he was ever really invested in or believed that it could be implemented. But.....I don't think he was hugely pro-woman in the past. A flashback episode on him would be good. I see him as someone who is now reluctantly trying to make the best of it - protecting himself while allowing some level of resistance to exist inside his home - unless he gets caught. The whole storyline with moving the bombmaker Martha, him opposing it, and then making June dig the grave was really well done. As was his Sophie's choice. He's setting limits. I thought his statement about Emily being unnaturally smart was really interesting.

I wish they could kill Fred off, but they need him. I just feel like he doesn't add a lot. Serena, on the other hand - a lot going on there. I am sure she will be crappy to June again, but deep down I think she's figured out that this whole Gilead deal is a nightmare.

Overall, I'm liking it and I think the character development is very good. Everyone is straining under actual reality. That scene where Aunt Lydia is first so kind and then turns on June was great.

Am looking forward to Emily's real reunion with her wife and son. I thought that storyline was so well done, if a little unbelievable in that Emily's arrival in Canada would have been all over the press.

They performed genital mutilation on Emily, remember? I think this is why she is hesitant to reunite now with the wife. She is scared and ashamed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Im interested in Commander Lawrence's wife and what role she might play in this season. Based on the interaction with June and the Marthas when the guard came in to conduct a search and psychplanting in the newly dug grave, I think she may develop in more than a minor character over the next few episodes. I also wonder whether she has mental illness because of what her husband has done or if she "acts" this way as a buffer.

Agree—very interesting. Here’s my imagined back story for her. She was a professor at someplace like Tufts in something not political—maybe English lit or Greek classics with low level depression well managed with therapy and medication. Maybe she’d had some miscarriages or a stillbirth in the fertility crisis. With the collapse of academia and the psychiatric care industry, what is a woman like that to do? I’d wander around in my bathrobe, plant flowers to cover up a grave, and resent my husband. He probably makes little stands against the regime as a sop to her.

I believe (though I could be mis-remembering, I haven't watched the last season since it aired) that the wife was an Art History professor at Harvard. I agree with most of what you wrote, but I don't think that she is running the show and her husband making little stands for her. I think his own motivations are unclear, but I think his helping Emily and somewhat permitting the resistance to work out of his house is bigger than just appeasing his wife. Also, he could have been killed and put on the Wall for ferrying out June and Emily, so I'm not sure I consider it a "little stand." I think he is supportive of the resistance, but it looks a lot different when you are supportive and also in the highest levels of power. I think he is aware he needs to play the game on both sides. He is willing to go against the regime to some extent, but they can't suspect him of anything. Also, he may support the same goals as the resistance, but he is not going to risk his life and the overall success of overturning Gilead on one sloppy as hell and unpredictable handmaid like June. It remains to be seen, but I think he is playing the long game and not driven by impulse like the majority of the resistance that is completely lacking in power.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So is her new commander a good guy or a bad guy? Or just a psycho? His character is difficult to read. I thought bad guy until the very end when I realized June was able to pick a particular group of women to help her movement. He had to have known that’s what she’d do, right?

He’s the most fascinating character on the show, to me. I think he is very controlling and probably regretful of what he has done, if for no other reason than the effect it has had on his wife. He bores of people easily and disdains them unless he finds something compelling about them. He likes smart people and will mentally and emotionally test them to determine whether they are worthy of his time and efforts.

It occurred to me while watching episode 3 that he is sort of the embodiment of humanity as it is presented in the show. Deeply flawed, dangerous, sadistic, and misogynistic, with a flip side that is compassionate and willing to risk all in order to do the right thing.

Very astute. I like this summary view.

[Anonymous]

Episode 4 spoilers*****





Aunt Lydia- a breakdown! Is it because she lost her sh!t in front of people that matter, that she is frail now, remorse for what she did, remorse for everything she’s done (dare I hope)?? I wonder what it means for her future outlook.

I loved that Serena smokes Virginia Slims type cigarettes. Seems appropriate. Haven’t seen those in a while.

What will the fact that the Gilead thugs know June’s husband has the baby lead to for her? Will they use her as a hostage to get the baby back?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Episode 4 spoilers*****





Aunt Lydia- a breakdown! Is it because she lost her sh!t in front of people that matter, that she is frail now, remorse for what she did, remorse for everything she’s done (dare I hope)?? I wonder what it means for her future outlook.

I loved that Serena smokes Virginia Slims type cigarettes. Seems appropriate. Haven’t seen those in a while.

What will the fact that the Gilead thugs know June’s husband has the baby lead to for her? Will they use her as a hostage to get the baby back?

I don't think Aunt Lydia feels any guilt for what she’s done. She’s a true believer and feels it’s necessary. My take is that she revealed in front of everyone the brutality that it takes to make the system of handmaids work. This shocked the wives and commanders— not because they didn’t know but because they were forced to see it. And even though this is the system they established and benefit from, they look down her as inferior for actually doing the dirty work. Remember when they all first arrived at Baby Angela’s house, AL started to enter the main salon with the rest of the wives and Commanders and the Mrs. reminded her that it wasn’t her place to join them. I think for Aunt Lydia, that stung. They need her but they don’t want to have to associate with her. It hurt her pride, just as June and the crazy handmaid did when they expressed concern for her well being after the stabbing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Something that I don't buy....Serena's mother. Giliad is still a very young "country" (Serena was instrumental in the movement that led to its founding) but we're supposed to buy that a woman in her 60s or early 70s has bought into the cult totally hook, line and sinker after living 50+ years as an American? I just don't buy it. I get that she's a shallow woman who loves gloating that her daughter is a powerful "celebrity" but I still don't believe she'd be so entrenched in their new nation.

I buy it. This isn’t far fetched at all. Think about today’s America and how many women evangelicals and right wingers would love - and actively promote - a Theocracy, to include female subservience to men in marriage and who see women as mere vessels for babies. Serena’s mom strikes me as someone who would be buddies with Karen Pence (aka Mother). Think about the woman like Kay Ivey. She’d have no problem fitting into Gillead along with Mother Pence. That’s what makes HMT so unnerving; there are aspects of this society alive and well in today’s America.

Lots of people like this in Duggarville. Men make the substantial and final decisions, and women focus on keeping their men happy and raising their children to toe the party line.

I did not get that she 100 percent believed in the movement but accepted the new reality. Serena would be nothing without her husband. It is just the way it is. The older a woman is the more likely that she grew up being taught to marry the right man. If anything the older women would have an easier adjustment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have watched episodes 1 - 3 and am feeling mixed about this season so far. One of the things that I'm having a hard time is the dialogue, particularly from June. Her narrations and voice overs just don't ring true. Like the "Mama's got work to do" line at the end of the first episode. It's cute but almost too self conscious. There are other scenes like this. And the scenes between June and Lawrence are also a bit off. It's like they used a B list of writers this season ....

Hanging in there because I want to love this season as much as I've loved the first two.

I have always found the voiceovers and much of the music jarring, but I think it’s supposed to have that effect. Gilead feels like this weird throwback but the slangy vernacular and swearing remind us that this is taking place in modern times. It reminds us of who these women used to be (just like us, basically) before they dressed and walked around like Hester Prynne.

[Anonymous]

I feel like the close-ups of June are supposed to show that she’s slowly descending into madness. I never read the book so I don’t know how it ends or if the show is supposed to end as the book does but my theory is that when the show ends June will no longer be our heroine, she will be bat shit crazy.

[Anonymous]

Spoilers for episode 4

I did warn you guys

Why in the ever-loving frack did Luke *GO ON TV* with Gilead's most wanted baby?!?!

It's not like he was accidentally caught on camera!!! He did an interview!! It's like he doesn't think they'll try to assassinate him to get that baby back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Spoilers for episode 4

I did warn you guys

Why in the ever-loving frack did Luke *GO ON TV* with Gilead's most wanted baby?!?!

It's not like he was accidentally caught on camera!!! He did an interview!! It's like he doesn't think they'll try to assassinate him to get that baby back.

Totally agree. You’d think he’d consider how being visible with Nicole could endanger June and Hannah. Totally failure on behalf of the writers. I hope that won’t continue to compromise believability to advance the plot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spoilers for episode 4

I did warn you guys

Why in the ever-loving frack did Luke *GO ON TV* with Gilead's most wanted baby?!?!

It's not like he was accidentally caught on camera!!! He did an interview!! It's like he doesn't think they'll try to assassinate him to get that baby back.

Totally agree. You’d think he’d consider how being visible with Nicole could endanger June and Hannah. Totally failure on behalf of the writers. I hope that won’t continue to compromise believability to advance the plot.

Luke seems like a great guy, but I think it's believable that he'd be clueless enough to do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can't take the close ups of June's face all the time. Enough. The audience complained about it last season.

I agree- wayyy overdone

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spoilers for episode 4

I did warn you guys

Why in the ever-loving frack did Luke *GO ON TV* with Gilead's most wanted baby?!?!

It's not like he was accidentally caught on camera!!! He did an interview!! It's like he doesn't think they'll try to assassinate him to get that baby back.

Totally agree. You’d think he’d consider how being visible with Nicole could endanger June and Hannah. Totally failure on behalf of the writers. I hope that won’t continue to compromise believability to advance the plot.

Luke seems like a great guy, but I think it's believable that he'd be clueless enough to do that.

And June seemed happy to see him doing that, so presumably she hasn’t thought it through yet either.

[Anonymous]

I clearly am not familiar at all with the trauma that Emily experienced, and the aftermath of processing it, but didn't it feel odd to anyone else that she wouldn't stay in her wife's home and begin the process of re-establishing herself with her family? I just found it so strange that she'd stay in a hotel. The emily scenes broke my heart into tiny pieces.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I clearly am not familiar at all with the trauma that Emily experienced, and the aftermath of processing it, but didn't it feel odd to anyone else that she wouldn't stay in her wife's home and begin the process of re-establishing herself with her family? I just found it so strange that she'd stay in a hotel. The emily scenes broke my heart into tiny pieces.

I think at little space upon reentry allows everyone to process emotions at their own speed and helps avoid overwhelming both Emily and their son. It seemed a little odd to me too at first and maybe would be IRL but it helps to illustrate how difficult the readjustment processes would be.