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Post by goodhelenstar on Jul 30, 2019 8:05:43 GMT
The hanging of Martha Frances simply because she'd been reported by Ofmatthew for talking to Ofjoseph (June) in Loves and Fishes was shocking. How could Ofmatthew have known who Frances was or the significance of their conversation? At any rate, it was a stark reminder of the harshness of the regime, easy to overlook as June gets away with everything and Serena and Fred seem to be rekindling their marriage.
It seems odd that, given the desperation in Gilead to produce healthy babies, they don't have a doctor or a midwife in attendance at the birth. It's a curious mix of high-tech and primitive. I wondered if the baby was a 'shredder' – we've never seen one but I imagine it means malformed in some way – but this baby appeared to have the cord around its neck and to have been strangled, which could easily have been detected in a scan and simple to correct. Why would they take this risk?
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Post by linseed on Jul 30, 2019 12:53:55 GMT
Yes I thought that it was strange that the births did not happen in hospital too, given that they are so desperate for babies. And yes, in the book the term “shredder” was used for babies born with genetic abnormalities due to the radiation and chemical contamination that happened in the war, where it appears that whole parts of the USA were wiped out. This is part of the reason for the mass infertility of the population.
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Post by marion on Jul 30, 2019 13:08:05 GMT
It surprises me just how badly they treat the handmaids who, after all, are the sole source of children. I don't mean the mental side so much as the physical. Look at the way they had to haul those prisoners up when they were being hanged.
I liked this week's Aunt Lydia episode with a flashback to her teaching days. I can't stand the character but do like the actress. She really went for it with that headmaster!!!!
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Post by goodhelenstar on Aug 5, 2019 7:59:04 GMT
Another episode with contradictions. Natalie (Ofmatthew) was there because she'd attempted suicide by cop and it was made clear it was her unborn baby who was the patient; she was expendable. But she was surrounded with whizzy technology, no expense spared to keep the baby alive, while the previous week we'd seen a normal birth result in a dead baby because there was no doctor in attendance. It's annoyingly inconsistent. Nice to see lovely Gil Bellows (from Ally McBeal) as the doctor who was as kind as circumstances would allow. I also wondered what Serena was doing there – isn't she house-hunting with Fred in Washington now?
I'm finding the series painfully slow and, given that June can do what she likes with no sanction, bordering on tedious. How many times has she plotted insurrection only for it then to fizzle out? A pity as it's compelling viewing in other respects.
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Post by marion on Aug 5, 2019 8:36:46 GMT
Well I think the norm is to have home birth in one room whilst the wives do that fake birth nonsense next door. So if there was no sign of foetal distress, they wouldn't be in hospital. Given the desperation for babies, you would think all births would be in hospital but perhaps they dont have enough medical equipment for that? Only for emergencies? Plus there is the bonkers religious aspect to accommodate.
I was amazed at the number of girls about to start their periods! There were loads of them, so probably equal numbers if boys that age and equal numbers if children in other age groups.
I'm afraid when she came up with her latest plan for insurrection I just rolled my eyes. I mean she hasn't managed much so far, has she?
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Post by goodhelenstar on Aug 5, 2019 9:52:44 GMT
Good point. We've never seen any boy children, though we know Ofmatthew had three previous children and I had the idea they were boys. (Did the Wilsmlows have boys amongst their brood?) I suppose, perversely in this society, girls are more valuable than boys, as they can be married off to much older men; though they may eventually realise that the infertility is as likely to affect men as women.
Those little girls were probably drawn from the entire population of Gilead. It's difficult to keep track of the scale of Gilead as we only ever see a small group of Handmaids outside the big set-piece scenes, and Lydia is the only Aunt that we regularly interact with. But we know there are other castes such as the Econowives, and adolescent brides like Eden from last series, whom they remorselessly bumped off because she'd been naughty.
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Post by marion on Aug 5, 2019 15:40:35 GMT
That couple where the Waterfords stayed in Washington (were they the Wilmslows?) had numerous children, some of whom were boys. The father was played by Chris Meloni from L&O SVU (I like him!) and he seemed to be coming on to Fred, which I thought was a tad dangerous in Gilead!!! I wonder if we will revisit them?
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Post by goodhelenstar on Aug 6, 2019 10:21:54 GMT
Yes, I wonder. There are numerous threads that have been started and then abandoned – Serena's thoughts wavering, June nominating five women to be saved from the Colonies because they would be useful in the resistance (what resistance?), Nick as a Commander, Fred and Serena going to Washington, etc etc. It's a common problem that showrunners have story threads in their minds and they forget that we need to see them being played out.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 6, 2019 10:35:01 GMT
There are at least two resistances. One is Mayday, the other is the Underground Femaleroad. Mayday seems to be a bit like the French Resistance, resisting oppression from within.]; the Underground Femaleroad is more of an escape route for fugitives from the Gilead regime, perhaps a bit like the Underground Railroad used to help slaves in the Antebellum South of the United States.
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Post by goodhelenstar on Aug 6, 2019 12:05:25 GMT
Yes, I know. I meant what have we seen of it – the story threads have to be kept alive, even if only by fleeting reference every now and again, for us to be able to follow the story and think of it as a continuous story. This week's episode was clearly a filler and probably relatively inexpensive to film as it was almost entirely contained within one set. If it was meant to show us the evolution in June's thinking, that's great if it is followed up and not simply left trailing while the episode hops to another set of events.
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Post by geometryman on Aug 15, 2019 6:01:09 GMT
S3 has just finished its run in the US.
A fourth season has been announced.
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Post by goodhelenstar on Aug 15, 2019 7:32:32 GMT
I believe cast and crew typically sign up for seven series, or seasons, in the USA, and some very successful ones go on longer than that. ER ran to fifteen or so! So unless there's a real coup in the States we're probably going to see a lot more of June. At the very least we can be fairly sure she won't either be going to the wall or escaping any time soon.
Fred might be for the chop though, as his character's demise is reported in the novel, though not the manner or timing of it.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 15, 2019 13:00:13 GMT
I believe cast and crew typically sign up for seven series, or seasons, in the USA, and some very successful ones go on longer than that. ER ran to fifteen or so! So unless there's a real coup in the States we're probably going to see a lot more of June. At the very least we can be fairly sure she won't either be going to the wall or escaping any time soon. Fred might be for the chop though, as his character's demise is reported in the novel, though not the manner or timing of it. This is from the book: {SPOILER:Click to Show}We know, for instance, that he met his end, probably soon after the events our author describes, in one of the earliest purges: he was accused of liberal tendencies, of being in possession of a substantial and unauthorised collection of heretical pictorial and literary materials, and of harbouring a subversive. This was before the regime began holding its trials in secret and was still televising them, so the events were recorded in England via satellite and are on videotape deposit in our archives. The shots of Waterford are not good, but they are clear enough to establish that his hair was indeed gray.
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More likely it [the subversive] was "Nick," who, by the evidence of the very existence of the tapes, must have helped "Offred" to escape.
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all high-level Commanders were automatically directors of the Eyes, he would not have paid a great deal of attention to it and would not have let it interfere with his infraction of what he considered to be minor rules. Like most early Gilead Commanders who were later purged, he considered his position to be above attack.
Given that there is already a new book coming soon, there might be a lot of new material that they can use, unless they have allowed the television series to go too far away from Atwood's original. |
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Post by marion on Aug 15, 2019 13:48:16 GMT
Personally I dont think we can have that many more series without it moving on at some point. June can't say she is going to start a rebellion or whatever, fail to achieve it, rinse and repeat..... I mean I can see this could happen in a real world situation, but it doesnt necessarily make gripping TV drama.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 15, 2019 15:20:15 GMT
According to Waterstones: 'Undoubtedly the most highly-anticipated book of 2019, The Testaments is the landmark sequel to Margaret Atwood’s seminal masterpiece, The Handmaid’s Tale. Picking up fifteen years after its predecessor’s tantalisingly open-ended conclusion, The Testaments promises a new window into Atwood’s dystopian world, as seen through the eyes of three women of Gilead.' It's a different story, unconnected with the TV show. I don't know if the three women are all Handmaids – could be a Handmaid, a Martha and a Wife perhaps? I don't think Offred/June is one of them. Because it takes place 15 years after the original, programme makers are hoping that, at some point, they can include stuff from the new book. This article outlines some of the hopes for the story. It does contain what some might think of as spoilers, including what could be seen as their final objective. The Handmaid’s Tale: how will Atwood’s book sequel affect the TV show? |
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Anymore to come?
