Handmaid's tale - watched first 3 episodes **spoiler thread

**there will be spoilers, I've watched all 3 episodes***

I know in the other thread the date was May 5 to start discussing but I suspect many people like me have enjoyed the first 3 already and there was some interest in a separate thread by episode (or in this case batch of episodes, I didn't get a chance to start one even though I watched an ep per night

So....

I have some questions / musings. And apologies I didn't rewatch the prior season and had a baby since then so literally don't remember what I ate for dinner last night

1. Did anyone feel like the covid overlay (as in borders closed) made this season feel a bit closer to home?

2. Who is Mrs Keyes? Like have we seen her before? I can't place her a s worried about internet spoilers

3. Who is Serena pregnant to?

4. I had to fast forward all the bits with Hannah. I couldn't handle it. I'm hoping they leave her alone now unless they rescue her

And...

5. Did they seriously just kill that many handmaid's? !??!!

Thought I could safely come in here as I have watched the first 3 episodes!

Then read your last few comments and realised i got interrupted 1/4 of the way through episode 3 this afternoon and haven’t seen how it ends. Whoops...

Re: Mrs Keyes, no we haven’t seen her before in the series but the actress who plays her is the president’s daughter in Designated Survivor.

Oh I'm so sorry [mention]blueshoe[/mention] . I tried to make it a bit vague so hopefully how it happens is still a surprise.

Thanks for clarifying on Mrs Keyes. I used to watch that show so that's why she's familiar

**there will be spoilers, I've watched all 3 episodes***

I know in the other thread the date was May 5 to start discussing but I suspect many people like me have enjoyed the first 3 already and there was some interest in a separate thread by episode (or in this case batch of episodes, I didn't get a chance to start one even though I watched an ep per night

So....

I have some questions / musings. And apologies I didn't rewatch the prior season and had a baby since then so literally don't remember what I ate for dinner last night

1. Did anyone feel like the covid overlay (as in borders closed) made this season feel a bit closer to home?

2. Who is Mrs Keyes? Like have we seen her before? I can't place her a s worried about internet spoilers

3. Who is Serena pregnant to?

4. I had to fast forward all the bits with Hannah. I couldn't handle it. I'm hoping they leave her alone now unless they rescue her

And...

5. Did they seriously just kill that many handmaid's? !??!!

1. Not for me, but I can see where you are coming from.

2. Mrs Keyes is played by McKenna Grace who has actually been in loads of movies and TV shows despite her young age and is well known for playing the younger version of many popular characters (Captain Marvel, Tonya Harding in I, Tonya, Emma Swan in Once Upon a Time and Sabrina Spellman in the new Chilling Adventures of Sabrina). I loved her in Gifted with Chris Evans.

3. Most likely Fred, they had sex in the house right before they crossed the border into Canada.

4. Nick did say that she was safe now so fingers crossed. It was sad to see her reaction to June.

5. Yep apparently so, it will be interesting to see how that plays out. Surely they are starting to run out of handmaids by now, with the bomb several seasons ago and now this.

Wish they would pair Mrs Keyes up with Nick... he would look after her

Ok, I admit I binged and finished on Friday.

New plot hole issue I noticed was in Canada and how they are trying to get Fred to drop his accusations against Serena mainly as she is a witness. But they now have Rita the former Martha as a witness. I bet she saw a lot being the invisible servant in the house.

We won't really have discuss how they made June have plot armor. The director and writers have obviously decided they cannot do the series without her. Janine also has plot armor have you noticed?

The whole ending both horrified and confused me. After all that’s happened with June and the recaptured Handmaids, why where they transported with one solitary Aunt and one Eye? Do they just underestimate what they’re capable of? And him going off to the toilet, I actually thought it was a set up until he started shooting?

Also as soon as the train passes are they not just going to catch up to them in the car? I really enjoyed it but few like you had to suspend your belief a lot

I think its supposed to be a very long train....hence why he said when they stopped ‘we’ll be here a while’ (or something similar)

Whilst I am enjoying it i also think it’s already hard to believe in parts so if they keep going with too many more seasons it will ruin it

Also, the only real possible ending is June being a martyr and dying for everyone else’s freedom.....if the boy is traumatised so badly that he can’t fit back into ‘normal’ society- what hope is there for June (or Hannah even)

Just finished episode 3! Have to admit I didn’t really see that ending coming. Made me a bit sad.

The whole thing with Nick - why is he just kissing her out in the open like that, where a driver etc can see? Surely he should be trying to keep his relationship with June secret, if he doesn’t want to be considered guilty by association?!!

Thought I could safely come in here as I have watched the first 3 episodes!

Then read your last few comments and realised i got interrupted 1/4 of the way through episode 3 this afternoon and haven’t seen how it ends. Whoops...

Re: Mrs Keyes, no we haven’t seen her before in the series but the actress who plays her is the president’s daughter in Designated Survivor.

Omg she is too!! Her face felt so familiar, and that’s why. Thanks for clearing that up!

I found it really hard to watch ep 3, I was just cringing from the moment Aunt Lydia appeared, in anticipation of what tortures would be inflicted on June. I’m a bit of a sook though, I don’t do well with screen violence, even when it’s just implied.

I am also a bit baffled by the Nick and June kissing openly, it seems reckless for Nick but perhaps that’s the point. Also the ending of ep 3, so where are June and Janine going to find refuge and yes wont they just be caught up after the train has gone through? I couldn’t tell if all of the other handmaids were shot, some seemed to be crushed by the train??

2 were shot and 2 crushed by the train ( Alma was one squashed).

Alma and Brianna were the ones hit by the train.

I feel like the writers are fumbling their way through here. They keep painting themselves into corners and then having to get out of them, which involves more and more ludicrous solutions. The repetition of certain things is just annoying. Eg. June escapes, is caught, is tortured but never executed, and then the whole cycle repeats. And how many times now has Aunt Lydia’s life been threatened?

I know they are hemmed in by Atwood’s sequel so can’t kill off certain characters etc but they need to find a smarter way around it.

They shouldn’t have had the girls be caught already. Watching them on the run and finding ways of fighting for the resistance would have been far more interesting and a welcome change from the Gilead torture and terror Merry-go-round.

Yes, just some simply things could of made it a bit more believeable. Like the birthmobile van parking sideways and to the left so the driver and Aunt Lydia couldn't see Nick and June kissing.

Two guards in the van, and one goes for a pee and the other Aunt Lydia makes go away from the van for a smoke ( not good for the girls).

The Handmaid group only stays at the safe house for one night before moving on as they should of then realised June wasn't coming, likely caught and would divulge the next safehouse location. ( because my reckoning June was caught at night, transported and arrived morning/ midday. Maybe waterboarded that afternoon, then had the girls pushed off the roof the next night. Gave up the false hideout, so they had to check that out, and then Joesph had to come and also organised June's daughter to be there. So a minimum of 2 or 3 days before she cracked?)

Another plot hole. Aunt Lydia tells the commanders that she wants June brought to her when she is caught and she would sleep easier if June was on the wall. Then she rolls over easy about sending her to a Madgalene posting instead? Yes, the other handmajds could be rehabilitated but shouldn't they all know June is a lost cause? I know Nick pulled strings, but wouldn't Lydia be not happy about it?

The Handmaid group only stays at the safe house for one night before moving on as they should of then realised June wasn't coming, likely caught and would divulge the next safehouse location.

Yes!! Surely they would have had to assume June was caught when she didn’t follow them to the second safe house, and therefore assume sooner or later their location would be disclosed. They were sitting ducks just sleeping in that building.

I sometimes feel like it's strayed far from the original premise to shock TV. I'm still hooked but wishing it was less about chasing June on the run.

I sometimes feel like it's strayed far from the original premise to shock TV. I'm still hooked but wishing it was less about chasing June on the run.

I feel the same, I would love to see more of the bigger picture rather than so much focus on June as she can only be caught and escape again so many times. Also compared to other handmaid's who have lost eyes and fingers for lesser rebellion she hasn't had the same happen

Serena was shot in the back. I think it was just assumed they were both infertile because it never happened for them

Yes to all the above comments! So many plotholes and I'm so over the June escapes,gets captured, tortured but never loses a limb or a tongue or a clitoris(they couldn't bear for her to even lose a fingernail this time). I keep waiting for this epic civil war to take place lead by women, but I'm beginning to give up hope that that is ever going to happen. Is this supposed to be the last season does anyone know?

No it just got renewed for another season...

Maybe Aunt Lydia was actually trying to get them out and the whole thing from her is an act, she's just biding her time.

June keeps on getting people killed. If they'd just ran instead of them having to come back for her while she tried to strangle Aunt Lydia they would have made it. And how is she in front when she was the last to leave?

That would do quite well with the Testaments story line.

Maybe Aunt Lydia was actually trying to get them out and the whole thing from her is an act, she's just biding her time.

June keeps on getting people killed. If they'd just ran instead of them having to come back for her while she tried to strangle Aunt Lydia they would have made it. And how is she in front when she was the last to leave?

Interesting theory, now you mention it I thought Aunt Lydia was acting really weird? Like maybe the violence she faced as a result of the angel flight, maybe it’s cracked her and she’s starting to see Gilead for what it is? But then again, after all the violence she has seen/perpetrated over the years it’s weird that would be the turning point for her.

She seemed really hot and cold that episode, one minute ready to kill June, next consoling her? Like after June was responsible for spearheading getting all those children out, she shouldn’t have an ounce of compassion left for her.

And I thought that too - if June had of just ran, they would have made it. Gutted they killed off Alma I really liked her.

I thought the portrayal of that pastor was really spine chillingly familiar.

Yes the whole show is getting a bit ridiculous but I’m invested now and I need to see this thing through.

I haven’t read the sequel, my guess has been the end of this season is going to involve June martyring herself and saving her daughter. That would be the least the writers can do for us that have stuck with the show.

That would do quite well with the Testaments story line.

I’m trying to remember how the Lydia storyline ended in the Testaments. I was distinctly underwhelmed by the book, compared to the first. (Obviously writing a sequel to such a famous book is immensely challenging, but I think there were a lot of other ways she could have written it that didn’t feel so meh.)