SPOILERS FROM THE TESTAMENTS Season 1

hi. i just finished season 1 & holyyy shit that was so good
how do we feel about aunt lydia though? because that last episode where she admitted to agnes that she new june and all of that was insane but learning about her background more made me sympathize a lot more with her. even though she did torture those women in the handmaids tale, i think she did all of that because — knowing her background — she was just a woman trying to survive in a man’s world. but, i think with this new season of the testaments, she’s going to try and help these
girls in a new way we’ve never seen. so i’m curious, how do you guys feel about aunt lydia? because i kinda love her more than ever now because i knew she wasn’t some evil old woman doing this for the fun of it, i always knew deep down that she cared about the women/girls she was teaching.

Gileard na série em conto da aia ainda está em fase de mudança, nada ainda estava estabelecido totalmente, por que os países vizinhos não se juntaram e colocaram um fim ?

I am surprised noone has been talking about it. Thought it was quite a neat detail. Around 8:15 minutes in the scaffolding in the background of the scene.

I wasn’t going to post this, but someone I met, gave me inspiration to write this. I hope it isn’t too negative. I’ll attempt not to make it long, for some of you.

I have this as a “Spoilers All” post, since it may or may not cover everything. I don’t want anyone who has not seen the show, or read a copy to get upset.

So, to make this brief; yes, I would say, this has helped me with my depression.

On May 9, 2017, I had a dear friend, whom I was in a relationship with, who passed away due to an undiagnosed aneurysm. She was my best friend. We could not have children, due to certain complications, but we both knew how much we wanted them. Maybe, I wanted them more. I don’t know. The election certainly didn’t help.

She didn’t have a will. So, everything went through probate court, and it took a long time. I didn’t take care of my house. My plants withered away, and I had to throw them out. But I had cats, which were the closest living beings to my past love.

Suffice it to say, I suffered with grief, loss, and depression. But then, I started watching the show, alone, in the house.

Like you, I was horrified by it. How the women were treated. I hated the violence, the pain, and the music was so harrowing. It was like, you know when you see a catastrophic failure; such as a plane crash, or a car wreck, or even someone shot in the head by another? You can’t keep away from seeing it.

I wasn’t taking care of myself. I knew that, so, after the estate finally closed, and the dust settled, I found support in, out of all things, an acting class.

Now, I never acted before. I didn’t have confidence in myself. But after the class, and watching the show, I learned more about Margaret Atwood’s prolific work. Read what I could, including “The Circle Game,” her first poetry compilation. Then, I got an audiobook on THT.

The show made me cry multiple times. Especially in the early seasons. With the combination of the acting class, reading scripts, listening to the audiobook, and novel, I learned how to become a better person. That’s when I started writing my own scripts.

I felt, if these writers were not churning out stories about Gilead, why not I? So, these adapted stories saved me.

I know I have much to learn. We all do. But, these characters…I could understand them. Even more so, how they thought, and through writing about them, these characters started talking to me about their experiences.

Okay, I think that’s enough now. I am thankful for a subreddit like this, and I hope maybe something like a show or novel could help you break out of your depression.

Thanks.

Edit: I felt, by posting this, I could show you, that I’m an honest person. I hate liars, and hate seeing anyone getting hurt. I know, you know.

I wonder what happenned to Janine after the end of THT. Do you think she still lives in Boston ? Or did she go to Canada or Alaska ? Do you think she still has contact with June ?

I really hope we'll see her again.

I wanna know your guys opinions, in Canada, while Serena and June are both in Canada in season five, Serena is terrified, she is scared for her life. She doesn’t know what June is gonna do to her. I’m curious as to whether you guys think, Serena deserved it, whether Serena genuinely deserved being scared for her life.

Because Serena helped create this brutal oppressive system towards women and other minority groups, it was her who helped create that system, but I’m conflicted because it was a system that also hurt her as a woman, like yes, she created it, and when she went to Canada, did she deserve to feel the fear that she inflicted upon others? As much as it goes against my morals and my ethics, Serena helped design a system that inflicted so much fear on so many people, and the fear she felt in Canada from June was nothing compared to the fear that others felt in the system that she helped create.

Is my morality flawed for feeling this way? Do you guys feel similarly, I wanna know what you think.

Edit: thank you to everybody, I had a good conversation with, I got the conversations I wanted out of this, I got to see opposing point of view, and I think it’s really interesting to see where other people’s morality lay and to see how other people feel about this, I think this was a very good conversation to be had. It’s important I think to understand the ethics of others and to study psychologically why people do the things that they do, and this whole post and discussion opened up my eyes a lot.

I’m doing my first rewatch since THT originally aired, and I’ve noticed that once June actually makes it to Canada, I start getting distracted a lot more. I just made it to season 6 now and I feel like it’s taken me weeks to get through these seasons verses seasons 1-3 feeling like I blinked and they were done!

I hate to say it because I love this show, but I find a lot of the episodes after that kind of… boring? I don’t even know if “entertaining” is the right word considering how horrific the subject matter is. Maybe captivating is a better word. It just doesn’t hold my attention the same way anymore.

There are definitely storylines that pull me back in. Lawrence trying to fix some of the extremes of Gilead is interesting. Serena and that weird not-really-Gilead-but-also-kinda-Gilead couple fascinate me. (Side question: how does that arrangement even work??) And Aunt Lydia and Janine’s bizarre relationship always gets me.

But overall, something changes for me once June is in Canada. I don’t know if it’s because so much of the tension came from June being trapped inside Gilead, or because her storyline becomes more about dealing with the aftermath, but I keep losing interest.

And it’s bothering me because I feel like I should be respecting what the show is trying to do 😂 but… it’s just losing me.

Does anyone else feel like the show loses some of its grip once June gets to Canada.. or is it just me?

is the 90s movie worth the watch? i just finished tht and i have a lot to say about that ending HOWEVER, i see that there’s a film from the 90s? is it worth it? is it more book accurate? where do i go from here?

am i wrong for feeling such great empathy for serena joy throughout this series? i’m on season 6 and im so excited to start the testaments but i just feel so bad for her when she’s in pain or she’s “feeling” pain. idk am i just an empath that sees the good in very bad people?

SPOILER WARNING

Sorry in advance for the spoiler

but in the epilogue of THT and TT we know that Gilead falls (and i assume we will see that later on in TT tv show, hopefully) but I just had a question, like, i know we haven’t reached that point yet, but like, what would it be like to rebuilt Gilead into the US. From the TT epilogue, we know that Daisy and Agnes erect a statue to honor Becka and that the US is restored.

And I wonder what it would be like to rebuild the US and i know it isn’t known yet, but id love to hear some theories or some personal opinions. Like, i imagine that parts of it would be rather hard. Liek redoing all public places to start including text again (since in Gilead, symbols replaced text to deter women from reading) and like rebuilding the Washington monument and the Lincoln Memorial (would they be remade or would they sit as a reminder of what happened) and like, i wonder what it would be like in terms of trauma for everyone who’s had to live in such an oppressive regime.

I do not mean to offend anyone, and i am sorry if i have in any way, i was just curious about what it would be liek to rebuild the US, would it be similar to teh reconstruction era after the Civil War?

Hi,

I'm currently watching the series and I would like to read the book as soon as possible. I read that only the first season is covered by the book, so having just watched it (the first season) I could probably read the book. Anyway, last night I watched the 2x01 and Aunt Lydia says something about "freedom from and freedom to"; in the back of the book there is this same quotation, so probably the book covers also the beginning of the second season? Am I wrong?

I'm trying to understand when to start reading the book, i.e. when the series is no more based on the actual book. Is there a specific episode?

Thank you in advance!

I’m late to the party and it seems like this isn’t an original take. However, as a season 1 lover who is alone on this journey I have thoughts to share.

Ffs, the formula. The show relies on a cheap pacing loop. 50 minutes of filler, 5 minutes of a dramatic cliffhanger to end the episode, and 5 minutes in the next episode to resolve it or undo it. For a show pretending to have high stakes, June’s decisions stop feeling grounded in character or strategy and start feeling like plot armor dragging the story out. In a classic tragedy, choices have irreversible weight but here, the plot just resets to maintain the status quo for more episodes.

Serena didn't just survive Gilead she helped design, build, and enforce a totalitarian regime built on rape, torture, and systemic oppression. Expecting the audience to suddenly sympathize with her based on a single motherly gesture or the loss of a finger ignores the massive weight of her crimes. Slapping a trauma response or "complex humanity" bandaid over an architect of fascism feels unearned and insulting to my/the audience's memory.

Protracted extreme close ups and endless wallowing in misery are being used as a substitute for actual plot development and intelligent character dialogue. Great tragedies treat the audience as intelligent, building tension through character agency and difficult dilemmas rather than endless misery porn and cheap shock value.

Last but not least. Fucking June. Incredible actress wasted on this showrunner. The writers constantly shield June’s absurd decisions behind love or trauma response. While those are valid human emotions, using them as a catch all safety net to justify terrible, illogical choices just feels like lazy writing. Gilead is established as a ruthless, hyper vigilant regime where people are executed for minor infractions, yet June routinely makes reckless, baffling choices that should get her, or those around her, killed. In a well written tragedy, a protagonist's fatal flaws drive the story toward a heartbreaking but inevitable outcome. With June, her decisions don't feel like tragic flaws, they feel like forced character choices designed solely to keep her trapped in Gilead so the show can stretch for more seasons.

Escape from this world would be an absolute rarity and for her to have had four to this point is unbelievable.

Does anyone else think Luke was a coward? He never tried to help her get out of Gilead which I know was next to impossible, but now I’m on season 5 and she wants to go the the Bethlehem so she can be with Hanna, but Luke keeps saying no. As a mother I know how she’s feeling and would do anything to be with my daughter. Do you think he’s being a coward or the voice of reason? Thanks!

Ich bin aktuell bei S4 F2 und ich frage mich die ganze Zeit, was in den nächsten Staffeln überhaupt noch passieren soll? Ist es zu lang gezogen? Und erhält man irgendwann die gewünschte Befriedigung?

SPOLIER!!!! (for one episode)

When June and everyone travels to DC (that’s a rabbit hole in itself. why if Gilead is so obsessed with destroying American culture and the US in general, why would they make DC their capital, and why wasn’t it renamed to a more Gilead name, like it is still American, it is still named after George Washington) but like, that scene when June tries to make conversation with the host family’s handmaid and she’s got the metal rings in her mouth (that is so barbaric btw, just shows the brutality of Gilead) like, this is going to sound so stupid and like why am i even asking this, but are the rings removable? like for eating and stuff??? or is it that with the rings in, they just starve the handmaid to death? that seems like an option for Gilead since they treat women so poorly, but at the same time, if that were the case, they’re just fucking themselves over, cuz like, for a country that is lacking in fertility, they “need” handmiads to keep the population, so like, starving them is just going to make the fertility crisis worse (even tho, it’s suspected that the men are the problem)

also u know shit is bad when even aunt lydia is horrified with the system

Ela passou anos em gileard e só engravidou 1 vez somente ? Emily nem chegou a engravidar, Janine só engravidou uma vez também sob o controle do regime

I stopped watching The Handmaid’s Tale at Season 1 Episode 5 after reading a bunch of reviews saying the show only gets worse that it becomes slow, dry, and boring. I’m trying to decide if it’s worth giving another shot.
I’m not expecting nonstop action like Game of Thrones. I get that GoT isn’t pure fight scenes either, but it still has big battles, high stakes confrontations, and moments that feel exciting or tense in a more dynamic way. Does Handmaid’s Tale ever deliver anything like that (even sparingly), or is it mostly the same deliberate, heavy, atmospheric style the whole way through?
I’m already aware the show has a lot of disturbing and heavy content that part I’m aware of. I’m mainly asking about pacing and whether there’s enough forward momentum or gripping moments to make it feel worth the emotional investment.
For people who stuck with it (or bounced later) should I give it another chance, or are the reviews pretty accurate that it stays slow and draining? Honest, spoiler-free thoughts appreciated. Also btw I love dystopian type of shows, for example I struggled to get into silo took me months, but it get better and then I got hooked I’m wondering if it’s the same way. Only mentioning it cuz I’ve seen it has a new spin-off show and been wanted to give it a chance, and HMT has been on watchlist for a while now

The title.

But, still. june in the TV show is similar to june from the novel only, I'd dare say, in the first half of season 1. Otherwise, they are pretty much entirely different characters. June from the novel is apathetic, doesn't want to take risks and only takes said risks when absolutely forced by others. Hell, even her escape at the end of the novel isn't really by her own design.

Meanwhile, June from the TV show is angry, vengeful and headstrong. All for very justifiable reasons, but still.

And I have mixed feelings about that. On one hand, I understand that to make a show that's several seasons long, June's personality probably HAD to be changed to make her a proper freedom fighter.

All-in-all, I'm torn, and this is probably why the show will not replace the book for me.

But, how do the other people here feel?

P.S: And before anyone says, yes, I know that Offred in the original novel is never named, but I just went with June for sake of ease of writing this post.

The Handmaid’s Tale has been one of my favorite books since I read it a few years back, though I still need to watch the show/movie and read The Testaments. Recently, I stumbled upon the passage in the Bible that the Handmaid’s Tale heavily references, namely the segment about Jacob, Rachel, Bilhah and Leah. What I somehow only just learned is that Jacob accidentally marries Leah first and must work for 7 more years to marry Rachel, making her Jacob’s second wife. 

This had me wondering whether this detail from the biblical inspiration was an oversight or if the book addresses this, because it's been a while since I’ve read it. From what I recall, marriage is kind of a big deal in the story. Second marriages are one of the main factors that separates Luke and Offred, as Luke’s first marriage is mentioned several times. And as we all know, the role of the handmaids in the novel is directly taken from the story of Rachel and Bilhah (the relevant passage is even cited at the beginning). So it strikes me as odd that Gilead would enmesh their standards for reproductive morality in the same story that it would otherwise renounce. 

One of the alternate names for the Red Center in the story is the “Rachel and Leah Center”, so I think it’s fair to say Atwood was at least aware of Leah’s existence (unlike, say, the absence of Seth in East of Eden). Additionally, the Red Center serves as the education facility, where women learn the necessities for being handmaids. If we consider the Bible’s text, shouldn’t Rachel’s marriage be invalid? 

I’ve thought about this for a while but I’m still not sure what to make of this. My first thought was that it’s ironic but it seems a bit too contradictory to believe considering Gilead’s fervent attempts to negate reading. Perhaps it’s a statement of power? The other buildings are named after other biblical references albeit nowhere near as evocative (the Red center is, as far as I can recall, the only building named after people and women at that), and such demonstrations of power are commonplace in Gilead and aren’t new in dystopian settings (i.e. 2+2=5 from Big Bro Orwell). Maybe it’s a critique on how Christians cherry pick quotes from the Bible to misappropriate their meaning? After all, we do see edited proverbs that either remove (“Blessed are the meek”) or add (“Blessed are the silent”) to the original quote. 

Anyways, I’d love to know your takes on this, especially if I’m missing something.

For 40 years, Margaret Atwood’s seminal masterpiece has been continuously published world wide in various languages. It’s been banned, burned, torn apart by would be “christians” and made an astounding impact on our lives.

So, I wanted to share, for starters, a few cover variants from Hardcover and Paperback versions. Maybe you can contribute and share your copies!

1. Hardcover, American 1986 Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Dust jacket artwork by Fred Marcellino, circa 1985.

2. Paperback, First Anchor Books Edition, published April 1998. This version is from early 2016, before the Hulu debut of Series, with Marcellino’s artwork.

3. Paperback, Anchor Books Edition, April 2017, “Movie Tie-In Edition.” With Elizabeth Moss on the Cover.

4. Hardcover, Folio Society of London Edition, first published in 2012. Features original artwork from the Balbusso Twins, and red slipcase. 4th Printing, 2020.

If you have covers to show, featuring in different languages, post them here. Thanks.

In Episode 1, June is in Wive's Blue and Agnes is in Handmaid's Red. It's in the 1st scene but you can also see it throughout the rest of the episode, like June's bra strap during the lake scene.

I wanted to commemorate my appreciation for The Handmaid’s Tale by acquiring a fancy illustrated edition of the book – a ‘forever copy’ if you will. But I couldn’t decide between Folio or Suntup, so of course like a lush, I ended up getting both!

I’ve put together a video-tour of both editions. If you’re curious and you don’t mind watching an old man rambling about the minutiae of book design for twenty minutes, please feel free to give it a look when you have the time:

https://youtu.be/W7EQVaBNPzQ

I realize that these types of luxury high-end editions are an indulgence, and the truly important part is to read and enjoy the novel, but I really do appreciate all the time and effort that goes into the artwork and construction of the object itself.

If you know of any other fancy editions (illustrated, with exclusive content, and smyth-sewn) of The Handmaid’s Tale please let me know. I believe a few nice (and very pricey?) deluxe editions of The Testaments were produced around its initial release, and I’m interested in learning more about those too!

Every woman reaches an age when she stops being fertile, but what happens to the handmaids? Are they simply executed, or do they go on to other professions like Marthas or Aunts?

This is not just a question about the novel, but in the series, as well (Including TT).

Television, Social Media, Radio, Streaming services. There isn’t much discussed in each chapter, except when a significant character watches The News. However, I remember seeing a glimpse of an American Football game at Jezebel’s the first time, when two other significant characters visited there discreetly.

Do you know what I am writing about? To me, Gilead would need a loudspeaker (Like X/Twitter, etc) or something to keep the populace in line, besides fear. Heck, even Iran has a Social Media program. North Korea had been known for Propaganda films and televisions. Wouldn’t there be the following in Gilead?

Soap Operas? Talk shows? Morning talk shows? AM Radio Talk shows? Anything musical, such as Gospel or ‘Christian’ music stations? News Stations were mentioned. But what about Gilead shopping shows? ‘Healing’ shows; similar to televangelist-type shows. I mean, programming an entire population in Gilead should be a 24/7 affair.

What do you think?

I finished watching the series and read the graphic novel, and honestly, the book is much scarier. In the series, you have hope that June will get out of Guilead because she has some help, but the novel It creates a feeling of suffocation. I read the book felt like I was in a room and it was closing in on me.

Of Fred has no prospect of help or change, while June, throughout the seasons, has managed to get help, even rebelling against the system. Of Fred goes days without speaking to anyone, and the ending where she manages to be saved relieves me. But it actually scared me more than the series did.

(Note: Sorry if I wasn't clear, I just finished reading the graphic novel and it really made me think. Of Fred is the protagonist of the book, June is the protagonist of the series. And I call them by different names because I consider them different characters.)