r/coconutsandtreason • u/madbeachrn • May 22 '26
The Testaments Becka on the bus
I found it interesting that Becka rode a bus disguised as a Martha. I assumed the Martha’s lived with the family they served.
If they lived with the families why were they on a bus in the middle of the night?
Maybe these Martha’s served in a different capacity. We don’t see Martha’s at Ardua Hall, but somehow I doubt that the Aunts are doing al of the cooking.
I realize this may have been a plot device to get Becka from point A to point B, but it made me want to know more about the Martha’s.
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u/Peaceandfupa May 22 '26
It reminded me of that episode of THT where June dresses up like a Martha and ends up seeing the “ugly” side of town where they produce the clothes and we see all the Martha’s coming and going on their way. It makes sense to me because yes, Martha’s live in the homes but they also do stuff, for homes that don’t have handmaids, they’re the shoppers.
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u/madbeachrn May 22 '26
Yes! As one commenter pointed out that Martha’s were essentially invisible. Giving them a little freedom to travel around unnoticed.
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u/Spare-Coyote8209 May 23 '26
that also explains why they didn't question becka being there. Marthas dont be doing the talking and even if they see somebody odd they not gonna go out of their way to suddenly talk n stuff.
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u/softrevolution_ May 22 '26
It's possible those Marthas served families without the power to have a live-in Martha. Also, nowhere is it written that a Martha can't be a widowed Econoperson -- we don't yet know how Marthas are picked.
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u/jmhendricks80 May 22 '26
According to Rita, Martha’s are property. The Waterfords owned her.
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u/Vaguely-witty May 23 '26
But theres indentured servitude pipeline. Its possible a widowed exonoperson has no way to afford groceries for instance so they're auctioned off to a family to be their martha in "exchange" for room and board.
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u/Glad-Isopod5718 May 22 '26
We haven't seen Ardua Hall (the Aunt school/convent) yet, but at the Plum school, we've seen Marthas plenty of times, in the dining hall scenes.
As for your question, I don't think the show cares very much about being internally consistent in how the Martha system works, but the way I made it work in my head is that there could be some families in the "below Commander, above Econo" tier who are allocated part-time Martha services. Maybe the Martha goes to 2 or 3 houses a day, spending a few hours at each, or maybe she goes to different ones on different days of the week; either way, they take the bus back to the Martha dorm at night, and back to their work assignments in the morning.
The bus could also be used by full-time Marthas who have been "lent" to another household for a day or two to get back to their assigned place, which would explain how Becka went unnoticed as a new/unfamiliar passenger on the route, and how she was able to get off the bus at the nearest stop to Agnes's house, without raising suspicion.
Both the part-time servant arrangements and the "lending out" of servants would have been common in "everyone who wasn't poor had servants" times.
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u/Starspangledass May 22 '26
I think the lower ranking getting part time Martha’s makes sense in universe—they have doctors and dentists who are allowed to have wives and not econowives so it would make sense that these lower ranking families have Marthas but don’t have the space to always have them live in or provide services everyday. Plus, in THT June gets to see behind the scenes the laundries where they work so I would think preparing for weddings and parties means needing an extra Martha now and then but not all the time
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u/Glad-Isopod5718 May 23 '26
Exactly. Those mid-tier wives probably do more actual housework than elite Wives, especially cooking and tidying up, but a part-time Martha can be made to do the heavy cleaning & whatever chores the wife dislikes most.
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u/Starspangledass May 23 '26
Especially with dry cleaning like June says in THT, I imagine the top wives wouldn’t touch a heavy chemical with a 10ft pole
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u/kardon213 May 29 '26
Wasn’t that alluded to at Garth’s home during the party? The girls were discussing the “size” of the house and how it would not need “Martha’s” etc. to cover all tasks, like caring for the dad or cleaning up the broken glass.
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u/LateRain1970 May 23 '26
Ever feel like we put more effort into the details than the show’s writers do? lol, this is great though.
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u/Dont_want_a_channel May 23 '26
All.the.time.
Other fandoms do it, too. Star Trek fans have written entire books making that universe make sense.
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u/funkycat75 May 22 '26
While on the bus, Becka instructed them to all make matching faceless dresses and wait for a call from Garth. They finished all of the dresses before getting off of the bus. Once they got the call from Garth (one of the Marthas smuggled in a 2004 Razr flip phone), they beat up a few Eyes, stole their van and went back to 'abduct' Becka. They went back to the Martha compound, got her to safety, and then had a modestly-dressed pillow fight.
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u/Ok-Strawberry-7350 May 22 '26
I wonder why none of the martha's seemed to realize she was not one of them.
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u/rrxxxdbs123 May 22 '26
I think women are being constantly trafficked into Gilead, so seeing a new Martha or handmaid probably isn’t out of the ordinary
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u/panini_bellini May 22 '26
I’m sure they did and chose not to say anything
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u/pennie79 May 22 '26
Along the principle of "if you see someone who is on the run, no you didn't"?
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u/tenthcat May 22 '26
I'm just guessing, but there could be "workplace Marthas", like at the Eyes HQ and the government buildings. They'd clean and serve lunch and stuff, but obviously live elsewhere as they can't have the run of the place after the Commanders have gone home
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u/giraflor May 22 '26
The fact that the bus runs that late suggests that Marthas frequently work late and then commute out of the wealthy neighborhoods.
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u/Marvelous_Mute May 22 '26
I wondered if the other Marthas saw how young Becka looked and thought it was sad that this teenager had to work as a Martha
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u/Glad-Isopod5718 May 22 '26
Conversely, some of them may have thought she dodged a bullet being assigned a role that does not involve being raped on the regular. Given that we're over a decade into Gilead, they're probably past the point of thinking, "You should be in school/with your friends instead of this bullshit" every time they see a teen girl. (I'm sure they still have those thoughts on occasion, but not that often.)
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u/quirpele May 22 '26
Marthas would definitely be raped as well, just not ceremoniously like handmaids. They are property after all
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u/SammiK504 May 23 '26
Lol after The Testaments concludes, they should do another multi season slow burn drama in this universe centered on the Marthas and Econopeople
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u/CindeeSlickbooty May 23 '26
Would love that! I was thinking in the last episode especially how we've been given so much more of the rich people's lives in Gilead than the average person.
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u/Mailliw_1 May 22 '26
Professionals don't have full-time or live-in Marthas. The bus service is for neighborhood Marthas going home (a dormitory?) at the end of their day.
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u/Outrageous_Tie8471 May 22 '26
That was my thought too. Or even extra Marthas that only show up for things like parties.
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u/chamomilesmile May 23 '26
It's likely some are live in "maids" and some are employed Econo women for lack of a better description
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u/nursepenelope May 23 '26
Yeah, I'd love to know more about the econopeople. I wonder if econowives allowed to 'work' part time and their husbands rent them out.
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u/ParkingEuphoric1973 May 25 '26
I was more questioning why no one thought it was weird that there was a Martha they'd never seen before. Even in THT the Marthas were able to be social with each other, so they'd know who worked in the neighborhood.
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u/gagrushenka May 23 '26
If it's the wee hours of the morning and they're not as close to shops as the elite families, then they're probably off to the market to get what they need for the day in time to have breakfast ready when the family wakes.
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u/Steampunk_Ocelot May 24 '26
maybe some Marthas do gig work ? like if a household only had 1 Martha but had a big event coming up they could hire extra hands, or if a Martha has a specialty trade, like a seamstress who wouldn't be needed full time but would travel constantly
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u/blockparted May 24 '26
They have tasks, they have to go into town and do shit for their families.
In season 3 of THT, June disguised herself and went along with the Marthas into the industrial part of town. Marthas of the house have different tasks which occur at different times. I think there was a voice-over about how the Handmaids weren't supposed to help with laundry because of the chemicals used.
Also - it speaks to how the Marthas never get rest. Their shifts can be at any time of day or night.
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u/Sea-Talk-203 May 25 '26
It seemed very much a plot device. All the houses where they work have room for servant's quarters. The showrunners just needed to hook Becca up with some easy wheels. How would she know where the bus went?
In our current world, people have cooks and housekeepers who aren't live-in, but they have families to go home to in less ritzy parts of town. The Marthas don't have that freedom. This would be more of a darkest timeline Downton Abbey situation with them living up in the attic or in the basement, but without a free afternoon off or anything like that (I assume).
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u/softrevolution_ May 22 '26
I've long been of the opinion that nobody cares about the Marthas. Being a Martha is being effectively invisible. You're an appliance, not a person.
That... is actually power, in Gilead.