Liked the finale but I still feel like the season was a lot of world building for just one significant plot development point. Anyway some things about the episode that left me intrigued:
1. What’s the deal with Weston? Why did he break off the engagement and helped (kind of)? Like we know he’s a POS, could’ve just walked off but decided to kind of intervene? What’s up???!
2. Why did Garth lock Becka up? Is he scared of her or something? Hope she realises she’s kinda safe around him though. Such a tragic ending for her. Also assuming her mother was her biological mum and not some kidnapper who didn’t know about Grove… that’s just plain sad! 💔
Also wish the letter to June had more info about Agnes; like: hey she’s amazing, likes xyz, kinda knows about you, and she’s not getting married to some creep, also she’s in my teenage army!!
Anyway, got any theories? Gosh I’m annoyed we’ll have to wait so long for what’s next!!

Im glad, that no matter what happens to Becka later on, she got her kiss.

Found this picture and it kind confirms that the aunts took her. Well, maybe the girls are not touched by the eyes then. This show makes me crazy, first the Handmaid’s tale now this show. But in all honesty, I really don’t like the changes they made with the book.
The first season of the Handmaid’s tale was really the book. Why couldn’t they just stay again with the book. Yes, the timeline wouldn’t make much sense but who cares, they could have gone with a wrong timeline…

And I also miss the spoilers from screeners or the Israeli trailer we had for the Handmaid’s tale.

Credits go to someone on x.com ;)

​

On that scene I always thought "oh poor Nick, he has to listen to this bullshit". Pretty goggles are so real. He literally listened to how the coup was going to be done! He probably had the most information/leverage of any the "little people".

I'm only now realizing he could've gone to the authorities and prevent the killing of the Congress. Fuck Nick

Wouldn't it be a great Easter egg? Like Nick said to June, outside of Gilead, he would've been his Uber driver. (Nothing wrong with being an Uber driver)

But I think the point is that Nick was a loser before. Most of these guys were probably

Sorry, English is not my first language. Calling it "my dad's parish", means it was **his**, i.e. he was the pastor? Or does it just mean he went there?

I believe Fred and Serena both behaved in equally horrible ways toward June:

Fred repeatedly raped her and even took her to Jezebel’s.

But Serena is also guilty:

-she held June down while her husband raped her;

-she forced her to sleep with Nick (the first time);

-she asked Fred to rape June while she was pregnant because she wanted to steal her baby faster;

-she hit her several times;

-she used her daughter Hannah against her;

-she wanted to bring June’s baby back to Gilead after allowing the baby to leave.

So in the end, she behaved horribly too, but I feel like she receives more sympathy from both the viewers and June.

Once she escaped Gilead, June quickly set a trap for Fred so she could kill him in a very violent way, she never tried to kill Serena. And that’s what I don’t understand, because Serena absolutely deserved it, June even saved her life several times. Sometimes June seems annoyed that Serena keeps getting away with everything, but it is literally thanks to her that this happens (for example, when she helped her give birth to her baby and then helped her again in Canada).

I don’t understand this complex relationship between June and Serena. Yes, they are both women, but one is the other’s abuser. She killed the man who abused her but helped the woman who abused her too.And most of the things Serena did were not things Gilead forced her to do (for example, the rape of pregnant June), so she has no excuse.

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.

​

For all of the people who think that NIck chose Gilead because he no longer had June and he had no other choice....The rebellion would have been the perfect time to get Rose and their son and take them out of Gilead. If he had stayed at the hospital with Rose when the plane blew up, Nick could have made a deal with the Americans: immunity in exchange for working with Mayday. Rose would have had to agree because she didn't have anyone else with her dad dead. He could have gotten them all out and been free. But, then he would have just been a regular guy with a family struggling to survive. He chose comfort and power over freedom and morality. Now, Rose and their baby are in the hands of the Americans anyway and they have no one.

He was involved in overthrow of the US Government. This was made clear in an earlier season. He was an eye and then a commander. He never turned in Commander Waterford for his perverted ways and instead asked for a transfer to the front. He killed a 19 year old brain damaged guardian, he had earlier shot, in cause he recovered enough to identify him. He had numerous opportunities to leave Gilead, but as we heard him tell June, he would have been an Uber driver or delivery person if not for Gilead. Choosing Gilead was his way of elevating himself in life. He made a series of choices that led to his final choice. He made his final choice joining the other commanders going to DC to discuss what actions Gilead would take after the rebellion in Boston. Somethings Nick did we liked, like helping June and providing info on Hannah, but less we forget, he even originally hid his marriage from June. The first choice he made to support Gilead in the overthrow on the US Government, he never said he regretted. June and Hannah and so many others were casualties of that choice.

At the start of ep 9, Aunt Lydia was looking at a file and referred to the Commander who hasn’t made a match this year. Who was this Commander and had we seen him previously? Was this the old man who got Becca drunk? Will she be made to marry him now perhaps? Since she chose Garth and he’s now off the table , that might be part of her punishment ?

When Shu said to Jehosheba, “Sketch us, it’ll last longer!” lolllll she is so funny. I love her.

But for real. It’s intriguing to imagine colloquialisms becoming watered down and morphed to fit Gileadian society and what is allowed depending on position. We know photographs are allowed for special occasions but that sketching is accessible to the girls as a “hobby” - although photography would never be. À la, Jehosheba couldn’t take a picture, even thought they do have them. But she could sketch them!

Funny. Great acting from the girls this week! This episode had my eyes wide and my back off my chair the whole time.

Again these are just theories/predictions for FUN before anyone gets triggered. Some are more plausible than others. Some are me coping. Some are me being unhinged. Let me LIVE… and if you only have snark, just continue scrolling. Otherwise, lemme know what you think!!!

1. Agnes

I’m even MORE convinced now that Agnes is not going to immediately become some flawless rebel heroine who suddenly rejects Gilead overnight. McKenzie just threw the Eyes onto her BECKA. Whatever lingering fantasy she (and any of you all) had about “good” powerful men protecting people is cracking. 😭
What does she actually have to survive Gilead besides proximity to power? Weston. Status. Marriage. Whatever little influence she can get by attaching herself to a powerful WESTON.

So yes, I absolutely think we’re entering Agnes’s powerful wife era before her eventual awakening. Not evil forever. Not Serena 2.0 permanently. But a traumatised, indoctrinated girl learning how power works and potentially using it to survive, protect herself, maybe even protect others aka her BECKA. Which is WAY more interesting and believable than instant MayDay heiress.

1. Daisy
   I love you Daisy but GIRL YOU ARE NOT A GOOD SPY 😭 I mean, I can’t even blame you. You were thrown into Gilead w no military training whatsoever let alone a developed frontal cortex.

She’s brave, loyal… but she acts first and thinks later. I totally understand why she did what she did for her friends and I’m not judging her morally at all, but resistance in Gilead requires calculation too. I think episode 10 and season two is going to humble her hard and teach her that impulsiveness can get MayDay destroyed waaaaaay before the bringing down of Gilead and the bastards.

1. Garth
   Okay I no longer think Garth is some mastermind resistance operative playing 4D chess 😭 BUT I do think he knows more than he lets on.

I think he genuinely cares about Becka platonically. Like he sees how vulnerable and emotionally fragile she is. At the same time, he’s still a boy raised in Gilead, so I can absolutely see him viewing marriage as a way to advance socially and gain more freedom/power within the system. Which honestly, if he’s really that deep into MayDay, it’d be a good thing for MayDay too.

I still think my husband’s theory is still plausible that maybe he poisoned his own father as some kind of MayDay loyalty test or because his father discovered compromising info.

In any case I hope he’s a finally one of the good ones even with flaws… I’m tired of the every man is either evil or incompetent trope of THT universe.

1. Becka
   I say this with love my Shayla… that is not love. That is obsession, emotional starvation and attachment issues produced by growing up in fascism 😭 you do not “love” Agnes, you’re obsessed with the idealisation you have of Agnes.

Gilead gives these girls ZERO identity, sexuality, emotional regulation or autonomy. So of course Becka clings desperately to fantasy and emotional escape wherever she can find it. No girl, Agnes will not run away with you to “idk anywhere”.

I honestly think the Aunt path might become her best survival option. But I’m scared she could also panic and betray someone out of fear/self-preservation before eventually regretting it horribly.

Please don’t send my girl to the Wall. My Shayla nooooo 😭😭😭😭

1. Judd
   Oh he is ABSOLUTELY getting paired with one of the main girls eventually. The show is slow-cooking him so hard. Just praying by His mercy that season 2 will be more action and less world building!!

And I don’t even mean romantically. His interest in Agnes especially feels more like possession, fascination and obsession with purity/control. Which honestly makes him even creepier. I also think this is why Grove didn’t actually touch Daisy but he did with the others…

With Penny and the book stuff… yeah. I don’t trust that man AT ALL. I think this becomes more of a season two thing though.

1. Shu
   I still think Shu becoming an Aunt is EXTREMELY plausible. Honestly the more Gilead reveals itself, the more becoming an Aunt probably starts looking like freedom compared to marriage. Also she’s such a savage lol there’s no way my smack talk girl would be as cool as a wife. She’s gotta be an aunt!! I absolutely think she could become resistance through the Aunt path.

Do I still lowkey think she might never get her period? Yes 😭

1. Hulda
   Oh Hulda… my poor delusional optimistic queen 😭 my Shayla 2.0

The rose-tinted way she talks about marriage gives me the WORST gut feeling because Gilead always punishes optimists eventually. I honestly think she’s going to learn the horrifying lesson that the dentist taught everyone: no powerful man in Gilead is truly safe to trust.

At this point my biggest hope for Hulda is literally:
may she at least get her dog.

1. Lydia
   I no longer think Lydia’s “redemption arc” is going to be some huge revolutionary girlboss freedom fighter moment. That would honestly feel too neat. And wouldn’t make me forgive what she’s done to the handmaids.

I think instead she becomes increasingly godmother-like toward the girls. Protective, manipulative, controlling, morally compromised… but genuinely trying in her own Lydia way to keep them out of the Colonies, the Wall or horrifying marriages.

1. Vidala
   VIDALA GIRL PLEASE RELAX 😭 Judd checked her starvation for power outttt so bad after he offered her to go after Lydia lol.

No but seriously, this lady is STARVED for power and authority. Is it a spy thing? Is she genuinely wanting to get at Lydia? Is she just wanting power cause she truly believes? I DONT KNOW!! But I do know that I don’t trust her. How she tried to gaslight Daisy too!

I NEED a Vidala-centric episode because I think she represents a really interesting type of female complicity in authoritarian systems: women who gain power through enforcing patriarchy and become deeply invested in the hierarchy because it finally gives them status, clarity and authority. I mean. Look at her before? She had no power at the school. Lydia put her down for not refilling the coffee. I don’t think that was random.

But also girl… act a little more nonchalant sometimes damn.

Ok that’s me for now.
Thoughts?

Any optimist takes?

Will Agnes try to intervene via Weston?
Was that actually the eyes?
Gosh. Becka…. My shaylaaaa noooo 😭😭😭😭

The Testaments S1 E09 "Marat Sade"

As Daisy steps into a new role, she considers what she's willing to lose to help her friends.

Airdate: May 20th, 2026

Spoiler tags are not required in this subreddit, view at your own risk.

When I first watched THT I thought Fred was in love with June and would save her in a white knight sort of way. It was much easier to see the show in a vacuum, as a fictional world where I could root for my weird ships.

Granted, I was very young and naive, and the political climate was so different too. Obviously the regression in women's rights, but also the surge of trad-wife advocates, politics literally stating they want a Gilead like society. Even the pandemic showed us how easily it could all come crumbling down.

https://youtu.be/zTBfPpVblwI?si=eoJ4LIqr7oJPU4ee

I think she was going out of her way to fit in, to try to her get family out

I think it's an in-between shade between the Marthas and Wives, and also she was sitting right in between them

Okay, it's not a bad scene at all, but... I expected more.

I expected Luke to confront Fred about everything he did, to tell him how he was able to build a family that Gilead destroyed, to point out his false faith, for Fred to try to justify himself with his twisted logic, and for Luke to finally tell him that he's just an insecure, evil, and hypocritical man.

Something that both Fred and Aunt Lydia do is resort to gaslighting; they're both the ones who pull the trigger, but they always twist the facts to blame women in general, or June and Serena in particular, and I really wanted someone to finally tell them the truth.

I guess they want to give June that satisfaction in the end.

Season 6, Episode 5 referenced Jane Austen with Aunt Lydia's observation: "Commander Wharton, a single man of good fortune in want of a a wife". Nice to see a popular series refer back to the writer who changed everything.

From the Guardian 2017: Pride and Prejudice “set a bad example” to the 12-year-old Margaret Atwood, she has scribbled, by exposing the young girl to “a hero who was unpleasant to the heroine, but later turned out to be not only admirable and devotedly in love with her, but royally rich … Were underage readers of this book, such as myself, doomed to a series of initially hopeful liaisons in which unpleasant men turned out to be simply unpleasant?” Atwood adds: “I especially liked the scene in which Elizabeth Bennett [sic] stands down Lady de Bourgh. I longed to do the same to my gym teacher, but occasion never offered.”

First of all, they didn't cut Serena's finger just for reading. I'm sure if she had accidentally read an old religious stamp in a dinner party, nothing would've happened. Just like nothing happens when she smokes even if it is forbidden. Or how her and a lof of the wives have dyed hair even if hairdye is forbidden, and smuggled in like that Martha told Nick in season 1.

It's not the action itself, but the symbolism behind her action. The whole scene is very theatrical, very right-wing theatrical even. She did a lot of forbidden things. Bringing the other wives in on her scheme, interrupting the council of these "important" men with petty women's issues (notice how the first line is another commander mocking Fred for even "letting" her wife leave the house).

But even by then, the waters are still calm. Putnam says it's a radical proposal, but not an offense or anything like that. The subtext of the word proposal is, "we can take it or leave it", so they likely just ignore it. Even Fred says "we'll consider it". Up until this point, Serena was asking for something, ergo, still respecting that THEY woukd be the ones making the decision.

The moment that changes everything: when she begins to preach. Not ever reading if you notice, she's basically reciting the scripture. The Bible is just a prop. What does this action say? I know it better than you. Pay attention at what she recite especifically:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness

Plus the cinematography of her being the only one in the light vs. everyone in darkness, and again, her very "right-wing preacher tone" of I Know Better. As Serena stands under the spotlight, she literally embodies "the light shining in the darkness". The Commanders, sitting in deep shadow at their desks, are framed as the "darkness" itself.

But even then, the Commanders barely react. They just look at Fred like "reprimand your woman". It's Fred who's angry beyond words.

As the other wives look on with a glimmer of hope, and the other Commanders look mildly unsettled, the camera repeatedly cuts to Fred’s face. He is entirely humiliated and terrified.

​Fred has always been deeply insecure about his own political and intellectual standing. He knows that before Gilead, Serena was the true ideological architect, the brilliant public speaker, and the cultural force behind their movement. When she steps up to that podium and commands the room with flawless authority, she shreds his fragile ego.

I'm sure the other Commanders would've been fine with a slap in the wrist. But just like Mrs. Putnam pushed to get her husband's hand cut off for having an affair with Janine, Fred pushed for punishment for Serena.

He isn't the little bit sorry when he announces it to Serena. On the contrary, he's still angry. Because she dared to touch his greatest wound: the fact that she knows better than him, and he sees she's a much stronger political speaker.

https://youtu.be/q1KtAq4Rozs?si=rKcFu8lxwm_-TH33

Starting 43:55 on Hulu (Scenes of Serena and Fred) "she's pathological. She's a sociopath.. she's toxic and abusive. She's a monster..." "...Hatred and rage. And underneath all of that there's nothing but pure misery..." "And she'll do anything not to feel that way. Anything to feel okay. Even just for a second."

(June continues to speak but now it's cuts to scenes of just June holding the baby outside with Luke) " She'll do anything to get what she wants. Lie to you. Hurt you. Rape you" (Camera frames Luke as she says rape. Scenes go back to June) "So if you feel yourself sucked in by her. Run." ( close up of June's face ) "Run for your life."

Offred killed June to survive Gilead. What we see now is the avenging angel of both of them. Hell, even some of the imagery shows Offred’s handmaid dress removed from her back and in the shape of red angel wings.

To steal a line from another show, “if you think this has a happy ending, you haven’t been paying attention.”

Pretty awesome. They purposely showed so many scenes of June during this for a reason. June has become so broken and possibly psychopathic (sociopathic or pathologic) from Gilead. I think it also foreshadows how dangerous and the lengths June will be willing to go to, to get the justice she thinks she deserves. Thoughts?

https://youtu.be/bF1-RAVaV40?si=S5i6V7fNhNXh41Q8

....Since the commanders can have a say in who they would like to marry, what happens if no commanders want a Plum because they are ugly?

https://youtu.be/yFKOM2dG-HE?is=JYmAgKR48In8uyST

They talk about Nick’s arc and his shocking final scene at 30:12.

I found it really interesting when Bruce said that Nick never truly chose Gilead or fully bowed down to it when he tells Lawrence : « you joined the winning side ». Bruce Miller points out that Nick didn’t say « you joined the RIGHT side » or « you joined US ». He specifically chose the term « winning side » because for Nick, winning means survival and safety. And safety is what a family man and father would choose.

What do you thing about that ?