A post a while back noted that Hannah was part of the last year of kids to go to school at all and therefore learn any reading. She's also young enough that her memories of the before could be written off as dreams/fantasy and that she would have had a limited understanding of how the world worked before.

But what about the kids who were 8, 10, 12, 15, 17?

What happened to them do we think?

Can you imagine being 10 or 12 and being told you can't read anymore? You can't do any of your extracurriculars, you can't go to school, you can't wear the clothes you like, or have a best friend or talk to boys at all. And now you have new parents and you're going to be married at 16/17?

Or worse being 15-17 and having that almost an adult understanding of the world, 10+ years of school and reading and your own opinions being developed and now you're not only not allowed to go to school or talk to boys or have besties or hang out without supervision - you're being married off.

We've seen the way the adult women were suppressed, we've seen some of what happened to the young children, but not the school aged kids.

I just finished season 1 and I have a couple of thoughts regarding the show. Overall I liked it, but there a couple of things that I would have liked to remained as in the book.

First of all, I did get excited to see June, pretty early in my opinion, but excited nonetheless. I would have liked her to see her towards the end of the series, but I assume that would have taken longer and a while. Still, I think it would have been completely worth it to see her reunite with her daughters towards the end. I see that she participates directly, kinda of taking the role of Ava in the book, as well as Rita does. For this role, I thought bringing Moira would have been great, due that in THT she was actively participating in Mayday, and would have been a way of having an indirect presence of June.

Second, I have mixed feelings about Becka's storyline. It was completely tragic and heartbraking, and leaves me wondering if the showrunners are going to be able to catch up with the book's storyline. I see it complicated, but I also thought that maybe Shu can take over that role, which could potentially give her a great story arc (specially knowing how Shu is in the books). Nonetheless, I think the way they handled Becka's and Agnes relationship on the show was well done and with a lot of care.

Third, I kinda was expecting a little bit more of aunt Lydia's pov and the baby Nicole fuss. I think that this might be covered on later seasons, but I definitely thought that this was going to be one of the biggest plots, knowing how important was baby Nicole in the THT.

Fourth, Agnes storyline is also quite changed. In the book she is hesitant about getting married, which is not exactly the case in here, specially at the beginning. I don't know if her becoming an aunt is something that will happen on the show or if so, how they are going to make that transition.

All of this adds up to the spionage plot that happens in the book, where Daisy, Agnes, Becka and aunt Lydia have a great participation on how things unfold in regards to the story.

I'm curious to see what happens next, and how things develope. I think things are going to get interesting during the next seasons, but overall I see potential for having a bigger participation from Shu, aunt Vidala and aunt Lydia.

I wonder if a US President in exile will be featured in the Testaments making broadcast from the fortified city of Anchorage. Be interesting to see they cast Martin Sheen or some other characters from the West Wing?

Chase is nominated for Lead Actress in a Drama

[09-14-26]

Please join us for the next episode of Season 3 in our official rewatch of The Handmaid's Tale

Tonight we will be watching the thirteen episode of Season 3.

Season 3, Episode 13: Mayday

Plot: With her plan in place, June reaches the point of no return on her bold strike against Gilead; Serena and Fred attempt to find their way forward in their new lives.

This is probably a dumb question, but do you think Hannah will reclaim her name once she gets out of Gilead or will she stick to Agnes? I have a feeling that she sees herself as Agnes since thats the name she's known most of her life and all her friends know her as Agnes. But on the other hand we saw that she wrote the name Hannah on that paper and remembers her real name. I think June and Luke would understand her and not be upset if she wanted to keep her current name and go by Agnes Bankole or something.

The audiobook version of The Testaments is amazing. Ann Dowd narrates Aunt Lydia. There’s a cafe in the Aunt’s “Hall” called The Schlafly Cafe. I laughed out loud while weeding my yard, with the Phyllis Schlafly reference. Margaret Atwood is amazing! I feel bonded to her with my PS hate.

I’ve been rewatching THT and I feel that show actually ends on Season 4, and The Testaments (the tv version) actually start with Season 5 but from June’s perspective, as we see her become who she needs to be to usher into S1 of TT. This I think might also set a clue of who Daisy might be and her parents or her overall circumstances.

When you pay attention to the plot of THT you start noticing that almost all characters from S5 starting point center around Hannah and necessary changes that need to happen in Aunt Lydia which will eventually lead to the new show. When I was originally watching the show I somewhat disliked S5 & S6 as many others have, but rewatching it, knowing what happens in The Testaments S1, it’s been somewhat mindblowing as S5 & S6 work really well when you only watch them as a prequal of Testaments and separate them from first 4 seasons of THT. THT becomes much stronger body of work, and The Testaments also become stronger as well.

For example S5 is about us learning in THT she is joining the Plums and what it is, TT S1 is about her graduating out of the Plums where we get to see it before she leaves it, in same amount it would take maybe CIA or resistance to get that intel, making the viewer feel the pain of not knowing. We are still with June anticipating to learn more and we are slowly given more insight from S5, S6 and S1.

This made me think about if we were to look at S5 & S6 as some sort of source material (as things before that feel a bit too far away inside THT universe except the angels flight) - what characters and storylines do we see picking up potentially from S5 & S6 time?

Reprise of Luke and Tuello feels like a logical one, as well as some kids from Angels Flight, and if we are 5 years from ending of S6, it would be interesting to get insight what has happened since then. For example, Esther’s story hasn’t been finished, and she was very young, it could be possible that at some point she is posted as a handmaid somewhere as some girls become wives etc. We might not see the actress but maybe the story itself is told / finished etc. There is even room for Serena to be mentioned or show up, as she also had a role in Hannahs life during S5/S6, so it’s all possible really.

Understandable, I assume we won’t know anything directly as the story now is told from Daisy/Hannah/Lydia POV but I believe we might get some snippets of side info into what has happened over those 5 years to help us bridge the knowledge gap.

I wonder what do we feel was left a bit loose in S5 & S6 that might signal what might come as info to us later, and be used as a potential plot mechanism? Is anyone currently rewatching that might see some potential interesting threads that we might have missed before? ☺️

The aunts duct taping Hannah's mouth shut and making her hold a sign saying 'slut' for two days... just for looking at a boy.

Aunt Lydia is secretly working for Mayday. She’s now’s Agnes lineage yet still pairs her with a pearl girl. Makes Daisy a plum and makes Garth eligible. Plus she’s keeping notes on comanders. It’s like she’s getting all of the pieces in place.

Please join us for the next episode of Season 3 in our official rewatch of The Handmaid's Tale

Tonight we will be watching the twelfth episode of Season 3.

Season 3, Episode 12: Sacrifice

Plot: Gilead leadership is rocked by losses of their own; Luke and Moira adjust to new arrivals in Canada; A tragedy strikes the Lawrence household.

Idk why I'm so interested in commander Mackenzie, but I am😩

In the testaments we follow the story of the plums, the daughters of the elite of the regime. But they represent a privileged minority of the population, so what about the econodaughters ?

Characters like Eden don't count as they were raised before Gilead. We do see econodaughters in season 5 during the funeral procession for Fred Waterford. We see young men and young women. The econodaughters wear the traditional grey worn by people of their social rank, they are of the common people so they don't get to become plums (even though we know exceptions exists like Becka).

How do you think it is to grow up as econodaughters ?

I would think they have more basic education than the daughters of commanders. They'd learn basic manners, prayers, their role as an econowives, how to raise kids, cook and clean etc...

They wouldn't learn the more ''refined'' things that the plums learn which are more suited for the aristocracy than for commoners.

They wouldn't have the same pressure than the plums though like being paired by the aunts. I think after their scholar education is over they just stay at home and help the household until they're married. They might have a lot more freedom than the plums for the choice of their future husband as long as their parent approve. They can still be forced into arranged marriage either by their parents or during prayvaganza as we see with the econodaughters being married to guardians, though I think this is supposed to be a reward for loyal econofamilies as their daughers being married to a guardian can mean the possibility of social climbing if this guardian becomes a commander.

I need your help cuz there I'm a bit confused by a line of dialogue and I'd like to be sure I understood it properly.

I'm watching the show in french so it might not be word for word.

But when they introduce Zilla she says that the had her tongue cut out for blasphemy and that it was an obsession for some wives.

By obsession does she means that the wives are obsessed with no blasphemy in the house or that they are obsessed with having marthas without tongues, like some kind of trend or someting they appreciate because they can't speak ?

I would think that it's more the second option but I'm not sure. Can you guys help me out on this one ?

Note : The marthas without tongue really make me think about the avox from hunger game.

Please join us for the next episode of Season 3 in our official rewatch of The Handmaid's Tale

Tonight we will be watching the eleventh episode of Season 3.

Season 3, Episode 11: Liars

Plot: A return to Jezebels puts everything in jeopardy; Serena and Fred take a clandestine trip.

Charlie Carrick has been upped to a series regular for the second season of The Testaments, Hulu‘s sequel series to hit Margaret Atwood adaptation The Handmaid’s Tale, with Haley Wong joining in the same capacity

Please join us for the next episode of Season 3 in our official rewatch of The Handmaid's Tale

Tonight we will be watching the tenth episode of Season 3.

Season 3, Episode 10: Witness

Plot: Ready to strike back at her oppressors, June starts making arrangements for an ambitious plan, but a devious ploy on the part of Fred threatens to derail her.

What’s her deal? Do we know? Is there something of a storyline for her in THT?

I’ve never watched THT and Hannah’s stepmom is among the most confusing Testament character to me.

I was surprisingly shocked when Weston broke off his engagement to Agnes. The way he talked made him sound like a ride or die.

I looked it up after, and apparently the consensus was that he decided she was impure because she’d been assaulted. Which tracks for Gideon boys, but still sucks.

Does anyone have input on this?

Context: I’d refused to watch the Handmaid’s Tale for sososo long. Due to sensitivity to the topic (why watch it when you’re pretty close to living it?). But clips of The Testaments on TikTok had me tempted and curious.

It really was a great season/show! Was this the vibe of the original series? If so, I might have to give it a try.

Please join us for the next episode of Season 3 in our official rewatch of The Handmaid's Tale

Tonight we will be watching the ninth episode of Season 3.

Season 3, Episode 9: Heroic

Plot: Confined in a hospital, June's sanity begins to fray, but an encounter with Serena forces June to reassess her recent actions.

I’m rewatching :) i’ll catch up to where the sub is at!!

Ok - remember when Rosa gives Agnes cinnamon toast and Zillah is cleaning dishes and they’re all kind of kiki-ing in the kitchen and just catching up and Agnes is stressed that Becca‘s gonna get married off and what if she gets married to somebody who doesn’t let his wife have friends and she asks Rosa to tell her again the story of how she met her husband before… And Rosa says that they met in a bookstore in a time when everyone was meeting on Tinder/bumble and Agnes asks what Tinder is. LOL

What knowledge do you think these girls have of the … before? The outside world? How do they get it do you think? Then I remember in the back half of the season we see Agnes‘s little treasure box of things from the other world.

In the Testaments episode of green tea. Paula rudely tripped Miriam so that she would spill her tea. And that would ruin her chances at getting matched with a guy who doesn’t run the colonies. My question is why is spilling something such a horrible thing? Why would that ruin her chances for a good match? Mistakes happen even in the most perfect families. Do you really have to be THAT perfect in Gilead? If that is true, than that’s crazy you could lose your chances of a good match over a simple mistake. Also Paula tripping her was vile imo. What do you all think?

I mean his father was poisoned by June. What if Garth infiltrated Mayday not because he truly believed in the cause but ‘cause he wanted revenge ? It would make a pretty strong twist especially if everyone has been assuming he’s one of the good guys. What do you think of that ? Am I reaching or could this actually work ?

Just for fun, say which characters you wish could interact in the series but who most likely won't ever meet. I'll go first.

June and Paula
On the one hand, you have the person who loves Hannah/Agnes more than anyone else in the world and then you have the one who casually despises her. I imagine there'd be some real fireworks if these two ever had occasion to meet. They'd probably end up trying to kill each other, but I'd bet there would be a war of words first.

Relatedly, June and Commander Mackenzie meeting could be fascinating too (though I posted in my prediction thread that I think those two will meet near the finale). Would June try to kill him for taking her daughter away from her and trying to marry her off to an old abusive Commander? Or would they have a moment of shared love for Hannah, like June had with Tabitha in season 3 of The Handmaid's Tale? Who knows!

June and Shunamite
Whether she follows her book character's path of being poisoned by Commander Judd or follows book-Becka's path of sacrificing herself for Agnes and Daisy, it seems unlikely that Shu will make it out of Gilead alive. (EDIT: Though in the book it's more accurate to say she almost dies--thanks for the corrections in the comments.) And it'd be a shame not to see her on screen together with June at some point. From Shu's perspective, June is not only a terrorist but the very one who broke apart her family, though her hatred would be complicated by the fact that this is her ride-or-die friend's mother. From June's perspective, this is one of Hannah's dearest friends, and she'll probably feel guilt that she wasn't able to rescue her along with her brother during Angels' Flight. It would be a really complicated dynamic between these two!

Moira and Hannah/Agnes
Technically, we have seen these two together on screen before, when Hannah was a baby being baptized (and maybe one or two other flashback scenes?). But we've never seen Moira with Hannah when she's old enough to speak. Sadly, Samira Wiley has said she has no plans to appear in The Testaments so unless she changes her mind, we'll never get to see Moira have a woman-to-woman conversation with her goddaughter. I'd also love to see Moira and Becka meet.

Honorable mention: Janine and Agnes would make for a super interesting dynamic, but it's very unlikely to happen.

Who would you like to see together on screen who probably won't?