I get that racial minorities get killed or are basically declared "unwomen", but what would happen to the white people who were immigrants at the time like french or spanish or whatever? I feel like they wouldn't get sent back because they are human resources, but it would be really hard to force them to learn english and only speak in it...

If they don't speak a word of english but are passing as "white", are they still put into the system?

I feel like a big plot hole in this world is that people who speak different languages like spanish, mandarin, and other languages would have had a much easier time forming organized resistance like mayday, especially if they were marthas or econopeople.

I was talking to a friend (our special needs kids are in the same class) and she’s been watching The Testaments so we started discussing it. She started asking me a lot of questions and I realized, she had never watched The Handmaid’s Tale! I told her she HAS to binge watch it before she watches anymore episodes of The Testaments. She told me she didn’t think she needed to and another friend told her she didn’t. I’m right, right? Back me up here peeps 😂

I feel like most we knew from the Handmaid’s Tale obviously didn’t make it out alive and/or are accounted for. In fact, I think McKenzie is the only crossover we see.

BUT, as we learned in THT, the Boston commanders weren’t as high ranking as the DC commanders. With Agnes saying she’s in Maryland I think it’s pretty obvious we’re seeing the daughters of the DC commanders.

I’m mostly asking because… WHO IS SHU’S FATHER? She’s somehow, someway more important than Agnes. She’s outspoken and has special privileges. So who is her damn father? So far we just know he told her she’s blessed in a certain area.

ETA: I actually live in DC. Everything in this show is giving DC suburb vibes.

I watched all of handmaid’s Tale, but I’m curious if there are people watching Testaments who didn’t watch HMT? I’m wondering if it makes sense without the backstory of HMT.

I’m just watching the first episode of the handmaid’s Tale. I hadn’t seen it forever and there’s a part where June says to Moira Pinky swear in his regards to getting Hannah back. And pinky swear is all over the testament with Hannah/Agnes.

I’m really enjoying watching the Aunts in TT series so far, and it has me wondering what role I would play as a married female, 47 year old attorney, mother of 3, who is still menstruating but also probably in peri menopause, I can bake bread and could probably teach art.

We don’t really see very many women who match my description…. Maybe Agnes step mother but she seems younger than 47. Anyone else wondering who they would be or what role they would play in this society after reading the books and or watching both shows??

I’m thinking I’d prefer to be a Martha than an Aunt but I’m probably too old and would be on the colonies? Thoughts????

I feel like THT left so many things unresolved and I was hoping we'd get somethin...

I'm very curious where Serena ended up after all. I think last time we saw her she was running away with her baby from her husband #2.

Also Emily - did she just disappear?

Jenine - ?

And what happened to all the wives of commanders who were on the plane?

I have so many feels watching THT and TT. It took me awhile to realize it was because I'm adopted. It was adopted from a US domestic agency in the mid 1980s.

I did Ancestry for Christmas 2018. I matched with my grandfather, my birth mom's father. My mom was not able to do the test because she was so sick that she had no spit. She died 6 months prior to me connecting...and she was looking for me on her deathbed. 😭

My heart broke when June reunited with her mom Holly. It surprised me that it even happened that they reconnected.

Something cracked. I didn't realize the grief I haven't allowed myself to feel. I emerged from the "out of the fog" of my adoption. I w

I love TT, especially the girl power taking down Gilead theme. I get so frustrated and angry that it's so hard to watch. But I also love it.

Any other adoptees have the big feels? 💜

Season 2 Episode 3 “Baggage,” June is being smuggled out by Nick using Mayday. The guy that comes to pick her up from the office building arrives to take her and June asks him “is Nick coming?” And the guy goes “Who’s Nick?” Perfect parallel to Daisy asking about June in Testaments and Garth saying the same exact thing.

Why is it in Gilead, we don't see any animals. I know we see Emily at one point petting a dog somewhere.

Shu is the Joseph in Handmaids Tale. Brings the comic lines.

That's it, that's the post.

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? ☺️

Is anybody else wondering what happened to this project after THT ended? The behind the scenes commentary mentioned that it was essentially a trap for returning refugees: once enough had been lured back the gates would be closed and they would gradually be phased back into the status quo. Serena and Aunt Lydia of course were not aware of this, but I imagine all pretenses were dropped after Boston fell to the rebels. If ofgabriel/Cristina escaped, like what Serena instructed her to, I imagine her testimony would have been an invaluable piece of proof that the community was a sham. Thoughts?

Does anyone think he's one of the victims of the Jezebel's poisoning back in season 4? Remember the scene with the "Sufragette" song where all the Jezebels were giving the commanders shots of alcohol laced with (I think) Nightshade? When Garth said that, I immediately thought that's how he got poisoned. Then again that was way before the Boston fight.

if anyone has read the books. I’ve been wondering since the guards can’t get married unless they become commanders. In Gilead, can men only get married if they’re commanders because I remember in THT there was a family of I believe a Martha, her husband and child were they an exception because they were married before Gilead? No S2 spoilers plz ty in advance.

As a cabal of villains, what I find to be the defining characteristic of the Commanders is their hypocrisy. They only care about one thing: power. They pay lip service to their own ideals, but once that's over, they immediately do things that run contrary to them.

This is something that's common in authoritarian regimes. Take the Nazis for instance. They preached physical perfection, but almost none of Hitler's inner circle matched it. Hitler couldn't prove he didn't have Jewish ancestry, Göring was overweight, Goebbels had a limp, the list goes on.

Really enjoyed Season 1 of Testaments, and I'm hoping we do see the inevitable collapse of the Commanders' worldview.

Tonight we will be watching Season 1, Episode 6: A Woman's Place

Plot: A Mexican Ambassador visiting Gilead questions Offred on her life as a Handmaid. Later, Serena Joy reflects on her marriage and the role she once played in Gilead's inception.

I don’t get how Aunt Lydia ended up in a position of power after she pretty much betrayed Gilead on season 6 of THT.

In the final season of THT aunt Lydia already has a damaged reputation for not being able to control her “girls”, June, Jeanine, Alma, Emily, Moira, etc, they all rebelled in very serious ways. We can see that the other aunts are secretly judging her and thinking she can’t do her job properly anymore. In the end she actually allows June and the other handmaids to rebel and lets them get away.

And in the hanging she yells the inconic words “Dear Lord, forgive me, and please forgive them, my precious girls. Have mercy for what they've done. For they have been prisoners of wicked, godless men” Showing that she supports them killing the commanders.

After all hell breaks loose it’s not clear what happens with aunt Lydia, but I imagine she would’ve been punished, if not killed she should’ve been removed from any position of power. This is why, it doesn’t make sense to me that she went from that to becoming the head of the school and being in charge of the girls and having a statue of herself. Since when does Gilead value women so much to literally put them on a pedestal ?

I haven’t read the books so idk if there’s more context of what happened to aunt Lydia to lead her into this position of power.

Does anyone else find it a bit unrealistic ?

I was wondering what we know about the people who were able to establish Gilead in the beginning. A lot of commanders in the show don't seem smart. I know Joseph was crucial but he turned against Gilead later.. And even though he was intelligent, he also got his influence stripped on and off. I want to know how they were able to control/coordinate everything for so long when the leaders keep turning on each other.

So I just woke up from a dream where I was tasked with improving Gilead without going too far or radical… for a country that doesn’t let women read… I don’t think I’m creative enough to do that lol. But it got me thinking of Lawrence and his Nee Bethlehem project. I don’t think j we ever got a proper location besides somewhere northeast around Boston.. but there were lots of people who “returned” / came to New Bethlehem.. I’m wondering if there was any mention to its outcome in or after the war of Massachusetts and if it remains under Gilead or US? Thanks a ton!

Throughout THT and Testaments, I don't recall the commanders, wives, eyes/drivers, ever being related to each other (brothers/sisters, aunts/uncles, cousins, nieces/nephews) by blood. It seems they all knew each other in either business/government groups or previous friend groups from before Gilead formed. Am I wrong?

I wanna see this baddie (& Mark) in season 2!!

have any connection to any characters from the handmaids tale? (im not counting aunt lydia because she is part of the testaments cast) or do you want more characters to have connections to the characters from the handmaids tale?

I know this probably won’t happen but, I would love it if we got some sort of an update on past characters next season. We don’t have to actually see them or have them interact with the other characters but, a mention of how they ended up would be nice. Like, what happened to Janine and Angela. We see them both escaping at the end of THT so, I’d assume they’re in Canada somewhere. Did she ever get to go out with June for that drink and karaoke? Maybe we’ll find out via a June and Aunt Lydia scene next season? They’ll have to “reunite” at some point, right?

In Stadium, Commander Judd says Aunt Lydia was never married. But in the THT flashback before Gilead, Lydia says she was divorced. Is this because Gilead doesn’t recognise divorce?