sam77

My guess is many have done, but judging by the photos of the missing on the walls and at the protest against the Waterford visit many want to stay close just in case they get news of their loved ones from those who escape. If my family were trapped in Gilead I’d want to stay in Little America as horrible as that limbo would be.

I really don’t think it would be a good storyline to have a custody struggle, I was just musing. In our current world countries do accept refugees from some regimes and not others. It is also different for a refugee who has the agency to want to escape and successfully does so as opposed to a baby who has been abducted in Gilead’s eyes. The precedent for returning refugees who were formerly American citizens by Canada to avoid upsetting Gilead is canon in the book, so a high ranking commander who claims to be the father could have some diplomatic clout. It would be different if June were there I guess. Don’t get me wrong I absolutely hope they don’t go there, the diplomatic visit to Canada was great, but as an extended custody story it would be boring. I am interested though if they do pick up on that plot point about returning refugees in the epilogue (sorry about the tag I wasn’t sure if book spoilers were allowed in this section) and Canada is not the safe haven everyone hoped it would be.

Forgive me because I know this is a sidetrack, but I used to work in the diplomatic service. I wonder what the status is of a child born in Gilead is? The people who got out are American refugees, but it seems Canada recognises Gilead as a nation so Holly is technically one of its citizens who has been abducted across the border. I realise children of USA citizens can be naturalised and in the show’s world the USA would welcome all the citizens it could get, but as the ‘child of a commander’ even if not actually biologically true it could be a diplomatic nightmare. I doubt the show would go down that route, but Holly could become a political football. I’m not sure it would make for gripping television so this is more just a random musing.

Sometimes I do have to check I’m reading the spoiler thread and not the ‘things we hate about THT’ one :) I am enjoying season two, not as much as season one and I agree at times there is a bad case of ‘holy plot holes batman’ about it, but I also think Margaret Atwood is a damn hard act to follow and adapting a much loved novel which on the whole was done well is a very different from creating new material. I love spoilers then hate that I read them, then go looking for more. I think it does dilute some of my enjoyment of this season, but then I knew the whole plot of season one from the book and still was gripped. We’ve been told someone escapes and there might be a fire. I do hope next season involves more world building and focus on other characters, I’d be happy with a Moira, Emily, Serena & Aunt Lydia focus. Part of me would love to see what the kind of formidable Aunt Serena would make. I know lots are not going to stay with this show, but I am definitely in.

It’s funny, we get the episode a day later than most of you and I know I shouldn’t but I always come and read your comments before the episode drops here. People were so negative about this particular episode that I was expecting to hate it too, but I actually really enjoyed it. I liked the pace and the stand alone quality. I didn’t need to have spoiled myself about the outcome, because as others have said, we knew she was not going to escape, the story was never going to be plucky June escapes with a newborn, but June the character didn’t know that. The wolf I was a bit meh about, I enjoyed all the acting with the Waterford scene being a standout. I liked the small touches like the photo of Hannah and the maps on the wall in the background. The garage didn’t bother me, we had one like that, it used to need a key to open, but then we modernised it with an electric opener and the one time the power went out and I pulled the manual release the damn thing jammed. I’m glad Serena did not get the birthing ceremony and I quite liked the ‘I will you into being’ or whatever the exact quite was.

Yes the fire speculation and recurring imagery is being discussed on other spoiler boards in some detail, largely it appears because black Gilead fire trucks were seen on location (unless they were used in the bombing scene and didn’t make the edit).

All this talk of the pool reminds me of a report which is suspected to be an urban legend of a father in a country under Sharia law gathering his family around to watch him drown his daughter as a punishment as she been seen in the company of a man without a chaperone. It got me thinking about how Eden’s father might react to any suggestion of impropriety with Issac.

I’m guessing the writers have used June’s pregnancy as a useful device for the character to get away with some of the minor infractions the guards seem to ignore. A pregnant handmaid is a precious commodity, even ones kept chained up in a solitary room. Aunt Lydia was very frank about what will happen if she continues to act as June and not Offred once the baby is born.

In S1 Waterford reads an online story written by an Aunt who had escaped Gilead so presumably the world does know what is happening, just as the World today knows that there are countries where women live in theocracies with few rights and are governed by male relatives. If a nation is wealthy enough the governments of today often turn a blind eye to a number of human rights abuses to pursue economic advantages, so it is not a stretch to imagine the world of the Handmaid’s tale similarly not taking a hard line against Gilead

I guess perhaps OffGlen did not get right to the front to detonate the bomb so the people in the middle, back and the handmaids in the upstairs gallery received the brunt of the explosion. I wonder what Gilead will be angrier about the loss of more, handmaids or commanders? Ambitious men will be in greater supply than fertile women.