In this society that might just accept women are bad drivers. I’m saying nothing …
Imagine how ironic it would be if Cmdr. Waterford were to have to meet with a Saudi trade delegation with women in it.
It’s been so long since I read the book that I really don’t remember much and can’t tell which is added for the series. In a way that’s great because part of the reason I’m enjoying it so much as that I have no idea what’s going on!:o Well, not *no *idea, but I’m truly surprised / puzzled by some plot points (in a good way). Very powerful when, just as you start to think the Commander has feelings for Offred, he makes it clear that bearing a child is all “her kind” are meant to do. I’m also not sure I totally get O’s motivation for initiating sex with Nick. On the one hand it would make sense to have him as an ally since he’s an eye. On the other, the way the scene played out it looked like we’re supposed to think she actually likes him. That, and the closing music, IIRC, was a jazzy number about "getting some lovin’ "(?) So, is she just playing him or what?
I too could live with less flashbacks, although it’s only realistic that she’d be constantly looking back on her previous life. Still, I think it’s the weakest aspect of the show.
Love Elisabeth Moss in this and am hoping for more Samira Wiley.
Once she knew he was an Eye, I think she had to get something on Nick - she already has the Commander and wifey bagged up for seriously breaking the rules.
Now she has something on them all, and probably a baby of unknown fathering …
Never read the book, fwiw.
Right before she went to Nick’s room, she was thinking hard about something and seemed to have some kind of insight that led to her doing it. I can’t remember exactly what–does anyone? I’ll go and watch that part again and see if I can find it. Something to do with Emily or whatever rebellion is brewing?
She was thinking about the car hijack and how they ‘didn’t get everything’ from her friend (the FGM), how she looked invincible (that word again).
I guess that gave her courage.
I don’t think Offred really has anything on the Waterfords yet. Fred’s breaking protocol seems like something that would get swept under the rug unless the regime had already decided to purge him for something else (assuming anyone would take Offered’s word against his). “Cuckholding” him with Nick is a more serious offence, but that’s on Nick & Serena Joy.
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Thanks. Yes, I remember. It was the invincible thing–that was what Luke said about her dating site picture, that she looked invincible. I think going to Nick’s room was her behaving like a woman who felt invincible.
I don’t see how her “getting” anything on the Commander would matter. In the Old South, could a slave “get” anything on her master? She is of no account and what she knows is also of no account.
However, I think she can get something on Nick. And that might protect her in some way. Are the Commanders the only men allowed to have sex (such as it is). Could the Nicks of that world have sex with the Marthas? What happens if a Martha gets pregnant? I know we don’t know all of this yet. And may never know.
Maybe. Offred has spoken (in voice over) about things being “forbidden”, I have no idea if Commanders are above that stuff. This 9 o’clock Scrabble club is that, the alcohol and magazines, sharing his diary and work life. Not one thing but perhaps a few that could mount up … and there’s even now, heaven forbid, a touch of affection in the sex.
True. But one wonders if the Handmaids and others are told things are forbidden, implying that there is a higher authority than the Commanders. Kind of like a parent who threatens with the specter of the boogeyman. Or God.
My understanding is that fertile women (from outside the elite) become Handmaids, and the rest become Marthas. The only “respectable” women are the wives like Serena Joy. If the society lasts long enough, the daughters of the Handmaids become the next generation of “respectable” women. It’s possible that some of the elite women are fertile, but it’s also stated that the infertility is usually of the men anyway.
I’m also assuming that the non-elite men get to marry the Marthas, because a society where only the elite males get to have sex and the mooks with all the guns don’t… isn’t going to last very long.
I haven’t been able to watch the series but I have a question. Some in this thread have been asking about Emily’s fate. I read the book, and if that’s a certain character I remember then she was caught and sent to work in a sort of “nightclub”. The commander snuck out to the place, it being forbidden, and took Ofglen with him, where she saw Emily. The latter’s hands had been partly crippled. The commander took Ofglen to a bedroom and proceeded to have regular, non-Ceremonial sex with her.
Jesus, I read half way through that post. Is it a spoiler?
There has to be some authority over the commanders (a “supreme commander”?). Such societies always will wink at rule breaking by those in authority as long as it’s discrete and minor. Let it become public or big and they throw him under the bus so fast your head will spin.
In the book…
…the wives of non-elite men are called “Econowives” and combine the roles of Wife, Martha, & Handmaid (if fertile). They wear multicolored green, blue, & red dresses. Offred was an Econowife before she was caught trying to escape to Canada (well technically she became an adulteress after the regime annulled her marriage to Luke). Given that Gilead is less than a decade old most married couples would’ve still gotten married under the old regime. Handmaids are mostly drawn from fertile women who’ve been convicted of crimes against the state; they’re given allowed to “volunteer” for service in lieu of being sent to the Colonies or executed outright. It’s implied there are also true volunteer Handmaids (female religious fanatics who chose to become Handmaids instead of getting marriage).
Thanks for that. I have read the book, but so long ago that I barely remember it.
why don’t you just watch the show then.
FTR, some of these questions are addressed and discussed in the book, so they might be addressed in the series at some point, if not this season then next.
Same with something someone said upthread, about it seeming odd that the Ceremony seems so unarousing, given that men are running things - wouldn’t they want to create a (for lack of a better word) sexier ceremony? Setting aside that the Ceremony as-is surely is plenty arousing for lots of men, given the power dynamics involved (not just over the handmaid but also the wife), the book explains that Ceremony is not the only sexual outlet for most of these men. Won’t say more, in case it’s too spoilerish. Hopefully the series will delve into some of these details – there is a lot that hasn’t even been touched upon yet. Looking forward to how it all unfolds.
E6: Heavy shit. It’s like fertility is Bitcoin. Not really. Probably.
I think I’m maybe watching this now for the backlash, the resistance, rather than, say, the feminist stuff. Smash the system, maan,