# The Handmaid's Tale: Season (open spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted, disney-hulu\ **Created:** [May 3, 2021, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handmaids-tale-season-open-spoilers/941261 "2021-05-03T02:37:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handmaids-tale-season-open-spoilers/941261/41 "2021-06-13T18:21:30Z")
Fred’s deal with the Americans may not be satisfying, but it makes sense in a brutally utilitarian way. Anyone else think Fred may have left Serena out of his deal? She does down for rape in Alaska; he get’s to start a new life in Hawai’i with their son. After all; that’s basically what she was planning on doing to him. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handmaids-tale-season-open-spoilers/941261/42 "2021-06-13T21:38:18Z")
I don’t understand how Serena doesn’t get out of all of it. Just say that whatever she did in Gilead that as a woman, she was forced to do it. So sorry for what happened, but as you can see, I am missing a finger. It would have been far worse had I not said or did what I did. I think a first year law student could get her off. ETA: Canada has great prisons with nice furniture and beautiful views. I know where to commit my future crimes. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2021, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handmaids-tale-season-open-spoilers/941261/43 "2021-06-14T01:05:43Z")
Well, Rita and June’s testimony would undermine that line of argument. Not to mention that what she’s accused of, forcing Nick & June to have sex, was also illegal under _Gileadean_ law and Fred didn’t play any part in it; it was all on her. Also she’d be facing a military tribunal in Alaska, not a jury trial. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2021, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handmaids-tale-season-open-spoilers/941261/44 "2021-06-14T01:13:05Z")
And Serena also wrote one of the polemical works that was a precursor to the entire takeover, when she got shot and was presumed to have lost the ability to bear children herself. She was an active rabble-rouser for the cause, so her argument to being entirely a victim is a lot more difficult to construct. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2021, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handmaids-tale-season-open-spoilers/941261/45 "2021-06-14T02:55:01Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > ETA: Canada has great prisons with nice furniture and beautiful views. I know where to commit my future crimes. As a lawyer, I’ve been in Canadian prisons. You don’t want to ever be in one. They’re not pleasant. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2021, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handmaids-tale-season-open-spoilers/941261/46 "2021-06-14T05:51:12Z")
I thought as much, but on the show, they are fabulous! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2021, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handmaids-tale-season-open-spoilers/941261/47 "2021-06-14T06:08:43Z")
No, she suggested that they have consensual sex, which they did, and might indeed do again. She suggested that so that the rapes from Fred would stop. > [@Banksiaman](#): > > And Serena also wrote one of the polemical works that was a precursor to the entire takeover, when she got shot and was presumed to have lost the ability to bear children herself. She was an active rabble-rouser for the cause, so her argument to being entirely a victim is a lot more difficult to construct. She was in favor of it in broad strokes in the beginning, but in practice she didn’t support the rapes. She was forced to go along as much as June or anyone else. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2021, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handmaids-tale-season-open-spoilers/941261/48 "2021-06-14T06:20:32Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > I thought as much, but on the show, they are fabulous! I’ll assume you’re looking at where Janine is incarcerated. That would be Scarborough College, at the University of Toronto. I took a few courses there, in rooms like you see Janine incarcerated in on TV. They are not fabulous. They are bare-bones, concrete, brutalist structures. They were not fun to attend lectures in. A Canadian prison at least has a coat of paint on the cinder-block wall. Scarborough College doesn’t even have that, as the show demonstrates. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2021, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handmaids-tale-season-open-spoilers/941261/49 "2021-06-14T06:22:54Z")
No, in the show Janine is not in Canada at all. Perhaps those scenes are filmed in Canada, but Janine is in Gilead which is the northeastern US. Fred and Serena are incarcerated in Canada in the show, and wear their street clothes, have a studio apartment, and a giant glass window to the outside. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2021, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handmaids-tale-season-open-spoilers/941261/50 "2021-06-14T06:32:52Z")
> [@](#): > > No, in the show Janine is not in Canada at all. Perhaps those scenes are filmed in Canada… They are, as is the entire series. Janine is incarcerated in Scarborough College, University of Toronto. Sure, she’s supposed to be in Gilead, and the filmmakers are doing their best to make it look like she’s in Gilead, but the filming took place in Canada. Like I said, I took courses at U of Toronto Scarborough, and I can recognize those rooms, hallways, and the Meeting Place a mile away. And U of Toronto Scarborough is still more dreary than a Canadian prison. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2021, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handmaids-tale-season-open-spoilers/941261/51 "2021-06-14T06:37:13Z")
I don’t doubt your word at all. You have been there and I have not. But when I was commenting on “Canadian prisons” I was describing the show as they were depicted. I meant Fred and Serena and not Janine. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2021, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handmaids-tale-season-open-spoilers/941261/52 "2021-06-16T02:17:28Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > Fred and Serena are incarcerated in Canada in the show, and wear their street clothes, have a studio apartment, and a giant glass window to the outside. They’re not in a normal prison. They’re in VIP accommodation in some kind of immigration or CIA/CSIS facility. Note Serena was living there even before she was arrested. > [@UltraVires](#): > > No, she suggested that they have consensual sex, which they did, and might indeed do again. She suggested that so that the rapes from Fred would stop. So I can kidnap & rape a woman, but if I “suggest” that if she has sex with a 3rd party I’ll stop raping her myself that’s consensual intercourse and perfectly legal in Massachusetts? 🤨 ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handmaids-tale-season-open-spoilers/941261/53 "2021-06-17T00:57:59Z")
Well that was actually pretty satisfying. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handmaids-tale-season-open-spoilers/941261/54 "2021-06-17T03:46:32Z")
Poor Serena; even in Canada she’s not even allowed to open her own mail. 🙃 ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handmaids-tale-season-open-spoilers/941261/55 "2021-06-17T11:44:44Z")
I get the whole satisfaction thing but did that scene have any chance of happening in reality? What happens to Nick when he has no Waterford to show for the 22 women they traded? How did June and the other women get on the wrong side of the border (and seemed to feel 100% safe doing so)? So many questions, I feel this season has asked for too much suspension of belief. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handmaids-tale-season-open-spoilers/941261/56 "2021-06-17T12:22:45Z")
Nick and Discount Bill Murray (aka Commander Lawrence) seem to be covertly running things behind the scenes, so I’m guessing they’ve already got a justification ready for how things went down with Waterford. As with any real life totalitarian regime that came to power in a coup, Gilead’s leadership seems fraught with divided loyalties, miscommunication, and internal sabotage. That part of it doesn’t really seem implausible. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handmaids-tale-season-open-spoilers/941261/57 "2021-06-17T12:59:49Z")
> [@LVBoPeep](#): > > What happens to Nick when he has no Waterford to show for the 22 women they traded? Gilead obviously wants Waterford dead. Nick just has to show the body. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handmaids-tale-season-open-spoilers/941261/58 "2021-06-17T22:20:40Z")
> [@LVBoPeep](#): > > How did June and the other women get on the wrong side of the border (and seemed to feel 100% safe doing so)? My impression is that they took Waterford across the border into Canada. He said something like “Are we even in Gilead anymore?” And I also got the impression that the “trade for Fred” was not to get him home, but to kill him for running his mouth and to get him to stop talking. ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handmaids-tale-season-open-spoilers/941261/59 "2021-06-17T22:46:09Z")
Well, that was satisfying to watch. I was kind of hoping Serena would open the mail herself. ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handmaids-tale-season-open-spoilers/941261/60 "2021-06-17T23:37:44Z")
Ok, thanks, that makes more sense. I thought he was in Canada and being brought into Gilead. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handmaids-tale-season-open-spoilers/941261.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-handmaids-tale-season-open-spoilers/941261.md?page=4)