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The Ninth Layer
Jun 20, 2007



I checked the last five pages and didn't see a thread so here's one really quick, since season 3's first three episodes just dropped on Hulu today. Sorry if I'm stepping on anyone's toes here!

We last left June contemplating and ultimately rejecting escape from Gilead after a full season of failed attempts and audience teasing. There's big time drama in the Waterford household as Serena ended season 2 giving her baby away with hopes of giving her a better life. Baby Nicole and Emily have made a break for it with the help of a sympathetic commander, will they get away? Tune in to find out.

The first three episodes are already up, and I believe more will be added weekly on Wednesdays. I'm watching week to week, but I wouldn't blame anyone for just wanting to watch all these episodes back to back. If it's anything like last season, bad times will be had.

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PostNouveau
Sep 3, 2011

VY till I die
Grimey Drawer
Hoping this season will take the turn toward actual violent resistance like it should have last year. That wheel-spinning season was cowardly of the showrunners. Afraid to move beyond the wallowing in dystopia that made Season 1 a hit.

mcmagic
Jul 1, 2004

If you see this avatar while scrolling the succ zone, you have been visited by the mcmagic of shitty lib takes! Good luck and prosperity will come to you, but only if you reply "shut the fuck up mcmagic" to this post!

PostNouveau posted:

Hoping this season will take the turn toward actual violent resistance like it should have last year. That wheel-spinning season was cowardly of the showrunners. Afraid to move beyond the wallowing in dystopia that made Season 1 a hit.

Got bad news for ya....

more wheelspinning

PostNouveau
Sep 3, 2011

VY till I die
Grimey Drawer

mcmagic posted:

Got bad news for ya....

more wheelspinning

Goddammit

Hey wait there's only three episodes. Too early to call it just yet.

PostNouveau fucked around with this message at 06:00 on Jun 6, 2019

The Ninth Layer
Jun 20, 2007

I'm not sure I want this show to be Game of Thrones or for that matter V for Vendetta. For me the appeal has always been the character study aspect of the show and the relationship dynamics of June and the Waterfords.

Season 2 felt stagnant at times but it also had some very memorable and poignant episodes, especially toward the end. I wasn't crazy about the ending but having watched the first two episodes so far it seems like the show is committed to making some changes early on. By the end of the first episode Serena burns the Waterford house down and June is transferred to the traitor commander from last season, Lawrence. It does look like we're going in a more explicitly resistance-focused season.

remigious
May 13, 2009

Destruction comes inevitably :rip:

Hell Gem
I’m really enjoying this season so far, I am hopeful! Although twice I thought Serena was going to kill herself and I wish she would loving do it

ass cobra
May 28, 2004

by Azathoth
I'd forgotten how super uncomfortable I get watching this show. Gotta take some breaks mid-episode.

mcmagic
Jul 1, 2004

If you see this avatar while scrolling the succ zone, you have been visited by the mcmagic of shitty lib takes! Good luck and prosperity will come to you, but only if you reply "shut the fuck up mcmagic" to this post!
Can I just say how much I hate the Bradley Whitford character? I even get what they are going for and I still hate it.

The Ninth Layer
Jun 20, 2007

I got through the third episode last night and overall I'm pretty positive about the direction they are going this season. I actually didn't feel totally terrible after watching these episodes, so I'm guessing they're saving some real gut punches for later in the season.

Btw I'm not 100% on spoiler policies for on demand shows but at least for the first page I'll honor spoilers so people have a chance to talk about the show and catch up on the three episodes without getting immediately spoiled.

Having the Martha network get gutted so early on sets up June to rebuild the resistance from the ground up, which I think is more interesting than just having her as an agent doing jobs for a larger organization. One of my favorite moments in episode 3 was Lawrence calling out June as essentially a self-important nobody; we've spent the entire series following her perspective so it sometimes gets easy to forget she's just one ordinary person caught up in this mess. June was making some risky moves in ep 2 and having her see the kind of hard choices she would have to make going forward seems to have humbled her by the end of ep 3.

Commander Lawrence is an interesting character that I remember thinking in season 2 was introduced too late, and he's already making for a nice foil to June. He's got a good amount of power in their society to where even Aunt Lydia is apprehensive of getting on his bad side, but he's also cautious and icily pragmatic. June wants to do anything and everything in her power to help people and resist the evils of Gilead, to the point of being reckless and naïve, but she has no direct power in this society and is stuck relying on allies like Lawrence or Serena to help her out. So there's a great dynamic where June pushes Lawrence to make risky moves that could expose him and get him killed, and Lawrence in turn has to rein June in before she gets them both caught and killed.

As far as other characters go, I'm curious to see how much of Nick's time in Chicago we will see. I've always found Nick to be a hard character to read because of his compromised nature, and with his new position as Commander and being removed from June I could see him falling deeper into the Gilead party line. Luke gave strong signs of being really unhappy he's not doing any direct resistance up in Canada, it seems like he's going to "man up" and do something stupid and risky soon. Things are too nice for Emily right now, as a refugee I expect she'll get more involved in politics and possibly invite some hostilities from Gilead, or become a focal point of international conflict.

PostNouveau
Sep 3, 2011

VY till I die
Grimey Drawer
Caught up. Seems like it's going somewhere, although the end of the third episode is "we'll observe and bide our time" meh

I said come in!
Jun 22, 2004

More of a lore question; how much authority does Aunt Lydia have over the handmaids? If she wants to send one randomly to the wall can she make it so, or does she have to justify (granted justification that the commanders will accept is a super low bar) why one should be executed?

Captain Melo
Mar 28, 2014
I liked tonight’s episode. I think they did the emily/wife reunion extremely well. I’m hoping we see more nick in Chicago in the next episode though

socialsecurity
Aug 30, 2003





I said come in! posted:

More of a lore question; how much authority does Aunt Lydia have over the handmaids? If she wants to send one randomly to the wall can she make it so, or does she have to justify (granted justification that the commanders will accept is a super low bar) why one should be executed?

Do you really think they would let a woman decide if one of their rape/breeding targets gets killed?

I said come in!
Jun 22, 2004

socialsecurity posted:

Do you really think they would let a woman decide if one of their rape/breeding targets gets killed?

What about the first episode of Season 2 though? That seemed like it was Aunt Lydia's decision wasn't it? They have no issues at least letting the aunts torture and/or request a handmaid get a limb amputated. The aunts seem to have a lot of power/sway despite being women, likely because they have the most contact and control over the handmaids. They even let the aunts have weapons.

Normy
Jul 1, 2004

Do I Krushchev?


I'm interested to see where they go with trying to get Nicole back to Canada. I'm hoping they explore more of the relations between Gilead and Canada.

ass cobra
May 28, 2004

by Azathoth
Aunt Lydia is even more horrifying in her rascal

mcmagic
Jul 1, 2004

If you see this avatar while scrolling the succ zone, you have been visited by the mcmagic of shitty lib takes! Good luck and prosperity will come to you, but only if you reply "shut the fuck up mcmagic" to this post!

Captain Melo posted:

I liked tonight’s episode. I think they did the emily/wife reunion extremely well. I’m hoping we see more nick in Chicago in the next episode though

I was confused as to why she was going to stay in the hotel? I thought that was implying that the Clea Duvall's character was with someone else and thats why they kept saying it was so awkward?

Wafflecopper
Nov 27, 2004

I am a mouth, and I must scream

mcmagic posted:

I was confused as to why she was going to stay in the hotel? I thought that was implying that the Clea Duvall's character was with someone else and thats why they kept saying it was so awkward?

I read it as Emily being traumatised as gently caress and having trouble getting back into normal civilization and a normal relationship.

The Ninth Layer
Jun 20, 2007

I said come in! posted:

More of a lore question; how much authority does Aunt Lydia have over the handmaids? If she wants to send one randomly to the wall can she make it so, or does she have to justify (granted justification that the commanders will accept is a super low bar) why one should be executed?

I think she has a fair amount of leeway provided she doesn't damage the value of the handmaids as national resources, and provided she handles them internally and in a way that doesn't cause the real citizens (the commanders and their wives) to feel bad or reckon with ugly aspects of the society they've constructed. So she had full authority to discipline Janine, but the way she lost control and did it in front of everyone was gauche and she overstepped her bounds.

Basically Lydia's position in society is very dependent on how effective she is at her job of managing the handmaids. If everything is working well then she is accorded a good amount of respect as a dependable cog in the machine, if not the level of citizenship enjoyed by a commander's wife. If handmaids are kidnapping babies and escaping to Canada, she'll start to look replaceable.

Captain Melo
Mar 28, 2014

mcmagic posted:

I was confused as to why she was going to stay in the hotel? I thought that was implying that the Clea Duvall's character was with someone else and thats why they kept saying it was so awkward?

That was my take on it as well. I kept waiting for them to show pictures of the wife and someone new or even when the talk about their kids teacher came up, I figured that was going to be a lead in for something similar. I’m glad that’s not the case though as Emily deserves happiness

PostNouveau
Sep 3, 2011

VY till I die
Grimey Drawer
Pretty good ep. Wild speculation that's certain to be wrong: Aunt Lydia continues on her downward spiral and loses her grip so much that she gets replaced by Aunt June at the end of the season

The Ninth Layer
Jun 20, 2007

Ooh, that's some pretty good speculation right there.

mllaneza
Apr 28, 2007

Veteran, Bermuda Triangle Expeditionary Force, 1993-1952




I am quite pleasantly surprised. The show seems to have found a new wellspring of energy between seasons. We've gotten away from monotonous dread and things being terribly wrong. It's like spring, there's hope in the air. Emily's escape and reunion is wonderful, I hope she gets her poo poo back together eventually. Her wife did a fine job of keeping her present and real for their son.

And "I was wrong, it's not your funeral after all." just loving killed me. We had to pause and wait for me to stop laughing. Commander Lawrence is crazier than his wife is pretending to be, you never know which way he'll bounce next.


Aunt June. That's crazy talk. Also not completely implausible with Serena pulling strings.

Wafflecopper
Nov 27, 2004

I am a mouth, and I must scream

I could be wrong but I don't see how they'd make a handmaid, especially one known to be problematic and who has already been caught trying to escape once, into an Aunt. Remember that handmaids are handmaids because of various transgressions against Gilead's family values (obviously working wombs are part of it too but not all mothers are handmaids) and are already one of the lowest castes in that society, and June has pulled a bunch of poo poo on top of that. It does kind of seem like her arch is heading that way though, so who knows.

Wafflecopper fucked around with this message at 10:33 on Jun 18, 2019

Normy
Jul 1, 2004

Do I Krushchev?


Well and also they need women who can give birth.

Edit: Which your literally said. But it's pretty much the only thing keeping her alive.

Monaghan
Dec 29, 2006

I'm liking the season so far, but jesus June sure is acting like she's a main character of a tv show lately and knows that she won't die.

Also getting tired of the 6 closeups of her reactions every episode.

Looten Plunder
Jul 11, 2006
Grimey Drawer
I'm also getting tired of super slow-mo when it's not even a dramatic scene. You can watch this show in x2 speed when there is no dialogue.

PostNouveau
Sep 3, 2011

VY till I die
Grimey Drawer
Slow-mo for no reason and close-up reaction shots for no reason are this show's MO. Since early on

Propaganda Machine
Jan 2, 2005

Truthiness!

Captain Melo posted:

I liked tonight’s episode. I think they did the emily/wife reunion extremely well.

I'm confused, I'm not sure I want to watch this season, and I don't care about spoilers. But I thought Emily's wife got hanged in that flashback, after their trial for being gender traitors?

Looten Plunder
Jul 11, 2006
Grimey Drawer

Propaganda Machine posted:

I'm confused, I'm not sure I want to watch this season, and I don't care about spoilers. But I thought Emily's wife got hanged in that flashback, after their trial for being gender traitors?

Nah, she was caught having an affair with a Martha who was hanged whilst she got her ladybits mutilated. She got seperated from her wife and kid at the border as they had visas and she was no longer married to her wife due to the Gilead law change

Rappaport
Oct 2, 2013

Oh goody, we finally went back to being tormented by the Waterfords. I wanted this season to be about crazy Gilead Himmler, not these same sacks of poop for the third loving time :argh:

SixFigureSandwich
Oct 30, 2004
Exciting Lemon
I liked the part where June warns the rest of the households not to fall for Lawrence's mind games and then immediately falls for Lawrence's mind games.

Combat Pretzel
Jun 23, 2004

No, seriously... what kurds?!

Rappaport posted:

Oh goody, we finally went back to being tormented by the Waterfords. I wanted this season to be about crazy Gilead Himmler, not these same sacks of poop for the third loving time :argh:
Guess I'm not gonna watch this.

Wafflecopper
Nov 27, 2004

I am a mouth, and I must scream

Combat Pretzel posted:

Guess I'm not gonna watch this.

Either I'm an episode behind or OP only watched the first ep

Saucy_Rodent
Oct 24, 2018

by Pragmatica
The weirdest thing about this show is that there’s an imminent Children of Men style apocalypse but the show thinks Gilead’s existence is the worst thing about this world. Like, in fifty years, there will only be like a hundred people alive, right? Solving infertility should be everyone’s top priority.

Combat Pretzel
Jun 23, 2004

No, seriously... what kurds?!
Within Gilead, it's probably a bit much to expect them to do the science part, considering the way they went to deal with it to begin with.

From the outside, there hasn't been much of it story wise, has it? Apart from that Canadian refuge town?

Pham Nuwen
Oct 30, 2010



Saucy_Rodent posted:

The weirdest thing about this show is that there’s an imminent Children of Men style apocalypse but the show thinks Gilead’s existence is the worst thing about this world. Like, in fifty years, there will only be like a hundred people alive, right? Solving infertility should be everyone’s top priority.

i'm not watching the show any more but i assume at some point somebody in Canada will invent a treatment for the infertility problem and Gilead assassins will helicopter in to burn down the lab and kill the scientist. June will unaccountably be nearby and will observe the situation with flared nostrils, clenched jaw, glaring eyes and deep breathing before crossing back over the border into Gilead so the show can continue.

Rappaport
Oct 2, 2013

Wafflecopper posted:

Either I'm an episode behind or OP only watched the first ep

I meant the continuous back and forth face-heeling with Serena and this ep ending with the teevee speech by the Waterfords to Canada's government with June doing the starey-eyes in the background, again

Scrotum Modem
Sep 12, 2014

https://i.imgur.com/VYmwaRk.mp4

Scrotum Modem fucked around with this message at 01:30 on Jun 20, 2019

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Big Dick Cheney
Mar 30, 2007
Do you think the United Kingdom would have let an SS officer see his kid?

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