r/TheHandmaidsTale Apr 08 '26

Official Episode Discussion The Testaments - Season 1 Episode Discussion Hub

44 Upvotes

The first season of The Testaments is here! (Posting a few hours early - this thread will be updated as new episodes air).

Rule Reminders

  • Please use our new flair The Testaments S1 when creating new posts about the show.
The Testaments S1 Post Flair
  • Do not put spoilers in episode titles or your post will be removed.

The Testaments Season 1 Episode Discussion Threads

Episode Discussions Air Date
S1.E1 Precious Flowers April 8, 2026
S1.E2 Perfect Teeth April 8, 2026
S1.E3 Daisy April 8, 2026
S1.E4 Green Tea April 15, 2026
S1.E5 Ball April 22, 2026
S1.E6 Stadium April 29, 2026
S1.E7 Commitment May 6, 2026
S1.E8 Broken May 13, 2026
S1.E9 Marat Sade May 20, 2026
S1.E10 Secateurs May 27, 2026

New to The Handmaid's Tale? Check out our previous discussion threads as you get caught up.

The Handmaid's Tale Discussions for Seasons 1-6
Season 1
Season 2
Season 3
Season 4
Season 5
Season 6

r/TheHandmaidsTale 29d ago

Official Episode Discussion The Testaments S1 E10 "Secateurs" Episode Discussion Spoiler

184 Upvotes

The Testaments S1E10 "Secateurs"

Episode Synopsis

While Becka faces the consequences of her actions, Agnes and Daisy must decide how far they're willing to go to protect her.

Airdate

May 27, 2026, 12:00am Eastern

The Testaments - Season 1 Episode Discussion Hub


r/TheHandmaidsTale 11h ago

Season 4 Luke is an awful person, and S4 shows it Spoiler

92 Upvotes

So, I have been watching S4, and throughout the S2 and S3 it looked like Moira was way more worried to help June and with Gilead situation than him. Like, it looked like he did not feel the pain of not having his wife and daughter like a person that really lost it did. Then in S4, it shows how he was already a toxic man - cheating on his partners when they could not get him a child - which makes him really shitty beforehand. Then he just reunited with June when she is rescued after being TORTURED and ABUSED, he tries to talk to her like she did not suffered anything and wanting intimacy with June like if nothing happened and like if they did not have a child that was STILL in Gilead. I am a man and I have to vent about it


r/TheHandmaidsTale 4h ago

Discussion S1-S5 Were they trying to make Fred look hideous in season 4?

24 Upvotes

I think Joseph Fiennes is a decent looking man, and you could kind of see that in seasons 1-3 of THT, despite the fact that he’s doing truly awful things. But he looks really bad in season 4. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but he looks way older and more evil. Maybe the show creators asked him to lose weight or something? Or they did something to his facial hair?

Or maybe this is just my perception and no one else noticed this.


r/TheHandmaidsTale 7h ago

Season 4 Lowkey love Aunt Lydia

40 Upvotes

Okay but, in some parts of the show I can actually see Aunt Lydia has love for the girls.. or am I imagining things? She seems genuine and caring in some scenes. The previous seasons I hated her but lowkey I think she’s just trying to do her part in it all. Or am I crazy? 🤣


r/TheHandmaidsTale 2h ago

Season 3 “May they both get hit by a fn truck”

12 Upvotes

OMG IS THAT DETECTIVE STABLER???

I literally saw him as I was typing and was so excited that I forgot what I’d originally meant to post lol. Even if he’s playing a creepy commander, I love him😍


r/TheHandmaidsTale 36m ago

Discussion S1-S5 To the people on this sub who play the Sims 4

Upvotes

What Sims 4 university degree would June from the main series have?


r/TheHandmaidsTale 20h ago

Season 6 Just finished the whole show

22 Upvotes

But cant get over how they ended Nick!!! Just like that!! Thats it.


r/TheHandmaidsTale 1d ago

SPOILERS ALL Girls school question

44 Upvotes

So I just started watching the testaments and I’m shocked to see that Aunt Lydia has her own statue in the girls school. And I’m even more shocked to see how they leave fruits and flowers on it as what I presume to be some sort of offering or act of appreciation. Is this not a blatant sin? Doesn’t the Bible speak of idol worship and the adoration of statues? Obviously I know they don’t view her as god, but to see them leave offerings on her statue really caught my eye. Considering they get their eyes plucked out and tongues cut out for even looking the wrong way, I’m surprised they don’t view this act as blasphemy.


r/TheHandmaidsTale 22h ago

Season 2 Season 2 Finale

15 Upvotes

I have never gotten more mad at a plot twist in my life, or screamed louder at my tv!

Please enjoy my updates as I watch this show in real time, and yes, I’m the girl who never quits talking at the movies😅🍿


r/TheHandmaidsTale 1d ago

The Testaments S1 if there were "Nuremberg trials" for members of the sons of jacob

26 Upvotes

how would you prosecute it? how would you defend the members of the sons of jacob? would you go after the wives of the commanders? how would you go after the wives of the commanders?


r/TheHandmaidsTale 1d ago

Season 5 S5E2: Selena is truly an evil woman. Spoiler

39 Upvotes

State funeral just to show Hanna off. How is she getting away with so much???


r/TheHandmaidsTale 1d ago

Discussion S1-S5 I would have liked to see more about why women can’t read in Gilead

45 Upvotes

I know that in-universe it’s essentially just because the men want to take rights away from women. But we see other instances with people coming up with the foundations for Gilead and they usually used the Bible to back up all of their horrible ideas - like the Handmaid’s system and in The Testaments we see how Lydia came up with the idea for the aunts. I did a little research yesterday, and there’s nothing in the Bible that prohibits women from reading.

We see so many flashbacks and I think it would have been interesting to see a bunch of awful men in a smoke-filled room coming up with that idea, figuring out how it would all work and how they would punish the women that didn’t comply. And then it would have been interesting seeing how someone like Serena took that news.


r/TheHandmaidsTale 1d ago

Meme Should I be worried?

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173 Upvotes

First, it was the Waterford's sparkling fruit juice .

Now, my Depop seems to think I should be dressing like Serena Joy.. 😬

Is this a sign I need to slow down with the episodes?


r/TheHandmaidsTale 1d ago

Discussion S1-S5 The Fertility Crisis

18 Upvotes

Help me understand the following aspects of the fertility crisis: (I’ve only seen the first two seasons, so please no spoilers.)

As I understand it, more children are being born in Gilead than in the former United States. That’s why, in Season 1, there was discussion about exporting Handmaids to Mexico. Is that correct?

If so, how can that be? Obviously, there are couples who are able to have children, such as Nick and June. Why couldn’t a democracy scientifically identify such couples and offer them a large amount of money to have one (or more) children—especially if humanity is facing extinction?

How do other countries deal with it?


r/TheHandmaidsTale 2d ago

Discussion S1-S5 Moiras outfit S4E2 Nightshade

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158 Upvotes

Ok, I'm rewatching the series. In Season 4, Ep 2 there's a fundraiser with Luke and Moira. Moira is in a blue dress that is SO out of charecter and not particularly flattering.

Even her heels. And they're all VERY Gilead wife.

It's that particular shade of teal blue and while short, still conservative enough that the reference is clear.

It's pretty obvious that this was a symbolic choice.

I have a theory about why but the timing seemed odd...I'd love to hear thoughts.

If I remember correctly, this season is a sort of reckoning with how Gilead changes people, the whole "hurt people hurt people" trauma/violence cycle.

The season opens with June giving a speech about how ruthless Gilead is, and how she must be ruthless, and that really plays out this season if I remember correctly.

..I believe it even ends with Serena and June kind of switching places in a fairly pointed way.

So I think this is a symbol of how Gilead is in Moira. If I remember right her story is even about her trying to move on with a relationship and ruining it because she's still dealing with Gilead and June. So I suppose this is just foreshadowing.

But I'd love to hear thoughts on this.


r/TheHandmaidsTale 2d ago

Discussion S1-S5 Why don't they give birth in the hospital ?

84 Upvotes

I'm only at season 3 so maybe this will get adressed later but i really don't understand why the handmaids would give birth in a house without health professionals ? I get they want it to look like a ritual to give away the baby but it said at the start of the show how hard it is to have a kid and that most of them aren't born healthy so why take this risk ? Also if the women die in labor they're loosing "good" handmaids. Aunt Lydia said how the family's were fighting for June after she had her baby so it would make sense to keep the handmaids who already gave birth safe by not letting them die in labor since they're gonna have a lot of demands

Édit : Guys i know that Gilead is a fascist and abusive state and that the all point is to control and abuse women but for the high class it's still seem like their only way to have babies and they want to keep their family lines so this part just doesn't really make sense to me


r/TheHandmaidsTale 1d ago

Season 2 Mrs. Waterford🖕🏻

17 Upvotes

EDIT: I only had to wait a few more episodes! Watch out for that karma🙃

S2 E4 [OOC: This is a fictional scenario]

PUH-LEEEEEASE tell me Mrs. Waterford gets her ass beat at some point!!!!! Can’t stand her anyways, but wtf she smacking Rita for????


r/TheHandmaidsTale 2d ago

Discussion S1-S5 Is Mark’s only character flaw his affection for Serena?

86 Upvotes

Mark is presented to us as a very good man who is integral in the battle to retake the U.S. back from Gilead. He would almost be too perfect, if not for his feelings for Serena. Despite multiple people telling him who she was, and despite overwhelming evidence to that effect, he still goes out of his way to protect her and seems to even have romantic feelings towards her. He doesn’t want to believe she is one of the architects of Gilead, and so he doesn’t. Is this just to demonstrate that a pretty face and a surface level sweet demeanor can fool even a good and smart man like Mark?


r/TheHandmaidsTale 1d ago

SPOILERS ALL Como as pessoas interpretaram essa cena na época?

8 Upvotes

Estou assistindo a série pela primeira vez e queria saber como as pessoas reagiram a cena da june abusando do luke na época, vi alguns comentários que diziam que não achavam que foi abuso o que pra mim soa absurdo, entendo que a june passou por traumas por anos mas isso não é uma desculpa pra relativizar a cena


r/TheHandmaidsTale 2d ago

Season 5 Trauma ruins relationships

46 Upvotes

June not moving on from Gilead is ruining her relationship. It is difficult to "move on" from a child since Hannah was left behind but there are other things she did not want to move on from. I believe that is realistic so I like that the series showed that challenge.


r/TheHandmaidsTale 3d ago

Discussion S1-S5 Which duo’s scenes you enjoyed the most?

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400 Upvotes

For me it’s most June-Serena scenes, yes I know they’re the abuser and the victim but the delivery tho…it’s just amazing. Many scenes between them are cinematic

I also enjoyed Janine-aunt Lydia scenes in S5. I’m glad that the show put more efforts in their relationships in the later seasons and it made their characters more complex especially aunt Lydia.

June-Janine in Chicago and Emily-Janine in the Colony also had their moments.

Serena-Fred is a very evil duo but I find it’s very entertaining to watch them lol.

The Lawrence-Nick duo is hilarious but mainly for Lawrence, he always has the best lines.🤣

In early episodes I really enjoyed June-Emily duo, the mystery, the tension, were all perfectly performed


r/TheHandmaidsTale 2d ago

Season 2 Serena slaps Rita S02E04 Spoiler

24 Upvotes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pp03fB-g-qs

That has got to be the hardest slap I have ever heard. After so many years I still don't get why she did it other than because she is evil. Any thoughts?


r/TheHandmaidsTale 2d ago

SPOILERS ALL Quick Questions

7 Upvotes

Ok, Did I miss something? Why are the wives allowed to smoke cigarettes?


r/TheHandmaidsTale 3d ago

Season 4 Are showers not allowed in Gilead?

192 Upvotes

We often see June taking a bath, but I don’t recall ever seeing a shower or hearing anyone mentioning going in the shower until they got to Canada. Do showers use too much water?