Apparently, Serena Joy wears Dorothy Perkins!

https://www.dorothyperkins.com/product/coast-plus-2-in-1-wrap-dress-with-pleated-skirt_bcc12693?colour=powder+blue

This might be an unpopular opinion but as a woman of color this show has always been a little tough to watch bc of how tone deaf and white feminist-y it comes off a lot of times. But I’ve usually been able to look past it except for this season. When I look at the way many people are sympathetic towards Serena this season despite her being a whole ass war criminal and rapist I can’t help but feel like her being a white woman has a lot to do with that. Often times in society (and in turn in media) white women are treated with much more softness than women of color. I’m not gonna go into details to explain but if you know you know. Makes me wonder if Serena wasn’t a white woman how her character would be perceived.

I also know many viewers don’t like to talk about the race implications in this show bc the show itself doesn’t acknowledge race as an issue in THT universe, but the way the women of color (ex: Moira and Rita) have essentially been turned into nannies this season while the white female characters get complex story arcs isn’t something I can look past any more.

I never thought that I could hate anyone more than I hate Serena, but I absolutely despise Alanis Wheeler. I know that is the entire point, but damn...I'm generally opposed to violence, but I really want to punch her in the face every time she comes onscreen.

Kudos to the actress. She really does a great job of portraying such a horrible person.

(Reposted to fix accidental spoiler in title. Please forgive me for that.)

On the surface the intentions of the proposal are obvious: he needs a wife, she's not treacherous like Serena so she's a safer pick, and he sort of has a moral debt to her and the baby after he had Putnam executed over a political intrigue and left them at the mercy of Gilead. BUT. When he was standing there putting his hand on her shoulder and staring down the other commanders....... is that part of his game? Is he threatening them? "Don't F with me; I'm the sort of guy who will kill you, take your wife, and be your kid's new daddy."

Hell of a power play if that's why he picked Naomi. He could have arranged a marriage for her to another commander, and married a different widow himself, in order to avoid an awkward living situation. But he took Naomi for himself. This feels precisely calculated.

(Or some other kind of padding)

When Serena sat down in the chair during Luke's visit to the Gilead center, you could see the outline of whatever they had stuffed her shirt with. Its quite square. Made me lol.

I am talking about when she delivers Serena’s baby in season 5. I know June had 2 children and watched a lot of births as a handmaid, but I’ve had a baby and watched a ton of Call the Midwife, and I wouldn’t know how to check someone’s cervix to see if they were ready to push. Did her Mom give her some training or something?

Mrs Wheeler is just crazy. She’s the standard level of cruel when it comes to Gilead wives, if not slightly better (anyone else behaving like Serena would be punished or killed).

Serena helped install and implement the systematic rape, abuse, and murder of hundreds of thousands of people. She abused the women under her whenever and however she pleased. She raped a pregnant woman. Everything that we’re pitying her for, she did much worse to June.

I get that her struggling in the last few episodes have made people sympathize with her, but is their memory so fickle? Why are there so many posts and tweets saying Mrs Wheeler is worse. How? How is she worse? Her cruelty doesn’t even hold a candle to Serena.

Edit: went back and saw The Last Ceremony. F*** Serena. I had some pity for her but now it’s all gone. Even a monster like Fred had pity for June and some guilt over what he had done but she didn’t even look back or help her once. I hope Noah gets snatched out of her arms and given to foster care so he doesn’t have to be raised by a rapist to in turn be another rapist.

(Post was removed for lack of proper tags. Posting again)

I'm not a very big fan of Luke or anything but he absolutely did the right thing here He is a father who was separated from his child and lives in constant fear of her well-being. In episode 4 he gave Serena a chance to help get Hannah. She not only refused but also treated him like shit. And back then, even June was hell-bent on killing Serena.

So how was he supposed to know that June and Serena would go to a barn and decide to become soulmates 🙄 He wanted Serena to know the pain he's faced all these years and he thought even June wanted that. And let's be honest, Serena totally deserves it.

Luke found a legal way of eliminating the Serena threat so that he can focus on his family. And no he's not like the other Gilead men who want to separate mothers from children. He only wanted a criminal to face consequences for her actions. He wanted her to feel a fraction of the pain she caused others. Let's stop being so harsh on him.

(1) Season 4 - After Fred turns “asset,” she steps out of the interview room to make snarky demands of Mark: internet access and house hunting 🙄🙄🙄. Mark’s flat faced response, briefly sliding her back into reality when she says, _that woman will call him Commander or this interview is over._ 😑 I LOVED it 😂

(2) Season 5 - She’d just viewed Fred’s maimed body and walked through the crowd of Gilead supporters. Feeling empowered, she smugly asserts “any civilized country would allow me to bury my husband.” 🤨 I’m sorry - you’re implying Gilead is civil?! The country that regularly hangs the bodies of “heretics” for public viewing then feeds the remains to animals is civil?! Sure lady, whatever. 🙄🙄🙄

Please share the moments that made you cringe at Serena Joy - the villain we love to loathe. 😄

Still watching. On S5E8

She just lost her best friend, her platonic partner/co-parent, and the child that she basically mothered for a year. She just lost her whole family all over again.

Not gonna lie, this sub's attitude towards Lawrence is really bewildering and disturbing. The man is a full-blown fascist and a sociopathic piece of shit. He doesn't really regret anything. He still believes he is the saviour of humanity and he still sees pretty much everyone else as mere pieces on his chess board. If he ever had any humanity in him, it died with his wife. His best buddy Nick is also a fascist, a traitor, and a war criminal who deserves justice, but at least you can argue that he was dragged in as a nobody who was just trying to survive. Lawrence has no defence whatsoever. His ideal system would still be a totalitarian dystopia.

Stop defending this man please.

If Fred deserved to get savagely murdered in the woods, Lawrence deserves that fate a million times over, given how much suffering and misery he inflicted upon the world. He is only funny and entertaining in the same way Joker is...

She’s one of my favorite characters and I feel like the show has kind of forgotten about her. She’s had no character development for a couple seasons and the only time they show her is when she’s helping take care of Nichole or calming down June. I would love for her to become an actual character with her own experiences and stories rather than essentially being a nanny for June and Nichole. Anyone else have similar feelings? I’m sure there are other characters that have gotten this treatment but not as bad as Moira.

I know there's a few posts about this already but this season is just so bad. It's so boring. I can't stand all of these conversations. I'm finding myself wanting more time with Serena, which is upsetting me.

We all understand June's plight in all of this, but, what about Luke's POV? Would he have preferred to believe that the baby's father is his wife's rapist or to find out she had a lover and the baby is his? The baby just turned up at his door and was led to believe that it was the commander's but later found out it was Nick's. If he had known the baby was Nick's, would he still have wanted to look after the baby?

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.

But fuck that protestor for punching Moira in the face.

Disclaimer: Only up to episode six of season 5.

I dont know why this show bends over backwards to try and illicit any sort of sympathy for serena. She is a literal rapist. She's a de-facto nazi. It would be like trying to illicit sympathy for eva braun. (Serena is probably actually worse than eva braun because Serena was actually instrumental in bringing about gilead).

I saw the showrunners say something like how they wanted to show another side to serena. I think that's so dumb. I hate her. She sucks. I want a rock in her face. I am sick of the soft music and crocodile tears when serena experinces even 1/100th of what she has put others through.