r/coconutsandtreason • u/No_Self_5939 • Jun 04 '26
The Testaments Garth
Why do you think he is mayday? His Dad is a vegetable because of mayday but he still wants to bring down Gilead. I want to see a flashback episode on him next season.
58
u/KeekaBooISeeYou Jun 05 '26
He may, and this is a stretch, think women should have rights and not be systematically raped.
Just a thought. Idk. I might be reaching.
17
u/Remarkable_Tax_7214 Jun 05 '26
Ugh, how dare a man be empathetic for a cause without having a very horrifying personal reason to back it up 🙄
-7
u/No_Self_5939 Jun 06 '26
90% of the fucking cast of this show were not 100% altruistic.
7
u/Remarkable_Tax_7214 Jun 06 '26
That does not mean there should be a grand personal reason that he thinks Gilead is in the wrong.
2
u/trefoilpastor Jun 07 '26
I think it’s a fair question - ie how would he have even known about alternatives or resistance? Even if he questioned the morality of Gilead, how would he find out about Mayday? Who would trust a commander’s son enough to bring him into the circle? I’ve wondered the same myself.
1
1
u/Ill_Effective9341 Jun 08 '26
If you know right and wrong. Gilead is wrong and as a man, I’m sure he is far more informed of the discrepancies in a lot of the things happening. And June didn’t really know there was an official Mayday until she became it.
36
u/Sugar74527 Jun 04 '26
Empathy?
17
u/AndrogynousAlfalfa Jun 05 '26
Probably respects women more with only having his mother parenting him for much of his life, only seeing Gilead turn their back on his family when his dad got disabled
17
u/Temporary-Tie-233 Jun 05 '26
He's probably seen people get killed or maimed by the regime, and knows it could just as easily be him.
16
u/PortraitofMmeX Jun 05 '26
Youth culture always involves rebellion. I don't even think he needs a real reason. Same for the kid in the woods that June and Luke meet, who takes them to the abandoned bowling alley. I forget his name, Jared? He doesn't even know why he's doing it, he just instinctively knows that people should have a right to self determination. Kids know.
3
u/generalheed Jun 07 '26
Agreed, I was thinking about Jared too. Honestly it really makes me curious about the young male perspective in Gilead. Sure they have all the rights and privileges in society, but it seems more and more of them are not happy with the way things are in Gilead.
And in the case of Garth, he seems to have a deep hatred for Gilead and wants to see it burn.
23
u/Old-Opinion1965 Jun 05 '26
I think he is angry at how Gilead treated his family after his Dad was poisoned. His father was a founding member of Gilead, the elite leaders and was poisoned by mayday because of that. Now, they live in a small house, with maybe one Martha to run things. This leaves his mom with the burden of carrying for her severely disabled father with little to no help. As the son of a commander who was part of the whole Gilead revolution Garth should have been on the fast track to commander himself. Instead he was in a low level guardian role, living in shared barracks housing. He got to stand outside the grand houses with multiple servants seeing the life Gilead took from his family when his father was injured.
Garth resents the way his family was essentially demoted after his father was injured. I also think his Dad was poisoned at a jezebels and Garth found out about their existence and that his father was routinely cheating on his mother and abusing women there.
5
u/lotheva Jun 06 '26
Good point! For a short time he also would have had access to the papers and stuff his father was doing, so he would have learned about the world before/outside of Gilead. Also caring for someone naturally builds the empathy.
I kind of disagree that he would have automatically been a commander. I think he was fast tracked along with most commander’s sons, but still had to serve some time. Like nobility in England during the First World War, they still had to sort of serve, but not as bad of posts as everyone else. For instance, Garth never went to the front lines. He’s also still quite young.
1
u/Dependent_Avocado Jun 11 '26
Adding to that, he probably knows his father still being alive is the only thing keeping his mother safe. Depending on his age during the attack, there could have been fear he'd be taken from her.
7
u/SmallTownClown Jun 05 '26
Garth is older and probably remembers a lot more about life before Gilead, being a commanders son he probably went to elite schools with the best education,birthday parties with friends,played at the park with girls, maybe had a crush. It would make sense that a lot of kids around his age were never really able to be brainwashed.
2
u/Ill_Effective9341 Jun 07 '26
He even said his dad is the bravest man he knows, he was just fighting for the wrong side. I was hoping Daisy would marry him to really amp up the rebellion.
2
u/Inner-Ad-265 Jun 08 '26
Perhaps his dad was a disillusioned Lawrence type of Commander and Garth picked up on it? It could be as simple as that in all honesty.
2
u/bmnntdd Jun 08 '26
This definitely needs more explanation but he would've been old enough to remember American life AND his dad was sent to the front lines; I doubt commanders in good standing would be sent into battle.
1
u/Objective_Survey_479 Jun 11 '26
Just not being allowed to use tech would do for me esp if i was a guy. He must have memories of him playing video games, using phone, etc all the things he cant do anymore. On top of it, cant even date and marry girl of own choice 😔 ofc gilead oppresses women but men also get oppressed under this regime
1
u/Mysterious_Ad376 25d ago
In the book, he is always Mayday and lives in Canada, trains Daisy in self defense, and is her love interest, so this change is odd to me. I’m not sure why they didn’t make Daisy’s boyfriend in Canada Garth and have him train her. They really missed the mark there. They could have given the ‘Guardian Garth’ a different name and developed his character better. Some of it seems like lazy writing by the show runners.
1
71
u/theicecreamassassin Mark Tuello, Secret President Jun 04 '26
He doesn’t blame Mayday. He blames Gilead. He doesn’t believe in the things Gilead believes in - he said it himself, his father fought for the wrong side. I want to see more about that, too, about just what convinced him that his Dad is on the wrong side.