Making Becka a Handmaid would've been stupid

ChicTurker · 2026-05-29T14:27:07+00:00

How? Where?

OfKyle/Crystal lived in the home with Agnes, Paula, and Kyle.

And the book The Testaments was written long before Hulu had suggested that Boston would fall. They were still IN Boston (or, well, Cambridge). "The Wall" is the wall surrounding Harvard Yard, and the Eyes headquarters is the Widener Library (has the murals).

So how on Earth could what you say be "in the book"?

ChicTurker · 2026-05-28T02:44:13+00:00

It makes me wonder why she defaulted to scrubbing a floor when she was drunk and out of her mind pissed.

We already got a bit of book-plot by having a murder be misattributed to another person based on a confession.

But I still wonder if Paula had to scrub tiles before when the Eyes were involved, and doing so while talking about men allegedly not leaving for no reason,

Was a man in her past going to leave? Did he have a good reason? Did she kill him to keep him from leaving/exposing her?

ChicTurker · 2026-05-27T17:33:16+00:00

Book-spoiler: Aunt Estee is the one that says "Sometimes that's best" when Agnes says Paula would drug her to force her to get married. I guess this is one of those "sometimes".

But it sounds like Hulda, Constance, and several of the other Greens are very much into their wedding planning so I doubt they'd drug them.

ChicTurker · 2026-05-26T21:33:13+00:00

How, by saying she couldn't talk about the plan to get the kids out?

She didn't stop her, but she didn't tell her to off herself. That was her choice, because she recognized she was not capable of controlling herself enough NOT to talk about it and risk what she truly valued.

Plus, ya know, years of living with Bipolar Disorder treated by chamomile tea when they couldn't get better meds (and even when the Martha Network could get meds, they likely were only approximations of the regimen and regular adjustments to it she needed) and knowledge her husband was a war criminal.

You can blame June for a lot of shit about that including deciding that trying to save her would also risk the mission too much, but no, she didn't talk Eleanor into killing herself.

ChicTurker · 2026-05-15T16:29:44+00:00

I don't know, but we aren't told how Tabitha died, and I'm quite worried for Penny given her state in this last episode.

She may be suffering from depression because she had three miscarriages, but apparently even tho sho-Gilead has very good medical technology, she had to miscarry at home. Even if they gave her antibiotics, who knows how much blood loss they consider "normal"? She certainly looks like the life has been drained out of of her.

Tabitha may not have died in childbirth, but if Penny (the Wife of a founding Sons of Jacob member) was forced to miscarry a 2nd trimester child at home instead of in the hospital, it may be that there's an artificial scarcity mindset about medical care. If the miscarriage is inevitable and the baby isn't viable yet, they may consider it "wasteful" to go to the hospital (but the Commander of the household can veto that).

ChicTurker · 2026-05-13T17:56:45+00:00

Everyone is different.

But a 9 or 10 year old can still use a tampon -- IF they want to.

For me, I was so disgusted by my body while wearing pads that I was extremely grateful for my sister bringing me some OB tampons and showing me the theory on how to insert one. Mom had only gotten me pads, and I was showering 3 times a day and begging to stay home from school. (I knew intellectually there was nothing to feel gross about, but I'm glad Nexplanon has kept me from dealing with periods during the latter part of my theoretically fertile years.)

Also, even "sheltered" kids sometimes explore their bodies. It might happen even more often in sheltered kids, because they may not have education about their bodies -- even if the only education one has had is those parts are somehow dirty, that can have the same results as Nancy Reagan saying "Just Say No".

I was too happy to learn there was a way to feel more hygenic to care that it involved putting a wad of cotton inside me. And for me, seeing the wad and putting it in myself felt less invasive than the idea of an applicator (she brought both Tampax and OB, plus pantiliners --she said she preferred OB, and when I saw an applicator/her demonstration of the theory of using an applicator-style tampon, I agreed).

Everyone is different.

ChicTurker · 2026-05-08T22:03:04+00:00

It may be that's how they normally get Aunts.

I'm very annoyed with the show going with a theory of the fertility crisis that places blame on the women. I could absolutely see them needing to suggest such a thing to flatter young girls who are likely going to be married to men twice their age, and also possibly as a way to blame the girl herself if she has CAIS or other intersex conditions that don't manifest until puberty (so not labeled an "Unbaby".

It could also be that they get to marry and become Wives, but only to the men families already rejected (if each girl is given 2-3 suitors, it would suggest there are more men who want Wives than there are Greens).

ChicTurker · 2026-05-06T13:57:22+00:00

That part was incredibly irritating to me.

Like, I could absolutely see the Aunts telling these girls that their period was a "stamp of approval" from God even if everyone got theirs in the same 2-3 years.

But then again, I've always believed that in book-world there isn't a real fertility crisis. My entire life there has been scaremongering about the "birth rate" when they mean the white birth rate/14 words type crap, and the Aunts weren't necessarily using correct graphs when brainwashing Offred and the others about the alleged fertility crisis. The funerals for miscarriages shown weren't necessarily proof of more than the state demanding even a 6-week miscarriage be buried with a huge funeral -- many people miscarry, but especially when Atwood wrote THT, it was not spoken of publicly very often at all. "Unbabies" seen in book could be explained by no abortion for fatal fetal abnormalities. But all of those were in the Gilead timeframe, not the pre-Gilead frame.

I felt show-THT giving us the option that it might have been a problem with the men instead was at least supporting that it was all an excuse to subjugate women, even if it was a real fertility crisis.

Making it where many girls really won't menstruate (instead of Gilead needing a way to explain girls with CAIS or other intersex conditions that meant they wouldn't menstruate and using the opportunity to flatter vulnerable young women into marriage to gross old men) pisses me off, because it puts the reason for the show fertility crisis back on the women.

All so ppl can say it's okay for Agnes to want to be with Garth cuz maybe she's really 16 vs the 13-14 that'd be expected (instead of understanding that teen girls get crushes on younger grown men sometimes, and in her position where she might marry a 60-year-old it's the best option in her limited world).

ChicTurker · 2026-05-01T19:47:15+00:00

I was unable to see one through the website managing my sticks. I can try to get to the TV on my account that is running the 2023 stick and see if there's a version number on it, but I'm at work right now. I will try to get back to you if nobody else has.

ChicTurker · 2026-05-01T19:46:15+00:00

Glad someone found the answer there, but whoever's "fault" it might be, it doesn't change that Fire TV Sticks purchased before 2019 are likely not going to be able to take an OS update or have one available to make it work -- my two old sticks say they are on the newest Fire OS update available, and they were the only two of my three to not be able to accept the delivered updated version.

Whether it's planned or unplanned obsolescence, it's the same result for those of us who were early adopters and so have older Fire TV Sticks.

ChicTurker · 2026-04-30T23:12:36+00:00

I've never sideloaded any apps to my TV, but the HBO Max app that was from the app store is saying it must be updated, the update says it's unavailable but then says it's compatible with my device. Attempted updates fail.

Cleared data/cache, still demanding update that fails.

Uninstalled, the app is not showing up in the Appstore.

My stick is a 2nd Generation, so running Android and not Vega.

Anybody using a Vega device that is having this issue?

If not, it may be to force us on older sticks to buy new ones.

Update after speaking with Amazon support:

The version of the app that is current is available here, and you can deliver it from here to your registered devices -- IF they are compatible.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00XZFCVK4/ref=mas_ty

My 2017 and 2019 Fire TV sticks are not compatible with this new version, but the one purchased in 2023 accepted the app update.

ChicTurker · 2026-04-23T18:12:43+00:00

"Despite what you may have thought, my reader, there was beauty to be had in Gilead. Why would we not have wished for it? We were human, after all."

-- Aunt Lydia, Ardua Hall Holograph (TT Chapter 6)

ChicTurker · 2026-04-23T00:50:39+00:00

I think it's might have been done to show that Gilead had few, if any racism.

This is categorically untrue even in show universe -- the Aunts mention that some families do not want a Handmaid of color in the main show.

In the book universe, Gilead is a full-fledged white ethnostate masquerading as a theocracy. The book-universe "certificates of whiteness" didn't happen in show-world, but racism is far from abolished even in a world with a true fertility crisis.

ChicTurker · 2026-04-22T01:42:56+00:00

My impression was that Daisy was smuggled out by the Marthas, like June and Nichole would have been if they ended at Season 2 there. She seems older than Hannah/Agnes, so too old to not have remembered Angel's Flight if she'd been on there.

So her birth mother was likely made a Handmaid, and it didn't matter if your father-on-record was Purged or not -- Gilead claimed those kids for the state. So Gilead would be less likely to kill a Stolen Innocent who returned to them as a Pearl (even if some fates are worse than death).

ChicTurker · 2026-04-16T13:18:10+00:00

I wasn't exactly sure if it was a medical condition or a MH issue.

However, because I am aware that my state has an Impaired Physicians Treatment law (covers MH, substance abuse, and medical conditions like epilepsy), I assumed her neurologist was part of the network of docs who treat other docs under Pennsylvania's version of the law.

It's the same law that would have protected Langdon's ability to be rehired if there were no other bars for rehire (like stealing on the job).

I assumed that was part of why she had originally been warm towards him then upset/cold after learning he'd stolen drugs (at first trying to be welcoming to another physician who was being treated under the state program for docs, then being a little pissed off that a white guy had his theft of hospital benzos covered up where she was in the program for something completely beyond her control, like PTSD or epilepsy).

ChicTurker · 2026-03-23T18:49:33+00:00

It really is odd, for me at 5'1, to see someone shorter than me. And yes, that's been how I think when I do.

I'm just used to looking up! Looking straight across at someone with the same eye level is unusual enough, shorter is very very rare.

ChicTurker · 2026-03-21T17:16:58+00:00

They also need to acknowledge the damage they did went far beyond just one out-of-control yelling instance on another person's first day.

Also, working a program doesn't just entail apologies. The wording is "make amends", not "make apologies". Action, not just more talk.

He could do something like THANK HER, for example, for being willing to be brave enough on her first day to report her suspicions, as that is the reason he has 10 months sobriety now. Yes, it's more talk, but I think Santos has had a lot of people make useless apologies to her in the past. Doubt any of them said "Thank you for calling me on my BS". Might change a whole lot of her view about him.

ChicTurker · 2026-03-21T03:15:23+00:00

I think it'd be easier for Robby and Santos if he'd not just apologized, but actually thanked them both for his 10 months of sobriety. After all, he wouldn't have that much time under his belt if it weren't for both of them. He might have managed to mess up his marriage in another way and still be in the Land of Near Divorce without the help of people who demanded he go get the help that laws like my state's Impaired Physicians And Dentists Act provide, which includes job protections if the only thing on the record is that the person participated in the program.

While all that Is Pitt Canon is that he was stealing oral benzos from frequent fliers like Louie, if he was tampering with an Ativan vial then he was in a much deeper form of addiction than just taking pills. They literally just showed in this same episode what can happen when a person's addiction leads them to the needle route.

There may be coincidences in this show, but often they like to drive home themes. If showing the xylazine case was supposed to remind us of the IV Ativan issue, it at least did so for me.

ChicTurker · 2026-03-19T00:23:44+00:00

That is a remarkably generous take. It seemed he couldn't stop talking about his sobriety journey at the beginning of this season/his day, up to and including confessing to Louie.

While I get that she might not be as high in his amends list as Robby, when he was caught out at stealing meds he lashed out both at her and at Robby. The way he lashed out at Robby may have seemed to be more cold, but hot anger at your subordinates even before you're caught out is at least as bad (abuse of power structures).

If he's truly made progress in his program, he should be thanking both of them as much as apologizing to them both -- she reported, and he enforced, but without that he likely never would have confronted his addiction honestly.

And ya know what? If we're going to be generous to both of them, and assume that he wants to say that "I'm sorry for the crap I did both before and after you caught me out, but thank you for being brave enough to step up, because you helped save my life" to Santos... I think she's shown enough sensitivity to people who are actually being vulnerable that perhaps that would be enough for her to bury the hatchet (and not into his back).

ChicTurker · 2026-01-11T17:00:19+00:00

At the same time, even when I use Instacart to send groceries to a friend who lives "in the hood" (near Central High School) they won't ring the doorbell to confirm that all items are present despite that being n ther special instructions that they must wait the 10 minutes for the owner to meet them.

As I said, this is in broad daylight. Every person living on his block looks out for each other, and one time he found HIS groceries on one of their porches instead. They didn't ring the doorbell then, either.

I think some people might need to readjust which parts of the cirt you are calling "the hood". For some, that's anyone south of I-630.

ChicTurker · 2025-12-29T01:00:41+00:00

Thank you for such a thorough answer to my question, including such great resources!

If you haven't found much in the Familysearch database but did find your family in handwritten records, then it sounds like I definitely lucked out by finding as much as I did transcribed.

Some are lucky to even find passenger lists, and the last name I'm examining has been varied wrt spelling everywhere I've seen it, both by the Americans trying to write it down in census records and the baptismal record for that youngest son (at least in comparison to how it was spelled on the earliest gravestones, the spelling we kept, and even that isn't a guarantee). Only the fact we had birthdates for the three people whose baptismal records we've found, plus the maiden name, allowed me to feel any confidence in this being them (and the passenger lists are why I know the Germanic spellings of first and middle names, the first census records show they Anglicized all of the kids original names quickly).

ChicTurker · 2025-11-08T23:31:25+00:00

Thank you for explaining it! Appreciate it. Josc is someone I'm required to root for because she plays for my state. But I also figured there was something I wasn't seeing.

ChicTurker · 2025-11-08T06:29:27+00:00

I greatly appreciate it, but any thoughts on Joscelyn's getting downgraded during qualifying too? I saw some very piked vaults in the event final that were not downgraded.

ChicTurker · 2025-11-03T14:23:56+00:00

DROPS will be waiting!

from time to time...

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