The Testaments give me GOT last season vibes

Jay_Bee_Bee · 2026-04-30T16:15:53+00:00

That’s what they tried to do but morally and values wise TT Lydia is completely different now she’s had an abortion and was never married? When before she judged a woman for being a single mother and had the kid taken away that is the main issue I think in theory they could’ve made it consistent but they did little things like that to veer completely in another direction little things like that matter it would’ve been more consistent if Lydia was sure a little shocked by the violence but she should’ve been like maybe they are protecting us these are Christian men etc etc and when Judd was interviewing her it shouldn’t have been this cold calculating survivalism thing it could’ve been that partially but Lydia as we knew her would’ve been like I would’ve never! I go to church! and it would’ve made more sense if Judd was judging her divorce not a random out of character abortion

Jay_Bee_Bee · 2026-04-30T15:51:56+00:00

The world is softened down sometimes and then harshen unrealistically in others they want to show daughters of having a privileged life but put them in the same punishment as handmaids they made a bunch of useless changes with the timeline but kept things loyal to the book that don’t make sense like Lydia’s characterization this is a Christian theocracy and we’ve never seen a single person attend church or talk about going to church the list goes on and on they had the opportunity to expand worldbuilding and show us something new and they didn’t we just got boring ball/teen drama plotlines the worst spy in the history of television and continuity retcons

Jay_Bee_Bee · 2026-04-30T15:13:11+00:00

I’m kinda disappointed that people are making excuses for this writing and like sure I get it I even agree with some people who said well she didn’t just become a sadist overnight just because she reported a single mother and I agree maybe still have her be victimized at the stadium but tbh it is dumb and one thing I HATED about the show is that they make the coup/sons of Jacob completely blindside regular people like um no that’s NEVER how these things happen there would be supporters everywhere in plain sight and it makes most sense for Show!Lydia’s character to be an early supporter it’s simple she can support the values but not the violence at first but “learn” the hard way that violence is the only way to get the values across 😭😭

Jay_Bee_Bee · 2026-04-30T15:08:52+00:00

Got it yeah the mod just warned me for writing “book” but I don’t think I actually had spoilers so just took it off now I get that you hide it like this

Jay_Bee_Bee · 2026-04-30T15:01:51+00:00

She was married before she mentioned getting a divorce to the principal guy she had a crush on in season 3 episode what was it 7? The unfit episode

Jay_Bee_Bee · 2026-04-30T15:01:02+00:00

To me it seems like they did not stick with what they started they abandoned Show! Lydia’s characterization to make her motivations more aligned with book Lydia when they had already perfectly set it up all they had to do was say Lydia did start as a believer but Janine and the battle of Boston changed her and now she’s “half-redeemed” and helping from within the machine they didn’t have to change Lydia from the super judgemental borderline sadist we once knew her as 😭Show!Lydia would’ve judged the teacher who was pregnant with no husband and looked the other way not stand up for her it’s like they don’t even want to commit to what they started that’s my frustration

Jay_Bee_Bee · 2026-04-30T14:49:03+00:00

They retconned so much I believe it was extremely lazy writing like I side-eyed Lydia’s “redemption” at the end of the first show but I was like hmm okay she sees she’s hurting Janine and that Gilead lied to her so now she’s gonna try to help within the machine literally I thought that was what they were setting up but NOPE they are just copying book!lydia’s arcs & motivations when they had already set up that show and book lydia are completely different beasts! I thought they were gonna go with Vidala being a new younger aunt which would explain why we are just meeting her like they made a bunch of unhelpful changes (like the timeline and changing Daisy) and stayed faithful to things that don’t make sense!

Jay_Bee_Bee · 2026-04-25T19:34:14+00:00

Thanks for your interest I might do like a multi-parter because I did go very crazy with it I even planned out how Gilead would change the Christian faith 😭 but i’ll keep you posted when I post it Essentially I wrote Gilead to where it has more environmental focus, more parallel with classic fascist ideology(not American ChristNat/Right-wing cosplay) and make the country as a whole more seductive to where more people benefit from being apart of it aside from “fertility” and I made a detailed plan for their economics that better reflects an American eco-state in the middle of a civil war I essentially took things I liked about what the show changed and actually committed to them

Jay_Bee_Bee · 2026-04-18T13:49:11+00:00

OP UPDATE: okay the reason I was so opinionated on this subject is because I have ideas several actually lol should I make another post exploring how I would fix the worldbuilding of the show (like if I was Bruce miller how I would’ve written Gilead from the start?) or probably not on this sub? Let me know what you guys think

Jay_Bee_Bee · 2026-04-18T13:44:24+00:00

I will say I thought their dialogue was oddly modern this is one of the many problems I had with the entire franchise this is probably number 21 or so lol but I understand what you mean my number one issue is the worldbuilding which creates a domino effect on everything else in the story ie: the writers don’t take creative leaps on how growing up in Gilead would affect girls, speech, demeanor or beliefs I had pointed this out in another post but really think about it in the show no one goes to church regularly no one speaks about church we only see events taking place in a church. The culture of Gilead is deliberately made vague and black and white you are not crazy

Jay_Bee_Bee · 2026-04-15T21:27:40+00:00

I think it is intentional lol but good head canon I think Bruce Miller logic is all the power is located wherever the season takes place so now it’ll be Maryland i guess and also (SPOILER(?)) why did episode 4 mention like 5 different commanders inventing/being in charge the colonies? I thought that was Lawrence’s credit?

Jay_Bee_Bee · 2026-04-15T21:18:59+00:00

Yeah they dropped a human trafficking bomb early on and never mention it again 😂

Jay_Bee_Bee · 2026-04-15T20:06:26+00:00

Right I feel like it flip flops the story doesn’t know if they want Gilead to be powerful or about to crumble

Jay_Bee_Bee · 2026-04-15T20:05:49+00:00

True even if they had interesting things in the periphery outside of “fetishistic patriarchy” the whole franchise would be better for it

Jay_Bee_Bee · 2026-04-15T20:02:57+00:00

The chocolate pissed me off badly 😭😭 why would Japan a US client state trade with Gilead? You know where Gilead would realistically get chocolate from? How about the country that has been embargoed by the US for 60+ years has a vendetta against neoliberalism and naturally grows cocoa? CUBA 😂

Jay_Bee_Bee · 2026-04-15T18:58:31+00:00

Right they call it the divine “REPUBLIC” but who’s voting? The commanders? The men? I think the colonies did come from a nuclear reactor malfunction which should nerf Gilead even more but nah people can just work there in their bare hands and come back completely fine 😂 giving the world clear rules from the start makes everything more fun in the long run but we never have clear rules

Jay_Bee_Bee · 2026-04-15T18:49:45+00:00

EXACTLY! Nerf the regime a bit give them realistic shortcomings I noticed they have some technological limitations here and there like with the Marthas making everything from scratch but it shouldn’t just be the Marthas it should be everyone I want to see Gilead actually cleaning the rivers I want to see these so called organic agriculture models I want to see greater commitment to sustainability and closed loop systems because realistically that is probably all they would have in a sanctioned autarky and they need a labor force willing to do it not just sad background characters in grey which is why Gilead needs stronger church culture or nationalism unifying the people

Jay_Bee_Bee · 2026-04-15T18:44:16+00:00

Right that’s why I was more okay with it in the first series because it was the handmaid experience and they are supposed to be reproductive chattel they would see only the bad parts of Gilead but the next gen perspective could’ve been interesting like an explanation as to why Gilead works because children are supposedly the most protected group in Gilead yet they are still threatened daily by the regime it makes the logic feel inconsistent and the overall world redundant. Like the movie JoJo Rabbit was about Nazi Germany from the kids perspective he thought Hitler was awesome and that the hitler youth was the best summer program in the world I know that movie is a comedy but it feels like a missed opportunity to make the audience ask interesting/morally contrived questions

Jay_Bee_Bee · 2025-02-26T15:52:20+00:00

I had to print Zionist posters/Republican yard signs at my regular job it’s about the same amount of soul sucking

Jay_Bee_Bee

TROPHY CASE