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#she was one of the only handmaids whos life actually improved under gilead! and you fucked it up! now theyre gonna unionise!
the-boy-branithar · 3 years
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Not to be Handmaid’s Tale on main but
Aunt Lydia, who cut out Ofglen 2.0′s tongue for not wanting to stone her friend to death, radicalising a previously super obedient handmaid into suicide bombing the opening of the new female factory, to the handmaids at the handmaid funeral: I wish I could give you all a world without violence :((
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nellie-elizabeth · 5 years
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The Handmaid's Tale: Household (3x06)
This episode was... well, it was something, alright.
Cons:
I really did like it, just like I've liked every episode of this show. It was powerful and well-made. But I will admit, for the first time in this very symbolism-heavy show, I was a little put off by how much symbolism there was in D.C. Like, I get it... this was the capital of the USA, and now it's under Gilead's control. It's supposed to be this terrifying dichotomy between the former "land of the free" and what we have now. But the contrast didn't quite work because we know it's not a matter of black and white here. It's usually a lot more of a gradual slope. This was maybe an example of less being more. We have the mouth rings for the Handmaids, which is obviously chilling but also a little bit impractical... how do they eat? We have that obnoxious shot of June standing in front of a statue so it looks like she has wings. What is this, Game of Thrones? Those shots are certainly artistically cool to look at, but it's putting things on a bit thick, don't you think? Same with the shot of the Lincoln Memorial with the top of it blown off. Heavy-handed comparisons between slavery in the U.S. and slavery in Gilead are all well and good, but we have to admit that the way race is handled on this show is clumsy at best, so... not sure they want to draw such stark attention to themselves there.
I'm obviously reserving judgment about Nick, because like everything else in this show, there are complexities there. He seems to have tried to help negotiate with the Swiss, but maybe he chickened out, or they wouldn't accept his information, or he wasn't willing to go far enough... and then we get the revelation that he was part of the "holy crusade" that brought about Gilead in the first place. This is brand new information to June, and to the audience as well. The thing is... it doesn't quite track with Nick as a character thus far. If he was an opportunist who, whether he believed in the system or not, decided to keep his head down and accept his fate, then why was he involved in the resistance, even before he fell in love with June? And if he was forced into all of his actions, and has always been a rebel at heart, why is he stopping now? I don't think Nick's characterization thus far is a problem for the show, or at least not a problem that they can't easily rectify. It's just a little unclear to me right now exactly where they're going with this, and I'm starting to get nervous that I won't like the end result.
Pros:
There was one piece of overwrought symbolism that absolutely worked for me and knocked me on my ass, and that was the sight of the Washington Monument turned into a giant cross. I think the reason that this worked better for me than some of the other D.C. imagery was that it was about re-purposing and distorting the meaning of an existing piece of art, instead of just destroying it. Gilead has left the rubble of the Lincoln Memorial there for all to see. They're not trying to hide the fact that they destroyed something. But with the Monument... they didn't shear it in half, or knock it over and leave it lying there... they built from it. They warped and twisted it, and if you didn't know what the Washington Monument was, you'd never know there had been anything different there before. That's the chilling thing to me. Warping history, erasing the past, so that there could conceivably be a future, not so distant, where nobody alive remembers things the way they were.
As always, I want to discuss Serena. For the past couple of reviews I've been noting how interesting it is to have a performance so well done that you feel a bit of sympathy for Serena's plight, despite her despicable actions. This episode continues that thread. Serena Joy really is one of the most interesting villains I've ever seen on any TV show. The moment I want to focus on is when Mrs. Winslow tells Serena that she liked her book. This is taboo, since of course the women aren't allowed to read. But it is also a stark and important reminder that Serena helped to shape this world. I'm not saying it makes her culpable for everything, but she was an evangelical Christian extremist who wrote a book about how women were meant to stay in the home and take care of the children. She did that, and the result is plain to see.
Mrs. Winslow was fascinating to me as well, because she thanks Serena for helping to change her life - she used to work at a law firm, and she and her husband had no time for a family. But look at them now! Six children, and they still have a Handmaid. The privileges of rank. That's an important point to make here - Commander and Mrs. Winslow are both seemingly a bit more casual and down-to-earth than a lot of the other Comamanders and Wives we've seen. They have openly affectionate and goofy relationships with their genuinely happy children. They offer their first names to their guests. Mrs. Winslow hugs Serena and hands her a baby when first meeting her. It's all quite... normal. It reminds me that oppressive systems do not oppress equally - that if you're in a position of power, even as a member of the oppressed class (women), you are given more leeway. I as a white woman still have to deal with the effects of sexism on my day-to-day life, but I have the privileges granted by my whiteness and many other privileges besides.
We should also talk about Fred Waterford. He's such a weak-willed man. He's slimy and annoying and only scary because of the context of this society. As a man, he has so much power. As Fred Waterford, he doesn't know how to actually properly take advantage of that. I think you can see that in how he interacts with Commander Winslow. He's just so desperate for a chance to improve his prospects, and his brown-nosing is really pathetic. I think Fred Waterford is just as interesting as Serena in some ways, although the type of villainy is very different. You don't get the sense that he really cares all that much about Nichole, in the long run. He wants to leverage a personal tragedy for professional gain, and despite some moments of sentimental bonding between husband and wife, I'm not sure Fred and Serena are ever going to repair any sort of healthy partnership... that is, if they even had one to begin with.
To continue the trend of interesting villains... we see that Aunt Lydia is very shaken by what she sees in D.C. I liked the moment when June asks her if she wants them all to be silenced, and Lydia immediately says that she does not. Lydia is one of the more terrifying figures on this show, because unlike Fred, who I really do believe to be just an opportunist, Aunt Lydia seems to have a genuine desire to help people. Her harshness with the Handmaids is in some way an attempt to protect them from even worse punishment. That excuse is flimsy and does not hold up under even the smallest amount of pressure, but it makes for a really complicated portrait of this woman, who could beat Janine one week, and then be genuinely sympathetic to June, and be horrified by the oppression she sees around her. Again, like with Serena, just because I can understand and untangle some of her twisted motivations, doesn't mean I'm on her side or that I forgive her for her monstrous actions.
I liked the idea of the Swiss being neutral negotiators here, because it's another chance to get some hints about world politics. Gilead is enough of a military threat that Canada doesn't want to provoke conflict. And yet Canada has been offering asylum to refugees from Gilead. We know that the gender politics of Gilead seem to be restricted to just Gilead, because we've seen women in positions of leadership in every other country we've interacted with. I'm so interested in how the rest of the world reacts and responds to Gilead. It's sort of a chilling reminder of how much power the United States has, that other countries kind of have to let us do whatever we want, in a really messed up way. When I think about the endgame of this show, of how it's all going to wind up, really the only thing I can imagine is a widening of the scope - does this show end when Gilead is destroyed and balance starts to come back to the world? What does that look like? I don't know, but I want to find out.
So that's that - again, a wonderful episode of a complicated, difficult television show. I had some qualms about the over-abundance of symbolism, because I guess even this show can go too far sometimes. But still... this was great!
8/10
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Handmaid’s Tale 3x08 Aunt Lydia Analysis
So I am finally caught up with THT yay! I’ve had a few thoughts on Aunt Lydia’s backstory this last episode so decided to do an analysis post (my very first for THT).  So we finally got an Aunt Lydia backstory. Now I have been wanting to get more info on Aunt Lydia pretty much from season 1. I have always found her to be one of the more intriguing characters. She one of those ones I love to hate. I mean it is credit to Ann Dowd’s acting that her portrayal of Aunt Lydia can have me hating her with a fiery vengence one scene and then in the next actually feeling sorry for her and vice versa. I do think this flashback gives us alot to think about and so I think we should get into it. The rest is under the tag because you know spoilers also its a bit long which will be a pain to scroll past if you don’t want to read it lol. But for those of you who do read on. 
 Ok so at first I’ll admit I was a bit confused at her backstory because I just didn’t buy the whole she reported Noelle because a guy rejected her on the first date. That just didn’t seem like a good enough reason for me. But then I realised after watching the ep again that I had read that scene all wrong. She didn’t report Noelle because she was upset about the rejection she reported her because Lydia was ashamed of herself for making advances on the principal and believed that Noelle was a corrupting influence. 
If we look at Aunt Lydia’s story progression through those flashbacks we first meet her and we learn she’s a teacher and seems to have a lot of care and love for her work. She stayed behind with the little boy and was keeping him occupied and happy she was even prepared to take the boy home to make sure he had food. We also learn right off the bat that she is a very religious woman. 
When she invites the woman and her son back home with her she starts to learn more about this woman’s struggles and this makes Lydia more concerned. She clearly disapproves of the way Noelle lives particularly with her relationships with men. But I do think she also recognises that this woman is trying to survive but to Lydia she seems a bit lost. She needs help. So when Noelle says her son deserves better and Lydia answers ‘you could be better’ she really does mean it. She wants to help this woman get into a better situation not just for her but for her son too. This is very similar to how she looks at the Handmaid’s as women who are lost and who with her help could become better and have better lives. What I do think is interesting is at this moment she wants to help this woman keep her child, its kind of ironic that this desire to help a woman keep her child is what leads her down the path to becoming the woman who takes children away from their mothers.  
The next flashback we see is when Lydia, Noelle and her son are spending Christmas together. We can see that these two women have built a friendship and it seems like at least a few months have gone by. It also seems like the son, Ryan, has formed a bond with Lydia as he now calls her Aunt Lydia. We also learn during the time that’s past that Noelle has gotten a new job and now works at the store that she brought the makeup for Aunt Lydia from. We also learn that she has dumped one guy which Lydia seemed happy about and has met another. At first Lydia seems ok about this when Noelle was saying he’s in IT and yes he likes kids, so Lydia is sitting there thinking finally Noelle has found herself a nice respectable man with a repectable job. But then Noelle drops the knowledge that he’s married and you literally see Lydia’s face fall. What again is interesting is that Noelle in response says ‘I know, I’m not as far along as we’d like but I’m trying.’  This tells us two things one is that it seems like Lydia and Noelle came up with some kind of plan on how they were going to improve things for Noelle, from the conversations we can assume one was get a new better job that won’t involve Noelle having her rear grabbed by drunk men. The other was to help Noelle stop serial dating and find herself a repectable gentlemen. She’s succeeded in the first but is still working on the second. It also tells us that Noelle recognises her own flaws  and knows that sleeping with a married man is wrong. But as Lydia says she’s trying and that’s what matters. So at this point we know that Noelle and Lydia are good friends, that Noelle has been trying to improve herself and that Lydia has been supporting and helping her. It also seems like Noelle might be good for Lydia as she and her son provide companionship for Lydia. It seems to me that she may have been a bit isolated since her marriage broke up so its nice for her to have that human connection. I also think this is why Noelle encourages her to ‘get out there’ because she sees that Lydia is lonely. So what goes wrong between this scene where they are shown to have a strong bond and the scene where she reports Noelle to child protection? Well Lydia goes on a date.
The date she has with the principal, Jim, was so sweet and its a side of Lydia we’ve never seen before. She is happy and smitten and she even sings Karoke and the date goes so well that it leads her and her fella back to her place and onto her couch where things get a little heated before he finally stops it. This is where we see the switch happen for Lydia. She goes from being this happy, warm person to completely shutting down and putting up a wall. You can see right after Jim stops it and she moves away from him, the shame is written all over her face. As a woman with strong religious believes her making sexual advances on a man that she isn’t married to is a sin and immoral. I think what makes it worse for her is that Jim is also religious and so now she may feel like he is judging her. He has witnessed her sin, also while she got carried away and knows that if he had not put a stop to it she would have completely given into her desire for him, he was able to stop so now she feels like she is less than him and less derserving of him, she’s not as pure of sin as he is. Which makes her actions all the more shameful and embarrassing to her which is why she turns away from him and puts up a wall between them despite him saying he still wants to persue something with her. But now she isn’t looking at him as a repectable church going man who has potential to be her lifelong partner, now she sees him as a temptation that will lead her to sin.  
So what has this got to do with Lydia’s decision to report Noelle? Well the clue is in the scene. When the Jim asks Aunt Lydia if this was enough to trigger an emergency removal Aunt Lydia replies ‘the child is vulnerable to a corrupting influence we are required by law to report moral weakness.’ This one line tells us everything we need to know about Aunt Lydia’s current state of mind. She set out to try and help Noelle but instead not only did she fail in helping Noelle onto the right path Noelle led Aunt Lydia astray, she corrupted her and brought out her moral weaknesses. It was Noelle who set bad examples for her by dating several men within close timing of each other, it was Noelle who gave her the make up, it was Noelle who encouraged her to go out with Jim and put temptation in her path. Aunt Lydia blames Noelle for her own moral weakness, as Aunt Lydia can’t tolerate moral weakness in herself so she can’t tolerate moral weakness in others. I know some viewers interpreted Lydia’s actions to be out of spite or revenge but I myself didn’t see it that way. While I do think Lydia has some resentment towards Noelle I think her main motivation was the child. I think Aunt Lydia really believes that she is protecting this child. As much as she has affection for Noelle and as much as she wishes she could’ve helped her Lydia has now turned her focus onto Ryan and keeping him safe. In her mind if Noelle can corrupt her, an adult, then Ryan is particularly vulnerable to being corrupted as well. Aunt Lydia fears Noelle will lead her child down the wrong path and so she must put aside her affection and feelings and do the right thing. You can see that the decision isn’t easy for her. Like even at the moment when she is reporting Noelle I didn’t look at Aunt Lydia and go that’s a cold woman, she was crying and it was obvious she was struggling with this choice, there were all kinds of emotions running over her face throughout that scene,  but she saw no other way of making sure the child would be ok. The child is her priority.  
So how does this tie in with Aunt Lydia’s character now in present day Gilead and with her relationship with the Handmaids. Well I do think that Aunt Lydia sees Noelle in alot of these Handmaids, as she did with Noelle she sees women who have walked down the wrong path but who have the potential to better themselves with some help. Only this time around she has learnt from her experience from Noelle and has decided that if she keeps herself emotinally cut off from these women then she will be better able to help them. She also won’t be vulnerable to being corrupted by them as she was by Noelle. So she stays involved enough to help them but not so much that she will form too deep a bond with them. I do think part of that is to protect herself, she cared for Noelle and so it hurt her when Noelle was still (in Lydia’s mind) living a sinful life and making the same mistakes as she always did. It hurt her and made her feel like a failure when she couldn’t help Noelle and so instead she focusses on helping the children. If she keeps herself closed off from these woman then when they inevitably do something that’ll lead to them being punished by the government it’ll hurt less. However as we’ve seen in small glimpses Aunt Lydia hasn’t been completely successful in disconnecting from these women, she has a bond with Janine and with June and I do think in a weird kind of way she has a certain kind of love and affection for all of these women. But she chooses to stay focussed on the children. I think in her mind she figured if I can’t help these women then at least I can help the children. So she makes protecting as many children as possible her life mission. That being said I do think that Aunt Lydia carries alot of guilt about what she did, I think deep down she knows what she did to Noelle was wrong and she knows what she’s doing to the Handmaid’s is wrong but if she admits that to herself then the guilt will consume her and so she tells herself that she is doing God’s work and that she is protecting the children, its all about the children they mean everything to her. 
Another choice that I think was interesting is the decision to have Lydia’s last name be Clemence. The meaning of that name is merciful and gentle. Not really something that comes to mind when you think of Aunt Lydia right. But the thing is it fit her in the flashbacks. When we first meet her she does come across as a gentle woman. She is also shown as merciful, The definition of mercy is ‘to show compassion or forgiveness to someone who you have the potential to punish or cause harm to.’ Lydia could have punished Noelle right off the bat by calling child protection when she didn’t show up to pick Ryan up. She would have had plenty of reasons to not just her showing up late but the fact that she didn’t pack a proper lunch for him and it does seem like it was going on a while all of these things brings enough concern to call it in. But instead Lydia shows mercy and decides to try and help this young woman. We know that it all goes wrong and in the end Lydia ends up as far from a person described by her name as she can be. But I do wonder if this meaning behind her name will come into play again later in the season, maybe Aunt Lydia will be in a position where she has to decide between punishing and causing one of the Handmaid’s harm or showing them mercy. And maybe she lives up to her name and does show them mercy which could be a redemption arc for her. The choices of the other names are also significant. Lydia was a woman from the bible who is considered to be the first convert in Europe and who showed hospitality to the apostle Paul and Silas. Again this has links to Lydia’s own journey how she converts to the beliefs of Gilead but also within this episode when she shows hospitality to the mother and son. The name Noelle means Christmas. Again another biblical tie in. Christmas is also a time of giving and of family which is again closely linked with that character. She is a mother and so symbolic of family. Also her growing relationship with Lydia and the fact that her son comes to call her Aunt shows how there can be different forms of family. The son’s name Ryan means ‘little king’ or ‘descendant of the king’ again this fits in as it hints at his fate of becoming a commander’s son the ‘kings’ of Gilead and even how he himself may become a commander. It is also a nod at how the males have the power in Gilead;. The other character in the flashbacks is the principle whose name is Jim Thorne. His first name is a shortened version of the name James which again is another biblical name and means ‘one who follows’ which again really ties into this characters motives. He is a devout follower of his religion. The Throne part also has many links to the bible. Within the bible thorns symbolise sin. Thorns were first brought into the world right after Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. As punishment they weren’t just cast out but God cursed their land so that thorns would grow, Genesis 3:18-20 – “Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field.” So right from the beginning there was a link between thorns and sin. Later on in the bible Mark 4:3-9  ‘ Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it.’ This is from the parable of the seeds. The seed represents those who hear the gospel, the thorns represent the sinners. Its talking about how a person can fall amongst sinners and how that can lead to them being lead astray. All of this has some significance within the episode as Mr Thorne represents Lydia’s sin and temptation. However the name Thorne can also represent the crown of thorns Jesus wore on the cross which represents the abolishment of sin and of Jesus’s love and his conquering of sin and death. The sad part is that Lydia looks at Mr Thorne and believes he is the thorns that are choking the seed (she’s the seed) but actually I think he symbolises the thorns of the crown which symbolise love and the destruction of sin. I think if she had followed him it would have led her down a path of love and with less sin.   
Ok so next I want to talk about the way they used colours and the positioning of the characters in these flashbacks and what I think they could signify. The exciting part is that this section has pictures!! However they are very poor quality pictures and I would recommend you go back and watch the scenes in question again to get a good picture of what I mean, these pics are more like guidance to what scenes I’m talking about. 
But anyway starting with this shot...
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Here we can see that Ryan is sitting on top of a red circle which is the colour associated with Handmaid’s in the show, what’s also interesting is that the circle next to him is greenish blue the colour associated with the wives. Then inside the green circle is a red circle. This is obviously symbolic of the relationship between the Handmaid’s and the Wives and the symbolism Gilead uses for the ceremony. This idea that the Wives and Handmaid’s are linked together and that they create the children of Gilead together. The Handmaid bears the child for them and then the Wife raises the child. Also you can’t see it very well in the picture but Ryan is wearing clothes in shades of green signifying how these children born from the Handmaids are then dressed as the children of the Wives. Something else that is interesting is the positioning of Aunt Lydia. She is literally standing on top of the red circle. Again this is a pretty obvious message its to signify the power Aunt Lydia has over the Handmaid’s. But next we see Aunt Lydia step off the red circle and walk across the green circle to get to the child. 
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I do actually think this has some significance given other scenes in this episode and could be a clue for what is to come. In this episode we saw Aunt Lydia question two household’s, The Waterford’s and The Lawrence’s and whether they are a healthy enviroment for the Handmaid’s and more importantly the children. She even talks about removing June from the Lawrence’s in case June does get pregnant as she doesn’t think they have a safe home for a child. We also saw earlier in the season Lydia make the suggestion that Emily was effected by the enviroment at the Lawerence’s and that’s why she attcked Aunt Lydia and ‘stole’ Nichole. I think this is all going to lead to the Aunts investigating these households and others and maybe even appealing to other commanders to bring in new laws that will hold commanders and their wives responsible for how they treat Handmaids and to give the Aunts more powers to investigate households they suspect of wrongdoing or that couples must pass some kind of test and a series of checks before they are allowed to be issued a Handmaid.. Almost like the Aunts are going to go to war against the commanders and their wives led by Aunt Lydia all the name of protecting the children. 
The next thing I want to touch on in this particular scene is Noelle.  
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 This is the first shot we get of her and as you can see she has red accents in her clothes with the red scarf and bag. Again I think the costume designers did this deliberately to makes us connect Noelle with the Handmaids. This colouring is used more throguhout the flashbacks this shot for example. 
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Here we see Ryan sitting at table and the table cloth has shades of green in it yet the wall behind him is red again showing how the children are born and raised by the Handmaids and the Wives. I also think that it signifies that although the Wives say these are their children the Handmaid’s will always have a connection with their children that will never be erased no matter how hard Gilead tries. The Handmaid’s will always be lurking in the background watching over their children from a distance. 
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And the next time we see Noelle again we see them connecting her with the colour red. The wall behind her is red and the cushion she is leaning against has red in it. They really do want us to connect this character with this colour everytime we see her they position her so that she is surrounded by red accents. Another really interesting shot is this one...
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 Again you have the colours coming into play. Noelle is surrounded with a red background, Ryan has those green tones in front of him and the red behind. Also we are looking at Ryan through the chair and it gives this ilusion of Ryan being enclosed is a fence or cage much as the children of Gilead have a high level of protection around them. Of course while they consider it protection the Handmaid’s see it as a cage keeping them from their children. What else is noteworthy about the set up of this scene is that they have positioned Aunt Lydia between the child and his mother almost like a barrier, obviously to sybolise how Aunt Lydia will keep other mothers from their children in the future.  
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So the next flashback scene we get is the christmas and again right away they are flooding it with these same colour schemes. Here we have Ryan and you can see that he is surrounded by mostly red presents. But there in the background is that green tree looming. Again I think the positioning in this scene is important. Ryan is sat amongst the red which I think is symbolic of his current situation in that he is with his birth mother. But in front of him not too far away and looming is that green tree which I think symbolises what is to come for Ryan. It does make me wonder where Ryan and Noelle are now. It’s possible that one or both of them could have escaped to Canada or they sadly could have been killed. But there’s also a chance that Noelle ended up as a handmaid and Ryan as a child of a commander and wife. It would be interesting if they popped back up again at some point this season. The other thing that I think is significant in this scene is that the present Aunt Lydia is handing to Ryan is green. Again showing that connection between these Aunts who are aiding the wives in essentially stealing these children. Also once again Ryan is dressed in a green top. 
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This shot is very similar to the previous one with Ryan at the table in the positioning. Once again it puts Aunt Lydia between the mother and child and again right behind Noelle its pretty much all red. I also don’t think it’s a coincidence that Lydia is sat above them both again showing the power of the Aunts. Both the children and the Handmaid’s are helpless against them. They are the prisoners and the Aunts are the wardens. 
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I really think this shot shows that connection between each of the characters and the colours like if any shot emphasises what I’m trying to say about colours connected to figures of Gilead then its this one. Noelle has that red wall behind her but also slightly to the right is a green wall. Again this links Noelle to the Handmaid’s but also the connection between the Wives and the Handmaids how they are ever present in each others lives. Aunt Lydia is once again positioned between mother and child but also behind her is a brown unit which is the colour of the Aunts. Ryan is directly in front of the tree which is green but again there are some red elements again showing that link to how children are brought into the world in Gilead, as far as Gilead is concerned both Handmaid and Wife contribute to the birthing of that child. 
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Again when we see Noelle doing Aunt Lydia’s makeup she has that red wall behind she is also wearing a reddish lipstick. But here we also see her wearing a yellow top which again is significant as the colour yellow is a predominant colour on the Gilead flag. We also saw the colour earlier in the first pic of Ryan with the coloured circles there are two yellow ones. One of the yellow ones (just like the green one) has a smaller red circle inside it. I think this is suppose to symbolise how the Handmaid’s are trapped within Gilead. 
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When the focus in the scene shifts to Lydia we see that the background for her is very different from Noelle’s despite them being in the same space as each other. Aunt Lydia’s background has tones of brown and grey again thats in reference to the colours worn by the Aunts. It is also blurry and out of focus. I do think this was a concious choice and is suppose to signify Lydia’s feelings in this moment. It represents Lydia’s uncertainty. She is unsure of Noelle and how she feels about Noelle’s lifestyle, she is also unsure of whether she is doing the right thing in trying to help Noelle or whether she should have called child protection already. She’s unsure of her feelings for the principal and whether she should persue a relationship with him after her failed marriage. The other element that I think is significant is the coloured circles. Again there is a specific colour scheme being followed here. The red for handmaids, green for the wives, yellow for Gilead. The white could possibly also represent the handmaid’s like the wings they wear. But I think it may represent the children, white is a colour of innocence and purity and what’s more innocent or pure than a child. I do think these circles could be foreshadowing. It could signify that Lydia is going to be put into a scenario where she will be unsure of where her loyalties should lie, Should she stand by Gilead and their beliefs? Should she stand with the Wives these woman who are respectable God-fearing women? Or should she stand with the Handmaid’s the lost ones but who have so much potential and who have been granted that great gift of being able to bring children into the world? One thing she is sure of is that she will always stand up for the children and this too is represented in the circles. While the circles of the three other colours are blurred and not as bright, the white circles are in sharp focus and are radiant.
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   The last flashback is of the one where Lydia puts in the report. Here we see that Lydia has had a drastic makeover. Whereas before she was wearing a white top and had her hair flowing down she now has it tied up in that typical Aunt Lydia look. She is also wearing a brown cardigan, she looks much more like the Aunt Lydia we know now. Also when it shows us a shot of her hands and feet we see that she is once again standing on a red circle. What’s interesting is that all the other coloured circles are gone and only that one red one remains. I do think this shows the solidfying of Lydia’s journey to becoming this warden for the Handmaid’s at this point there was no chance of her turning back. She had made up her mind and now her focus would be on ‘helping’ women like Noelle onto the right path and protecting their children by removing them from them. 
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 The last time we see Noelle she again has on that red scarf and has the red bag. What I do find interesting is that whereas the last time we saw her in the scarf she had on a beige ish coloured coat this time it looks more like a dark green. I don’t think its an accident that the item of clothing that is red is the one that is round her neck, I think this is suppose to be reminiscent of a noose or of a slave collar its this idea of the handmaid’s having their freedom and even their lives taken from them. They live in a world that is slowly choking any fight or rebellion or life out of them. Even the bag being red could signify the burden they have to carry, it could also symbolise this idea of ‘carrying’ a child. It is unimaginable what these women have to go through, being raped once a month and then having to carry their rapists child for nine months before going through labour and then straight away having their baby taken from them. The green coat around her as with all the other instances where the two colours have appeared side by side is to show the connection between these two groups of women. I think its also serving the purpose in this scene where this woman has just had her child taken away from her of making sure that not just the Handmaids are in the viewer’s minds but also the Wives. This group of women who are benefitting from the mothers’ suffering. 
So yeah I think the storyline with Noelle was suppose to act as a narrative for what is currently happening to the Handmaid’s in Gilead. She is a mother who had her child taken by a woman who had acted as a caregiver type figure in her life and given to a couple who was ‘desperate to adopt.’ I do think that’s why they used the colours in this way. To bring to mind the groups of people each of the characters represent. 
Any way thast’s all for now to all of you who have read to the end thank you very much for taking the time. Feel free to let me know what you thought of Lydia’s backstory. DId you hate it? Was it everything you ever wanted from her backstory? What else would you like to know about Aunt Lydia’s past? I personally wouldn’t mind learning more about her marriage. She said he was a mistake but I would like some details on what happened that caused the marriage to break down. I have my own personal theory. We’ve seen Aunt Lydia interact with and shame two women now who have slept with married men, Noelle and June. She did look quite hurt when Noelle mentioned the new guy had a wife. It does make me wonder if Lydia was a victim of that scenario and that her husband cheated on her. But I don’t know what do you guys think?   
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