u/sasitabonita

I’ve seen lots of fans speculate that he was poisoned at Jezebels or something alike.

I actually think this could be plausible but not necessarily because he was 100% a bad commander. He could’ve been in the wrong place and time. After all, commanders must do commander things, and if he sympathised with some sort of resistance wouldn’t it make sense that he’d have to avoid all suspicion by hanging out with other commanders in dodgy places prone to MayDay attacks like Jezebels?

I’m not outright speculating that he was a MayDay operative. But perhaps he didn’t buy the whole religious fanatic woohoo, think Commander Lawrence type. Hence why his son might’ve learnt academic works on Freud and alike. Perhaps it was okay to read and learn at home, also Garth is a boy/young man, so it’s not absolutely insane that he’ll read, and perhaps taboo works too.

As for Garth having been a kidnapped child… I mean, there are econofamilies with children. Couldn’t this just be his biological family and their survival strategy is to collaborate to survive and secure a prestigious position within the system?

Thoughts?

Just assume the show departs entirely from the book.

I think the fact that Weston had family violence convictions before Gilead tells us that whoever ends up marrying this man must learn to survive and strategise, not necessarily outright rebel.

I’ve seen a lot of foreshadowing with Agnes learning to operate by what’s allowed in Gilead; redirecting anger, enjoy power trips that give some illusion of control when she can, etc…

Hence, if Agnes does end up marrying Weston and not becoming an aunt like in the book, I so 100% think the show could give us some interesting character development here that’s not so morally black and white. Either Weston becomes an outright POS with her and the rage she redirects onto dolls now starts being redirected onto real people, or Weston influences her to take whatever power she can take and be a POS to survive the reality of Gilead.

I’m not saying this is her end. I’m just saying it would give us an interesting twist while her character grows and develops before she eventually rebels. Because honestly, if she becomes MayDay Heiress automatically and suddenly rebels from the get go, that’d be boring and wouldn’t entirely make sense for a girl who grew up with Gilead indoctrination.

Can’t wait to see where the series lands with this character though. I might be entirely wrong, but low key I hope in a way or another the show gives us a morally complicated Agnes and not a 100% good heroine who makes no mistakes.

I think the plot twist is that Agnes is gonna be Serena Joy Waterford on steroids.

So hear me out; assuming the show entirely departs from the book… I think there have been a few times the show has shown us that Agnes enjoys power trips- I mean can we blame her though?

First, she redirects suppressed anger onto the dolls, for example locking the wife doll on the attic or smashing it etc. Second, when she saw Daisy look at Garth she called her a slut, and when she had to punish Daisy she was reluctant but fully embraced it when she had to. Third, she loved it when that creepy guard from the beginning was dealt with. Fourth, how she manipulated Hulda to go and tell and even admitted in her own narrative: yes I’m evil for doing that so what? Fifth: How she could finally reconcile her match because she gets to power trip on Paula. Sixth: How she’s slowly realising Becka’s dad won’t just get away with it because she’s indeed about to have more power and status than him…

This is like the full circle moment; she becomes so indoctrinated and reconciles her lack of power with whatever little power she can have, she becomes the class of woman who oppressed June Osborne.

Any thoughts?

EDIT: I don’t mean Agnes is secretly pure evil or that she’ll permanently become Serena Joy on Steroids. My point is that Gilead is all she has ever known, and the show keeps hinting that she’s discovering how emotionally rewarding power and status can feel after a lifetime of fear and powerlessness. That doesn’t make her irredeemable, it makes her psychologically believable and real. Not every traumatised person becomes a revolutionary immediately. I actually think it would be more interesting if she temporarily leans further into the system before eventually questioning it, because oppressed people can absolutely become complicit in the systems that hurt them when those systems finally offer them safety, control, or status.

And they’ve got you thinking about stupid shit like making English the official language of NZ and some incoherent nonsense scapegoating immigrants for all your problems. Is this really all it takes to make you forget how they’ve fucked us ALL over for the past 3 years while receiving entitlements for themselves and tobacco, landlord, mining pals? Can’t wait to vote them out.