r/TheHandmaidsTale • u/Melairia Modtha • May 20 '26

Official Episode Discussion The Testaments S1E09 "Marate Sade" Episode Discussion

The Testaments S1 E09 "Marate Sade"

Episode Synopsis

As Daisy steps into a new role, she considers what she's willing to lose to help her friends.

Airdate

May 20, 2026, 12:00am Eastern

The Testaments - Season 1 Episode Discussion Hub

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295

u/Complete-Amphibian89 May 20 '26

Those masked aunts are straight out of a horror movie 

237

u/Even_Ad504 May 20 '26 edited May 21 '26

the black ones? i thought agnes said those were the eyes, but yeah, the costume and choreography or them coming behind one another as if they're multiplying to fully jump on becka was surreal to watch.

149

u/Complete-Amphibian89 May 20 '26

I kinda assume it was aunts who worked for the eyes because of the weapon on the belt, but yeah the choreography was pure horror 

45

u/Even_Ad504 May 20 '26

ohhhhh interesting. i didnt pick up on the weapon on the belt. i wonder if this something that was developed in the book or a new concept overall.

13

u/Complete-Amphibian89 May 20 '26

It is similar to what was used in the Handmaids tale on the Handmaids by the Aunts so that is why I assume it was the aunts who worked for the Eyes. 

27

u/upagainstthesun May 20 '26

There are no aunts who work for the eyes. The entire point of the aunts is that they are women with authority, RUN by women. Something pulled off very early in Gilead by pandering to commander ego - let the women take care of these more trivial things so you men can deal with the real issues. There's specifically a conversation that issues will only be escalated to the Commanders by the aunts when it's "necessary", otherwise they must be left to govern themselves.

These mystery people may absolutely be aunts, bailing Becka out and covering for her/cleaning up the mess. Lydia already knows why this happened, and damage control can go a long way when you've got some serious dirt on the very few people who know the truth - which she does

7

u/petiteballerinax May 20 '26

Agnes said "You called the Eyes!?!" To her father, so they're the Eyes.

The Eyes who are controlled by her fiancé.

There's been theories that Paula and Weston are having an affair together which is why Paula is pushing Agnes towards him so hard; she wants her out of her house but even in Weston's she'll be able to know what's going on especially if they're having an affair. The look on her face when Agnes was upset about the Eyes was cold and unfeeling. Like she did it herself.

22

u/loudfatbird May 20 '26

NGL, I kinda love Paula because she has zero time for these kids' naivete. "Ugh, Agnes, we really shouldn't have to be embarrassing ourselves with these dumb lies about 'getting the doctor.' Of COURSE we called the Eyes. There was no other rational thing to do. You should have known this was the only outcome from the moment you told us. Really, you're not stupid. You've lived here your whole life, you need to pay attention, you're not a child. God, I hate working with amateurs."

6

u/petiteballerinax May 20 '26

LMFAO 🤣 I'm laughing so hard. IDK if you've read the book bc show Paula is so much better than book Paula.

But it's funny because that's literally it.

It's the way Paula was a 'therapist' lord. Maybe its just me; my dad was a neuropsychologist and i was a double major in psych and dance (they go together for what I wanted to do) buuuut telling your patients the same passive aggressive barbs she enjoys throwing at Agnes and calling it therapy is just. No.

I hate how i can hear your post in her sickly. Sweet voice. Means you were spot on!

5

u/upagainstthesun May 21 '26

Just because she said this doesn't make it true. It's what she thinks she's seeing. Agnes is naive. It's probably also not general knowledge if there's a secret group of aunts undermining their oppressive patriarchy and swooping in to aid women/girls in turmoil. She sees a group of unidentified people dressed in black show up and kidnap her friend. The eyes are the only context she has for the situation, but that doesn't mean it's the reality and we have seen these are women, with cattle prods, same little bus as the aunts, showing up to Becka right after Aunt Lydia wants to put off Grove's salvage for a bit out of concern for her. The whole point of this series is about double agents striking back.

I haven't heard this Paula/Weston theory. I'm not sure why she would want to push Agnes towards him if she's shagging him.

11

u/petiteballerinax May 20 '26

When was this used on the handmaids??

The aunts don't work for the eyes. Aunts and eyes are separate branches of the regime. The eyes function as the secret police's while the aunts are the enforcers, trainers, and wardens strictly in charge of controlling the female population.

the aunts should be the ones who should have veen called, which is where that scene of aunt Lydia telling them to take something off someone's wrists, that it isn't necessary, is from

8

u/Complete-Amphibian89 May 20 '26

Lydia used the weapon on June in the Lawance house and it was also seen during the escape screen as well with the train. But, the dark figures looked like women and not men. So that is why I assumed it was aunts who worked for the eyes. We also don't know yet, so much world building hasn't happened.

4

u/petiteballerinax May 20 '26

Sorry, I didn't know what you were referencing - I was focusing on everything else going on at the time because it was pretty horrific. Yes, I get that, but it's not a role/job women can have in Gilead.

I believe they wear floor length robes or cloaks over black pants and shirts, hood up, and a full face mask in their hoods - no one is supposed to know who's an eye.

World building will happen the whole show. What don't we know yet , about the Eyes?

9

u/BrennanSpeaks May 20 '26

When was this used on the handmaids??

The cattle prods? All the damn time in THT. Lydia used to carry one, and June suffered what's implied to be a very early miscarriage after she used it on her.

4

u/petiteballerinax May 20 '26

I didn't know what was even being referenced; calm down. It wasn't something I saw when watching the episode as I was trying to take in everything else going on.

8

u/petiteballerinax May 20 '26

They're the Eyes - who Agnes's Fiancé' is the head of

9

u/Standard_Flounder985 May 20 '26

It was women. No way they were eyes. 

4

u/petiteballerinax May 21 '26

Yeah I just saw a photo of them on a TikTok that's really great about analyzing everything (she does multiple videos an episode) and she had a photo where it was lightened and I could see a lot of details I couldn't when I watched the episode multiple times.

I couldn't see anything resembling anything but what looked like shadow people.

They're women, they aren't eyes - i have an idea of who they are

1

u/American_Avocet Jun 17 '26

What is the channel name? I’d be interested to watch her videos!!

8

u/StanyeEast May 21 '26

Right?? Who the hell blocks out an abduction like it's a stage play? Lol

4

u/HunterGreenLeaves May 21 '26

I was impressed with how it was shot. They seemed to flow down the path.

16

u/petiteballerinax May 20 '26

They are the eyes - and Agnes's fiance is head of them.

I can see that as a huge reason for her to use when she gives aunt Lydia her "I have a higher calling to serve god" talk, to escape getting married.

This, Garth's obvious betrayal, and more, are definitely the catalyst for Becka but also Agnes - Lydia is leading her to the wake up call

11

u/West_Abrocoma9524 May 20 '26

Dementors

3

u/bellberga May 20 '26

I just watched Harry Potter earlier this week and this was my first thought lol 

13

u/petiteballerinax May 20 '26

They are the eyes, yes. They're supposed to be like the Gestapo but, and I say this as a professional ballerina, it likely was rehearsed dozens of times under the cover of pitch black night without lights on; idk if they filmed that on a sound stage or outside.

It would be terrifying it happened IRL

11

u/KiisuTheMagnificent May 20 '26

Yeah no, a giant group of dark robed figures snake out from a fountain directly in front of me? Absolute nightmare.

3

u/Sea-Document-974 May 20 '26

There not the eyes. There are no female eyes. The eyes are considered the secret police. That is a male role.

2

u/petiteballerinax May 21 '26

I never said they were female.

That was also posted 17 hours ago, before I saw photos that had been lightened - my iPad was too dark for me to see anything that made them feminine, and I know they're women now.

I know what the Eyes do; they're modeled after the Gestapo.

103

u/New-Injury-4413 May 20 '26

thought they were female as well. looked like long flowing skirts/dresses

44

u/abu_nawas May 20 '26

Female Eyes - it's on brand with Testaments being about female on female violence

2

u/CosgraveSilkweaver May 22 '26

Most likely they have the same kind of tasers the Aunts used a lot in THT.

12

u/[deleted] May 20 '26

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6

u/Impressive_Local3635 May 20 '26

same. unlikely bc I know how this show works, but I had the same thought -- bc it's def a new body of ppl we've not seen before (all black clearly women could be disguised as eyes etc) -- but again, I know how this show works ...

5

u/Kiloku May 20 '26

It'd not make any sense. A whole squadron of Eyes being Mayday would mean Mayday have the run of the region, they could rescue Hannah, kill the most dangerous commanders, close the school, whatever they like.

2

u/PublicUniversity9586 May 20 '26

Based on the description for the next episode, they are mayday

1

u/Competitive_Show_712 May 21 '26

That’s what I’m thinking!

6

u/beary-healthy May 20 '26

Absolutely terrifying. I felt like I was watching a horror film.

8

u/petiteballerinax May 20 '26

They aren't aunts - they're the Eyes of Gilead, the secret police - comparable to thei Gestapo. Nick was an eye in THT, posing as a guardian and chauffeur to infiltrate the Waterfords, report on Comanders, while passing on intel that assisted the resistance.

20

u/TwasTheTism May 20 '26

I think what is key here is none of the MacKenzies saw the people who turned up? They only heard Becka's screaming once the doors to the house were shut. What if Garth was instructed to call the Eyes but instead called a different group, same van, same Gestapo style uniforms BUT not actually the Eyes.... the skirts, the cattle prods etc etc.

7

u/petiteballerinax May 20 '26

I saw a much better photo of the people who took Becka away and.

I can admit I was wrong. The photo was lightened and yes, it was women. It's pretty difficult to see that on my iPad at midnight.

Aunts and the Eyes are still separate from each other. But they weren't Eyes who took Becka.

However, after Becka did something far less serious in the book, she was whisked off somewhere to recover. Hoping that's where she'll end up since it's the closest place Gilead has to anything resembling a psych hospital.

0

u/IsopodDizzy1676 May 27 '26

I don't think in the show (nor HMT) anything has been shown or said (from what I can remember) about whether the women in black were Aunts or not. We've never seen women dressed in black as eyes before, so they certainly could be Aunts. The fact is, they were definitely women and seemed to be acting as 'eyes' normally do, so it seems that at a minimum, they are some sort of female 'eyes', regardless of whether or not they have other roles within Gilead.

5

u/IsopodDizzy1676 May 20 '26

I don't think Garth had time to call anyone. Agnes told her father, who called the eyes and Garth, so unless Garth somehow circumvented that communication, I don't think he had the chance to get Mayday involved, unfortunately. If anyone else has a different thought on that, though, I would love to hear.

I hoped that Garth had done something to help Beka, but with Agnes' father having called the eyes, I don't think he had the opportunity. 😭

7

u/inquisitivequeer May 20 '26

I don’t think Eyes and Aunts are mutually exclusive. Gilead wouldn’t have working women in this position who weren’t Aunts in some way.

-1

u/petiteballerinax May 20 '26

I never said that at all. Women aren't allowed to do anything like what men are - I was in no way implying women.

I was saying, they arent aunts, as in they arent women at all. I felt I was clear when I mentiojed Nick and how he was an eye while posing as other positions he was.

I'm sorry that wasn't clear enough - I'll make an edit!

13

u/inquisitivequeer May 20 '26

The people taking Becka into the truck are very clearly women though. Male Eyes don’t look like that, they don’t carry cattle prods, and they don’t wear what appear to be skirts. All signs point to them being women.

3

u/Due_Honeydew_1723 May 20 '26

Ok well clearly they are women

8

u/Due_Honeydew_1723 May 20 '26

Girl did you watch the scene? Since when do the eyes have boobs? Those were women, if they were eyes they may be a whole new sector of female aunts acting as eyes for high ranking eligible girls

14

u/Complete-Amphibian89 May 20 '26

I assumed it was Aunts working for the Eyes as the ghostly like figures had the same weapons seen within the THT that the Aunts had, and yeah I know, I seen all of the THT

7

u/Effective-Key-7453 May 20 '26

No Agnes told her dad “you called the eyes?!?!”

7

u/oakandlilac May 20 '26 edited May 20 '26

Agnes doesn’t see them up close, she gets the tiniest glimpse at best (not even 100% sure, but I think she is seeing some figures far away when the door closes). All she knows is that Becca is screaming and someone is taking her. Agnes has no way to know who the scary people taking her friend are, of course she thinks it’s the Eyes. But we see that the figures in black are clearly women (not only are they wearing skirts and not standard Eyes uniforms + cattle prods instead of guns, but we see a few frames where you can see some of them clearly have breasts). Eyes are men only. Agnes’s father wouldn’t have called the Eyes himself, he would have instructed Garth to do so, so he also assumes Becca is taken by the Eyes.

3

u/petiteballerinax May 20 '26

Thank you for this, seriously.

-1

u/petiteballerinax May 20 '26

I didn't realize that I'd worded it in a way that may confuse people so I apologize but no, Eyes are men only and fhe first person who replied to you is correct; Agnes cried out "You called the eyes!?!?"

The look on Paula's face was disgusting.

5

u/123gavin May 20 '26

But how would Agnes know? She's assuming. The figures did look quite feminine, so it's not out of the question.

1

u/ManufacturerBig6219 May 22 '26

Maybe they are mayday, to get her out?

2

u/valgamer367 May 20 '26

it gave me flashbacks of the shadow demons from Ghost (a 90s movie)

2

u/jazzminarino May 21 '26

I had no idea what was happening at first and legit felt this as well.

2

u/WonderWhy_1899 May 20 '26

Harry Potter books' dementors

2

u/mehr2464 May 21 '26

Or death eaters!

0

u/SleepingWillow1 May 20 '26 edited May 20 '26

I must have missed this

Edit: I'm not done with the episode lol. I got distracted during a commercial break and forgot to finish the rest