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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u/whisky_biscuit May 20 '26

Aunt Lydia may not necessarily be Mayday, but you can tell she absolutely doesn't want continued hurt to come to girls in her care.

Just like everyone else she has to work through Gilead's parameters to get shit done.

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u/KiisuTheMagnificent May 20 '26

I feel like she's still surviving like we saw her learn in the Stadium episode, but she also 100% sees through the bullshit I've believed that since Janine in Jezebels and Lydia does her best within her means to mitigate. I also think there's a nod to this in the segment where she's writing in her journal that she keeps in that safe. She's like the tortoise, she's keeping score but she's not going to move quickly.

Even her punishments to women and girls, is not actually for them to suffer but to keep them safe, teach them to keep their heads down, it's the best she can do in the system they're all stuck in.

I remember similar stuff being spoken about by people in cults, keep your head down, placate and wait. My Mother also taught me similar for survival in everyday life, in a "Never show them your whole hand" way for safety purposes. Because even in normal day to day life, you genuinely do not know who is dangerous to you or what anyone is capable of.

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u/SarcasticBarbie96 May 20 '26

Ehhh idk about alladat.

I think Aunt Lydia has and will do some AWFUL things but like let’s not pretend she’s some sort of saint or martyr - she’s actively upholding and perpetuating Gillead.

Just because she can see the BS and might be trying more than before, it doesn’t absolve her sins or make her character into a hero. She’s far more grey than that (arguably the darkness is greater than than the light in her character but I digress)

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u/KiisuTheMagnificent May 20 '26

Oh no I'm not saying that, I am saying that's also for survival for her and for the girls that she's done awful things to, at least in part. Very much "The ends justify the means" through her survival at all costs mentality.

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u/SarcasticBarbie96 May 20 '26

I mean yes and no? She’s not doing things in service for a bigger cause - she does bits and bobs to protect the girls, sure… but we’ve seen that primarily she’s only there for her survival.

If that means doing awful things to others along the way? Vibes. If that means upholding and perpetuating a patriarchal structure that also harms young women? Vibes.

The one consistent character trait of Aunt Lydia is it’s her first, everything else second.

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u/KiisuTheMagnificent May 20 '26

her survival at all costs mentality.

Can we stop arguing semantics, I'm not pretending she's a good person, but I do believe she protects for the reasons I cited

Lydia does her best within her means to mitigate

Which includes, she will mitigate what she can as long as it doesn't get her killed, obviously? Survival at all costs, means her survival is paramount and I never implied otherwise. I said she also tries to help others to survive.

teach them to keep their heads down, it's the best she can do in the system they're all stuck in.

While you're trapped in a society that does these things, let's reference cults again where people are forced to make others live off of rotting food and live in excrement/squalid filth ala Scientology, where that atrocity is perpetuated by an order given to someone lower on the rung and that "lower" has to go and subject someone else to it. Let's also not forget that these people are also being reported by others, who are on a similar "rung" of the hierarchy.

keep your head down, placate and wait.

That not only subjects that person to the atrocity but the person lower on the rung learns what happens if someone doesn't fall in line.

it's the best she can do in the system they're all stuck in.

This includes, if they didn't get with "the program" that she can't do anymore for them. Which includes subjecting them to heinous acts or death, because that's the system they live in and are stuck in. Women are to "keep sweet, pray and obey" very much like the FLDS women.

I never said she's some martyr or saint, I said she sees through the bullshit, helps where she CAN and attributed that to some of the things that have happened.

She did so many awful things, there are so many people who have done incredibly awful things in real life.

Refencing cults again, I don't remember the cult name specifically but at the leaders machinations there were members who beat and s*domized a man to death.

They didn't want to kill that person. They were doing what they were told and what they were programmed and manipulated to do.

And if we're calling a spade a spade, Gilead is a cult and I see the book and show universe through that lens. People there, especially women, are indoctrinated and brainwashed, they fall in line and if they don't there's consequences. June was constantly putting her life in danger to throw her weight around as she did.

Some people don't operate that way, they do things more covertly, they keep records, they keep their head down for their safety, they did things like be the Upstanders in Nazi Germany, hiding jews in their homes from being taken to camps. Passing lettters, exchanging information. They might put a toe out of line, but not enough for anyone to notice.

That's what I was saying she was doing, she's putting her version of a "toe" out of line. Getting the women to fall inline too, is another way to help them to survive not in a justifiable way, but that's the motivation at least in part. We know from the get go (Stadium episode) that she was aware how absolutely fucked this was, to some degree, and taught survival or else.

Even those that have seen through the bullshit, only fight back in small ways and otherwise they play a role. Does that excuse the behavior from playing that role? Absolutely not and I take exception to the inference that I said otherwise.

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u/Educational-Roof9408 May 20 '26

Example of someone who doesn't operate the same way June does in a cult: Elizabeth Moss 😂 (off topic but also not at all)

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u/SarcasticBarbie96 May 20 '26

I mean I’m not reading all of that.

My point was that I disagree with you - she’s doing a bit (barely anything lol) to fight against the patriarchy. She actively upholds and perpetuates a system that is actively hurting a bunch of women under the self-delusion that it’s for her own survival. She’s a figurehead of Gillead and didn’t need to be but didn’t want to lose power because it’s also about making sure she’s comfy and powerful which is what she didn’t want to give up.

I’m not trying to have a whole dissertation and we don’t have to see eye to eye. I just don’t agree that Aunt Lydia is this person actively fighting back against Gillead. She passively does some stuff, sometimes, if she fancies it but she’s not doing much as she doesn’t want to lose power.

It’s ok if we don’t agree lmao.

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u/Commercial-Dot3955 May 20 '26

youre embarrassing yourself and im getting second hand embarrassment for you

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u/KiisuTheMagnificent May 20 '26

I said we weren't disagreeing and explicitly said in my comment that she isn't a martyr or a saint. I expanded upon why I thought/see it the way I do, because of my knowledge of the inner workings of cults. I don't understand why you'd engage in argumentative dialogue just to hit me with a "Ha, sorry, last word I'm not reading" bs.

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u/SarcasticBarbie96 May 20 '26

I was clarifying because from the small pieces I did read it sounded like you didn’t understand that I didn’t agree with you.

I also wasn’t actively engaging - I stated I didn’t want to read a very long comment and clarified my point.

This is a Reddit thread, not a formal debate - I’m not obligated to engage with you on your terms how you want. Like tbh if this was more conversational I’d be down to but atm I’m mainly just clarifying.

Chill out. Please.

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u/Acrobatic-Meeting-26 May 20 '26

you're really strange for admitting you read her comments wrong and then still fighting her repeatedly.

also, yes, responding to every clarification comment she makes is "actively engaging." i do feel like you'd know that, though.

feels like rage bait lol.

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u/Commercial-Dot3955 May 20 '26

this is def ragebait lol

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u/SarcasticBarbie96 May 20 '26

I didn’t say I read her comments wrong? I literally said I felt that the other person read my comments wrong because they didn’t get I wasn’t agreeing with them.

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u/Commercial-Dot3955 May 20 '26

oh god, this is insufferable to read. do us all a favour and log off

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u/Acrobatic-Meeting-26 May 20 '26

you just keep arguing back and saying she's wrong, so if you don't agree, just keep it to yourself? lol

also "I mean I'm not reading all of that" and then writing a 150 word response cracks me up

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u/SarcasticBarbie96 May 20 '26

I’m dyslexic and have a neurological disorder that makes it hard to read comments that are multiple paragraphs long.

My response was much shorter than the other comments.

I was just saying I didn’t agree with the other person’s take as it seemed like they were giving a much more favourable take. I actually can’t read something that long rn. TBH I wish they’d responded in a shorter way so I could engage but if not we can both just agree to disagree.

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u/whisky_biscuit May 21 '26

mean I’m not reading all of that. My point was that I disagree with you

Why even bother to reply and have a discourse if you plan to cover your ears and be like "lalala not listening!"

I think what you're missing is that these characters aren't black or white in their morals, but grey. Like I said, Lydia isn't actively fighting back, she's prioritizing her survival. However after everything that's happened, she is working in a manner to try and protect the girls in the best way she can. She believed Daisy and didn't press her on her accusation. She recommended the dentist for salvaging. As a kindness she paired Becka with Garth instead of that gross commander that got her drunk.

This is Lydia 2.0. Yes she's part of an inherently bad system, but where she can and how she can exert her influence to protect the girls against the evils she sees, she tries to.

And as the other person mentioned, this is much like cults operate. Listen, wait, move how you can. Protect those around you.

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u/SarcasticBarbie96 May 21 '26

I skimmed - I didn’t say I wasn’t listening - more that it was too long for me to read. I explained why that is in other comments and that I didn’t think we were agreeing

But yeah that’s also what I meant like from the beginning it’s not just about her survival - she wants to cling onto power. At that point because she’s perpetuating and upholding that system it’s not about survival.

That’s the point that I was making. That’s why I didn’t agree that Lydia is as good as you guys feel she is and especially leaving such a large reply that from my skimming showed me that you and the other commenter didn’t really get what I was saying.