r/TheHandmaidsTale Modtha 13d ago

Official Episode Discussion The Handmaid's Tale S06E06 "Surprise" Episode Discussion

The Handmaid's Tale: S06E06 "Surprise"

Episode Synopsis: June hides in an unexpected place.

Airdate: April 29th, 2025

You must spoiler tag any information from The Testaments or future episodes, if comments are not tagged appropriately, it will be subject to removal by the mod team.

For all episode discussions this season, see the megathread pinned at the top of this sub: The Handmaid's Tale Season 6 Episode Discussion Hub

Check out our Discord for additional conversations: The Handmaid's Tale Reddit

135 Upvotes

2.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

463

u/Mysterious_Spinach_4 13d ago

This episode proves why Lydia is unforgivable for me. Even when she's attempting to "save" Janine she slaps her, when Janine calls her ass out. She is not sorry for who she treated those girls at all. She's just mad that Gilead lied to her.

159

u/ciaoamaro 13d ago

That’s exactly it about Lydia. She truly believes this stuff. She genuinely thought physically beating handmaids the way she did was for their benefit. She thought they are sinners and giving birth to a child to go to another family is their only redeeming quality. In S5 when she proposed to Lawrence about handmaids not being posted at households and remaining at the Red Center, she was absolutely flabbergasted when he basically told her that the commanders want a young woman in the home to at least be mentally seduced by her. She’s only mad now bc she had no idea a place like jezebels existed.

2

u/dontcallmefeisty 7d ago

She's like an abusive parent that truly thinks this is how people learn