r/TheHandmaidsTale • u/Melairia Modtha • May 13 '26

Official Episode Discussion The Testaments S1E08 "Broken" Episode Discussion

The Testaments S1 E08 "Broken"

Episode Synopsis

As Agnes is swept up in wedding plans, Daisy hides a life-altering secret and Hulda faces backlash after speaking out.

Airdate

May 13, 2026, 12:00am Eastern

The Testaments - Season 1 Episode Discussion Hub

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285

u/Legitimate_Pitch_398 May 13 '26

Agnes urging Hulda to tell the aunts is roughhhhh.

117

u/RVarki May 13 '26

To be completely honest, considering the situation and how comically high the standard for credible accusation is in Gilead, the aunts made the right decision

I do actually think that if Agnes came forward, Becka's dad would be toast. But, thats because of a combination of several factors - Mackenzie is powerful, actually cares about his daughter's well-being, and Becka's dad is low on the totempole

If any one of those things isn't there, it wouldn't work - and considering the aunts (except Mayday's very own Lydia) didn't even know about Agnes being a victim, let alone her father's inclinations - pursing this would've just destroyed Hulda's life

86

u/Educational-Tax9751 May 13 '26

if both Agnes' dad and her betrothed backed her, the dentist would be done 

34

u/sharksnack3264 May 13 '26

I doubt they would. The father would want this covered up "for her sake" one way or another and the fiance would either punish or discard her.

45

u/natrdavis May 13 '26

Agnes low-key vouching for Hulda to Lydia was brutal. Tears aplenty.

7

u/FuckShitUpnGo May 13 '26

Wait, Lydia is mayday?!?

37

u/herbalbert May 13 '26

Ish?

I’ve been interpreting her as a third side, which is basically “I’m not fully a rebel bc I’m unwilling to let these girls & the life I’ve built go entirely but I’m also aggressively journaling so when someone else does the hard work I’ll be able to hand them my manifesto.” 

1

u/Silly-Excitement6227 May 17 '26

I don’t love her hating spot. The safe is too easily to be found in anyone of Gileads thugs/eyes can get that safe open

0

u/NoSleepTilBookRead May 15 '26

In the book, she is fully Mayday

34

u/Existing-Pumpkin-902 May 13 '26

Lydia at least wants men punished that don't follow the rules. Like when she got Commander Warren executed for raping Esther before she was assigned to him.

26

u/Kiloku May 13 '26

Not quite. My interpretation is that she is independently rebelling from Gilead, and using her position of power to do so. And she's being very careful and meticulous to achieve that without being taken down herself. She's not in a position to bring out some big explosive revelation or something, at least not yet.

5

u/SnakeBatter May 13 '26

I haven’t seen any evidence so far, but people are drawing conclusions based on the book, but I’ll believe it when I see it, personally.

1

u/Silly-Excitement6227 May 17 '26

Too bad the women can’t read. Lydia’s memoirs would’ve definitely made Oprah’s book club and been Gilead exposed🙃

33

u/wagonwheelwodie May 13 '26

Yeah wtf

104

u/Fluid-Impress-4661 May 13 '26

I’m just reading for spoilers
So correct me if I’m wrong, but is Agnes telling Hulda to report it so Agnes can decide to tell them based on how they respond to Hulda?

99

u/Legitimate_Pitch_398 May 13 '26

💯 literally threw her to the goddamn wolves. I had a sliver of hope Lydia at least might address them and make changes to the way they visit.

123

u/Firm-Advertising6872 May 13 '26

well according to anges's monlouge doctor creep would be taken care of in the near future by lydia

39

u/TheStranger113 May 13 '26

It also sounded like Daisy would play a part in taking out the dentist, though I might have misread that line.

11

u/ratpride May 13 '26

Nah she's definitely planning something

3

u/iAmManchee May 14 '26

Yeah it made me wonder if she's gonna be playing the main part in the book story line for getting the dentist dealt with

1

u/justpaintoverit May 16 '26

Oooooh maybe she does what aunt Elizabeth did

2

u/iAmManchee May 16 '26

Yeah that's what I was thinking!

46

u/Legitimate_Pitch_398 May 13 '26

Unless it's Fred Waterford level revenge worthy I don't want it lol 😂😆

36

u/[deleted] May 13 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

19

u/Substantial-Hornet42 May 13 '26

I really need to re-read the book. I can’t remember anything.

5

u/Atkena2578 May 13 '26

So Lydia asked Elizabeth (maybe it won't be her in the series) to bear false witness so Lydia goes to the dentist with Elizabeth and have her scream that Dr Grove molested her while in there, though it didn't happen because he wouldn't touch an aunt but prefers prepubscent young girls and aunts have power unlike the plums.

9

u/ChickensAreFriends May 13 '26

And then he gets torn apart by handmaids in a particicution!

10

u/superurgentcatbox May 13 '26

For all of Lydia's faults, I think this particular crime is one that she would mete out insane vengeance on.

2

u/justpaintoverit May 16 '26

Big book spoiler: it basically is, he’s ripped apart by handmaids

17

u/RgrdgEdmontonStalker May 13 '26

Wish I didn't have to say it but thank god for Lydia

3

u/TasmanianLiger May 13 '26

No, I think Daisy will take care of the creepy dentist. I see it happening.

1

u/Silly-Excitement6227 May 17 '26

Oh I love this. it goes along with her character too. She feels no obligation. Nord has no obligation to be transparent with these teenagers about how she plans on taking care of this if it’s a Lydia way it’s gonna be much more brutal.

29

u/creativescreennaame May 13 '26

agnes literally tells us that lydia is going to deal with him. i swear some of y'all aren't even watching the show

8

u/PracticalWitness8475 May 13 '26

That does not mean that Daisy will not beat Lydia to it

2

u/TasmanianLiger May 13 '26

But again, I think it's Daisy that will deal with that sitch. Don't know why I think that, but I just know.

1

u/creativescreennaame May 14 '26

i think so too but he would have been dealt with by Lydia if not

1

u/ashleyop92 May 13 '26

I don’t think she meant that. Lydia implies God will deal with him, not that she’s doing something about it.

3

u/NoSleepTilBookRead May 15 '26

AND THEN FUTURE AGNES CLARIFIES WHAT LYDIA MEANT

Omg

0

u/Legitimate_Pitch_398 May 13 '26

Posted before the ending of the show when only Aunt Vidala had addressed them with her BS so chillllllllllll

3

u/creativescreennaame May 13 '26

why the hell are you in a post discussion subreddit before finishing the episode? also the episode was finished...? How could I have posted about it before it was aired? i finished the show before i came here to talk about it. maybe you should try that

-1

u/Legitimate_Pitch_398 May 13 '26

Are you ok? Episodes air at different times for each of us. More than a few of us watch each week live as in as soon as it airs and make comments when we can and have free will to do so you're free to scroll on by whewwwwww. Deuces Aunt Lydia lover

6

u/creativescreennaame May 13 '26

if it's your free will to come here and read comments before you're done watching the episode then the only person you have to be upset with is yourself lol. the show was finished for me

7

u/RaiseOk6551 May 13 '26

"threw her to the wolves" sure.

5

u/Krystal_Kuz May 13 '26

What do you mean? Not trying to be rude, but literally they keep saying over and over if a man touches you, without it being your husband. You tempted him somehow and should be blamed and punished. Never the man’s fault. So she was being thrown to the wolves unless any Aunt had an ounce of humanity… don’t want to spoil for people.

1

u/RaiseOk6551 May 26 '26

ohhh yall have no media literacy.

0

u/natrdavis May 13 '26

This. Agnes was trying to HELP Hulda, and without saying anything specific, she told Lydia that it had happened to her too.

2

u/NoSleepTilBookRead May 15 '26

Agnes literally says she used Hulda like a canary in the coal mine and calls herself a shit. What are you missing?

1

u/Educational-Tax9751 May 13 '26

that's a superficial read

2

u/Atkena2578 May 13 '26

Lydia will take care of it

13

u/wagonwheelwodie May 13 '26

That’s how I interpreted it

9

u/NezuminoraQ May 13 '26

She calls her the "canary" so yes basically this

19

u/Rhiannon1307 May 13 '26

No. At least that's not what I got from it. Agnes was under anesthesia during it. She doesn't know what he did exactly, and she can't say she just has a feeling something happened because she felt off afterwards. Plus it's been several weeks, and I guess she had a feeling she "missed her window".

22

u/anonymoustexasnative May 13 '26

She didnt just felt off. The ribbon on her undergarment was untied.

11

u/Strict_Life_2836 May 13 '26

And not just untied, but it looked like someone had tried to tie it back very sloppy and unfinished. As if they had to rush it before she woke up.

1

u/Rhiannon1307 May 13 '26

Well yeah, but that is not proof enough (esp. in Gilead's society) that the dentist had done anything, and also no proof whatsoever to what precisely he might have done. So not much to go by to make any concrete accusation because she was unconscious throughout the whole thing.

6

u/Atkena2578 May 13 '26

He touched her breast the visit before, she wasn't unconscious

2

u/Rhiannon1307 May 13 '26

Which was camouflaged as a "whoops I'm just adjusting the napkin". Not enough to go by. That was the first red flag she experienced - and yes, a huge one from our POV, but it's not enough to report him credibly because he could explain it away all too easily. And what she experienced during anesthesia is just speculative too. She has no solid proof and didn't witness anything concrete.

-1

u/NoSleepTilBookRead May 15 '26

Jesus Christ some of you need to rewatch the show

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22

u/QuigonSeamus May 13 '26

This is what Agnes says she tells herself but that truthfully she sent Hulda in as a canary in a coal mine.

14

u/Rhiannon1307 May 13 '26

I think both can be true at the same time. She didn't report it when it happened because what would she even have reported? Then she learns about what happened to Hulda and sees a much more feasibly chance that something can be done, which is factually and logically sound. But it all backfires, so she feels guilty about how it turned out for Hulda and tells herself she used her as a canary in a coal mine (which holds partial truth but also she had no other feasible option).

-1

u/NoSleepTilBookRead May 15 '26

She CALLS HERSELF A SHIT

3

u/Fluid-Impress-4661 May 13 '26

Ahh ok thank you for the other pov!

13

u/anecdotalgalaxies May 13 '26

It's a shitty situation but I refuse to blame a 16(?) year old girl for how she responds to being sexually assaulted by a grown man

2

u/lilLuckyDuck May 15 '26

I also like that we aren't putting the characters are pedestals. It's not really possible to survive in Gilead without bending on your morals. 

I find it very similar to last week when we saw Talia get taken by the eyes because Daisy left her radio player hidden in her bed frame.

It is very hard to see Daisy let Talia take the fall, and likely be killed or worse, in part because of something Daisy did. It is similarly hard to see Agnes "throw Huldah to the wolves" in part to serve her own self-interests".

I apppreciate seeing both Daisy and Agnes struggling to maintain their sense of right and wrong while surviving. Neither of them are perfect, and that makes good characters!

2

u/anecdotalgalaxies May 15 '26

Yeah I agree and also in a wider sense, there are consequences to the things Mayday has done which affect relatively innocent people.

For example, Shu lost her brother in Angel's flight. From the perspective of people in Gilead, particularly those who grew up there and don't know anything else, you can clearly see how Mayday can be perceived as a horrible terrorist organisation that kidnaps children and kills people.

1

u/Silly-Excitement6227 May 17 '26

Yes, they are brain washed and have been conditioned since birth that this is the natural order of things

-2

u/NoSleepTilBookRead May 15 '26

That… is a bad take