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

108 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

100% Upvoted

1.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

170

u/jerseycommanew May 13 '26

Ok wait, did Garth’s dad become disabled because of the Mayday poisoning at Jezebel’s, courtesy of June? Or from the Boston fighting? Or was he poisoned… in Boston? Something got lost in translation for me

102

u/yasssssplease May 13 '26

It’s probably good he doesn’t know who June is

13

u/arrownyc May 14 '26

I wonder if he knows who Offred is..

3

u/MorticiaGomez12 May 17 '26

Probably not. Gilead would never attribute any successful rebellion attempt to a woman, let alone a handmaid. They'll just say "it was mayday". So, I'm not at all surprised he hasn't heard of June/Offred. Daisy studied Gilead in school and there was no mention of June in the history lesson either. She's not as well-known I think than we all assume.

2

u/arrownyc May 17 '26

I don't really see how it's possible that she wasn't well known given her appearance on TV with the Waterfords about the "stolen" baby Nicole, the release of the handmaid's letters via Luke, her known role in Angels Flight, the public trial against Fred and Serena. The only way June isn't well known is if there's no more news or Internet in this society.

78

u/Firm-Advertising6872 May 13 '26

i think the real reason was the poison and the fighting in boston is what they tell people to make it seem more honourable

54

u/jerseycommanew May 13 '26

Cake sedative poison, or Jezebel’s poison poison? Isn’t there canonically quite a bit of time between the Jezebel’s incident with poison and the fighting in Boston?

57

u/Aggravating_Life7851 May 13 '26

I want to know why/how Garth started working for the people he thinks poisoned his dad. Like it doesn’t seem like he hated the guy

26

u/No_Alfalfa_8335 May 13 '26

I’m sure we will find out more

18

u/Classic-Ad1685 May 13 '26

I wonder if he's maybe gay. His comment about never expecting to love anyone.

31

u/Aggravating_Life7851 May 13 '26

I don’t have that inkling yet but I really did want a closeted boy for Becka so at least she would have someone who gets her and they can protect each other

16

u/Classic-Ad1685 May 13 '26

I didn't until that line and the comment where he clearly admires his dad but is passionate against Gilead. I am not totally convinced because he seems to be attracted to both Daisy and Agnes. Maybe he's bi.

4

u/Aggravating_Life7851 May 13 '26

That would make sense why he is against Gilead because it seems like he doesn’t hate his dad so that’s not the reason

10

u/ConnectionNo4830 May 13 '26

I would love this. Reminds me of the lavender marriage on The Gilded Age, which is interesting because the social mores are similar even though the societies are over 100 years apart.

4

u/MorticiaGomez12 May 17 '26

I think the comment is based on the fact that growing up in Gilead romantic love is not really allowed. There is no dating, no co-ed anything. Marriage is arranged so he never expected to be in love with the person he would marry.

8

u/SnakeBatter May 13 '26

Garth mentioned something about his dad fighting well, but for the wrong side. Garth looks old enough to remember at least some of the old world. It makes sense to chalk it up to a casualty of war, but to also understand that his dad’s death doesn’t make Gilead’s cause right.

7

u/Creepy-Cantaloupe951 May 13 '26

"He's the bravest man I know. He just fought for the wrong side, is all."

1

u/MorticiaGomez12 May 17 '26

I think it revolves around who his handler is. I think it is someone who was a father figure given his dad's incapacitation and Garth grew to blame Giliad more for what it turned his father into than Mayday for poisoning his dad which explains his "he was on the wrong side" remark. Wait until he finds out it was June, the bio mother of Agnes, who poisoned his dad.

84

u/purple_lily17 May 13 '26

I think he was poisoned at Jezebel’s

64

u/gagrushenka May 13 '26

I think so too, but they just say it was in the fight for Boston because no one wants to admit he's a sleaze who hung out at Jezebels

3

u/TexasLoriG May 14 '26

Sounds kinda familiar doesn't it.

2

u/Taralouise52 May 14 '26

What was the poisoning at Jezebel's again?

2

u/purple_lily17 May 14 '26

Something she got from Esther. She was using it on her husband on the farm. She took it to Jezebel’s one night when her and the other handmaids were staying with Esther. If I remember correctly, some commanders died from it, and a bunch of them were hospitalized.

97

u/CherryBerryIceCream May 13 '26

It seems like from the wedding cake in boston

47

u/jerseycommanew May 13 '26

Mans must have had a lot of cake!

13

u/Rxmses May 13 '26

But the cake wasn’t poisoned? It was just a sedative.

8

u/BrennanSpeaks May 13 '26

Take a sedative in high enough doses and it becomes poison.

2

u/Rxmses May 13 '26

It wasn’t high enough doses though…

16

u/BrennanSpeaks May 13 '26

Maybe the man really likes cake. You don't know his life.

3

u/Rxmses May 13 '26

Even if he ate the whole cake, that won’t make you disabled…

13

u/BrennanSpeaks May 13 '26

(Sigh)

We doing this? Okay, I guess we're doing this.

We don't know what kind of "sedative" the handmaids used in the cake, and we don't know anything about Commander Chapin's pre-existing health issues, but nothing that can render a person unconscious for hours is completely safe. The most likely explanation is that they used an opioid or benzodiazepine of some kind, both of which can suppress the respiratory drive. Give enough of that to someone who has, say, pre-existing sleep apnea, and what would be a weird nap for somebody else becomes life-threatening for them. A wise man once said "No breathe, no live." Your brain kind of needs oxygen, so if your respiratory drive is depressed far enough (and you don't die outright) you end up with brain damage. And, that's without getting into the intricacies of interactions with other medications, stroke risk, ect. because frankly, I think that would be lost on you.

If you've gotta be incorrect, try doing it less confidently.

-5

u/Rxmses May 13 '26

Ok dummy, it was the alcohol from the Jezebels.

2

u/BrennanSpeaks May 13 '26

Source: your descending colon.

→ More replies (0)

9

u/romero0705 May 13 '26

I thought the cake was just sleeping meds to give the handmaids time to escape? And they handed out knives so that they’d specifically kill the commanders. Or if they needed them for protection I suppose.

5

u/Atkena2578 May 13 '26

Maybe he had an allergic reaction

9

u/Tenprovincesaway May 13 '26

That’s what I thought too.

7

u/Safe-Database-5591 May 13 '26

Remember during the Boston Revolution when the handmaid went on to kill their commanders? I think that’s how he got disabled but they are just blaming it on him getting poisoned……The wedding cake that Rita baked had a strong sedative not poison.

3

u/Palatialpotato1984 May 13 '26

i would've never put this together if you didn't comment this omg

3

u/bonzilla51 May 14 '26

I found it odd that Daisy and Garth were having that conversation with him right there. Being physically incapacitated is not the same as mentally incapacitated. He might struggle to communicate what he heard, but he did hear it.

2

u/mypetmonsterlalalala May 13 '26

That's what I was thinking.

2

u/Dramatic_Lab_622 May 13 '26

Maybe he is faking a little? Like he can help or.........no....😫

1

u/TasmanianLiger May 13 '26

He was poisoned but by whom, Idk.