u/The-Kittens-Mittens

I have accidently got myself in a horrible situation. I fumbled my exams, like, really fumbled them. The last paper I did I barely finished half the questions.

My predicted grades were A*AA and I applied to unis with that in mind but its looking more like it will be BBB-AAB. If I'm lucky, I will manage to get the grades for my insurance uni.

However, I recently realised that I dont want to go to my insurance choice for various reasons. I never planned or even considered doing a gap year and now im stuck. Ive got two weeks until the start of the summer break.

I know alot of people travel etc but I have only just realised that Im definitely having a gap year today. I dont know what to do.

I have various mental health issues and if I just get a local minimum wage job I'll be absolutely miserable. I have very few friends (certainly not reliable, close ones) and we have all been pretty open about not staying in contact after A levels. I live in a village of 300 people. There are no shops in walking distance. I cant drive so my only way to travel is through the very irregular and spaced out buses that come through my village.

Without school I am essentially completely isolated. If I get a job in a local town I will have to spend lots of money and time on transport and I will have nothing to do outside of that job.

Staying in my bedroom and leaving to do a few shifts at maccies or something is not a proper life. I need an actual plan of something to do but Im not sure what.

I have a passport and Im not opposed to travelling but Im not sure how feasible that would be.

I like literature, history, movies, writing, crafts etc. I was supposed to be doing a history or archaeology degree.

Im not entirely sure if I want to go to uni at all now for various reasons, but my main concern is figuring out what im going to do for the next year or two.

In the flashbacks, it is kinda obvious that the murder of her parents is a big factor in Daisy's motivation to join mayday. She has been told she is in danger and her only other option is to go to Columbia and start a new life all alone. Of course, given the situation, her anger at Gilead is perfectly understandable in the moment.

However, I feel like the writing of the show doesnt really illustrate her motivation enough. We dont see Daisy reflect on and mourn her parents when shes in Gilead and I feel lile even in the flashbacks they didnt really bother to really show her feelings. Daisy says that shes angry at Gilead but everyone knows the most important rule in writing is to show not tell. Daisy's flashbacks are overshadowed by June and Rita so I think the writers forgot that it was important to actually develop Daisy's motives/grief/relationship with her parents.

Daisy's fear and constant requests to leave Gilead are totally logical and are not bad writing at all, but this should be balanced by genuine commitment to rebellion/hating Gilead. Garth's conversation with Daisy in episode 8 really highlights the difference in commitment.

I just feel like the show has not made a compelling argument behind Daisy's motives for endangering her life. She also keeps suggesting that she is going to go to college after this, which is naive to the point of comedy. It makes sense for Daisy to have a false idea of what life in Gilead would be like, and her underestimation of Gilead/the Plums is very realistic. Her trust in mayday is also understandable given that they seemed very well organised in Canada. However, Daisy's belief that she is only going to be in Gilead for a short time is completely illogical. I could only buy her genuinely believing this if an agent of mayday/Rita told her at some point during her flashbacks that her mission would be short.

Furthermore, I feel like she has not even done much for mayday. Other than giving Garth a chocolate in hopes of getting out, Daisy is pretty much just lying dormant. This is realistic for spies in a way, as spies in real life are sometimes instructed to build lives in other countries and not actually do anything for years until they recieve instructions. However, if this is Daisy's purpose then mayday should have groomed her into being prepared to infiltrate Gilead's ranks and put herself in a helpful position for mayday. Daisy is doing the complete opposite of this by hiding her period abd avoiding marriage. She even rejects the advances of a powerful commander who creeps on her in the hallway. Her fear of marriage is totally logical but ultimately as a spy it us in her best interests to get married or atleast infiltrate the Gilead system by becoming an Aunt.

I dont think mayday really want Daisy to remain a pearl girl for too long. Being a pearl girl is a great way to get a spy into Gilead, but is not a good position for gathering information. Pearl girls are outsiders and under a high level of scrutiny even for Gilead. They have even less freedom of movement than handmaids, as other than Daisy, the other Pearl girls are restricted to the school grounds. Of course Daisy can find information through the Plums or even the Aunts, but ultimately being a Wife or Aunt wpuld be so much better.

I feel that the show needs to build more on Daisy's grief for her parents, or anger at the suffering of the Plums, or even show her being manipulated/indoctrinated by mayday into joining the rebellion. She needs some sort of clear motive.

In the books, >!Daisy's motives felt much more understandable as she wasnt just a random victim. She was a martyr that was publicly pursued by Gilead and unlike in the show, it would have been much harder to escape Gilead's pursuit.!< In the show, Daisy is told by June that Gilead wants her, and we see a gilead agent disguised as social services try to take her, but we dont have that same sense of Daisy's life being intermingled with Gilead.

I really hope that in the next two episodes we discover more about Daisy's background and maybe that will give her more motive (though I suspect they wont reveal ger parents until the last episode)? Or even the events of episode 8 could motivate her as she has now discovered that Dr Grove is a creep and had a talk with Garth about commitment to mayday?

In previews there were images of Daisy dressed as a plum going around. In episode 7, Daisy says that she hasnt had her period to Rita and doesnt expect to as she only knows one girl thats had a period. Could this mean that Daisy is going to get her period in Gilead? Its certainly a possibility.

This could really change her future. I thought she might become an Aunt because of her conversation with Aunt Estee, but now I think she might be married off as a plum. However, marriage offers have already been sent out so I dont see how they could arrange for her to marry.

Aunt Estee does say the aunts have bedn impressed by Daisy, so they may be more willing to arrange for a good future for her. If she does get married I cant imagine who it would be. If Becka's parents dismiss Chapin, maybe he would marry Daisy. But I also think dangling the possibility of Chapin and Agnes in ep6, then him being offered to Becka, and then having him marry Daisy would be alot.

Also, how would being a plum even work without parents? Would she stay in the dorms? Would Aunts meet with potential husbands instead of parents? Or maybe we are going to discover something about her family. Im almost 100% certain that she isnt Junes daughter and I know Rita said her parents are dead but maybe she was lying.

I think that Becka will end up with Chapin. I know that Maddox is richer and higher ranking, but Chapin needs to stay present. If he is no longer Agnes' Guardian then it would be hard for him to still be present in the plot. I also think that Becka's parents would be willing to choose Chapin despite being such a new Commander because in the long run he might have higher status than Maddox. All we know is that Maddox is a colonies commander (which for whatever reason is clearly looked down upon in Gilead) and we dont know if hes even that wealthy. We havent been told what Chapin's exact role as Commander will be yet, so it could be something like economy, agriculture, foreign relations etc (though I suspect it will be something more military related) so he might actually be more respectable. We also hear in the car that Chapin's dad is semi-important in episode 6 (i think?) so even if he is new, he isnt as low ranking as people seem to think.

The end of episode 7 heavily suggested that Agnes will marry Weston (or whatever his name was). I think this will be interesting because he is obviously a very unsavoury man who is going to definitely make Agnes question gilead even more than she already which could push her to join mayday. Having a husband who works with the eyes could also make her more useful to mayday?

In episode 7, Daisy says >!that she only knows one girl in Toronto with a period, but we see so many Gilead girls with periods.!<

I know Gileads whole purpose is to increase the birth rate (which they logically will have risen through handmaids and the fact that childfree women basically arent allowed to exist anymore) but I thought improving fertility was a more long-term goal. Gilead has not been around for very long and I thought it would take 2-3 generations before any change in fertility was seen.

I've seen some people say in episode discussions that it makes sense fertility is increasing because most of these girls were probably born to handmaids and children produced by fertile women will likely be fertile. However, this is completely illogical. Any person that has ever been born has fertile parents. Obviously, there are different levels of fertility but you cant have 0% fertility and produce a baby. Also, many of these girls will have been born pre-Gilead as they are roughly in Hannah's age range so the handmaid system is irrelevant to their fertility. Furthermore, it was heavily suggested in The Handmaids Tale that the infertility was caused by enviromental factors not genetics.

Could Gilead have really changed so much that girls who were born pre-Gilead are so much more fertile? Arguably, theres less pollution and a big emphasis on improving the environment - but I dont see how they couldve made such a big impact already? Diet should also be considered as these girls arent eating heavily processed food which should help, but that doesnt necessarily mean their diet is perfect. There has always been a big emphasis on certain foods being hard to get into Gilead, especially fruit. While the daughters of Commanders are obvioisly not starving, they might not have a perfect diet either.

So how are so many girls getting periods? I have considered that maybe its alot fewer girls than we realise who get their periods in gilead that are simply pusjed into obscurity due to scandal. >!Shunamite is called a prune by Jehoshaba!< in episode 6 I think, which implies infertility is so common that there is slang for it. But I still think if Daisy only knows 1 girl with her period and we are introduced to like 10-20 girls with periods at the dance, then theres definitely alot of girls with their period.