u/TieDyedCarrots

​

If you have not watched the full series, please, do not continue with this post. It contains A LOT of spoilers!!!

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

This is going to be a bit of a longer post, so I apologize in advance. This post is also going to be a bit all over the place. I'm not 100% sure how to organize it, so I'm apologizing for that, too.

Let me start off by saying, I am about the same age as Axl, Sean, Darrin, and Sue. We all would have gone to high-school together, if I lived in Orson. While I am not from the Midwest, I am from a small, working class town, with about the same economic class as what the Heck family is. I also live in a place where the climate is similar, too. So, this is just my perspective of everything.

Different people on here, have thought that it was strange that Darrin proposed to Sue when she was 17, and he was 20. People also thought Darrin wasn't good enough for Sue. They thought he was stupid. I don't think any of that is true. I also don't think he should have been written off of the show. Here is why:

As I said, if I lived in Orson, I would have been at been classmates with the Axl, Sean, Darrin, and Sue. While Darrin was older than Sue, I knew different people were in the exact same relationship situation that they were in. Some people were even engaged with their older boyfriend or girlfriend, while in school, or they were seriously talking about marriage. So, it was very much something that would have happened in a small town, at that time. To this day, people do get married right out of high-school, in our town.

People thought Darrin isn't smart. I find that very untrue. While Darrin might have seemed a bit dull, he did have smarts that weren't "book smarts " if you will. Axl, Sean, and Darrin all founded Boss Co. While unorthodox, it was a pretty successful business for teenagers to be having. While returning home from air-conditioning school, Darrin realized people needed snow removal. Sean and Axl didn't want to do snow removal. They wanted to mess around. Darrin took it upon himself to hire more bosses for Boss Co. and remove snow. This is a practical move.

Yes, it can be argued that they didn't remove the snow pile that they should have for the business that they were hired to do, Axl did make a valid point saying about how a lot of the snow would have been melted come Sunday, as that was predicted innthr forecast. Axl was trying to work smarter, not harder. Together, the three of them came up with different ways to try to remove the snow. This situation shows a few things. One, he can think on his feet. Two, he is good at thinking outside of the box, as they used blow dryers and toaster ovens try to get it to melt. Three, he can take other people's ideas and work as a team.

Darrin is loyal to the Heck family. He respects them, respects Sue, and he is helpful to them. When Axl was making fun of Sue, Darrin stood up to him. That takes a lot of guts standing up to your friend about something you don't like that he is doing. That also takes guts standing up to your girlfriend's brother. Darrin did both, at the same time. After Darrin and Sue broke up for the first time, the Hecks called and asked if he could come fix their air conditioning. Darrin fully agreed to try to fix their air conditioning, during his first semester of air conditioning school. This farther proves my point he his loyal to the Heck famiky and trying to be helpful. Did he fix it? No. But do I think he tried his best with what knowledge be had? Yes. Darrin also went to the Heck house fully knowing he could run into Sue. But he put himself out on the line, not to see Sue, but because he is loyal to the Hecks. After the whole issue with Sue not having a date to prom when everyone backed out or she rejected them,

Darrin showed up to spend time with Axl at the Heck house. When Darrin found out what happened, his first thought was, "I need to get to Sue!" He actually ran to the school to find her. That was a pretty selfless thing. Darrin stays after one of the school dances to help Sue clean up. He didn't have to do that. Did he and Sue share a kiss at the end of the night, over a trash can? Yes. Do I think it was his goal to his kiss Sue that night? No. I think he wanted to help out.

He communicates, albeit, sometimes in weird ways. After Darrin and Sue shared their kiss, he writes her a song, to tell her how he feels. He sings it in front of her, and Axl, and Sean. That took a lot of courage to do in front of his friends, especially with his crush being his friend's sister. He always checks in with his friends, Sue, Frankie, Mike, and Brick to see how they are doing. He does this especially when he thinks he has done something wrong, because he wants to fix it.

He is interested in what Sue likes and interests. He gets Sue things from time to time, that pertain to her interests. Also, during his proposal, Darrin planned a full scavenger hunt. That is something Sue would enjoy. He gets her family involved in it, which is nice, seeing as Sue adores her family.

He plans for the future and is financially responsible. Darrin is able to save up money from his job to get Sue a ring. Also, he is able to buy a house. (I could be wrong, but it sounded like he owned the tiny house, and wasn't bought with a loan.) It's a tiny house, but it is still a house. People live in apartments that are smaller. This is something he owns. If he is able to save up for a tiny house, he is able to save up for a nice down payment on a larger house. He could use the tiny house as a rental.

Which brings why I dont think he shouldn't have been written off the show. As I said before, very similar background as the Hecks. It is common enough for people to date their friend's sibling, but still remain friends with them after the break up. It doesn't always happen, often people need a tight bond for it to happen. I feel like Darrin had that tight bond with Axl. Even if he didn't have it with Axl, he had it with Sean. So, it would have made sense for different points the three of them would have been together, even if it was because of Sean's friendship with Axl and Sean's friendship with Darrin, even if Axl and Darrin might not be friends anymore.

Out of each Tanner daughter I think Stephanie had the most growth as a character. Stephanie was 5 at the start at the show, and she was 13 at the end of the show. For reference, Michelle was 8 when the series ended. DJ was 10 when the show started.

Michelle seems to always be a baby, for the most part. She wasn't doing nearly as much as what Stephanie was doing at the start of the show at age 8. That is no fault to the Mary Kate or Ashely. They were great actresses, and they would 100% be welcomed in the world of acting, if they chose to do it again. It was the character itself. Even as Nicky and Alex came along, she started to seem rude to them. She treated them like a pet, almost.

DJ seemed rude to Stephanie at the start of the series. While Stephanie did have some moments with Michelle, I always thought Stephanie was much kinder. Even as she gets older, DJ can be selfish at times, when she is needed to babysit and drags Michelle and Stephanie along with her on a date with her and Steve, sneaking them into the movie. Then, asking them to lie about it.

Stephanie was always a good friend to others. She tried to help everyone out. The only bad thing I can really think of that she did is make a bad choice to ride dangerously in the car with the older boys with Gia. That being said, when Kimmy got her licenses, all of the girls did a circle around Kimmy's car, at an intersection, to impress boys. That was a dangerous act, too. Ultimately, Stephanie chose not to go back into the car to drive around dangerously with Gia and the group of older boys. I feel like that was more responsible than letting always talk her into stuff, like Kimmy talks DJ into.

Does anyone know if any of the families still keep in contact or met up after the swap?

I know there was an instance where a rich, who very much cared about their looks mailed a box of "cool clothes" to the swaped family. I know there was another episode when there was a competitive eater who was seen on the in the "What happens after the Swap?" portion calling his swapped wife who helped him lose weight.

Mine would be anything to do with religion. I understand that the show was a social experiment to get people to live a different way than they do. But I think they should have tried to match people up with their own religion as much as possible.

During so many times, it seemed like someone was trying to convert someone over to their religion or someone was just full on disrespectful to someone about their religion.

​

I'm not sure of the episode, but there was one Wiccan family (Wife Swap US) whose personal house was also their Coven's house of worship. (Please forgive me on my wording on that if it is incorrect, I do not know what it's called. Please, let me know in the comments) During rule change, the

Coven meetings were required to stop. But their house was their legitimate house of worship for their Coven.

I'm not sure if it's was Wife Swap or Trading Spouses, but someone had a Jewish woman come. Her host family didn't want to help her find Kosher foods in the small town she was staying in. She was scared because almost all the food they had in their house, she couldn't eat due to her religion. Later, the family had a pot luck, and there was an issue about serving spoons being mixed up. Yes, the Jewish family signed up for the experience, but they shouldn't have been treated rudely by their host family. Food is something we legitimately need to survive.

​

Just as the headline says, when do we think she gets out? There are a lot of induendos that she will be getting out with narration that she says at different times. Does anyone think she will meet June and Luke?

Edit: book spoilers are allowed on this post

Since the women can not read, we see shops and food have pictures on it to tell people what they are. That seems pretty "sensible" as it can be for a world where one sex can not read. That being said, we know they travel. How do the drivers know how to get to where they are going? They don't live in a world where, "Turn right at the big oak tree" really exists.

Now, I do imagine, they want econo-people stay within their city limits, but when traveling is an absolute must, how does anyone if Gilead get from Point A to Point B without getting lost?

Edit to add, I'm talking about a longer trip, such as when Fred and Serena went to Canada, or when they are transporting people from one city to another city.

I know several people have mentioned there are several people who have mentioned there are episodes that are "lost" or hard to find due to the episodes being controversial. I know someone said in this thread that Child Services was called on a family, so their episode is hard to find.

If you know a lost/hard to find episode, please, drop the episode name and what country it aired on. Also, if you know where to watch said episode, say where to watch it at and which country you are from (if comfortable doing so) as not all countries are able to show the same things.

Thank you. :)

I apologize in advance if this is kind of all over the place. I started off by one question, but the more I researched to ask to follow up for the question, I went down a rabbit hole. It made me realize the US has a lot of their own issues with underage marriages. I thought it needed to be added.

How old are the girls in the show? I am not talking about the actresses, I mean the characters.

After doing a Google search, Google AI overview says, paraphrasing, that the average age for an American girl to get her period is between the ages of 10-15, with most girls getting them at age 11.9-12 years of age. But a 9 year old getting her period is not atypical, either. Girls typical show signs of getting her period about 2-3 years before by "breast budding."

So, if a Gilead girl were to go to school, by the standards of American school ages:

9 year old: Third Grader at the end of the school year.

9-10 year old- Fourth Grader

10-11 year old: Fifth Grader

11-12 year old: Sixth Grader

12-13 year old: Seventh Grader

13-14 year old: Eight Grader

14-15 year old: Ninth Grader- Freshman

15-16 year old: Tenth Grader-Sophomore

16-17 year old: Eleventh Grader-Junior

17-18 year old: Twelfth Grader-Senior

Then the actresses who make up the girl cast, with their real ages are as follows:

Agnes/Hannah played Chase Infiniti is 26

Shunammite played by Rowan Blanchard is 24

Hulda played by Isolde Ardies is 21 or 22 (Google wasn't sure)

Daisy played Lucy Halliday is 21

Becka played by Mattea Conforti is 19

Jehosheba played by Shechinah Mpumlwana is 17

Miriam played by Birva Pandya is 20

During the "Ball" narration, Agnes/Hannah talks about how this is comparable to prom. Mrs. McKenzie and Rosa, the Martha, also make the same comparison. Prom is hosted for Juniors and Seniors. (See chart for more details.) It's up to the school if they want to let any other grades go to the prom, if invited by a respective Junior or Senior as a date.

Even now, in 2026, there are three states, California, Mississippi, and New Mexico, which a person of any age can wed. There are hoops that have to be jumped through, but there are no laws.

Other states agree to child marriages with different specific examples, which are too long to list, but Hawaii and Kansas a 15 year old can get married. Even doing research for this post, I found some states will have younger ages that will allow a girl to get married than a boy.

It possible for two 18 year old to get married in most states, even if they are attending high-school, without parental consent. Parental consent is needed until the age of 19 in Nebraska, and is needed until 21 in Mississippi.

So, after looking at all the things, I would put the girls around 14-17. I place them there because:

1. Girls are getting their period my later in their time line than our current time line. According to the scientific information stated above, a girl a starts to get breasts around 2-3 years before her period. All of the main characters have them, even the girls who do not have their period.

2. In the "Ball" episode, Agnes/Hannah said about "being a teenager used to look like... but now there is just childhood and adulthood." To me, this applies they are in their teen years, even if they don't have the "teenager" experience. So, cuts out everything being before the age of 13.

3. The comparison the was made about prom to the ball over and over again. The prom is a school dance where all Juniors and Seniors are invited. As stated before, it is up to the school if they want to allow other grades to come, if invited by a respective Junior or Senior for their date.

I do not find any of the girls to at or above the age of 18. I think it would defeat the whole point of the whole "child bride" thing. Would people look at an 18 year old getting married to a man in his 50s weird in 2026 US? Absolutely! But, in most states, not a thing could be done about it.

Just as the title title says, what happens if the girls don't get their period? We know they move from Plum to Green when they get it, but what if they don't? Will they still get a chance to be a Wife, but just have a Handmaid? Will they become their own kind of class of women we have not seen yet?

The Plums are educated in womanly affairs of Republic of Gilead. I would think they would view it as shameful to see a woman go through all of the schooling just to be tossed aside.

Lady Mary and Anna had a bond like no other. I think Anna would have been one of the last Lady Mary would cut, even if it became unrealistic to keep her on.

That being said, when did ladies maids stop being a job? Lady Edith doesn't have one, even though she out ranks Lady Mary. I'm an American, so I tried Google. However, I think American Google doesn't understand my question, because I keep finding things about ladies-in-waiting and how that is often an unpaid positions.