Last week, The Handmaid’s Tale Gave us a momentary respite from despair. We went bowling. We drank beer and listened to music. We saw Luke (OT Fagbenle) and June (elizabeth moss) genuinely enjoy themselves while we – the emotionally threadbare audience – try to forget the wider context. Luke and June attempt a perilous journey into No Man’s Land to retrieve a thumb drive containing information on their daughter Hannah. That’s why The Handmaid’s Tale One of the most consistent shows on television, I knew their entertainment would be short-lived.
In captivity of June … again
June and Luke make their way out of No Man’s Land with Thumb Drive, but it takes some time for the identities of their captors to become apparent. This isn’t Gilead, says June. The truck smells pretty much like harsh disinfectants, which a harsh, fertility-obsessed state would consider “unhealthy.” That’s what a survivor like June is left with – a sharp ability to read the situation. His knack for survival seems, at times, to overcome his will for it.
For most of the episode — called “Together” — Luke and June are locked in a nondescript cell side-by-side in a nondescript script in the middle of nowhere. Luke is panicking – pacing, nonstop chattering. But June has an unnatural ability to remain calm in extreme situations. She also talks to Luke. She’s been here many times before: alone in a dark room she’s not sure she’ll ever leave.
Luke’s right to be afraid; This is hellish. He is thrashed when he resists being taken away from Jun. June, in turn, blames herself for letting Luke escape into No Man’s Land in the first place. She was the one who knew how bad things could get. She understood firsthand the depravity and brutality of this dark world, where masked men literally rattle their cages to frighten and intimidate captives.
However, at some point, Luke passes out out of panic and resignation. “Last time, we didn’t get a chance to say goodbye,” he tells his wife through the cage that separates them. Here, Jun objects strongly. She tells him, and the audience for the first time (I think), that it was “hope” that kept her alive during her first tour through Gilead. Hopefully they’ll find each other somehow, which is exactly what happened. “We’re going to do this again.”
Nick is going to be a father again
Meanwhile in Gilead, plans to cut out Esther’s (Mckenna Grace) uterus — to redistribute to a few more willing handmaids, I imagine — go awry when doctors discover she’s already three weeks pregnant. She tells Lydia (Ann Dowd) that Commander Putnam raped her, which is actually the exact tragedy that Lydia was training her to endure, albeit in the context of some other humiliating scenario that Gilead calls a religious ceremony. Is. Esther, handcuffed to a hospital bed, screams in agony when Lydia approaches her. She bangs on the bed so hard, I cried a little.
Oti Fagbenle and Elisabeth Moss in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’
(hulu)
But you know what they say in Gilead? One woman’s rape is another man’s opportunity. Putnam has been making life difficult for Lawrence (BRADLEY WHITFORD) and Nick (MAX MINGELLA) for a while. Most recently, he shattered Lawrence’s dreams for “New Bethlehem”. Esther’s pregnancy gives Lawrence a chance for revenge by using the rulebook for cover. The commander agrees that Putnam should be put to death for the crime of “rape without property”. In the middle of their breakfast, as Mrs. Putnam is watching, Nick shoots her in the head.
Lawrence is one of the most intriguing and terrifying men in the series. He is so committed to his amoral stance on everything that, compared to actively evil men like Putnam, he can sometimes be confused for a good guy. Although he is not. He’s just a ruthless pragmatist. and nick? When her husband comes home from a long day of state-sponsored murder, his wife is naturally upset. Rose is concerned about the kind of person Nick is, but he assures her that he is only making Gilead safe… their children!
Serena in captivity… again
At first, it seemed that Serena (Yvonne Strahovski) was being temporarily moved to the Wheeler mansion in order to protect her from June. Now, it is clear that she is in pregnancy prison.
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The Wheelers set up a birthing suite in their attic so that Serena doesn’t have to travel into town for her ultrasound. He also set her up on a date with her gynecologist so that she could find a new father for her baby. They forbade him from walking the field because of slight high blood pressure. It’s really ironic. Ultimately, all it took for Serena’s ambition to be curbed was for her to have the baby she’d always wanted.
However, Serena receives some unexpected good news. It is revealed that Mr. Wheeler’s personal henchmen are behind June and Luke’s arrest, and he promises to deal with June… for good. It looks like impending motherhood has done little to dampen Serena’s bloodlust. She pleads to go and see justice done herself.
Ever Carradine in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’
(hulu)
Once Wheeler’s men confirm that Luke has legal status in Canada, they decide to dump him back over the border (hoping the thumb drive is hidden somewhere). Thank God. June thinks she is on her way back to Gilead when Wheeler’s personal bodyguard – a man named Ezra – intercepts the convoy and escorts her out to where Serena is waiting.
Like a true movie villain who can’t resist one last taunting speech, Serena asks Ezra to remove June’s bindings so she can pray. Jun rolls her eyes and plays along, praying for her children. “They can do better than us,” she tells him. Serena draws the gun, takes a step toward June, and unexpectedly pivots to shoot Ezra (who I assume was wearing Kevlar but still the sworn enemies to run away together go down quite a bit). Turns out the thing Serena hates more than June is being told what to do.
So on orders from her old conspirator, June gets into the driver’s seat of Ezra’s car. Serena Takes the Back Seat, So It’s More Like an Uber Ride Than a Tribute Thelma and Louise, Although this truce may be short-lived, it’s thrilling to see them on the same side… again.