With Serena’s voiced echoing in his head, Luke decides to make a determined gamble when a chance to be taught extra about the place daughter Hannah could also be. In the meantime, Serena is settling into her new life with the Wheeler’s after issues went horrible unsuitable on the Gilead Info Heart.

All through the episode, these tales dominate the narrative, with the everyday bleakness we have come to count on from this sequence, in addition to the robust social commentary about how ladies are typically handled in our society, and our endless thirst for freedom, even when we have by no means actually identified it.

It is an attention-grabbing growth, with Gilead having existed lengthy sufficient now that there are youthful characters coming of age who’ve little or no actual remembrance of life earlier than this totalitarian regime stripped them of just about all of their rights and far of their humanity.

After getting a tip a couple of Guardian who has intel in regards to the wives-in-training, of which Hannah has lately been revealed to be, June, Luke and Moira determine to make the trek to their contacts at Mayday to seek out out what they’ll.

As soon as there, they’re hit with the unhealthy information that as a result of uncertainty within the No Man’s Land area between Gilead and Canada, the Guardian just isn’t in a position to make the crossing. In truth, Mayday has determined to uproot themselves and relocate, as hostilities exist on either side now.

As we noticed when the trio have been heading to their rendezvous with Mayday, Canadians are extra adamantly protesting the immigration of Gilead residents, taking it as far as to blockade roads. It is probably a response to America’s rising resistance in some quarters to immigration from our personal Southern border, regardless of figuring out among the horrific circumstances they’re fleeing.

Final week, when Luke maneuvered to get the Gilead Info Heart shut down through code violations and confronted Serena about it, she acquired in his head about the truth that he’d stayed in Canada and never completed something to try to save his daughter. So when he heard the Guardian could not cross, he determined to go.

June, in fact, dedicated to going with him. By no means thoughts that she’s Public Enemy Quantity One in Gilead. When these two declared that neither was certain they might chorus from killing Serena in the event that they noticed her once more, it was clear that (a minimum of in the intervening time) Luke is in lockstep along with his extraordinarily unstable, broken and harmful spouse.

And but, it is nonetheless so summary to him, as evidenced once they got here throughout a “Rapist” hung from a tree in No Man’s Land. Luke was horrified and mesmerized by this, however June has seen this and a lot worse already by means of her time in Gilead. They aren’t the identical.

They could not even convey themselves to belief the younger Guardian Jaeden once they met him, although we will not blame them for that. We are able to depend the variety of good and type individuals on this present with one hand!

It was an enchanting encounter, although, with Jaeden main them to an deserted constructing, with each extraordinarily suspiciuos of him the entire manner. However, because it seems, it was only a non-public hideout that he enjoys spending time in … and a working bowling alley, in addition.

This present has us so jaded when he stepped again to the bar to get some beer from a cooler, that is the place we, too, have been anticipating the opposite shoe to drop and him to have some nefarious motive.

At one level, he revealed to the couple that he solely had fuzzy reminiscences of life earlier than Gilead, prompting June to ask him why he is working with the resistance to tear it down, then, if it is all he is aware of and, as he put it, “It isn’t so unhealthy.”

His reasoning was fairly easy. Folks ought to have the ability to speak to one another and see their households. In different phrases, he believes in private freedom, which Gilead doesn’t supply in any respect. It is such a robust name that even somebody who actually does not keep in mind life with it craves it.

We saved ready for that proverbial different shoe to drop, and it by no means occurred… it blew up as a substitute!

After ready till the relative security of dusk to aim a return journey by means of No Man’s Land to Canada, Jaeden took a unsuitable step in insurgent territory. The haunting click on of a landmine being activated was simply the primary horror, because it wasn’t lengthy earlier than it exploded.

Jaeden survived the explosion, however misplaced his foot within the course of. Even worse, the noise was so loud, the rebels (we assume) have been upon them virtually instantly. At Jaeden’s urging, June and Luke have been off and operating.

Near the spot the place they entered, they wound up in a foot race with individuals from a car — a foot race they didn’t win. The episode ended with each of them captured and being dragged away from each other. Precisely who has them, although, was not made clear.

Have they been captured by Gilead, wherein case issues are about to go very unhealthy for them. Or are they captured by rebels residing in No Man’s Land, which implies their destiny might be fairly totally different. A Guardian they’d need to take out, however the June Osborne, possibly not. We’ll have to attend and see.

Maybe Serena has been a bit drunk with the facility and affect she loved when her husband was alive, and even her significance within the instant aftermath of Fred’s loss of life and her nascent being pregnant.

On prime of that, regardless of being a political prisoner of the US authorities in exile, she was truly afforded the identical remedy and rights as her husband and every other political prisoner.

Whereas she’s nonetheless in Canada, her new dwelling with the Wheelers could be very deliberately much like the one she lived in with Fred. The liberal use of flashbacks present how Serena needed to slowly settle into Gilead life within the first place, and now she’s being confronted with it once more.

In what definitely seems to be a press release on the present state of adoption on this nation that’s working to take away a girl’s proper to decide on, we see these desperately barren Wives taking a look at kids taken from tough houses.

Regardless that they need infants of their very own, neither Serena nor Nami have been actually all that excited about these older youngsters, and boy have been there a variety of them there. It is inconceivable to not consider older youngsters sitting in our present foster care system as a result of there usually are not sufficient houses for them.

In that second, each ladies agreed, although, that they weren’t on this Handmaid protocol. Lower to nevertheless a lot later, and Serena is wanting on the choices laid earlier than her. She’s agreed to do that, however the truth she rejects a Handmaid Fred confirmed some curiosity in signifies how on board she actually is not.

After feeling some modicum of success and energy when she spoke to the Commanders in Gilead, Serena continued to get knocked again all the way down to her station with one indignity after one other. First, Commander Putnam had his manner along with her verbally on the cellphone.

Putnam, who clearly does not belief Commander Lawrence anymore, was current for Joseph’s name with Serena, and he was fast to chastise her and virtually blame her for June and Luke’s actions to get the Heart shut down.

She then advised that the Gilead Info Heart is a nasty concept, anyway. They need to as a substitute give attention to fertility and conception and infants; the elements of Gilead this world of decreased fertility could be excited about.

As a matter in fact, and since she is a girl, Putnam shuts her down exhausting by saying they will take her suggestion below advisement and hanging up on her as she speaks. It isn’t that her suggestion is a nasty one, however that she has the audacity to have it whereas being a girl.

Putnam then tore Lawrence aside for Joseph’s New Bethlehem concept to welcome again “traitors” and “criminals.” He believes Gilead can simply shut its borders and preserve whole management. Lawrence says that would be the loss of life of their nation.

Whereas the lads are speaking, Serena does discover pleasure within the different Wives treating her virtually as a messianic determine for her being pregnant, however Serena has all the time been greater than a spouse. She was, in spite of everything, one of many chief architects of Gilead. Sadly, she created an influence construction that eliminated herself.

Regardless that she’s in Canada, the Wheelers seem to have totally embraced the Gilead manner with, and so they’re not the one ones. They do not look like formally affiliated with Gilead, however Gilead did conform to have Serena arrange there, so there’s some form of present relationship.

Serena rapidly finds out that she’s principally been confined to the grounds, unable to go away and even speak to all these native individuals who’d been welcoming her with candlelight vigils whereas she was in U.S. custody.

When she lastly met Mr. Wheeler, he shares along with her that the Commanders are going to maneuver ahead along with her concept. However they’d additionally determined to take away her from any involvement becuase, in spite of everything, her being pregnant is a very powerful factor.

That is, once more, a thinly veiled commentary about America as soon as once more lowering its personal ladies to their wombs with among the anti-abortion legal guidelines which might be being handed or proposed. The infant takes precedence over the mom and all the things else.

We felt the humiliation when Mr. Wheeler introduced her neonatal nutritional vitamins after which poured her a glass of water so he may watch her take them. Had she refused or stated she would do it later, we will solely think about how that might have gone over.

Already a citizen with decreased standing and enter, Serena is lastly getting a way of what it’s prefer to be a fertile girl in Gilead. She has been decreased to her womb and the newborn inside it. She is simply the vessel and the lads will even be answerable for this journey.

Her request for a cellular phone was additionally denied. Wheeler was involved with Putnam after that disastrous cellphone name, so it might be that Serena is on the verge of turning into a persona non grata and basically a prisoner within the Wheeler family.

Serena has been a savvy and ruthless girl all through “The Handmaid’s Story” however there was additionally a time the place she was on the verge of willingness to revolt in opposition to the system she helped construct. Serena is self-serving above all, so so long as she may make that system work for her, she was okay in it.

Now that it seems to be working in opposition to her, and he or she seems to have been stripped of her personal freedoms, alone out of the country with strangers who’re basically holding her captive, the system is unquestionably not working for her and he or she just isn’t okay.

The query is, what is going to she do about it?

“The Handmaid’s Story” continues with new episodes each Wednesday on Hulu.