*Warning: Spoilers ahead*
Put on your wings and red cloak because, regrettably, we’re back in Gilead. *Sigh*
After being captured in episode three, Offred (Elisabeth Moss) returns to Gilead, and it’s not a happy homecoming to say the least. Not only is her handmaid tracking device re-implanted in her ear, but she’s now shackled to a bed in the Red Center and has been there so long that she has resorted to counting the flowers on the bedspread to pass the time. (Hint: There are 71.) Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd) enters the room and praises Offred for eating well. She bristles at hearing her Gilead-given name and tells Aunt Lydia that her name is June.
Aunt Lydia ignores June’s feeble attempt to correct her and threatens she’ll stay chained up and executed until she gives birth…unless she behaves like a good little handmaid. Aunt Lydia brings in the red habit and wings for her to put on, and Offred recoils in anger.
She arrives back in her personal hell, the Waterfords’ home, where Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski) torments her and Commander Fred Waterford (Joseph Fiennes) habitually rapes her.
The Commander welcomes Offred back home and tells her that while it was difficult to find her, he and Serena were adamant about rescuing her from her kidnappers. Yep, they’re calling it a kidnapping as opposed to an escape.
Serena Joy enters the room in good spirits, saying, “And the ransom of the lord will return. Praise be.” Offred is hesitant to respond with a “Praise Be,” but Aunt Lydia makes it clear she must. Re-adopting Gilead jargon is better than execution, after all.
As Offred walks up to her room, she considers the Waterfords’ decision to cover up her escape: “Kidnapping, of course. Kidnapping is a story everyone can live with. The Waterfords can keep the baby. It shows off Gilead’s reach and might.” Eye roll.
Offred is resettling into her room when Serena bursts in and strangles her. “92 days,” she practically spits in Offred’s face. When Serena finally lets go and walks away to leave, Offred reminds her “as long as my baby is safe, so is yours.”
Offred is washing off the pain of the encounter in the bath, when the lights suddenly go out. Aunt Lydia rushes in to assure her everything is fine and gives her a rag to wash “down there.” Then Aunt Lydia tells her it’s time for bed, because she has absolutely no autonomy anymore.
The next morning, Offred is awakened by chipper Aunt Lydia and the Waterford’s Martha, Rita (Amanda Brugel). After Aunt Lydia leaves, Rita throws the package of Mayday letters June gave her in the season one finale onto her bed and says she wasn’t able to complete the mission. With Aunt Lydia lurking around, this bundle of letters is the last thing Offred needs. She hides them behind her bathtub and sighs at this frustrating twist of fate.
After getting ready, Offred descends the stairs and sees enough flowers for a Kardashian wedding strewn about the house. Aunt Lydia tells her that they’re celebrating Offred’s “miracle” return today…with a baby shower for Serena. Suddenly, Nick (Max Minghella) enters the kitchen holding a box of champagne and is shocked to see Offred. They look at each other longingly, and Serena definitely notices. Unaware, Aunt Lydia forces Offred to gulp down a green juice, which she promptly vomits all over the kitchen table. Don’t worry, Offred, there’s more where that comes from.
Later, the baby shower is in full swing and the other Commanders’ wives gab while their handmaids wait behind them. One particularly OTT wife has her gift rolled in and tells Serena she feels bad that her baby was kidnaped. The women chirp about how nervous they’d be if they missed the first trimester, and when Naomi Putnam (Ever Carradine) says she didn’t sleep until baby Angela kicked, Offred can’t hold back anymore. She interjects and says she felt the baby kick for the first time last night. The room falls silent, and you can cut the tension between Serena and Offred with a knife, until some Commanders’ wives cheer, “Praise be!”
While the wives gush over Serena, Commander Waterford and the husbands shoot clay pigeons and drink whiskey (of course). Commander Waterford lobbies for a chance to act as a special envoy to Gilead on an upcoming trip to Canada. His boss looks skeptical and questions whether his house is in order. It’s not exactly, but they toast to his hopefully healthy baby anyway.
In the middle of the soiree, Serena goes outside to smoke a cigarette. Aunt Lydia confronts her and says she’s worked with many wives and handmaids. Serena retorts that she should be called a mother, not wife. Aunt Lydia ignores the aside and calls her out for resenting Offred, saying her testiness is a sign that the baby will be strong. She insinuates that Serena better suck it up and treat Offred better. Oh, and stop smoking. Tsk, tsk, Serena.
Meanwhile, Offred grabs the attention of a fellow handmaid-cum-Mayday-operative named Alma (Nina Kiri). Alma tells her that Mayday has gone silent and they’re done helping handmaids. She also shares that Ofglen’s (Tattiawna Jones) tongue was cut off after she stood up for Janine (Madeline Brewer). Yikes.
It’s ceremony time. The handmaids and wives gather in circles and hold red and green strings. Aunt Lydia brings Offred into the center circle to join Serena. Offred kneels on a pillow in front of Serena, they join hands, and the strings are wrapped around their hands to solidify their (unwilling) bond. Serena says a prayer asking “the little children to come to [her],” to which everyone responds, “for such is the kingdom of heaven.”
Offred flashes back to her pre-Gilead life when she unexpectedly met Luke’s (O.T. Fagbenle) wife, ya know, the one he had before her. She showed up at June’s yoga class to ask her to back off and give them space to fix their marriage. While the exchange starts out calm, it grows more tense and ends with Luke’s wife calling her a slew of expletives and yelling, “You can’t just wreck people’s lives like they don’t matter.”
When June gets home, Luke is furiously leaving a message for his soon-to-be ex-wife. He hangs up the phone when he notices June entering the apartment. They talk about what happened, and when Luke says, “I love you more than I’ve ever loved her,” it’s like nails on a chalkboard (even though we love you, June). Luke tells June to forget about his ex because she doesn’t matter to them and they’re going to get married.
Back in the Waterford home, Offred snaps out of her reverie as Serena looks over all the gifts she received. Offred tries to relate to Serena and says, “After my shower we gave away half of the gifts.” Serena becomes furious, and because she can’t hit her pregnant handmaid, she smacks Rita to the ground instead. Aunt Lydia shuffles Offred out of there—fast.
After assaulting Rita, Serena marches into the Commander’s office and demands that Offred be removed from their house and sent to the Red Center. The Commander talks her down and tenderly explains that they’ve missed so much of the pregnancy already. They should cherish every moment. “Just think about the baby. Not her. She’s nothing,” he says. Ouch.
Meanwhile, Aunt Lydia tries to talk some sense into Offred during a walk along the river. She explains that she’s trying to give Offred the best life she can have in Gilead, at least as a former adulteress. They come upon a hanged body, and Aunt Lydia tells her it’s the man who let her stay in his home. It hits Offred hard. With him dead, Aunt Lydia says his wife will “redeem herself by serving as a handmaid and the boy will never see his mother again.” All of their blood is on Offred’s hands and Lydia makes sure she knows it. “Such a selfish girl,” she chides before making Offred admit that this is “June’s fault,” not Offred’s.
“Offred is free from blame. Offred does not have to bear June’s guilt,” Aunt Lydia coos before pulling Offred in for a hug. Talk about mind games.
Later, Offred visits the Commander and Serena and asks them to allow her to stay. Serena makes her beg, and Aunt Lydia steps in to say that she has confidence they’ll find a way to coexist.
Late that night, Serena smokes in the baby’s nursery and then climbs the stairs to Offred’s room to try to feel her baby kick. She gets into Offred’s bed, spoons her and says, “All will be well. All manner of things will be well.” If that’s not creepy enough, she whispers, “Mamma loves you,” before leaving the room. *Shudders*
When Serena is gone, Offred gets up to lie in her closet and read the carved Latin words from her predecessor, but they’re gone. Their erasure is another thing Offred perceives is her fault, and she repeats “my fault” incessantly while flashing back to a memory of Luke’s wife stalking her. This time, June has baby Hannah in her arms, so it’s clear Luke’s wife really didn’t take the hint.
The next day, Offred resolves to forget June (her actual self), dons her red cape and wings and sets out for the grocery store just like in the beginning of season one.
On her way to the gate, she runs into Nick, who tries to apologize to her for not keeping her safe. But instead of listening to him she simply says, “We’ve been sent good weather” and waits outside the gates for her handmaid compatriot like the good girl Aunt Lydia wants her to be.
We didn’t realize this was turning into a dystopian Stepford Wives society. Season two, episode five of The Handmaid’s Tale hits Hulu next Wednesday, May 16. Now might be a good time to try that Sophrology business we keep hearing about.
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