Critic’s Ranking: 4.45 / 5.0
4.45
I didn’t anticipate an episode of The Handmaid’s Story to punch me within the chest the way in which this one did. Not in the present day.
Not after I’m reckoning with the truth that I’ve been slowly killing myself — little decisions, small dismissals of wants, disregarding signs, waving off indicators. Not after I’m crawling out of that fog and realizing that I’m not wonderful. Not even shut.
After which this episode airs.
Ladies executed in stalls like they’re nothing, Nick selecting survival over fact, and June dragging her damaged physique again into the hearth as a result of there’s nobody left to do it.
And one way or the other, by means of all of the wreckage, they nonetheless plan a revolution. Nonetheless transfer.
It hit me laborious. Too laborious, perhaps. However that’s the ability of this present when it remembers what it’s.
This wasn’t simply tv. It was a name to arms.
The Fallout We Noticed Coming — And Nonetheless Left Us Unprepared
Let’s speak about Nick as a result of we cherished him. Possibly we nonetheless do. I don’t know anymore.
He advised Gabriel the reality, handed over Mayday’s plan, and helped dismantle Jezebel’s not as a resistance act however as injury management.
And he did it figuring out — figuring out — what Gilead would do with that energy. That they’d take out the ladies first, that Janine and the others can be sacrificed earlier than anybody in command even broke a sweat.
And but, he justified it.
“We’re human. That’s what we do.”
Self-preservation. That’s what he provided June when she requested him why, not regret or grief. Simply an unsightly, essential fact. And it gutted her. It gutted me.
As a result of I’ve stated that, I’ve rationalized issues that harm me as a result of I wanted to outlive that day, that week, that month. You may’t battle a system whereas additionally doing meal prep, answering emails, and sleeping.
However what The Handmaid’s Story jogged my memory — and perhaps reminded June — is that survival isn’t sufficient when it comes on the expense of every part else.
“Don’t Be in Love With a F#ck!ng Nazi.”
Luke stated what needed to be stated, which is what I’ve advised myself about individuals I as soon as believed in; individuals I as soon as trusted.
He noticed Nick clearly — all the time did. However June wanted to consider in somebody who noticed her. And Nick did, for a really very long time. However seeing somebody and saving them aren’t the identical, not when it places others within the crosshairs.
June walked away. Lastly. As a result of some truths you may’t stroll again from, and a few decisions you may’t unmake.
However June and Luke aren’t strolling away from one another, and that’s what issues. I admit that I had Luke all improper. That he stands by June due to and in any case she’s performed says all of it.
Lydia Is Not the Lady We Maintain Hoping She Will Be
I assumed Lydia would break this time. I did.
She sobbed over Angela’s drawing, cried at Jezebel’s, and wept with pleasure when she realized Janine was alive.
After which she circled and proudly accepted an task to D.C. — to assist pitch a plan to show Handmaids into one thing resembling respectable servants. “Attendants.” Like lipstick earlier than the guillotine.
It will nearly be simpler if Lydia had been heartless. However she’s not.
She’s damaged differently — one the place the indoctrination is so deep and the trauma so normalized that she nonetheless thinks she’s doing good and nonetheless believes God is guiding her.
She noticed Janine’s battered face in Bell’s window, and whereas she was considerably moved, she walked away, nonetheless decided to forge by means of together with her plan to “save” handmaids — by providing them up as caregivers for individuals who decided their destiny.
Lydia received’t change, no less than not throughout this chapter of Gilead’s story. And that’s nearly extra horrifying than Bell himself.
Serena Pleasure’s Blinders Develop into the Resistance’s Open Door
After which there’s Serena. If Nick is survival, and Lydia is delusion, Serena is self-importance — weaponized and hollowed out.
She’s clawed her means again from shame. We watched her stripped of energy, imprisoned, introduced low. And as an alternative of studying from that fall, she constructed herself a pedestal yet again. One wedding ceremony cake tier at a time.
This week, we noticed her attempt to rally the wives behind New Bethlehem — a spot she as soon as scoffed at herself. They mocked her. They mocked Joseph.
They insulted the gown outlets, the insurance policies, and the optics. Serena was humiliated, and Gabriel? He advised her to smile by means of it, to repair it with a much bigger ceremony, with extra pomp — with extra handmaids.
And he or she stated sure as a result of what she needs — what she’s all the time wished — is to be seen, not revered, simply seen. She might say in any other case, however her actions convey the reality.
And Joseph noticed that. He used it when June was able to stroll away and shut the guide. Joseph reminded her: Serena by no means give up. She acquired knocked down and pulled herself again up, heels sharpened and eyes large open.
June was livid. So what? Was she alleged to be impressed by Serena Pleasure? Hell, sure. How may she let defeat be her swansong when Serena simply retains pushing for herself?
As a result of if Serena can rise once more after every part she’s performed, then so can June — and June can do it proper.
That’s the reality Joseph threw at June like a lit match: Serena’s want for spectacle is the resistance’s alternative. Her wedding ceremony is the breach. The veil. The right crack within the system.
And June? She’s the one with the palms regular sufficient to blow it large open.
Joseph Strikes the Items — Once more
After which there’s Joseph. Smug, wry, infuriating Joseph.
Simply after I’d written him off, he got here again swinging — not with heat, however with technique. He is aware of the time for center floor is over. He pushed June to behave, reminded her that the marriage was the right alternative, and cleared the sphere by transport Lydia off to D.C.
He’s nonetheless enjoying the lengthy recreation. And truthfully, we’d like that.
We’d like somebody who doesn’t faux issues are salvageable, who is aware of the one means ahead is to blow the entire thing up — metaphorically and perhaps actually.
It seems all Joseph wanted was to know everybody mocked and wished to kill him. That’ll do it!
This Revolution Isn’t Clear — However It’s Ours
The plan is reckless. Veiled Handmaids at Serena’s wedding ceremony. Hidden weapons. No extraction till the tip. Each single buddy they’ve ever had — from Rita to Phoebe — is concerned.
It’s messy, harmful, and proper.
And when Moira asks for a speech, what does June give us?
“The Lord is my shepherd… and please expensive God, give us the energy to homicide these motherfuckers.”
That wasn’t blasphemy. That was religion. Religion in herself. Religion within the girl beside her. Religion that this — all of this — would possibly lastly be the final chapter written by them.
Why This One Mattered Extra Than I Anticipated
I’ve been low. Drained. Scared. Not fairly capable of finding my footing. After which this episode got here at me like a freight prepare wrapped in barbed wire.
It stated: You’re allowed to be damaged. However get up.
It stated, Sure, this world is unfair, merciless, and relentless, however you don’t owe it your silence.
It stated, Struggle, even when all you might have left is spite, half a plan, and a killer track by Coronary heart.
It jogged my memory that the ladies who survive don’t achieve this as a result of they’re stronger or smarter or purer. They survive as a result of they determine not to die. Not emotionally. Not spiritually. Not in the present day.
Closing Ideas: Shattered However Not Executed
That is The Handmaid’s Story at its greatest, not as a result of it provides us solutions, however as a result of it lights a fuse.
We’re alleged to be unsettled, indignant, and prepared as a result of that’s the place actual change begins. Look, I do know that this story received’t finish right here, however their tales will. They should go down combating, or they’ll by no means forgive themselves.
So right here’s to the resistance — fictional and in any other case. Right here’s to each girl crawling out of her personal grave, disregarding the grime, and saying, “Not but.“
And right here’s to a revolution backed by Barracuda.
As a result of rattling it, that’s the type of vitality I would like proper now.
Loved this evaluation? Assist us out.
Drop a remark or share it — it’s free, painless, and helps maintain impartial TV protection alive.
Watch 1923 On-line
