Welcome to Episode 3 of season 2 of The Handmaid’s Tale! If you haven’t watched the episode yet, please do so and then come back here.
RELATED: Season 2, Episode 2 recap of The Handmaid’s Tale
{SPOILERS, SPOILERS, SPOILERS} from here on out . . .
And here…
we…
go.
We find out June’s been at The Boston Globe for two months.
Finally, we get to see Moira (Samira Wiley) in Canada. Brrrr, wintry Canada. But also, YAY because Canadians are FREE. Moira, Luke, and the mute rescued Handmaid from last season (Joanna Douglas) are rooming together.
At The Globe, June has been going through old copies of the paper and putting together the clues, trying to see if it was clear that things were headed were they finally ended up. There were clues. She sees that now.
Flashback to June as a little girl with her mom (Cherry Jones) taking her to a rape protest.
Back in the present, Nick brings June a cup of coffee while she’s organizing her articles. She’s going to be moved, but he doesn’t know where, which is. . . unnerving.
She repeats one of my favorite lines from Season 1, “Better never means better for everyone.”
In Canada, we learn that Moira works at the American Refugee Center.
At The Globe, June hears a truck pull up to the dock, it’s the same driver who dropped her off. He’s here to take her to her new location. She grabs her coat and hops in the back. And I’m yelling at my TV “Are you sure though?!?!?”
Also, the nerd in me (which is, let’s be honest, ALL of me) is also yelling, “But what about your research and your investigation? Take it with you!” But just like that, she’s in the truck and on the move again.
Flashback again, only June’s an adult now visiting her protesting mom. She stopped by to pick up her blender. Her mom and her protest friends are for sure woke, in a time when wokeness was not valued, even by June.
Back in the present, June’s delivered to another empty warehouse. The driver leaves. This one sucks next to The Globe. It’s raining, the roof (what’s left of it) leaks. It’s storage for old signs. She touches the freeway sign that says “Boston, Logan Airport.” She stops and lingers in front of the “Now Entering Salem” sign. Touché: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem_witch_trials
A man’s voice (we find out later his name is Homer) asks her, “Are you a good witch? Or a bad witch?” He’s there to take her to an airstrip. She’s going to stay in a “friendly” house overnight then they’ll walk her over to the airstrip, where she’ll presumably be taken by plane to Canada. She asks him, “Who’s ‘they’?”
He says, “Someone brave, or stupid, or both. There’s a lot of both.”
Reminder: BE BRAVE OR STUPID OR BOTH, PEOPLE. IT’S THE RIGHT THING TO DO.
Last second, he gets a text and has to jet. He doesn’t want to take her with him. It’s not safe anymore. She blocks his van and yells “NO!” A lot.
He finally relents and lets her in, but he’s mad at himself for it. Clearly he’s being both brave and stupid (aka A HERO).
Back at his home, we see Homer has a son (we find out later his name is Adam) and a wife (we find out later her name is Heather). This is a HUGE RISK bringing June here. HUGE. Heather immediately realizes this upon spotting June. I don’t think she’s prepared to be brave and/or stupid.
They go in the bedroom to argue while Adam chats with June. Heather comes back in and breaks it up.
Things take an ugly turn. She starts laying a lot of judgement out at June’s feet, “I don’t know how you could give your baby up to somebody else.” She goes on, “I would die first.” Uh, ‘scuse me, ma’am, Miss Heather, go ahead and take many seats. No woman has a choice in Gilead. Not you, not June, not anyone.
They have to head out to church so Homer tells June to stay quiet while they’re gone because everyone there “listens to everything.” Adam agrees, “They really do.” Awesome. This should be a fun “hideout.”
Flashback to June’s mom’s house. Her mom reminds her that when she was little she wanted to be on the Supreme Court. To which June replies, “I also wanted to marry Jordan Catalano.” SWOON. We all did, June. We all did.
Her mom wants more for her than working at a publishing house “finding other people’s typos.” Then Mom blurts out that June shouldn’t marry Luke. She wants June to focus on the fact that “this country is going down the f*cking tubes.” She wants to see June stand up and fight!
In the present, some guy knocks on the door of the apartment and asks if anyone’s there, June hides under the bed in the bedroom. There, she finds a copy of the Quran and a prayer rug. So this church going thing is an act, on the part of at last one person in the apartment.
As the day wears on, Homer, Heather, and Adam aren’t home yet. June starts to worry.
Flashback to the Red Center where Aunt Lydia explains Gilead’s version of reality and how things got to be the way the are (#fakenews #alternativefacts #LIES).
The real story is that while lecturing, Aunt Lydia shows a slide of a colony and THERE IS JUNE’S MOTHER!!
That night, June and Moira wonder how they got her mom. Her mom had been performing abortions. And we know she had performed vasectomies, we learned that last season. June’s comforted by the fact that she knows her mom will “fight like h*ll.”
Back at the hideout apartment, June’s sick and tired of waiting. She finds a map to the airstrip in Homer’s apartment. She raids Heather’s closet for an Econowife outfit and heads outside. I AM TERRIFIED. Gun-wielding guards are everywhere.
She heads to the train station and boards a train. She checks her map and rides the train ot its last stop. There, she heads into the woods and somehow end ups running through a cornfield which leads to the airstrip!
In Canada, Moira’s at a nightclub. I know it’s a nightclub because it’s dark, there’s alcohol, and loud boom boom dance music.
She meets a girl, Katelyn, or Caitlin, or Katelin, or Kate-Lynn, or however she chooses to spell it, and they “interlude” in the restroom together. Appropriately, 1984 is scribbled on the graffiti-covered wall in the background.
Moira tells Katelyn, or Caitlin, or Katelin, or Kate-Lynn that her name is “Rudy.” Empty, meaningless interlude over.
Back home, Moira walks in, looking distant and empty inside. She tells the mute rescued Handmaid, who’s eating cereal at the table, “Go f*ck yourself.”
The rescued Handmaid replies, “Blessed be the Froot Loops.” She speaks!
At the airstrip, June sees a small plane land. A pilot gets out, she approaches and he pulls a gun on her. She says, “I’m the Handmaid!” He doesn’t believe her because she’s dressed like an Econowife. She shows him her mangled right ear. He says “Good enough.” Some other guy suddenly shows up, he says he’s Commander Wells’ driver, who apparently is also supposed to be put on the plane and flown to the safety and warm, welcoming wintry arms of Canada.
The pilot opens the door for the cargo hold of this tiny plane, “Welcome to Platinum Executive Diamond Plus.” Hahahahaha. It would be funnier if it weren’t so close to our actual flying experiences on American-owned airlines.
Flashback to June and her mom driving around in a convertible listening to Gwen Stefani’s “Hollaback Girl.” Which IS kind of the perfect convertible-cruising song.
Back in the present, the plane starts to take off, but machine gun fire interrupts the takeoff! Commander Wells’ driver is hit. The plane stops. The pilot is pulled out and executed on the spot! The cargo door is opened, and the injured limo driver is pulled out. Then June is pulled out!
SH*T.
………………..
What’d you think about this episode? Let me know in the comments below or contact me on Twitter! Looking forward to next week, episode 4!
Nevertheless, she persists.
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Just one nitpicky thing, but great recap as always: Moira calls herself “Ruby”, not “Rudy” in the sex scene. That’s a callback to her name as a Jezebel, and kind of a bummer really; the last time she said that, she was talking to June and may be symbolism of her acquiescing to her fate as a prostitute then. I think that being a handmaid, even briefly, followed by being a prostitute in Gilead stole something from her even sexually as while she’s free to be what she was before all the Gilead stuff, she can’t really get past the trauma- yet.
Just a thought.
Justjames! I’m so sorry for my delay in replying! Extra special thank you for catching my error! I didn’t even remember that was her name at Jezebel’s. This makes me extra sad for her.
You’re definitely on to something re: Gilead traumatizing her and her expression of her sexuality. Also, we need to see more of her. We’re 5 episodes in now and we’ve only gotten a tiny glimpse of her life in Canada. I want more Moira!