Welcome to Episode 10 of season 2 of The Handmaid’s Tale! If you haven’t watched the episode yet, please do so and then come back here.

{SPOILERS, SPOILERS, SPOILERS} from here on out . . .

And here…

 

we…

 

go.

 

You need to know that Hulu gave this warning for this episode in an email: “Warning: this episode has content that may be extra sensitive for some viewers.” I second that sentiment. They were not exaggerating. Prepare yourself.

We start off this week’s episode with Emily (Alexis Bledel) being subjected to “the Ceremony” aka rape.

Her rapist, Commander Roy, promptly has what I’m hoping is a fatal heart attack right afterwards. As the Commander’s wife screams at Emily to get help, she calmly responds with, “The chances are better if I lay on my back afterwards.” LOL, ew, and YA BURNT, Mrs. Roy.

When the Commander’s wife leaves to go get help, Emily strolls over to the fallen Roy and kicks him as hard as she can. Twice. Giving us all the satisfaction we require after watching her get raped.

Over at the store, Offred (Elisabeth Moss) overhears Brielle and Alma discussing what happened to Emily’s Commander.

Child-bride, Eden (Sydney Sweeney), is there with Isaac (Rohan Mead) and, once again, there’s a significant amount of flirting happening between them.

Offred wanders over to Emily and finds out she’s going to a new posting soon. Offred tells her and Janine (Madeline Brewer) that Moira made it out, she made it to Canada. Janine responds with,

“Praise be. Maybe we could all end up in Canada one day.”

Offred encourages Emily to be strong because she’s still her son’s mother. She could still see him again one day. She’s interrupted by CONTRACTIONS!

An ambulance brings her home where Nick sweetly escorts her into the house, ignoring his child bride. Child bride is taking notes.

Serena runs out and falls to her knees in front of Offred, praying to her belly like a 100% nut job.

She tells Offred, “We did it Offred. And this is the will of God and we shall rejoice and be glad in it.”

Offred replies,

“No one knows the things of God.”

In the Waterford bedroom, Offred cringes to hear Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd) giving orders about pillow placement. The Handmaids all come in with supplies; sheets, towels, ice.

Aunt L gets in Offred’s face and goes on and on about God.

In Fred’s (Joseph Fiennes) office, the Commanders all congratulate him. There’s a newly promoted Commander there who doesn’t have a Handmaid. It demands mentioning that he is not white. He is, in fact African-American (Gileadian?) A first on two counts.

Some old douche-bag Commander comes in and tells Fred his own Handmaid is “about to reach her expiration date. She wasn’t that much fun to begin with.” Chortle chortle. These guys, I swear. WE NEED TO SEE THEM SET ON FIRE.

In the sitting room, Mrs. Putnam (Ever Carradine) rubs Serena’s back and tells her “You so deserve this.” I yell, SHE DESERVES TO BURN IN HELL IS WHAT SHE DESERVES. But she doesn’t hear me.

Serena lays down to pretend she’s in labor. And these crazy ladies in green sit around her in a circle and ALSO pretend she’s in labor. EVERYONE IS INSANE, is my point.

Can we talk about privilege here for a second? Serena help set up a system in which another woman is continually raped by her own husband, whose child – which is no way hers or her husband’s – she then intends to steal, with zero ramifications. In fact, she’s being congratulated! Deified!

THIS is the sensitive content Hulu warned us about.

I mean, look at that face. The smug self-satisfaction. PUKE.

But what’s this? All is not rosy.

Aunt L summons her upstairs to the actual birthing room.

Turns out, it was false labor. Aunt L tells Serena to consider timing the contractions next time. Offred is super pleased that Serena got all hot and bothered for her pretend labor performance.

Rita tells Nick (Max Minghella) the news. Nick waits to tell Fred. Probably so that it’ll be that much more humiliating for him. At least that’s what I choose to believe.

Dr. Fingers (not his name, just what I decided to call him) examines Offred, she’s nowhere near about to go in labor. Serena wants her induced but he tells her no – because of the severe bleeding she experienced earlier in the pregnancy.

RELATED: Read all of our recaps for The Handmaid’s Tale.

Aunt Lydia suggests they use natural ways to help induce labor, vigorous walks, spicy tea.

Serena is v. v. annoyed at this idea. “Tea?!” she says.

Aunt L and Offred give her these looks:

Yes, b*tch. Tea!

Later, Fred finds Offred outside his office. She needs his help. She wants to be moved to her daughter’s district after she has to leave the Waterford house.

He responds with insults, degradation, and a temper tantrum. She doubles down, tells him, “You have no idea what it is like to have a child of your own flesh and blood. And you never will.”

D*mn straight.

In the greenhouse, or as I’ve come to call it, “Mrs. Waterford’s Home for Plants That Serve as Emotional Placeholders for Human Babies,” Fred and Serena are a couple of sad sacks. She wants the baby to come NOW and he thinks Offred has forgotten her place. This doesn’t bode well for Offred.

Meanwhile, in her room, Offred tells the baby she loves it. She’s interrupted by Rita (Amanda Brugel), who is there to bring her to Serena. On her way out the door, Rita blurts out, “I’ll tell the baby about you.”

Turns out Fred and Serena “need to help the baby come out naturally.”

They’ve decided to try to speed labor along, by having Fred rape Offred.

It. Is. Horrific.

I was wrong before when I said Serena’s privilege was the sensitive content Hulu was warning us about. They were definitely referring to this scene.

I’m not going to give a play-by-play because I’ll vomit while writing and ruin my laptop. If you watched, you know how bad it was. If you didn’t, it’s as bad as you can imagine.

To be perfectly frank, I closed my eyes at a certain point because I just couldn’t take it. The sound alone was enough to turn my stomach and bring me to tears.

Serena and Fred took their shared revenge on Offred in this scene, this had zero to do with trying to speed her labor along. Zero.

Okay, give yourself a hug and remind yourself that you are a good and worthy person and then we’ll get back to the story.

Eden takes the trash out of the Waterford house. Outside, Isaac watches, greets her. She kisses him.

Nick comes outside to smoke and sees them kiss. Eden runs up and begs forgiveness and confesses her sins. Nick’s cool as a cucumber, “Don’t worry about it.” Then she lays into him for not caring, “I’m your wife, you should care!”

Then this child says, “It’s the Handmaid. You like her. Why do you like her?” Then she breaks down like a normal teenager girl. This is the first time I feel bad for her. She is JUST A KID.

Fred comes to Offred’s room and tells her that he’s planned a surprise for her. Oh do you mean a better surprise than the rape you just perpetrated?

He tells Nick to drive her and to be back in three hours and that no one should see Offred.

In the car, Nick asks her what happened. She doesn’t answer, she’s still stunned.

They arrive at a huge, fancy house in the country. It’s not a lived-in house, the furniture is all covered with sheets. A guy with a gun inside the house tells her, “10 minutes.”

HANNAH (Jordana Blake) IS HERE!

Hannah’s uneasy and doesn’t know what to think. She asks a million questions, because why wouldn’t she? “Did you try to find me?” “Why didn’t you try harder?”

Offred apologizes and Hannah says, “It’s okay. I have new parents now.” Oh man. All this emotion in one episode. My tear ducts can’t take it!

They have to leave so Offred tells her, “Daddy and I will always love you!” She tells her be careful and to keep herself safe.

After Hannah drives away, Offred breaks down.

A black SUV pulls up and Nick makes June go back in the house. He’s confronted by two guards who want to know what he’s doing there. ***EDIT (Originally this post stated that Nick knocked out one of the guards but Geek Girl noticed I was mistaken – thank you, Geek Girl!)***  One of the guards shoots at Nick! Then Nick is knocked out! The guards throw him in the back of their SUV. AND THEY DRIVE OFF!

June is left here in this big empty house in the middle of nowhere – 9 months pregnant, with nowhere to go.

……………..

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 11! Only 3 episodes left in the season!

 

 

Kim Bowman
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