'The Handmaid's Tale' Recap: 'A Woman's Place'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

This time around when I settled in to watch the next episode of The Handmaid's Tale, I noticed a surprising first...the fact that I wasn't filled with dread over returning to the nightmare that is Gilead and much of the credit for that goes to last week's episode for finally disarming my senses. But the good times and good feelings that story provided simply weren't meant to last and it didn't take long for this week's story to draw us back into the darkness.

Because 'A Woman's Place' managed to establish in stunning fashion, the state of the world beyond the borders of Gilead and unfortunately, it's bad news elsewhere too, to the point where mankind appears to be losing its mind as a collective whole. But before we get too deep into that part of the story, we need to take a moment and discuss the surprising sub story that permeated throughout this particular episode, the backstory of Serena Joy Waterford, because holy cow was her story downright fascinating simply because...well, how does one put this gently; everything she wanted when it comes to a brave new world, blew up in her face.

We learned last night that years ago, Fred and Serena Joy (sadly no one has spoken her first name on the series yet, and if they have, I have certainly missed it) were a passionate and happy couple, and also a couple that believed the world was a sick place, full of suffering and pain and they intended to help make it better. In fact we were treated to a chilling moment where Fred's cohorts alerted him to the attacks on Congress, the White House and the Courts before it all went down, giving he and Serena hope for a better world, but once the nation was thrown into chaos, Serena's desires to be part of building a new life and a new way of thinking for the world were quickly dashed once the 'good men' of Gilead decided what a woman's role should be in life. 

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Yet, despite being silenced by the society she helped bring to life, Serena found new ways to make herself relevant again, which brings us back to the awfulness of present day. Because the Waterford's were hosting important people, delegates from Mexico, in the hopes of closing the deal on the trade negotiations that the Commander informed June about a few weeks ago and that also meant that the household's darling Handmaid had to be on her best behavior and not reveal the horror's of the world she lived in and well, that almost broke June. She wanted nothing more than to tell the truth to the Mexican representatives, but knew an act like that would cost her, her life.

Instead she sat back and watched the circus act that Waterford and his cronies prepared for the delegation and that's when Serena found her moment to shine, wherein she took control and put on a beautiful show for Gilead's international visitors and as the celebration continued, another Handmaid pointed out something terrifying to June...that more than likely it was Handmaids that were going to be the 'product' that Gilead would trade to Mexico. However, rather than continue to sit on the sideline and let this world push her around, a grand opportunity fell into June's lap where she was able to speak with the Mexican Ambassador without the eyes of Gilead watching her and she explained exactly how horrible her life was in this awful place...sadly to no avail. Because the same fertility problems that plague Gilead, plague Mexico and the prospect of using fertile women to grow their population is too much to pass up.

However, as this show is wont to do, it always finds a way to give us that tiny sliver of hope, and the man traveling with the Ambassador revealed to June that he not only wants to help her...he can get a message to her husband, who he claims is still alive and if that's not a stunning way to end an episode, I don't know what is and once again, this show delivered an incredible experience. Because it's bad enough to know that depleted birth rates would drive mankind to do awful things such as this, and it's even worse to see a country like Mexico use another country's 'breeding stock' and encourage a place like Gilead. It's just another fine example of how mad this world has become because of whatever cataclysmic event came about, but when all is said and done, it was quite amazing to see Serena get her own episode for a change and learn that she was quite the writer back in the day and hopefully at some point soon, the allure of Gilead goes away for someone of importance so we can see this awful place fade into memory. Until next time.

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