‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Recap: ‘Home’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 407 of ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’.

​Normally in storytelling, when a character that has been through utter hell, escapes the person or place that was the source of their torment… the story quickly comes to an end. For they have conquered their worst nightmare and they are in for better days filled with happiness and fulfillment… so the time has come to wrap this up. But while that does indeed make for a happy ending, one that leaves a viewer or reader quite satisfied, it is perhaps the true pinnacle of the escapism that storytelling provides. Because it genuinely hides away the true reality of what comes next for someone that has escaped a traumatic experience. In that… they have a long road of recovery ahead of them, one where they must resolve the horrors, they worked so hard to leave behind.
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Which why you genuinely have to respect stories that opt to not hold back in exploring such matters, since they provide their audience with a gritty and realistic story that reminds us that a happy ending is work instead of a hollow pursuit or a gift, and that’s precisely why the next episode of The Handmaid’s Tale on Hulu is of note. For ‘Home’ is a story that explores that long road ahead in great detail, shortly after giving the viewer a moment to celebrate the fact that June did indeed escape Gilead at long last by letting us witness her request to seek asylum in Canada. Which was quite the satisfying moment indeed, one that the audience has been hoping and waiting for since we started this harrowing journey. But once June and her motorcade of friends and family and government officials arrived at their destination, that joy quickly wore off and the reality of what comes next settled in.

For June was… out of sorts and understandably so. Because she’d just spent seven years undergoing torture and was consistently under the watchful eye of others in regard to her every move and action. So being able to use the restroom on her own and enjoy a shower or simply sleep with both eyes closed… was a new experience for her for certain. One that left her feeling akin to an outsider, despite the fact that she was surrounded by familiar faces and love and support. Which made for some powerful moments for certain since this sequence really did speak to the power of trauma and how tight a grip it can have upon us and kudos to the show for not letting up in showing us its lasting impact upon a person. In fact, it is safe to say that the supermarket scene will go down as of the more accurate portrayals of how hard it is for a person to shake the trauma they have experienced in life since it served to teach us and remind others how it can find you on a moment’s notice long after it has ended.

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But rather than punish the audience and June for the entire hour with traumatic flashbacks of the nightmare left behind, the show was also keen to explore how we conquer said trauma or at the very least… how we start to and one such way to handle it… is to acknowledge that it happened. A feat that this story accomplished by having June’s close-knit group of friends settle in for drinks and company. Wherein Rita and Emily and Moira and June could acknowledge the wonder of their freedom and of course, reminiscence on what they escaped and that allowed for the acknowledgement in question to take place. Since each of them took a moment to reflect upon their harrowing journey, providing some measure of needed catharsis for all of them and it inspired June to take park in something that most therapists wouldn’t recommend for trauma survivors, until they are further along in their recovery. 
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In that, she opted to outright confront her trauma head on and try to reconcile it, in perhaps the most unique way imaginable. All by going to the prison to confront Serena Joy at last, an act that was indeed filled with some unsettling yet equally satisfying moments. Because once she was face to face with her tormentor, June held nothing back and she let seven years of rage and pain and trauma come bubbling to the surface to give Serena the piece of her mind that she’s been meaning to since she first stepped through the threshold of the Waterford home, and this was definitely the most powerful moment of the night. One that finally saw Serena Joy be put in her place as she came to fully understand the impact of her actions since she helped create the horror that is Gilead, and right or wrong be damned, this was something we all needed to see. Because Serena Joy Waterford has been long overdue for her respective comeuppance.

But all fan satisfaction aside, that really was quite the important moment for June as well. For it more or less saw her seize control of her pain and refuse to be controlled by it and that is an important lesson for certain… one that speaks volumes to how we emerge from the funk and really in the end, this was quite the satisfying episode when all is said and done. Because at long last, we weren’t subjected to the horrors of Gilead and we got to watch June work to recover and put the pieces back together and of course, her decision to see Serena… speaks volumes of what we can expect from this story next. For June is indeed a star witness in Canada and has inside information on Gilead’s inner workings and she can do some great damage from afar and hopefully we won’t have to wait long to see her do so. Because it is time for the ugly deeds of Fred and Serena Waterford and Gilead in general to come to light… so that the world can finally turn their back on this joke of a nation, which should in turn allow for it to starve… and collapse. Until next time.

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