‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Recap: ‘Night’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

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I think it is safe to say at this point, that fans of Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale have a bit of a ‘love/hate’ relationship with the series. Because more often than not, this series is outright brilliant, since it offers up a challenging and powerful plot line that at times echoes our fears when it comes to the current political climate in America. But at the same time, it’s portrayal of a United States that’s basically gone off the rails makes this series supremely difficult to watch at times since it goes to some dynamically dark places, to the point where it seems that there is no hope for our characters, which in turn means the audience is wondering why it is sticking around to watch, when this story appears to be prepping us for a disastrous finale.
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However, it would seem that taking us to the darkest recesses of the human soul and breaking our spirt along the way is all part of the plan, one that I suppose is designed to help us relate to these characters so that we rise up with them as we see what wonders they can actually accomplish in a world gone mad. And at first, I wasn’t quite sure if the series was actually going to let us witness a fight against Gilead, since every uprising and tough moment for this armpit of a nation seems to be brushed off by its executive leadership. But ‘Night’ proved that the insurrection we witnessed at the end of season two, was the beginning of something special, and that a fight is preparing to get underway and hopefully, it’s going to be led by June since her actions in this story were nothing short of breathtaking.

Because she was able to accomplish something that we all believed was impossible in this tale, in that, she reminded a pair of Commanders wives that Handmaids are more than objects or breeding vessels, they’re human beings and in some cases, mothers, and she accomplished this incredible feat by making her way to Commander Mackenzie’s house in order to nab Hannah, and while that part of her quest was unsuccessful, her determination took Mackenzie’s wife off guard. In fact, she was so stunned and unsettled by the fact that June continued to find ways to be close to her daughter that she finally took a moment to let down her guard and let June know how her baby is really doing and where she’s at in life and it was just incredible to see a shred of humanity and understanding come from a Commander’s wife and the wonders of this episode didn’t end there.

For upon her return to the Waterford residence, June was able to properly express the pain that the Commanders and their ridiculous beliefs have caused her and so many since she outright told Serena that one of the deciding factors in taking Nichole away from her was to help her understand how it feels to lose a daughter by force, just like how it was for June on that fateful day when Gilead’s thugs pulled Hannah away from her and it would seem that particular admission and everything that happened to Serena in season two, flipped a proverbial switch. For she was despondent for the rest of the episode and angry, and the disdain she felt over everything that’s led to her this moment, prompted her to set fire to the bed she shares with her ‘darling’ husband, which in turn burned the Waterford home to the ground, which was, a satisfying moment indeed and well, the symbolism here was not lost upon me. For in essence, this was a cleansing for so many and what will rise from the ashes should be glorious.

For June seemingly has a new ally at her side since she was posted to Commander Lawrence’s household and well, his disgust for Gilead may serve her well in the days to come, and while this episode didn’t feature all out revolution in this stupid nation, this was a satisfying episode to say the least. Because for the first time in a long time, there is genuine hope present in this story, especially when one considers that Emily and Nichole made it to Canada safely and also because, the spark of revolution is growing and well, I do hope this is the beginning of the grand reward we’ve all been waiting for in this story, in that, this is the beginning of the end of Gilead, and that June will be instrumental in its collapse. But, that’s me getting ahead of myself, and in the here and the now, I’ll just take a moment to bask in the wonder of an episode that didn’t beat me down before I hit play on the next episode. Until next time.  

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