‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Recap: ‘No Man’s Land’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 507 of ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
​
We are taught from a very early age that there is only one way to defeat our enemies in a time of war of incredible strife. In that… they should be subject brute force and savage tactics and utter devastation on the battlefield. Simply because we believe that a show of force and ferocity is the only way to make our enemy fear us and rue the day, they ever took a shot at us in the first place, and that mantra has served all of humanity well in war. Since those tactics do work and punish enemies accordingly and they are so impactful… that we adapt them to our everyday lives. For this is how we tend to treat the people in our lives that have wronged us and brought hell upon us, so that they too can understand the mistake they made in harming us.
 
However, what we often forget… is that there are better ways to punish our enemies than laying waste to their world and their lives. For if we truly want to punish someone that has committed evil deeds, kindness and generosity go farther than wounds and broken bones. Which of course… is not easy to impart upon the villain in our lives. For if it has come to notions of revenge, they have wounded us deeply and changed the course of our lives in ways we never wanted it to be changed. But it is possible to find that strength within and teach them a deeper lesson through kindness and believe it or not, that is a lesson that June Osborne came to learn in the next episode of The Handmaid’s Tale on Hulu. 
 
For ‘No Man’s Land’ is a story that saw her in quite the pickle. After all, she was driving to who knew where with a gun to her head, one held by Serena Waterford, moments after their escape from the clutches of the Wheeler family. And thanks to June’s cleverness and strong sense of self-preservation… she was able to escape Serena and appeared to be headed back to Canada without a care in the world. But something was clearly not right with Serena and since June is not and never will be a monster like the leaders she left behind in Gilead, she went to double check on Serena and came to discover… she was in the middle of labor thanks to the day’s events. But of course, despite having a barn nearby and someone who was familiar with childbirth to help her… Serena was quick to refuse that help.
 
A move that likely would have resulted in her death, all in the name of more of her stupid principles. But June wasn’t going to let that happen and helped Serena deliver her son, Noah, and they bonded in the process and June was able to teach her that all-important lesson. For Serena was in rough shape both medically and mentally. To the point where she was ready to hand her son over to June and just wither away and die. But June didn’t let that happen, because she came to realize that would be… a coward’s way out and a chance to avoid real accountability for the crimes she’s committed and the pain she’s inflicted. But if she lived, and lived with the things she had done, real accountability and a genuine punishment would await her.
 
Hence why June… was kind and generous and honest with her about well… everything, and she of course, saved Serena’s life and got her and Noah to a Canadian Hospital. A move that unfortunately, ended poorly. Because Serena had no passport or diplomatic visa from Gilead to offer up, and her past with the United States of America was spotty at best since she already spurned an offer for asylum and of course… was involved in the overthrowing of the United States government. Which meant that when Immigration arrived at the hospital, at Luke’s behest since he hadn’t learned what June had… her life was thrown into chaos and turmoil. The kind that has her facing a future full of fear and uncertainty, and that is indeed… added punishment to what June piled on through kindness.
 
Because now Serena’s life will be a waste of sorts, one without purpose and direction and where only memories of things gone wrong haunt her. Which is… a punishment worse than death for certain since those moments and that act of kindness will leave her unsettled and out of sorts. Which in turn, reminds us that there is a better way when we find ourselves wronged, one that truly punishes the wicked and keeps our soul pure and we could learn a lot from this episode. Since it speaks to how we grow from trauma and how we don’t have to completely absolve those who harmed us as oft is cited to us. We can function and have our closure and so-called revenge without losing our own soul in the process and now that we’ve learned this powerful lesson, it will be interesting to see what comes next for Serena Waterford now that she truly is in No Man’s Land and left with only the memories and consequences of her horrible decisions. Until next time.

---

Powered by JustWatch