'The Handmaid's Tale' Recap: 'Postpartum'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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

​As I queued up my Hulu app to settle in and watch the next chapter in The Handmaid’s Tale, I came to realize something about the series in that, it has in fact become quite predictable and no, that’s not an insult or a knock against the show. Because it is rare to find a television show that knows exactly what it is about, and this series is fully aware of the fact that it is a harrowing ride that will sucker punch the audience at every turn. Yet, it would seem that this series isn’t content in merely being recognized for being a tough ride, it wants to be the toughest ride out there, so imagine my surprise when I hit play on ‘Postpartum’, only to discover that this story felt the need to delve into new and darker territory by outright introducing chaos into the plot this week. 
 
Case in point, the storyline involving June and the Waterford’s, which should have been shrouded in bliss since June was free from that abhorrent household allowing for Fred and Serena to live happily ever after as pretend parents with their new child. But the chaos introduced in this tale did not allow for any of that to happen and once again June was forced to return to the Waterford home to produce milk to feed the baby and the joy and euphoria that Serena expected to feel as a mommy never materialized since she’s not the baby’s biological mother and no amount of wishful thinking would make that happen and all of this added a tension to the Waterford house that we’ve never felt within its walls before, and well, an off the cuff comment from June to Eden about following one’s heart, only ballooned that chaos.
 
Because June inadvertently inspired Eden to indeed follow the feelings buried deep in her heart and she ran off with Issac, causing all kinds of turmoil for Fred since he had to concentrate on finding them and find them they did since Gilead’s forces don’t mess around and their capture led Nick to make a last ditch effort to save his young bride’s life and despite his pleading and scheming to get her out of a horrible execution due to her infidelity, Eden was having none of it. She firmly believed she did the right thing, which let’s be honest, she did. And in any other part of the world this would have been no big deal, but her capture allowed for the sickness of Gilead to be put on display once again and she and Issac were sent head first into a swimming pool, complete with weights and an audience to make a point of course.
 
Yet while those two storylines alone would have sown enough chaos to last the entire hour, a more fascinating iteration of it came about by way of Emily’s story in this tale. Because with her Commander now dead, she was reassigned once again, this time to the household of Commander Lawrence, a man who apparently is the architect of Gilead’s economy and the Colonies for that matter as well and his household, is unlike anything else in Gilead. He has art adorning the walls of his home and books out in the open and it would seem a disdain for the country he helped create and sustain and while this may not have been as heartbreaking as the other plotlines, it definitely took me out of sorts, considering that we’ve never seen a high ranking official of Gilead not be one hundred percent aligned with his ‘glorious’ nation.
 
If anything, it makes me wonder if Lawrence is someone we can trust or not, since he was somewhat gracious toward Emily, even going so far as to learn more about her past and he even treated her like a human being, something I’ve yet to see a Commander do in the slightest when it comes to a Handmaid. But his final line toward her is what makes me question his worthiness trust wise and well, if the show is going to tip its hand on that, it has to do it quickly. Because next week is the season two finale for this series and considering the fragility that our favorite characters are currently experiencing, combined with a populace that seems to slowly be pushing back against Gilead, the chaos that was introduced in this story may only grow in next week’s finale, which means that we may be in a for a head spinning and heartbreaking affair. Until next time. 

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