‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Recap: ‘Progress’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 409 of ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’.
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One thing that everyone can agree upon in regard to storytelling, is that people do indeed… love a happy ending. Especially when the story in question is about as dark as they come. Because reaching the finish line in a perky and joyful manner, serves as a reward for the audience and it is also the apex of escapism. Because sadly, we know that in real life that true Hollywood happy endings are as rare as they come and that the vast majority of real endings that accompany hard times, feature a long road to recovery. One where we must reconcile the horrors of what happened and make peace with them before we can finally step into the light and pondering upon that, isn’t exactly an uplifting or joyful mental exercise. If anything, the bittersweet ending that we tend to experience is of note today, simply because the next episode of The Handmaid’s Tale made it clear that June is going to experience just that.
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But what’s truly incredible about this week’s entry, is that at first glance… it sure didn’t seem like a tough road was going to be in the cards for June. For ‘Progress’ wasted no time in making it appear as though good things were on the horizon, period. Because she and Luke found a renewed purpose as a couple by making the decision to try and get Hannah out of Gilead through every channel available to their means. Such as calling Commander Lawrence to try and strike a deal involving trade concessions. A plan that was a long shot for certain, but worth a try and when its eventual failure came to fruition, Luke and Tuello opted to work another route and see if by chance Nick could do anything about getting Hannah out. Which in turn led to more joy and happiness for June.

For she was able to feel the flutter of raw love that Nick provides her with since they met in person for this request and it turns out, she was able to see how her daughter is doing. For Nick did her a solid and collected all kinds of information about Hannah, including her whereabouts and the odds of an easy release. And while that particular news wasn’t great… just seeing her daughter again and feeling loved without judgment or worry really did send her spirits soaring and those elements, along with Janine’s push to begin to build a coalition of trust and hope in Gilead… truly did have us believing that perhaps at long last, the happy ending was in order for everyone. Especially since it was only a matter of time before Fred Waterford went to jail for his crimes and before the eventual stranglehold on Gilead from June’s powerful testimony would help that nation to collapse.

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But alas that truly was nothing more than a powerful ruse. For while June and Janine celebrated the wins in this tale, an unfortunate surprise was building behind the scenes. Because the Putnams finally received clearance to visit Fred and Serena in jail and well, their arrival brought forth all kinds of horrifying revelations for the Waterford family. In that, the government of Gilead didn’t care about the Waterfords in the slightest. In fact, this visit was designed to see if they could get Serena and the baby back into Gilead to replenish their losses whilst Fred rot away in a jail cell and well… the realization that Gilead had abandoned two of its own was more than Fred could bear. Which motivated him to cut a deal with Canada for his freedom and the news that the commander would walk in exchange for information didn’t settle well with June in the slightest and rightfully so. Since she’s endured so much at the hands of this awful man and awful nation and well, that is one powerful and controversial and conflicting way to end this tale.
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Because on the one hand, Tuello cutting a deal does indeed work to everyone’s advantage in bringing down Gilead. Since the governments of the world would now have all kinds of incredible intelligence on their enemy, the kind that could tip this fight in the right direction since they could potentially destabilize Gilead’s operations. Which is wonderful, since that’s what everyone wants in regard to this story. But on the other hand, it disregards June’s plight and her pain and the horrors she endured to bring Fred to justice and that isn’t right in the slightest. Because she and every woman suffering at the hands of this nightmarish theocracy genuinely deserve justice for the emotional and physical assault they’ve endured since Gilead’s inception and once one looks past the luster of Tuello’s deal, one absolutely must side with June, while also feeling a sense of fear for her and Canada as well.

In part because, Fred is dangerous, and letting him out to spew his godly nonsense is a terrible idea for certain. But more importantly because justice for June is no longer in the cards and the rage that will quickly consume her could motivate her to do something foolish, and while no one will judge her for taking matters into her own hands from a moral standpoint, the law might see differently and put her in a position where she doesn’t belong. Which this means this powerful and stunning tale will now have us counting down the minutes until next week’s season four finale. So that we can see if June can in fact make any sort of peace with her past and find new ways to channel her anger in the fight against Gilead… or if she will succumb to it and go after Fred with impunity and find understandable solace in revenge and it will be quite interesting to see which path she takes and what other surprises await us going forward. For if this series is able to stun us in this manner when peace has settled into June’s soul… anything can happen. Until next time.

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