‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Recap: ‘Unknown Caller’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

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I’m sure at some point or another in our lives, we’ve all heard the phrase, ‘the changing face of evil.’ It’s a set of words that I know I simply didn’t understand growing up, due in large part to the fact that evil and its machinations are quite black and white as a child; bad people do bad things because they are in turn bad, end of story. But as one grows older, you begin to see how that phrase holds great weight, because we come to learn that evil is complex in nature and requires so many things to thrive and grow. For instance, evil loves to play the victim and show how it is persecuted and how difficult its life has become in order to gain sympathy and followers to its cause, and this particularly twisted line of manipulation just so happened to be the focal point of this week’s episode of The Handmaid’s Tale.
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Because ‘Unknown Caller’ featured a republic that hadn’t a clue how to handle the revelation that Nichole was alive and well in Canada and the council of commanders spent a great deal of time it seems on figuring out their next steps when it comes to dealing with Gilead’s lost daughter, and this was a fascinating sequence of events to say the least. For in many ways it spoke to Gilead’s weaknesses, since the commanders never once spoke of military action, which may indicate they don’t have the resources to go to war with anyone outside of the insurgent remnant of the United States and well, they were so pressed for ideas that Fred thought it best to bring Serena into the discussion. And while she didn’t request must outside of information on Nichole, being in that room, brought forth some level of twisted inspiration.

For really, what Serena realized she needed in this instance was closure, and she used her relationship with June to well, cross the line. Because she asked June to straight up call her husband and arrange a farewell meeting with Nichole, and the only reason June agreed to this was in the hopes that she would be in Serena’s debt for a later favor and after hearing her husband’s voice for the first time in years, the meeting was a go and Mrs. Waterford was able to fly to Canada and see Nichole one last time by way of some powerful scenes. Because this quiet face to face in the Toronto airport allowed for Luke to challenge everything that Gilead stood for, without reproach or Guardians in the way and it was just satisfying to see someone point out the nation’s many faults in a semi-innocuous setting. And while this was all that Serena needed to move on, Fred had other ideas in mind and that’s where that manipulation comes into play.

Because shortly after Serena’s return to Gilead, June was pulled from her daily voyage to the store to an undisclosed location, where she asked by Aunt Lydia to dress in the fanciest Handmaid uniform we’ve ever seen, and stand tall and quiet on a stage designed to look like the Waterford home, complete with family pictures of Nichole as the Waterfords broadcast to the world, their terrible ‘plight’. Wherein they explained how distraught and lost they were without Nichole in their lives and they begged the Canadian government to return her home and this, well this was just disgusting. I mean, how dare they go and fuss like this and try build false sympathy when what they do in Gilead to have children is just about the most offensive thing ever, but here we are. With evil doing its best to make others feel sorrow and pity for it, so that it can get whatever it wants, and I genuinely hope that the people of Canada and the rest of the world roll their eyes at this embarrassing attempt at manipulation.

But, while evil’s stupidity was on full display in this tale, there were some genuinely beautiful moments to be found as well. For the conversation between Luke and June was moving and powerful and devastating all at once, and I thought it was a wonderful touch to have June record a message to her husband via cassette and have Serena deliver it so that he could finally hear more about his wife’s struggles in Gilead, and seeing Lawrence be gentle with his wife and seeing Luke let Serena hold Nichole were also nice touches in this tale, since it kept hope alive in its own special way. But, outside of those great moments, once again Gilead finds a way to infuriate the audience and well at this point, all we can hope for, is that Serena wakes up from her funk as soon as possible so that Fred can no longer take advantage of her pain, because something tells me, this is merely the beginning of Commander Waterford’s quest to engender sympathy for the world’s worst nation. Until next time.  

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