'The Handmaid's Tale' Recap: 'Women's Work'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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

​When it comes to Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale, there have always been two general absolutes when it comes to this harrowing story. The first one is that June is our hero and will always do what’s right and resist the awful world she is forced to live in and the second one, is that Gilead is a disgusting place and the Waterford’s and everyone who sides with their ‘government’ are people who are to be reviled and despised at every single turn and those black and white issues have never come into question...that is, until last night’s episode.
 
Because ‘Women’s Work’, pulled this entire series into some serious grey areas by providing us with what I thought would have been some impossible scenarios, twice, for that matter. Since we saw Serena Joy Waterford, act like a human being for the first time ever, one who actually treated June with respect and kindness for a change as the both of them worked together to keep Gilead running while the Commander recovered from the bombing and well, it was just wonderful to see June back in her element as an Editor and be treated as a human being for once and I’m still blown away by the fact that this was all thanks to Serena.
 
But I mentioned that the impossible came about twice in this tale, and the second unexpected surprise, involved a sick baby Angela. Because the doctors in Gilead hadn’t a clue how to help the wee one get over her illness and well, Serena and June sprang into action here, defying everything that Gilead believes in by letting Janine see the baby, and by recalling the finest female doctor in Neonatology from her role as a Martha to help the child and this…this was just stunning to see. Because for the first time ever, the Putnam’s weren’t jerks and even the despicable Aunt Lydia shed her evil side all in the name of seeing the baby pull through and while this kind of positivity was nice to see on the series for a change, it left me completely out of sorts.
 
Because, characters that I simply cannot stand…showed that there is some level of good still left inside their souls and I don’t know how I feel about that. Because if they can exhibit that kind of compassion and care, how on earth can they allow for a place like Gilead to exist in the first place? And furthermore, how can they turn off that kind of kindness in the blink of an eye? And this strange grey area was compounded further by the fact that June showed compassion toward Serena as well, especially when Mrs. Waterford’s good deeds came back to haunt her by way of her beloved husband. For Hell hath no fury like a Fred Waterford scorned, and once he discovered his name was used to transfer the Doctor to the hospital, and that a woman had, gasp, been responsibly running this joke of a country, he punished Serena in brutal and sadistic fashion.
 
If anything, that twisted moment served as a fine reminder that Gilead will always be a disgusting place but at the same time this episode leaves the audience in limbo because where do we go from here? Do we root for Serena now? Is she going to turn on her hubby? Is Aunt Lydia not a total piece of crap? I’m genuinely confused and unsure of what comes next. But perhaps therein lies the lesson, that sometimes life is nothing but grey areas through and through. But perhaps the cruelest trick that this episode pulled upon all of us, is that it gave us hope once again that maybe…the people in this awful place can be better. Time will tell I suppose.  

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