After last week's literally explosive ending of 'The Handmaid's Tale', we didn't know what we were coming back to in episode seven. Would Commander Fred still be alive? What would it mean that so many of Gilead's most powerful were now wiped out? So many questions once our jaw had managed to pick itself up off the floor.
Turns out, Fred will live to fight another day although he certainly took a hammering, while sadly a lot of handmaids didn't survive. We had thought they were running away... that Ofglen 2 had purposely given them extra time - guess not. Their funerals marked another emotional start to an episode but at this stage we're so battered and bruised from watching that we're almost numb to it.
The episode had death around every corner but the sudden loss of so many handmaids resulted in the return of Janine and a very shook Emily to their previous roles, so... yay? Look, we'll take what we can get good-news-wise in this show.
The fallout from the bomb made it look like we had a new villain in town - the shady Ray Cushing - who made it his first point of business to head on over to the Waterfords to intimidate June.
Big mistake, mister. Huge.
Cushing was ultimately no match for the ladies of that house and the formidable, growing force that is Serena Joy. If we've learned anything from this show so far it's that both June and Serena were never going to accept the silenced subservient roles they have been placed in. Their frosty relationship has been one of the most intriguing elements of this second season with a clear hatred between them but perhaps... is that a growing respect we're spotting on the horizon?
Serena's decision to take the matters of Gilead into her own hands while Fred is laid up almost had us in the unusual position of actually cheering her on. She's by no means the hero of the piece but her character gets more interesting by the day. In recruiting June as her editor - a role that involves reading and writing - something that is completely forbidden in Gilead, the pair silently made themselves partners-in-crime.
The episode, entitled 'After', also featured a back story for Moira, a last-minute addition of a fiance to give her character a bit more depth. It was lovely and all but felt a bit like filler and a way of checking in with how they were doing over there in America Land.
Among all of this, we had a very quiet moment of rebellion from the handmaids as they shared their names with each other in the supermarket. All while baby Stepford Eden watched on. She's trouble that one.
The final scene of the episode saw the very intentional mirroring of the dramatic ending of last weeks episode - both involved the clicking of a button - and both will have consequences that will rock the very foundations of Gilead to its core.
