It's been a long, arduous road, but at long f*cking last and after every available opportunity ignored, June Osbourne has finally made it out of Gilead.
After last week's cliffhanger saw June and Jeanine the lone survivors of the original group making it away from Gilead, the dynamic duo (not really, but also maybe?) manage to smuggle themselves aboard a train tanker filled with milk - which just so happens to be the name of this week's episode. While it initially seems like a crazy idea, the idea only gets crazier when we learn that they're actually heading to the frontlines of the war between Gilead and the rest of the world.
After a few hairy moments inside the tanker and presumably a rank smell of milk everywhere, they emerge somewhere on the outskirts of a ruined Chicago and are promptly brought to a local militia where things aren't quite as rosy as one thinks. It's kind of telling that this is the first time we've seen the US outside of Gilead, and it's not a pretty picture. Storefronts are boarded up and bombed out, people are angry and pointing guns at each other, assholes are running the place and demanding sex in lieu of payment for their keep. Maybe it's always been this way in the US? Who knows.
Either way, June and Jeanine have at long last made it out of Gilead. That represents the biggest shift in their story since this whole thing kicked off, so the question now is where does it go from here? It's clear that they're not staying with this particular group for long, so do they try and seek out Mayday? Do they form their own band of rebels, or do they try and make their way to Canada?
Meanwhile, way up north in Canada, the story checks in on the Waterfords and, more specifically, Rita. Serena asks to see Rita to tell her that she's pregnant, finally, and that she hopes Rita will help raise the child with her now that she's separated from her husband. At first, Rita seems overwhelmed by the news and seems truly happy for Serena. Then, of course, comes the other shoe dropping - Serena wants Rita to act as a witness against her husband in the upcoming trial. There's a key moment when Rita calmly explains to the US representative that, under Gilead law, she was property - just like her old Nissan Altima, with a registration and everything. That Serena thinks she can just call on Rita as a witness proves that even though everyone's finally out of Gilead, nobody's left that mindset behind. Not even Rita, for that matter. The episode opens with her calmly making bread for herself, but then ends with her enjoying sushi. As much as making something for herself is rewarding, she ends by making the choice to go it on her own.
This blends in with the flashbacks to Jeanine's story, in a way. We see how Jeanine wound up in a crisis pregnancy center and not an abortion clinic like she initially wanted - another part of 'The Handmaid's Tale' that's all too familiar to Irish audiences. Jeanine visits the center, explains that she's not ready to have another child, and is then pressured into reconsidering it when she's presented with false information. This contrasts with when she visits an actual doctor, who calmly explains her options, gives her the pills she requires and offers no judgment or coercion - the way it's supposed to be.
In both cases with Rita and Jeanine, it's about a woman making a choice and having agency over their own lives - something that Gilead's deprived them of. Likewise, with June, when she decides she can't go through with it in the militia group, she's making a choice for herself. What's been so frustrating about 'The Handmaid's Tale' generally is that the characters are so often restricted and grind against the gears of development. We're so used to seeing characters move on and do new things, but so much of the show up until now has had them trapped in Gilead. Now that they're all free at long last, the question is where do they all go from here?
Final Thoughts
- The inside of that tanker must have been rank with the smell of milk, and also, how come they got out of said tanker without a bit of a stain on them?
- Rita's sushi looked gooooood
- Calling it now, would not be at all surprised if Serena ends up losing the baby
- What is it with pickup trucks being the vehicle of choice in dystopian rebel militias?
