Ballet
June heads out to the car, picks up her gun and buries it in the back-garden.
Meanwhile, Serena gets a flight back to Gilead, ready for Fred’s funeral. Mark is there to brief her, promising to be by her side the whole time. “Like you were for Fred?” She scathingly retorts. It’s a fair point and Mark’s words ultimately feel hollow. ..
The funeral of Fred Waterford is important, but there are more pressing matters at hand.
Lawrence and Nick are both there to greet her at the runway, with the former deciding to escort her to the hotel. As for Serena though, she’s more interested in seeing the church picked out for Fred. It’s not a particularly lavish affair, and it’s clear Gilead just want to sweep this under the rug and be done with it.
Gilead wants to move Serena out of the compound as quickly as possible in order to give her a “new life.” Serena is not happy and demands a proper burial and funeral for her husband, who she believes was killed by June. She has her sights set on Lawrence, who she believes helped June kill Fred. ..
This isn’t Lawrence’s first rodeo though, and he knows the way of Gilead and snubs Serena, pointing out smugly at the wake that women are not above men in this society so there’s no chance she’d try and sway the council to think otherwise.
Aunt Lydia continues to groom the new batch of Handmaids, with Janine working alongside her. Lydia tasks Janine with prepping Esther, one of the girls, ready for the Putnam family. She’s not exactly willing, but Janine tells her they need to play by the rules in order to stay alive.
Serena eventually seeks an audience with the men of Gilead and decides they should show the place off to the world. She thinks they should make Fred’s funeral an international event broadcast across the world. It’s unclear whether this is a play to psyche out June or if there’s something more going on here.
Lawrence is in support of the plan to kill Fred, and Nick believes it would help make Gilead look merciful. I said before about Fred being a martyr and it seems like that’s precisely what his death is going to incite.
Warren Putnam, the mayor of Lawrence, is facing a tough reelection campaign. Lawrence’s Commanders are divided between those who want to keep things the way they are and those who want to make changes. Lawrence’s new Mayor, Lawrence Serena, decides to invite Commanders from outside town to try and bring the town together. This event could be Warren Putnam’s undoing. ..
Mark is impressed by how well Nick has managed to fly under the radar so far and clearly sees this as an opportunity to continue that – but with benefits.
News of Serena’s return to Gilead returns to June. She’s unhappy about her moving back and forth between the two states so easily, and eventually scathingly retorts that Serena should be made a handmaid or put on the wall. June is blinded by rage and speaks to Rita about her experiences. Rita hits back, pointing out she doesn’t want to talk about Serena and admits, shakily, that she too struggled in Gilead. When she walks away, Moira speaks her piece to an enraged June.
That afternoon, June reveals to Luke that Serena knows she killed Fred. She admits to sending her Fred’s severed finger. He’s shocked that June would put their family in danger and is doing nothing to help their cause and get Hannah back. June has not been thinking clearly for a while now and she’s not just grief-stricken, but also blinded to the point of recklessness, by rage. “Nichole needs you here. Your family needs you here.” Luke pleads, trying to get through to June.
Esther eventually decides to kill herself, unwilling to go ahead with this way of life. Some of this stems from an earlier unnerving encounter with Warren Putnam who force-feeds her and appears to do more, given they’re alone in the room and Lydia looks worried. Anyway, Esther tells Janine she hates her and has done this as an act of martyrdom for June. ..
June and Luke kiss out in the streets after watching Fred Waterford’s funeral on TV. The editing here is fantastic, cutting back and forth between Gilead and Canada, with more rapid cuts as the music crescendos. When it’s over, June and Luke are shattered when they notice Fred’s death is streaming across town as breaking news.
It’s been a long time since Hannah and June saw each other, and they’re both surprised to see each other at the grocery store. Hannah introduces herself, and June is so embarrassed that she can’t even say anything. It’s clear that they don’t know each other well enough to have a proper conversation.
The Episode Review
Serena’s funeral has reignited the rivalry between her and June. The funeral aired across the world is a clever move by Serena, a reminder that she still has the psychological edge over June. June may have killed Fred but Serena has Hannah and parading her out in front of the whole world, hand in hand along with that wry smile, is indicative of just how deep this rivalry goes.
The rivalry between June and Luke has been simmering for a while now, but it seems to be only getting worse. June’s anger has reached new heights, and right on the edge of her starting to settle back down. The two have been at each other’s throats for months now, and there is no telling what will happen next.
The ending of this episode hints that next week’s episode is going to be a real cracker.
