The Handmaid's Tale: Heroic (3x09)

So, last week my review had complaints about several things. The key three were: 1) racism, 2) they shot a pregnant Handmaid which makes no sense, and 3) June is not suffering consequences. This episode addressed... one of those things. Kinda.

Cons:

I was surprised to learn that Ofmatthew wasn't dead. Well, she's brain-dead, apparently. But this doesn't really change anything re: my complaints from last week, because a pregnant Handmaid was still shot, and there's no way they could have known she would survive that. And also, still racism. This episode is an explicit and difficult to swallow commentary on the way that women's bodies are being used as nothing more than vessels for bearing children. That's a commentary that the show has been making from the beginning. But to have a black woman lying there, unable to speak for herself, nothing more than a vegetable producing a child... it was... well, it sucks. And if the show were grappling with the implications of that suckiness, that would be one thing. But no. The optics of this episode really, really bothered me, and I'd bet I'm not alone there.

There's another issue here, that's partially resolved but partially still extremely annoying to me. I've been complaining about June not facing punishment from Gilead, because it breaks the rules of their own universe. Here, she gets a punishment. It's creative and cruel and drives June nearly to the point of madness. As the episode ends, she sits with her former walking companion as she breathes her last, and makes a promise to the dying woman. She's going to help rescue the kids and get them out of Gilead. So... what was the point of this whole season's plot thread? Last week I expressed a cautious interest in the idea of "evil June." But it seems that instead, her homicidal rage, her disregard for her own safety, her insolence towards authority figures, was all leading her back onto the path of revolution. Suddenly, the whole season feels like it was treading water. June was already interested in the resistance. Why did she need to go through this whole twisted plot thread to get back to where she already was?

June apologizes to Ofmatthew, and it just feels so underwhelming. Am I, the viewer, meant to give her a pass because she's going through a hard time? Janine tells June she's being selfish - is that meant to be enough for me? Again, it just feels like we went in circles with no particularly satisfying conclusion. June is going to work hard to dismantle Gilead. Hasn't that been the game-plan all season?

A few other logical problems kept occurring to me in this episode. Where is Commander Lawrence for all of this? There's not even a moment to check in with June's (former?) household and see how they feel about June's treatment. Wouldn't that be a good avenue to explore, for the longevity of the story? Also, June is left alone in the room with Ofmatthew. At one point she contemplates killing her, to put her out of her misery and also to release June from her own prison. And then the medical equipment starts beeping and people come in to see what's wrong. But... June had kind of an unrealistically long period of time where she was alone with the pregnant body of Ofmatthew. That seems ridiculous to me. June definitely could have gotten away with killing her. Shouldn't someone else have been in the room?

Also, circling back to something I talked about in last week's review, I can't understand what Aunt Lydia's characterization is supposed to be here. The acting in the scenes between Lydia and Janine are superb. Both of these actresses are giving it their all. But what is the script doing? What are we meant to make of Aunt Lydia lovingly helping Janine with her eye-patch? The last time we saw the two of them have any sort of one-on-one connection, Lydia was beating the shit out of Janine. Is this moment here meant to resolve that earlier one? Because I didn't feel like it was addressed at all.

Pros:

I will admit, this is an extremely effective use of a bottle episode. I've always been a sucker for bottle episodes, and despite my negative ramblings above, this one is honestly no real exception. The sense of isolation and claustrophobia that June is feeling is echoed by the fact that we never get to leave the room either. The song, the beeping, so relentless, the way that people move in and out of the space but June remains, and remains, and remains... it was all extremely effective at building atmosphere and tension.

The confrontation with Serena Joy was so appropriately understated. June feebly tries to attack her, and Serena stops it easily. More importantly, she doesn't turn June in. She tells the doctor that June tried to hurt herself, and the doctor decides not to tell anyone what June has done either. Is it loyalty? Probably not. Serena probably thinks that it will look bad for PR reasons, given the ongoing quest for Nichole's return. But there are so many flavors of nuance between these two women, right? Because June calls her "Mrs. Waterford" in this scene, and then Serena calls her "June." And Serena seems genuinely worried about her, in a sense... but it's not a personal kind of worry, maybe. It seems more like Serena is disturbed by June's breakdown, because it's a crack in the system that Serena so firmly forces herself to believe in. I don't know, it's just so interesting to me that Serena, a clear villain, and June, in some ways no less a villain in these last few episodes, have this unshakable connection that pierces through their hatred. And June really did want to kill her, damn the consequences.

I liked June's conversation with the doctor, too. His position in this world is one that interests me. For his own self-interest, and for that of his family if he has any, he can't protest the system. Or he could, but he chooses not to. He allows real sympathy to infuse his conversation with June. They reminisce together about June's mother, who the doctor apparently knew in the time before. And yet this man is keeping Ofmatthew alive to save the baby inside her, in what is clearly a cruel and torturous state. And his sympathy only goes so far. He won't turn June in, but he's not able or willing to offer her actual substantial help, either. It's this in-between thing, where maybe it's comforting for June to be able to talk normally with someone for a moment, and it's comforting for the audience, too... but it's not real and it's not going to help anything.

We see some young girls wearing pink in this episode, and learn about the "daughters in pink," who are being examined since they've all started their periods. Obviously this is horrifying. We had one example of a child bride last season, with Nick and Eden, which was hard enough to stomach. But being reminded of the systemic aspect to this, knowing that these girls are having their bodies measured to prepare them for childbearing, even at such a young age... it's chilling and disturbing in a way not much else on this show can really top. June has a conversation with one of the girls, where she asks point-blank if being a mother is what she wants. The girl answers that of course she does. It's Eden all over again, only even younger. And the echoing reality of Hannah is ever-present. There's the world's most disturbing ticking clock on things, and this was an effective way of reminding us of that. Chilling.

As a final note, Elisabeth Moss killed it in this episode. I feel like I don't talk about her performance enough, especially since recently I've been so frustrated and annoyed with June as a character. But Moss is... she's insanely good in this role. She had to carry this episode more-so than most, and she did wonders with it. The way she talked to Aunt Lydia was in particular really good. So many mixed emotions and motivations going on there, and I felt like I could understand all of it.

And that's that. This season has gone by really quickly, and in some ways incredibly frustratingly. But the show still has strong bones, and I'm still invested in what happens next.

8/10