The Handmaid's Tale: Vows (4x06)

Huh, I don't know, honestly! This was probably my least favorite episode of the season, which was a bummer because I was looking forward to it so much!

Cons:

So, first of all, the writing seemed a little bit... hokey in the flashback scenes with Luke? It was all too on the nose, and didn't ultimately tell us anything new about Luke and June's relationship, other than the fact that June was insecure about giving him a baby. I get why they did this, and how it parallels that heartbreaking scene at the end, but... something about the actual scenes themselves didn't click with me.

As I'll talk about in a minute, I'm absolutely thrilled that June is out, in Canada. It's the status quo change we desperately need at this point in the story. But this episode itself felt like a lot of stalling. June's not going to leave. Then she's leaving. Then she's willing to be turned in. Then she gets through. Then she's going to escape and go back. Then she's not. I'm not sure anything in this episode was really revelatory enough to justify the buildup. That scene with Luke in the end was "the point" of this episode, and it was a great scene. But there was just a lot of chaff to get through, before we got to that wheat.

The conflict between Moira and her girlfriend makes sense and would be interesting, but we never really got to know them as a couple before this. It's a bummer because the emotional investment isn't quite there. I want to understand what this relationship means to both of the characters, and what losing it would mean. The pacing was just off. Maybe a few episodes back when we were watching June being tortured scene after scene, we could have swapped that out with a bit of development for Moira and her girlfriend. Something to give it a bit more weight.

WHERE'S JANINE? One of the reasons I think this episode didn't quite work for me was how it works in its placement in the season as a whole. We've spent quite a bit of time with June and Janine over the past couple of weeks. That's been our focus. Then, explosion, and chaos, and Janine is not accounted for. I can't believe they'd kill her off like that, off-screen, but what am I supposed to think? I really, really wish we'd had a hint of her whereabouts.

Pros:

This whole episode, as I said, was about that scene at the end where June is standing in front of Luke and saying "I'm sorry I don't have Hannah, I'm sorry it's just me." It was a great scene, masterfully acted by Elisabeth Moss as usual. It backfilled so much of who June is as a person for me. Everything we've seen, her persona as the leader of a revolution, falls apart in the face of one thing: she was staying for Hannah, and now she feels she's failed. It's not that we didn't know this information, but now we have it stated for us outright, and it shines a different light on so many things.

I'm curious to see how Luke's resentments will play into things moving forward, if at all. He was angry that June chose to stay in Gilead, even knowing she might never see him again. Now, he understands that she couldn't bear to turn up "just herself" without Hannah in tow. It seems to me that there's a deeper insecurity that's been percolating from the beginning of their relationship. Despite what Luke might insist to the contrary, maybe June was only as good as her ability to give Luke a child, when his first wife never could.

There's something juicy and also incredibly troubling about the fact that June has been in love with two men that we know of, Luke and Nick, and she's given them both children. How much does her own perception of being a good partner/wife/lover get tied up in the question of motherhood? In this world, where even as everything is fractured and poisonous, most people can rally around at least one central concern, that of the falling birthrate, and what it means for the future of humanity?

These are the kinds of questions we can explore in a show like this, and I feel like we saw glimpses of promise here.

Also, Moira and June being reunited feels so good! I like that it's not really an occasion to celebrate, and Moira has to bully her onto the boat. It makes so much sense. We also see in the flashbacks a reminder of the fact that Moira wasn't exactly Team Luke back in the day, and yet here June is confiding in her about how she's failed, and how Luke will never forgive her... it was just such a moment of friendship and solidarity for the two of them even in this insane situation.

I also liked the setup for what June's escape is going to mean overall. The relief efforts that Canada has been undergoing might be called off entirely. It's big stakes, and June has enough guilt on her shoulders as it is. I'm excited to see what might happen from here. What is the resistance and government in Canada going to do now that they have June Osborne freed from Gilead? Should be intense!

I wanted to love this episode so I think the focus on Luke threw me for a loop... that said, I still enjoyed it and I'm excited for what it sets up in the future.

7/10