The Handmaid's Tale: Dear Offred (5x04)

I found some of the character beats in this episode really really interesting, and then other moments felt like a retread of what we've already seen several times. Let's talk about it!

Cons:

I really liked Janine in this episode, but I'm not sure what to make of Aunt Lydia at this point. It feels like so many of her moments this season have been reiterating a dynamic we've already seen play out again and again. Where is her character going to go from here?

I still wish we had a little more understanding of what other outsiders to Gilead were really thinking, in supporting the country. I think maybe the missing piece is how the falling birth rates are affecting society writ large. That's the big motivator here, that people are willing to accept Gilead's horrific model of family life because they're so desperate about having babies. There are those in Canada who are openly accepting and admiring of Serena, and then there are also other governments from around the world that are willing to consider accepting Gilead as a legitimate nation. I want to understand this more, I think it would strengthen Serena's legitimate claim to power in this situation.

Pros:

As much as Aunt Lydia's character feels stagnant to me, I will say one highlight of the episode was the conversation between Lydia and Commander Lawrence. I find Lawrence to be such a twisted, interesting figure. He's undeniably a villain, but he's not like Fred or any of the other Commanders we spend time with. He talks about how Commanders want Handmaids in their households because they get off on it, that it's a kink thing for them to have these dedicated sex servants in their homes. It's disgusting, but it's also true, and what makes Lawrence so interesting is that he created this system, he capitalizes off these abhorrent desires, and yet he has no interest in participating himself. He actually had a wife he loved dearly and would never want to hurt.

Luke spent a lot of this episode trying to be an understanding husband. He handles June with such delicacy, when June goes off on a woman who calls her a slut at the park, and when June shows up to the new Gilead "cultural center" with a gun, planning on killing Serena if she can. He pulls out a plan with building codes to get Serena kicked out of her protected building, and tries to convince June that committing murder again isn't their best path forward. What I love about all of this is that Luke is being a really good guy. A saint, even. He's openly understanding and even supportive of his wife's desire to kill her abuser. He says "I understand" at one point in this episode, or "I get it", something like that. And... I don't think he does. I think he's also angry at Tuello for being ineffective, and angry at Serena for all she's done; I think he'd still love June even if she shot a pregnant woman in the head.

But I don't think he gets it. This episode features a scene of Luke and June having sex, reconnecting after the adrenaline of their run-in with Serena. I believe there's a spark between these two. I believe they love each other, and their children. But I don't believe that Luke (or Moira, for that matter), understand what's really going on in June's head.

Got to give a big old shout-out to Janine, maybe my favorite character in the show? That's something I wouldn't have believed would be true back when I started watching, but she's just so interesting! I loved the moment when Lydia is trying to give her encouragement and she says "stop talking about the Bible, my legs don't work." That's such an incisive and brilliant takedown of Lydia and all of Gilead, and so much of my own issue with religion as a whole, to be honest. She speaks her mind, she chastises Lydia for not believing her about Esther, and at least for the moment, she seems to have actually gotten through to Lydia, which is saying something!

It remains to be seen where the continued tension between June and Serena is going to go, but I'm at the edge of my seat to find out more!

8/10