The Handmaid's Tale: Morning (5x01)

And we're back!

Cons:

My mom once pointed out to me that a good amount of the run time of any given episode of The Handmaid's Tale includes us just staring at June making super intense, angry faces directly into the camera. And while I think generally speaking Elisabeth Moss has the chops to pull it off, sometimes I feel like overabundance of close-ups and long silent emotional beats can get a little repetitive and exhausting.

I felt like there was a strange turn in the script which was June going home to Luke and Moira, then turning around and meeting her fellow co-conspirators at the diner. I wish she'd gone straight to the diner? It just felt awkward to me. And then all the other women seemed to think June was going to lead them on a killing spree. Was this something that June had promised them before, or were they deluded to think it was ever coming? Just felt like I was missing one beat to explain these women's motivations. I get why they want to go kill their abusers, but I didn't quite understand their anger with June.

Pros:

Mostly, this was an incredibly strong welcome back for the show, I was pretty riveted the whole way through and can't wait to watch episode two! General praise for the acting kind of goes without saying at this point; everyone is incredibly on point.

To start in brief subplot news, we see Nick settled in with a new wife, Rose. She evidently knows something of what Nick had left to do, giving June the chance to kill Fred... but she still speaks with the Gilead turns of phrase, "under His eye" and all that, and seems to be "honoring her husband" and all that jazz. I really like the introduction of this woman who isn't entirely brainwashed or entirely evil, but nor is she a full-on rebel. It will be interesting to see if Nick can form some sort of partnership or ally-ship with her, and how he's doing as a young Commander in Gilead with a family structure of his own to maintain.

We learn that Emily has gone back to Gilead to find Lydia and the other people who tormented her. This was an actor availability thing I gather, but I admire the way they've written her out of the story: it feeds into June's journey, her guilt and her grief and also her euphoria at taking action against Fred. Is she going to follow in Emily's footsteps? Well, with a full two seasons left of this show before it ends, it seems pretty likely June won't be spending all of it in Canada, that's all I'm going to say.

One of the most chilling moments of this episode was Serena's walk through the vigil of supporters, all honoring Fred. It's chilling to see people warmly and sincerely supporting upholders of fascism, and seeing Serena take strength from it is just... yikes. This whole episode, Serena's reaction of genuine grief over Fred's death, it was such an interesting way for the story to go. I wonder if Serena is going to contemplate the horrible abuses Fred subjected her to, the loss of her finger, all these other things. She seems a genuinely aggrieved widow whose husband has been violently murdered. She doesn't seem to be thinking of it on any other level than that. At the end, she insists that she will return to Gilead to bury him with the honor due to a Commander. Seeing Serena back in Gilead should be interesting!

Tuello is a fascinating character, who seems to have a genuine desire to protect Serena, while also being aligned with June in terms of sentiment. I loved the twist, so to speak, of Tuello coming to congratulate June on murdering Fred, after he's just been earnestly trying to keep Serena and her unborn baby safe. His personal sentiments are clear, but he's also trying to do a job. It's fascinating!

Of course the bulk of this episode follows June in the aftermath of Fred's death. There's so much time just... spent with her, and there are some heavy-handed moments where it's pretty clear where she's at mentally. First the strange detached euphoria of killing her tormentor, then the Lady MacBeth moment of scrubbing furiously to get the blood off her skin. Her desire to be with her daughter but also her fear of what she's become.

June did what she had to do, and one thing I like about this episode is that killing Fred really did seem to bring her peace. You see it so often in stories about revenge, people warning the person that it won't actually help them, that they'll be selling their soul and it's not worth it, whatever. But in the aftermath of June's decision here, we see something different. Yes, it seems that June is afraid of herself a little bit, and she's conflicted, and she immediately goes to confess her crime... but there's also a very real and very lasting sense that she doesn't regret removing Fred from this world. It's not a clear cut situation, and we're not told within the show exactly how June feels, or exactly how we as the audience should feel. One of my favorite moments was at the end, when she quietly asks Tuello about Serena's reaction to the news, and seems to not know how to process Serena being afraid of her. Is she happy that Serena is afraid? Does it not matter? Does she want to kill her too? I'm guessing this season will continue to explore such things!

This show does have a gift for the grim comedy beats. I loved June confessing her murder, the Canadian government telling her that they won't be charging her with anything, but that she has to pay a fine for the transportation of an unauthorized biological sample into Canada. So she's in trouble for carrying a severed finger with her over the border, but not for beating a man to death with her bare hands. The grim comedy of June being told "you can pay online" and then June out in the parking lot hugging Luke, telling him "I have to pay a fine", really got to me. You see how absurd it is, how this world where women chase a rapist through the woods and enact their vengeance, co-exists with a world of administration and smaller human rules.

I love Luke and Moira raising Nichole together, it really is one of the most interesting dynamics on this show, the way these two came together and formed a family through their mutual love of June, but now, having created this life for themselves, how June fits into that world isn't so simple. They're so happy to have her home, but when the woman you're co-parenting a child with arrives splattered in blood and tells you with a manic grin that she's just killed a man, how are you meant to process that? I liked the beat where Moira tells June she's afraid of having her take care of Nichole right now, and June says okay, and that she's afraid too, but they exchange fraught "I love you"-s as Moira moves to leave the room... and then June does get to go join in on bath time, and hold Nichole, and this show is fascinating, because I don't blame June for what she did, and I don't think she'd hurt her baby, but there is this tension there, of not knowing where June's arc is headed, of acknowledging the true depth of her trauma, and wondering what steps she can realistically take to heal.

I'll leave the episode here, and turn to the next one that's already available! I'm excited this show is back, it always leaves me with much to think about.

8.5/10