‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Recap: She Wore A Raspberry Beret

By Hannah Sole | TV | October 6, 2022 |

By Hannah Sole | TV | October 6, 2022 |

Previously, on The Handmaid’s Tale: Serena’s reign as Queen of the Weirdoes in Toronto came to an abrupt end when June and Luke declared open war on her. She escaped to the mysterious home of the Wheelers. Aunt Lydia’s plan to Be Less Awful (or at least Differently Awful) was pooh-poohed by Lawrence and she left his office in a huff. Here’s my full recap for episode 4 if you missed it!

This week: Now that Serena’s disappeared, June, Luke, and Moira can return to Operation Get Hannah The Hell Out Of There, starting with intel-gathering and an ill-advised field trip. In case the tension threatens to overwhelm us, we can stave it off by wondering how long it will take Serena to realise her Safe House isn’t quite the sanctuary she thought it would be. Spoilers are ahead; limber up and brace yourselves, because it’s going to get tense…

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June

There’s a Guardian coming with news, and Team June race over to Mayday’s camp to meet him. Sadly, he can’t get over the border. And time’s a ticking: Mayday has worn out its welcome with Canada, and won’t be able to stay in the No-Man’s Land border territories for much longer. You can see where this is going, right?

Luke volunteers to cross over and meet the Guardian, because of course he does, because he’s a good’un, and probably not just a little bit because Serena called him a coward last week. June is so proud, and immediately volunteers to go with him. And Moira looks at them like ‘HELL NO, I’M STAYING HERE, YOU NUMPTIES.’ Respect, Moira. “They don’t quit,” she says later. It’s a review and a prayer at the same time.

Because there it is: The Dread. It’s been a while since we’ve felt The Dread in this show. It slipped away once June set foot in Canada, and we all took a deep calming breath. We got The Rage instead, and that was fun! Now The Dread returns to make us squirm. Sure, it’s uncomfortable, but in that familiar way! The Dread starts in the frame, with the buzzing of the pylons, then spreads out, with the low tones creeping back into the score. Hello, low tones, my old friends! Then flashbacks of horrors gnaw at your toes, and lo and behold, The Dread has crept out of the screen like the terrifying girl from The Ring. Ooh look, it’s dark and creepy! And there are corpses in the trees! Nothing to see here! It’s all good!

They finally find the meeting spot and greet their contact with the Prince song code word, which I’m sure he would have bloody loved. The contact comes over all squirrelly and insists that they go to a second location before he’ll spill the beans on Wife School. DREAD.

Jayden the Guardian Dude takes them deeper into Gilead, to an old bowling alley where he likes to hang out when it’s cold and he doesn’t want to patrol properly. He takes the backpacks of supplies they brought, and tells them about The Plums, the girls in purple who are sent to Wife School. “They are like princesses,” he says. They are trained to run their households and rushed through the programme so that they can start Wife Life. Hannah is 12 years old. Ew. Jayden doesn’t know where the schools are exactly, but he gives them a USB drive with all the info he has. June and Luke go to leave, but Jayden insists they stay until dark as it’s not safe to cross until then. DREAD.

May as well do some bowling while they’re there, huh? It’s such a quiet stealthy activity for Public Enemy Number One to enjoy whilst in enemy territory. It’s fine! May as well crack open a few beers and play some jams as well, right? GROUP SINGALONG TIME! It’s all good. Nothing to see here. Little slow dance, get the mirror ball out. Completely chilled.

LOL, just kidding, we’re totally hyperventilating because of The Dread.

Jayden is so young he can barely remember The Great Before anymore, which hits Luke and June hard. What has Gilead done to Hannah’s memories of them?

They finally head back under cover of darkness, but stop when they hear an ominous clinking noise. DREAD.

Poor Jayden’s trodden on a mine, as you do, and even as he’s trying to keep them calm, he fidgets and it’s kaboom for Jayden. He survives the blast, though the bang and the screams start to draw a crowd of Very Bad People, and June and Luke have to leave Wee Jayden to his fate as they sprint for the border. DREADY DREAD DREAD. This is why Mayday said ‘no names’, Luke!

There’s no escape; they are captured and DAMN YOU, DREAD, DAMN YOU TO HELL.

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Serena

Serena’s new digs are highly reminiscent of the former Waterford house - yes, the one that Serena burned to the ground in Season 3 when we had such high hopes for her. The Wheelers’ Gileadean vibes turn out to be the genuine home-grown variety rather than enthusiastic cosplay, which Serena finds comforting rather than ominous, because she’s a smug numpty who should be keeping a weather eye out for The Dread, but she just can’t see it yet.

“We can’t let a few simple rules get in the way of God’s Will, can we?”

Careful, Serena. That’s a royal we, as you clearly only want to make exceptions for yourself. You’re giving Mrs Wheeler ideas, and she doesn’t need any more encouragement. What is it you think you’re doing there, Serena? Think you’re the Queen Bee, worshipped for your bump? Is that how Gilead works? She doesn’t see it yet.

Then there’s a gathering of sad and envious wives, paying tribute to Serena’s bump (at least they ask before they touch it), and oh man, she doesn’t see it yet. She remembers Baby Shopping with Naomi back in the early days of Gilead, before they got Handmaids, and she still doesn’t see it.

She has a conference call with Lawrence and Creepy Warren, who now seems to be inserting himself into other people’s business all over the place now. (I am so sorry for that particular turn of phrase. But Creepy’s gonna Creep.) Was Lawrence using a duress code with the word “peachy”? Creepy Warren is not pleased with Serena’s progress, and Serena reminds him that it’s all June’s fault. Serena wants to rebrand the Gileadean message to focus on fertility and babies, rather than the gross politics. Creepy Warren throws a fit because it’s an idea that he didn’t have himself, and vows to “yank her leash”. Such a charmer, that one.

The Wheeler house is starting to become the focal point of a fertility pilgrimage, and it’s when Serena tries to talk to a woman outside the gate that we see a slight flicker on her face. Mr Wheeler has left strict instructions not to open the gate. Keeps the weirdoes out, doesn’t it? But it also keeps the pregnant lady inside. Serena narrows her eyes. She’s starting to suspect it. It starts as a worry, a niggle, a concern, but those are all just the creepy fingers of The Dread, reaching out, and coming for her, too.

Another flashback pops up: Aunt Lydia congratulating Serena on starting her Handmaid selection process. The resentment, the envy, they were hers then. Now she’s seeing it in the wide-eyed wives. She still doesn’t see The Dread yet though.

Mr Wheeler finally makes an appearance, to tell her that he has discussed her proposal with the other Commanders, and they are going to move forward with it. She relaxes a bit, says she wants to go back to work. Mr Wheeler has other ideas; no more ‘running around’ for Serena, she needs to rest and get ready for the baby’s arrival. He brings her medicine to take, pours her a glass of water, stands there waiting to watch her take it. He grins. She doesn’t see it yet, only a glimmer in the corner of her eye. The Dread is waving at her. COO-EE. She asks for a phone: that’s a hard no too. The glimmer’s more of a flash now. OY, says The Dread. I think she’s starting to see it.

There’s a role in Gileadean households for pregnant women who aren’t married to the man of the house, and it isn’t ‘treasured guest’. The Wheeler house might be Gilead-light in terms of the dress code, but there’s a raspberry beret somewhere, with her name on it. She just doesn’t see it yet…

Randomly ominous plot point that we’ll save for later: New Bethlehem

This is Lawrence’s brand new grand plan, to save Gilead from dying out. Creepy Warren doesn’t like it. “A bunch of traitors, criminals, terrorists, and you want to welcome them back, coddle them, forgive them? Never.” Warren doesn’t want the world “poking around in their affairs,” which is a bit rich coming from Mr Pokey of The Affairs. Are they working on extradition deals to bring back all our beloved escapees? Or is that The Dread talking?

Next time: It doesn’t look good for our faves, y’all. Maybe Nick will save them?

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