So the next phase is launched.
Finally Mrs. Winslow enters.
The jovial nature of it all overwhelms Serena.
Credit: Sophie Giraud/Hulu
June is escorted out and meets the Winslow’s handmaid, whose mouth is covered by her garment.
Things are a little stricter in this part of Gilead.
A reminder that as bad as things are, they can always get worse.
(Later, Lydia is forced to put the cover on June’s mouth.
June asks her, “Do you want us all to be silenced?”
In tears, Lydia says she does not.
But she ties the mouth-cover around her head anyway.)
NICK RETURNS
Fred is directing more broadcasts to bring international attention to his Nicole effort.
Lydia organizes the handmaids in the studio, lining them up while Fred serves as director.
June and Serena get a moment alone where the former tries appealing to the latter’s sense.
“How many more of these videos is he going to do?”
“As many as it takes,” Serena responds.
Then comes the long-awaited return of Nicknow a commander.
Fred is stumped by his presence; Nick says Winslow sent him over.
The Swiss get to screening the Waterfordsand June.
(“Don’t be stupid,” Serena warns.)
The Swiss initially refer to June as Ofjoseph; she corrects them to call her by her birth name.
She then reveals Nichole’s parentage.
How could the Swiss rule against all that?
Well, they need something moreGilead is powerful, and June needs to be able to make a trade.
She offers Nick as a commander who could exchange information; they’re sufficiently intrigued.
A committee member tells her they did research and learned Nick was not to be trusted.
“He was a soldier in the Crusade,” she says with pride.
“We wouldn’t be here without him.”
And there, June is forced to see the father of her child with very new eyes.
Eventually, the genders split off into pairs.
Mrs. Winslow confides in Serena that she loved her book, even if it’s “taboo.”
She adds that it saved her.
Serena is flatteredif, as ever, a little conflicted about it.
Commander Winslow, meanwhile, congratulates Fred on his moving the discussions around Nichole forward.
Then… well, things get a little weird.
And where better to have this conversation take place than in front of a decapitated Lincoln Memorial?
“You will never be free of me.
You will never be free of me until both of my children will be safe.”
“You’re small.
And you’re empty.
You will always be empty.”
“I should’ve let you burn when I had the chance.”
They approach each other in a collective rage before going their separate ways.
Here is the clearest evidence yet that these two will never be true allies.
For now, they are adversariesand the fate of Nichole hangs in the balance.
