In the fifth episode of The Handmaid’s Tale, June and Moira make it to Jezebel for the dry run. After June tried to stop Moira from volunteering for the mission in the previous episode, the two best friends were not on talking terms. June wanted to smooth out their relationship, but Moira needed more time to process June’s reaction. Luke and June’s partnership looks good for now; they both have realized that because of everything they’d been through, it was impossible for them to build their life afresh in another country, especially knowing that their daughter was still stuck in Gilead. While June, Luke, and Moira are busy executing their Mayday mission, Serena’s life is about to change drastically as well, but whether it is for the good or bad, we’ll have to wait and watch.
Spoiler Alert
Why did Janine decline the offer to leave Gilead with June and Moira?
June and Moira, dressed as Marthas, successfully entered Jezebel. Going back to the place where she’d been raped and tortured every day took a toll on Moira, but she kept a brave face on and focused on executing their plan. June was heartbroken when she discovered that Commander Bell had been harassing Janine on a regular basis. The commanders were about to gather in the penthouse, and even though it was risky to make contact with Janine there, they didn’t have much of a choice. Janine recognized June even though she had a mask on. She was glad to see June, and she asked her and Moira to wait for her in an empty room. To escape Bell’s torture, Janine had cozied up with Commander Lawrence. He knew what she was doing, and he helped her escape from Bell. Even though Janine knew that Lawrence was not really a ‘good’ man, she thought he was at least better than the rest of the commanders, so she gave him access to information that he could use to his advantage. The women working at Jezebel used a secret peeping hole to find out who they would have to deal with before entering the room, and Janine gave Lawrence access to it so that he could eavesdrop on his colleagues. He was surprised to find out that most of his colleagues despised him. They were against the quasi-liberal lifestyle that New Bethlehem was offering to its residents, and their plan was to restore the old order and bring back the orthodox traditions of Gilead. They thought Lawrence was done for, and they would not hesitate to hang him on the wall if he protested. Lawrence realized he was fighting for a lost cause. Even though he’d tried to explain how New Bethlehem would improve their economy, that was clearly not the main concern for the other commanders.
Establishing dominance and holding on to oppressive traditions was all that they cared about. While Lawrence was busy secretly listening to his colleagues, Janine met June and Moira. She felt hopeful when she learned that Mayday had planned a rescue operation for the women at Jezebel before they bombed the commanders there. Janine promised to get the girls ready; they had been waiting to be rescued, and she was confident that it would not be a challenging task. Janine informed June and Moira that the commanders used a secret elevator from the garage to get to the penthouse. She handed them the code to the elevator along with detailed directions. When Janine was about to leave, June offered her a chance to get out of Jezebel with them that very day. Moira disapproved of June’s proposal, and she established how that was not even an option. Janine was not willing to leave until all the girls were rescued, and Moira promised that they would do so next week. After Janine left, Moira accused June of endangering their plan by asking Janine to come along with them. June, of course, was not thinking rationally at the time. She got emotional when she saw Janine and felt the desperate need to help her immediately. It gradually escalated to them comparing their traumatic experiences, only to realize that by doing so they were weakening their bond and validating their oppressor. They admitted that it was impossible for them to know what they had gone through individually, and there was no way that one had had it better than the other. So, comparison was not really an option; instead, working together was the only way to help more and more women escape from their harsh reality.
Will Commander Lawrence help June and Moira?
Just when June and Moira got over their differences, a Guardian walked into the room. He suspected something was going on, but he was more inclined to take advantage of the Marthas than to find out what they were really up to. He figured that the information scribbled on a piece of paper was important for the two Marthas, so he hid it in a locker. He was about to rape Moira, not realizing that the women in the room were far from helpless. They’d been in similar situations and had learned to always find their way out of them. Moira and June attacked the Guardian. Moira strangled him with a telephone wire. Now that they had killed the Guardian, they had to hide his body, and they intended to dump his body into the coal-operated laundry machine. After they failed to open the locker, June and Moira decided that they must focus on getting rid of the body instead. They successfully made it to the laundry room and were about to leave when they noticed that a Guardian had approached Luke and Ellen. He instructed them to leave, and when Luke protested, the Guardian got a little hostile. So, Luke and Ellen had to go, leaving June and Moira behind in Jezebel. They didn’t have much of a choice; by staying back, they could’ve jeopardized their bombing plan. Hiding at Jezebel was not an option for the best friends, and when June saw Commander Lawrence in the parking lot, she immediately knew that he was the only one who could help them.
At the end of The Handmaid’s Tale season 6, episode 5, June blocked Lawrence’s path and begged him to help them escape. The commander was hesitant at first, but he eventually agreed. He offered to let them hide in his car trunk. But will Lawrence actually drive June and Moira to the border? Or will he try to gather information from them? It was obvious that they were up to something and that Commander Lawrence’s curiosity would get the better of him. Moreover, now that Lawrence knows that his colleagues would love to have him out of their way, he might just go against them and let Mayday bomb Jezebel to get rid of the people who will surely veto all his future plans.
Is Serena about to make another terrible mistake?
When Aunt Lydia requested Serena to come up with a plan that would help the handmaids living in Gilead, she proposed setting up a fertility clinic. The handmaids would no longer have to live with infertile couples and would instead work at the clinic and have some sense of agency. Lydia was content with the suggestion, and she even nudged Serena to seek help from High Commander Wharton, whose influence and wealth could bring all their plans to fruitation. Serena was impressed by Wharton’s romantic gestures, from requesting her for a dance on an empty street to sending her elaborate bouquets; he was clearly into her. Serena was pleased when Wharton invited her to show her around the library he’d built for the children of New Bethlehem. He was open to the idea that girls must also be allowed to read in public places, and it clearly resonated with Serena’s vision for New Bethlehem’s future. He planned on naming the place after Serena and himself, and without any delay, towards the end of episode 5, he pulled out a ring from his pocket and proposed to her.
Serena was afraid that she would be consumed with domestic responsibilities, and she would have no time to drive meaningful social changes, but Wharton promised that he would support all her endeavors related to New Bethlehem. She refused to move to DC with him; he was okay with that and was ready to make it work somehow. Wharton wanted Serena to know that he would never try to hold her back and would happily consider her advice and build their dream nation together. Serena didn’t expect life to bring her such surprises; she was relieved when Wharton promised to accept baby Noah, and the thought of growing as a family made her feel hopeful about her future. Even though Serena settled in New Bethlehem to work on her plans that she believed were directed by God, she perhaps accepted the marriage proposal because she assumed it was divine coincidence. As Aunt Lydia had pointed out, having Wharton’s support would help Serena execute her plans, and she likely thought God wanted her to marry Wharton so that she could build the nation she had envisioned soon. But her trusting High Commander Wharton would definitely backfire. Even though he is portraying himself to be a progressive man, his vision for Gilead is extremely traditional and orthodox. So, for some reason, his vision and his actions are not in sync at the moment. Probably because he is lying to Serena to create a false impression. He’d realized that having Serena by his side would be of great advantage when it came to building strong foreign diplomatic ties. Serena represented the idea of a changed and improved Gilead, and even if he didn’t execute all her plans, he would be able to create a facade for the world outside. Serena is likely making a terrible mistake, but who is going to tell her?
