After five seasons, it seems the handmaids might finally succeed this time and free themselves from their oppressors. As anticipated, episode 8 of The Handmaid’s Tale was exciting and satisfying. In the previous episode, June came up with the plan of infiltrating Serena’s wedding dressed as a handmaid, and her plan worked out. The cloak that once symbolized their pain and horror was reclaimed by the handmaids. The red no longer represented fertility and compliance; it was now the color of rage. June Osborne wore the red cloak with pride; the garment now signified strength, courage, and resilience. June and the handmaids were ready for war, and they quietly waited for the right moment to strike.
Spoiler Alert
What happened to Commander Bell?
As was hinted in the previous episode, Rita Blue, former Martha and expert baker, had laced the wedding cake with sedatives. Their plan was to knock the wedding attendees unconscious so that they could finally execute the commanders. The handmaids, the Marthas, and the wives of the commanders were all invited to Serena and High Commander Wharton’s grand wedding. It was not easy for June to watch Nick, the man she once loved, officiate the wedding. But he had lost her trust, and she chose to keep a distance from him. Just when the prayers began, June passed pocket knives to the handmaids, and while one had mistakenly hit the ground, the Guardians didn’t find out what was going on. It almost seemed Serena would recognize June when she walked up to the handmaids to have a word with them. She spoke about her relationship with her former handmaid (June) and how they eventually developed a friendship. She discussed her plans to bring reformation and free the handmaids. She also expressed that she wanted to take pictures with them without their masks. Considering how dangerous her proposal was, Rita stepped in to distract her. She insisted that it was time to cut the wedding cake.
While everyone relished the cake, the handmaids discreetly left their slices under their chairs. They had to stay vigilant to execute the next phase of their plan. Aunt Ruth led the handmaids out of the church before Serena could talk to the handmaids again. The cake did its job, and as expected, the attendees dozed off. They reached home and struggled to keep their eyes open, giving the handmaids a perfect opportunity to strike. June managed to sneak into Commander Bell’s house. She noticed he was dozing off when all of a sudden his phone rang. The commander was flabbergasted to see June standing by his side. She greeted him briefly and stabbed him in the eye. Commander Bell collapsed to the floor, and he died a deserved, painful death. June successfully rescued Janine from the monster, and they headed towards the Red Centre.
How did Aunt Lydia find out the truth?
Aunt Lydia decided to bail on her meeting in New Bethlehem and instead attended Serena’s wedding in Boston. The minute she entered the wedding hall, she caught a glimpse of June. Even though Commander Lawrence told her that she must have been mistaken because June was currently in Alaska, Lydia was still suspicious. While having her dinner in the hall, she noticed that none of the handmaids had the wedding cake. She could sense that something was going on, and June was the one orchestrating it.
Lydia hurried to the Red Center and instructed Aunt Ruth to immediately open the gates so that she could check on the handmaids. She didn’t find anything suspicious. She figured that they wouldn’t confess the truth unless they were threatened and punished. She gathered the handmaids in the middle of the room and had them kneel on the ground. Lydia was convinced that Ruth had a role to play in the fiasco, and she asked the Guardian in charge to shoot her. Moira protested; she didn’t hesitate to curse Lydia out. Lydia didn’t recognize Moira but she was certain that she was just one of June’s many mouth pieces. She desperately wanted to know June’s whereabouts, and to her surprise, June walked into the room. Lydia accused her of using the girls to execute her plan, but June begged Lydia to open her eyes and see for herself the reason why the girls wanted to break free so desperately. She reminded Lydia of the sins she had committed by torturing the handmaids, forcefully taking their children away, and watching them suffer and die for the slightest of mistakes. She requested Lydia to reevaluate her actions and question herself if whatever she’d supported and participated in so far was something that God would have ever wanted.
Lydia realized her mistake when Janine stepped into the room as well. She told Lydia about the inhumane treatment she’d faced and the many scars that she continued to carry because no one stood up for her. Janine and June emphasized that it was time for them to revolt and fight the system that had segregated them and oppressed them. Lydia admitted her mistake; she was brainwashed into believing that following orders was the only way to prove one’s dedication and love for God, not realizing that she had been committing grave sins. Her mistakes had lately started to haunt her, and when June and Janine requested her to reevaluate her opinion, she ultimately decided that the handmaids deserved to be free. Since there was only one Guardian in the room, he didn’t dare to fire. The rest of the Guardians at the Red Centre had fallen asleep. The handmaids finally made it out of the Red Center, and it was time to put their plan into action.
Will Serena Join The Cause?
On her very first day at her new home as a married woman, Serena figured out that she’d married a soft-spoken monster. Wharton gleefully introduced her to a young handmaid, stating that she would be a part of their family. Serena was shocked; she’d made it very clear that she was against the practice of keeping handmaids, and she didn’t expect Wharton to go against her principles. Wharton explained that he too had established from the very beginning of their friendship that he wanted a big family, and he believed that having a handmaid would help them bring more kids into the world. Serena criticized him for turning their marriage into an abomination. She thought he loved her, but clearly all he wanted was to control her. She grabbed her baby and was ready to leave the house, but Wharton refused to let her go. Serena reminded him that she had been through the whole ordeal before, she had lived through hell, and she believed that there was no way he could stop her. Wharton was delusional enough to think of himself as a good man, and when Serena confronted him over how he was trying to be in control of her life, he decided not to hold her back. On one hand he wanted to exert his dominance, but on the other he also hoped to prove that he was a better man than Serena’s late husband. Serena rushed out of Wharton’s mansion the minute she was allowed to leave.
The ending of The Handmaid’s Tale episode 8 confirmed that the handmaids used the weapons June had handed them to execute the commanders they worked for. One by one, the commanders were being murdered, and it was about time that chaos engulfed Gilead. After finding out that Wharton was not an exception, Serena might finally realize that there is no way she could bring about any change in Gilead unless the authority is toppled. I would like to believe that Serena will join June and the handmaids to take over the country. She tried to bring reform, but unless the men holding the highest positions were removed, none of it would be possible.
