The Handmaid's Tale's June Is Called Back Into Action, But Has Nick Lost His Way? — Read Episode 2 Recap
Editor's note: This recap covers the second installment of The Handmaid's Tale's three-episode Season 6 premiere. Go here for a recap of Episode 1 and here for a recap of Episode 3.
What became of Serena after she was tossed from a train in The Handmaid's Tale's Season 6 premiere? Not what should have, if we lived in a just universe. But you're going to want to find out, so read on for the highlights of Episode 2, "Exile."
SERENA COMES OUT ON TOP (AGAIN) | I tell you: If you're going to bet on anyone, ever, bet on Serena Joy Motherflippin' Waterford. The woman was LAUNCHED from a TRAIN with an INFANT Bjorned to her torso in the season premiere, a predicament that would flatten most of us physically and/or spiritually. Yet she pretty much just rolls to a stop somewhere near a church, and both she and baby Noah are fine. They're still in Canada, though, and wind up taking shelter at a faith-based community called Canaan. There are only women and children in the group, and the woman in charge assumes that Serena is a Gilead refugee. But she insists that she's not, and gives her name as "Rachel."
CATCHING UP | June wakes up to find her mom playing with Nichole. Holly offers to remove the tag on June's ear, but June says she's not going to do so "until the handmaids are free." As Holly makes pancakes, they catch up. Holly was "tried" (mocking quotes mine) by a Gilead court and taken to the Colonies. "How did you survive that?" June wonders. "Well, a doctor's useful," her mother replies. She was a prisoner who had to care for aunts and guardians, "but I hung on in the hope that I might see you someday." She says she always had faith that June would survive "and now, here you are." Aw, guys! She was sent to Alaska six months before June's arrival, when the U.S. Army liberated her colony. June then fills her in about Hannah and her efforts to get her out of Gilead. "I've gotten so close, so close. But the last time I saw her, Mom, she didn't remember me," she says, starting to cry. Holly pulls her close and kisses her forehead, saying, "Oh, you are tough."
Back in Toronto, Tuello gets Luke out of jail, but his hearing is still in a few months' time. Luke is relieved to hear that June and Nichole are safe, but he's incensed that Hannah is still in Gilead. Tuello also mentions that Mayday is hatching a plan to find and kill the commanders that shot down their planes during the failed mission to bring Hannah home. "I'm in," Luke says immediately.
Nick goes to see Commander and Mrs. Lawrence, who are bickering about décor when he arrives. Commander Lawrence says he had nothing to do with hurting June, and Nick believes him — mainly because "I believe you don't have the power or the capability." Gilead burn! High Commander Wharton arrives soon after, and they talk about how Gilead is drowning in applications. (Side note: Gross.) Wharton idly wonders how Serena figures in the new PR campaign: Shouldn't Gilead's global ambassador be in New Bethlehem to greet the new arrivals? Wharton definitely knows that Lawrence has lost track of Noah's mom, but the moment is interrupted by an impish Angela — who's now a big kid! — popping out from her hiding place under Lawrence's desk. After Wharton leaves, Lawrence tasks Nick with finding Serena.
SNEAKING AROUND | When June is able to get a call through to Moira, she's shocked — joyously so — to learn that Luke is out of jail. Then they're similarly surprised to hear that Holly is alive. An important note for later on: Luke doesn't tell his wife what he and Moira are up to with Mayday.
In other June's Men news, Nick finds out from Tuello that June and Nichole made it to Alaska OK. Tuello also wants him to provide a schedule of patrols in No Man's Land, leading Nick to warn him that Mayday is nowhere trained enough to take on Gilead's military forces. How long are they going to keep it up? he wonders. They'll stop "when there's no one left to fight," Tuello says.
A RETURN TO FORM | A two-month time jump finds Serena, er, Rachel thriving at Canaan. But the woman in charge knows she's not who she says she is, a fact she reveals when she calls Serena "Mrs. Waterford." The woman, who apparently read Serena's book, points out that she welcomed Serena and Noah into the community despite knowing the atrocities in which she'd been involved, then she instructs her to "set it right: You know He's watching."
Soon after, a car pulls up near Canaan's communal garden, and Commander and Mrs. Lawrence step out. He's there to woo her back, saying that in New Bethlehem, "you would be the face of progress, reform." He also knows that she's bored picking tomatoes or whatever in Kumbaya-land, and he can promise her independence and influence. Oh, haven't you heard? Women in New Bethlehem, unlike those in Gilead, can read, write and do business. "Turns out," Lawrence quips, "it's crazy what women are capable of!"
Still, she's not convinced... until he threatens that The Eyes know exactly where she is, and "it's only a matter of time before the Wheelers do, too." That night, at a highly awkward Canaan group dinner attended by the Lawrences, Serena announces that it's time for her and Noah to leave. She gives a speech comparing herself to the Bible's Elijah, Moses and Noah, then tops it all by saying "The world is broken, and I am being called to heal it" and smiling a tiny, yet triumphant, smile.
By the end of the episode, she and Noah are installed in New Bethlehem.
Speaking of the accursed new community, Wharton and Nick have a man-to-man in which Wharton literally counsels his son-in-law to "make good choices." The advice lingers in Nick's brain: After the older man leaves, Nick removes the chip from the encrypted phone Tuello gave him and throws it into the burning fireplace.
'LET'S BRING THEM HOME' | When June can't get a hold of Luke for weeks, Tuello eventually tells her about the Mayday operation and reveals that Luke and Moira have gotten themselves stuck in No Man's Land. So June makes him get her a transport there, so she can talk to Nick. Tuello says that Nick has stopped responding to his calls. "He'll respond to me," she says.
Holly is NOT on board with this plan, worried that Nick is luring her daughter back into a trap. "They're all like that. They're monsters!" she says, but June maintains that Nick is different. Their argument escalates, and when June says her mom has no idea what she's talking about, the older woman shoots back, "I know my daughter f–ked a Nazi and is running across the country to see him again." OUCH. Then Holly says if June must go, she should leave Holly with her grandma. "Why, so you can abandon her, too?" June spits. OUCH AGAIN.
When tempers have cooled, Holly admits that her anger is fueled by fear of June slipping through her fingers. "I just got you back," she says sadly. "I can't lose you again." For her part, June apologizes ("I know you didn't abandon me. I know that.") and agrees that Nichole will stay with Holly while she's away. Then she tells her mom that Nichole's real name is Holly, which makes the older woman cry.
June travels to No Man's Land, but Nick isn't there — he's at New Bethlehem, welcoming Serena. Tuello leads June to the house that Mayday is using as its base of operations. There are a lot of people milling about. June introduces herself to the group, then adds, "Let's bring them home."
Now it's your turn. What did you think of the episode? Sound off in the comments!