Motherland

Serena tells June that her son, Joseph, has been taken into custody and is being held in a detention center. She wants June to come and get him. June is hesitant at first, but then she realizes that she can’t just leave her son behind. She decides to go to the detention center with Serena and try to get Joseph free.

In Gilead, Lawrence goes ahead with his New Bethlehem plan. He wants the refugees back and intends to put them on this island. He likens it to their Hong Kong, believing it neutralizes the threat of democracy from the US, as Lawrence retorts that Gilead will eventually spread across the entire US.

Serena is visited by Mrs Wheeler, who takes the milk Serena extracted and intends to leave. She’s not exactly happy, given Serena shot Ezra. As a result, Serena is prevented from being reunited with her child, and sees the horrors of Gilead from another angle, given Mrs Wheeler refuses to even pick up their child, letting him cry it out.

Lawrence meets with June, offering her to go and live in New Bethlehem and stay with Hannah. This is the only way she’ll be able to see visit and with her about to start her own family, Lawrence suggests they live a life there. Lawrence encourages her to think it over, while Luke outright rejects the idea. Predictably, the pair butt heads.

Mark arrives at June’s house, pointing out that Lawrence’s goal is to kill off America. If June willingly walks back into a Gilead settlement and starts living there again, it sends a message to the resistance that it’s safe and they’ll follow. Mark points out that she’s undermining the resistance but June doesn’t care, she just wants Hannah back.

Mark continues, claiming there’s classified information he can’t share with them. The only thing he can say is that they’re prepping for military action and there could be a large-scale assault. June can’t wait though and decides it’s a risk worth taking to actually see Hannah again.

Joseph Lawrence heads to see Serena, where she’s allowed to go back to stay with the Wheeler’s in their house. The only reason though is to nurse the child and stop him from crying. June shows up and admits that she and Serena are not friends.

June taunts her, claiming she’s a better Christian than Serena ever was. June also tells her to go back to the Wheeler residence and act like a Handmaid. The entire time she needs to plot against them and her revenge. This, of course, echoes exactly what June has been doing all these years.

June returns to Lawrence to tell him that Gilead is rotten at its core and offers to help him set up a new settlement, New Bethlehem. Joseph wants to try and fix Gilead’s problems and believes reforms will spread throughout the country in 5-10 years, leading to a “better” autocracy that would allow them to leave whenever they want. ..

June thinks about what she did when she left Hannah behind and decides that it was a mistake. She realizes that she could have done something to save her and decides to get her back.

Mark pleads with the guys for some time so they can figure out where the footage may have been taken.

Serena heads back to the Wheeler household, getting a taste of her own medicine as she’s forbidden from seeing her own son until it’s time to nurse. When she hears Noah cry though, Serena rushes upstairs to hold her child, and nurse him anyway.

June received a call from Mark who told her that he had found Hannah and knew where she was. They had a plan to get her, but it appeared this didn’t include diving headfirst into New Bethlehem. A weight seemed to be lifted from June as she hurried out the store and rushed down the street. She headed home and told Luke and Moira that they had found Hannah and would be bringing her back. ..

The Episode Review

It seems like Hannah could well be on her way back to June, but given this show has already been renewed for another season, and there are now plans to lead this into The Testaments, it would appear that this isn’t going to be a straightforward path. ..

June finally shows herself to Serena and seemingly gets her revenge after the bizarre tonal shift last week. June helped Serena and not actually showing any sort of animosity toward her. ..

This is a great setup for the rest of the season, which promises to be quite the dramatic ordeal.