(“It looks kind of weird without all the dead bodies, doesn’t it?”
It’s just like Aunt Lydia said: Normal is just what you’re used to.)
Offred still can’t stop thinking about their (consensual, how novel!)
Credit: George Kraychyk/Hulu
That’s interrupted when the Commander opens the door and has Nick bring her.
As Serena Joy warned her, the Mexican delegates have questions for her.
The first one is simple enoughwhat’s her given name?but Offred knows better than to answer that.
Did shechooseto be a handmaid?
Oh boy, what a question.
With the Commander looking on, she just offers a “yes.”
Again, the Commander offers some Gilead-branded spin: “Handmaids are having children for the entire nation.
Offred knows how grateful we are for her choice in this.”
And a third questionis Offred happy with the life she’s supposedly chosen?
We even have oranges!
The ambassador doesn’t seem to buying the whole dog-and-pony show, though.
“Women were abandoning their families, and we needed to make a change.
We were running out of time,” she explains.
Does this mean she’s the founding mother of the handmaids system?
The Commander thinks it’s a great idea and tells her to go for it.
and express pity for the pain this may cause, but argue it’s for the greater good.
“We’re saving them,” Serena Joy tells him.
“We’re doing God’s work.”
The other man isn’t as sympathetic.
“This is our fault,” he says.
Ominously, he adds, “We won’t let that happen again.”
(“Did you see the way they looked at us?”
“Don’t they see the good work we’re doing here?”
As she walks to the door, she pauses and turns around, apologizing and asking to stay.
He beckons her over and tells her to kiss him.
She does, a quick peck on the lips, but he’s not satisfied.
“Like you mean it,” he orders.
This time, Offred cups his face as she does it, and then he dismisses her.
(Sorry, Janine, no party time for you.)
Nick tries to calm her down, but she recoils when he calls her Offred.
“It’s nice to meet you, June,” he replies.
“This is a brutal place,” she tells them.
“We’re prisoners.
If we run, they’ll venture to kill us, or worse.”
“They rape me every month.
Whenever I might be fertile.”
The woman facing her says she’s sorry, but sorry isn’t nearly enough.
“I didn’t choose this.
I was trying to escape,” Offred adds, on the verge of tears.
“They took my daughter.
So don’t be sorry, okay?
just don’t be sorry,” she’s on the verge of tears now.
Offred shakes her head, a hollow laugh.
“My country’s already dead.”
SAY WHAT????
?
