‘You had to be brave to do this.’
Serena Joywasn’t kidding around with that “things can get much worse for you” threat.
Who could it be from?
Credit: George Kraychyk/Hulu
(Side note: Are those red curtains always covering the windows in the backseat?
Or is that a handmaid-only travel mandate?)
His assessment of her story?
“Lies, hyperbole, everything in the worst possible light.”
It’s Fake News, Gilead edition.
The doctor (Kristian Bruun, a.k.a.
Donnie fromOrphan Black!)
Perhaps not surprisingly, this is not an acceptable theory here in Gilead.
(“That’s a forbidden word,” Offred tells us in voice-over.
“There’s no such thing as a sterile man anymore.
There’s only women who are fruitful and women who are barren.")
“You wish what, Nick?
What do you wish?
“Any well-intentioned thing he could say here is meaningless.
There, Offred curls up in the closet and finds solace in the carvings.
“How did you survive her?”
she asks aloud of her mysterious predecessor.
Moira uses a sharpened tool she found to carve “Aunt Lydia sux” into the wall.
“It’ll let her know she’s not alone,” she says.
“That is His word dear, and we shall abide.”
The friends make eye contact.June nods and smiles.It’s okay, she seems to be saying.
Back at the Red Center, the soles of her feet are whipped as punishment.
Serena Joy follows him into the other room and offers to help.
If it’s just supposed to be for reproductive purposes, are non-handmaid relations allowed?
So no Ceremonying for anyone tonight.
Did he ever study Latin, she asks?
Yes, as part of SAT prep.
Offred wonders if her predecessorthe Latin knower, the word-scratcherwas here before her.
Is she not the first to be invited into this room?
Did the last Offred displease him, and what price did she pay for it?
She wins the game this time, and they agree to play again the following night.
“Does it mean something?”
“Not really,” he replies.
It’s a jokeone probably only funny if you’re a kid studying Latin.
Still, he tells her what it means: “Don’t let the bastards grind you down.”
He wants to know where she heard it, and she says it was from a friend.
The Commander pauses, then asks, “Did you know her somehow?”
Offred asks what happened to her, and he says that she died by suicide.
“I suppose she found her life unbearable,” he says.
And now he wants her life to be more bearable?
“I’d prefer it,” he responds.
Offred walks out the Waterfords' front door, getting to inhale fresh air and relish this small victory.
“‘Nolite te bastardes carborundorum,’ bitches,” she tells us.
You said it, sister.
