Critic’s Score: 3.85 / 5.0
3.85
It by no means provides me the nice and cozy fuzzies when an episode is called after a particular character, particularly when that character lives in a spot like Gilead. And “Janine” is among the most beloved, tragic figures in The Handmaid’s Story universe. That title alone units off alarm bells.
At first, the reference appeared prefer it may simply tie into her position within the impending Commander assault at Jezebel’s.
However because the hour unfolded, it turned clear: Janine wasn’t the main target — she was the catalyst. Her identify set every part in movement, pulling truths to the floor that Gilead desperately desires to maintain hidden.
A Goodbye, a Supply Truck, and a Entice
June and Moira would by no means have stepped foot inside Jezebel’s once more if not for Janine. That’s the underside line.
However that determined goodbye between June and Luke, scored to Pleasure Division’s “Ambiance” as she loaded herself right into a supply truck like cargo — that second already hinted that one thing larger was at play.
Right here’s the factor: June Osborne’s face is among the most recognizable on the planet, particularly to the monsters who created Gilead. She’s both their best enemy or their inconvenient icon.
Her option to stroll into Jezebel’s, all to guard Janine from the indignities of Commander Bell, is as reckless as it’s deeply human.
Janine Is Singing, However It’s Not a Tune of Pleasure
After they arrive, June and Moira see the degradation nearly instantly. The younger ladies look worn and damaged. However Janine? She’s singing “What’s Going On” like she’s making an attempt to guard her personal sanity.
It’s a facade that cracks the second she sees June and Moira — her actual buddies. The layers of survival peel off her face immediately.
What follows is a grotesque show: Bell forces June to scrub the ground in entrance of him, dragging her hand up his thigh. It’s humiliating. However it places her in Joseph’s line of sight — and even he appears confused by what he’s seeing.
Joseph Learns What He’s Actually Enabling
Joseph Lawrence has lengthy lived within the grey areas. However as Janine factors out, simply because he’s higher than the opposite Commanders doesn’t imply he’s a very good man.
He surprises even himself when he pulls Janine out of the room and stands as much as Bell — if solely briefly. However it’s not braveness. It’s discomfort. The sort that creeps in once you lastly notice you’ve been complicit.
Janine lays it out plainly by opening a small gap within the wall: New Bethlehem is a lure. It’s a honey pot to lure trusting individuals again into the nightmare of Gilead.
They reel them in with guarantees of freedom and household, then lock the doorways behind them. Joseph hears it for what it’s, and it visibly shakes him.
However Janine’s not fooled — and she or he doesn’t let him off the hook.
Sisterhood in Ache, and the Wounds That Don’t Heal
Janine gained’t go away her buddies behind. That loyalty opens a uncooked wound between June and Moira, who’ve by no means actually reckoned with how totally different their Gilead experiences had been.
Moira’s eruption is a very long time coming. June, making an attempt to lighten the second with darkish humor, jokes in regards to the frequency of their rapes — as if there’s any comparability to be made between “each evening” and “as soon as a month.”
That’s the absurdity of this world. That’s how damaged it’s made them.
However even in ache, there’s love. Moira admits she’s hated June at occasions, however she’s all the time beloved her.
Gilead could have tried to show ladies in opposition to one another, however it additionally created a sisterhood cast in hearth — one the boys won’t ever perceive.
New Bethlehem Is on Excessive Alert
Elsewhere, Commander Wharton will not be happy with Nick’s model of occasions.
The assault on two guardians occurred on Nick’s watch, and Wharton desires solutions. The stress escalates when Wharton reveals one of many guardians has survived — and made “exceptional progress.”
When Nick visits the hospital, the surviving guardian, Toby, seems to not acknowledge him.
Nick practically walks away — however mercy is a luxurious nobody in Gilead can afford. It’s a mistake he gained’t make once more.
Serena Pleasure Loses All Progress in Her Humanity Journey
In yet one more flip of Gilead’s toxic wheel, Aunt Lydia confronts Serena Pleasure in regards to the circumstances of the Handmaids. Serena responds with the worst type of privilege, dismissing every part Lydia says in favor of a brand new fertility plan.
Her suggestion? Transfer the Handmaids into New Bethlehem’s fertility heart and allow them to “retire” there — attendants in identify, prisoners in observe. Lydia, all the time in search of leverage, instantly finds the thought compelling.
However it’s not misplaced on her how influential Gabriel is turning into, nor how Serena makes use of that energy to her benefit.
Gabriel himself is a wild card. Is he honest in his need for reform, or is all of it for present? Does elevating Noah soften him — or just give him one other instrument to govern others? Is he really making an attempt to rewrite Gilead from inside, or is that this only a new taste of the identical oppression?
Regardless of the reply, Serena says sure when he proposes marriage. Due to course she does.
A Mission Turned Meltdown
Moira and June didn’t simply go into Jezebel’s for a rescue — they went with a mission. However after being attacked, after watching every part unravel, survival turns into the mission.
That struggle scene — messy, uncooked, terrifying — is a reminder of the emotional maintain this present nonetheless has. My coronary heart was racing. I used to be scared. Not for his or her lives, however for what they had been turning into. For what I was turning into watching it.
After which Luke is struck. The plan falls aside. However Joseph emerges at simply the suitable second. June reveals herself, asks for his assist — and he delivers. They climb into his trunk, and the credit roll.
The Sanest Particular person Left Standing
If Joseph actually heard Janine’s warning — if he actually understands what Gilead has develop into — then serving to June escape once more could be the beginning of one thing actual, one thing redemptive.
As a result of in a world that twists love into servitude and loyalty into bait, possibly the one sane individuals left are those who nonetheless imagine they’ll get out — those who nonetheless struggle.
And possibly Janine — with all her trauma, resilience, and righteous readability — is the one one who sees everybody for who they are surely.
You made it to the tip — and meaning rather a lot.
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