The Handmaid's Tale: Vows

May 19, 2021 2:40 PM - Season 4, Episode 6

After a shocking reunion with a dear friend, June contemplates the possibility of freedom, and confronts the unfulfilled promises she's made to herself and to Luke.
posted by roolya_boolya (18 comments total)

That was devastatingly brilliant.

June is home, June is safe. But she doesn't have Hannah. And that fact that she managed to Nicole out, but not Hannah is going weigh on everything, change everything. It'll probably tear Luke and June apart. But they haven't been together in so long, it doesn't matter. They're vastly different people now and their daughter is still captive.

There's no doubt that Janine is still alive. The fact that June left her behind will no doubt play into a later emotional arc.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:33 PM on May 19, 2021 [1 favorite]

Thought it was interesting that the title card appeared at the end of the episode. Maybe signaling a transition to the planned new series which will adapt The Testaments? I really hope Janine is alive and I'd love to see her in the sequel along with Lydia and Hannah.
posted by longdaysjourney at 9:04 PM on May 19, 2021

That episode was WAY too short.

Can someone remind me when we found out that Luke had cheated on a previous wife because (?) she'd been unable to conceive?
posted by torticat at 9:17 PM on May 19, 2021

Vulture's reviewer scoffs at the disagreement among the Canadian crew about what to do with June, criticizing the ones willing to turn her over for execution seemingly without feeling even a little ambivalent, and pointing out:
June isn’t some common handmaid — she’s an international symbol — so while Gilead’s blows will be all the heavier when she turns up in Canada, her escape will also provide the Americans in exile with the spokeswoman and mascot they need.

Which is a good point. But also, and alternatively--why would anyone have to know that June had escaped to Canada? Could she not live there incognito, at least for the time being? The Canadian government couldn't help out with some kind of witness/refugee protection program? That whole dilemma felt a bit manufactured to me.
posted by torticat at 9:37 PM on May 19, 2021 [1 favorite]

Can someone remind me when we found out that Luke had cheated on a previous wife

Nevermind, I found it. Episode 2.4, for anyone else curious.
posted by torticat at 9:51 PM on May 19, 2021 [1 favorite]

I want to say first that I did like the episode. I absolutely loved the scenes between Moira and June, even the flashbacks (and man, June has been petty since before all this shit went down!).

I am happy though that June is finally going to Canada. Her plot armor was getting tiring and seeing her somewhere she won't have to magically survive all the time is going to be good for the show. I hope Janine is alive and becomes the badass she can be and somehow becomes Mayday.

That whole dilemma felt a bit manufactured to me.

Agreed. Also that the NGO would dissolve because of it. Like they (including the Canadian and American governments) could just not tell anyone how she got over. How are they going to know it was the NGO?

Also, super poor fucking security at Gilead if they didn't know that there was AN EXTRA PERSON ON THE SHIP. For that to work, the show is asking me to believe that Gilead didn't inspect the ship on the way in or that they did but didn't at least count the number of people on board? Quite manufactured drama there.

Can someone remind me when we found out that Luke had cheated on a previous wife because (?) she'd been unable to conceive?

Nevermind, I found it. Episode 2.4, for anyone else curious.

Was the reasoning because she couldn't conceive?
posted by LizBoBiz at 1:21 AM on May 20, 2021 [4 favorites]

This was a good episode, but I agree the Gilead security was piss-poor, particularly as they were asking for people's names which you'd have thought they might be checking off against a list. But I'm glad June didn't stay in Gilead, as there are only so many ways she can survive/try to find Hannah and I think we've pretty much run the gamut of those - for now.

I'm looking forward to what I hope will be future scenes between June, Serena and Fred, and I hope June is able to become Nicole's mother again too.
posted by essexjan at 1:46 AM on May 20, 2021

Does Luke know who Nicole’s father is? I assume he knows june is her mother.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:26 AM on May 20, 2021

Does Luke know who Nicole’s father is? I assume he knows june is her mother.

Well, that's kind of a sticky wicket now, since we know Fred is capable of fathering a child. It had seemed a given that it was Nick, but now it might be Fred, and that could cause some custody issues. (June told Luke that Nichole was "conceived in love" so I assume that he would understand that she didn't think it was Fred, but I don't think she ever named Nick specifically.)
posted by dlugoczaj at 7:52 AM on May 20, 2021 [1 favorite]

Also that the NGO would dissolve because of it. Like they (including the Canadian and American governments) could just not tell anyone how she got over. How are they going to know it was the NGO?

Their concern was that hiding her or trying to pass her off as crew was going to fail at the checkpoint, exposing them immediately. It wasn't "should June be allowed into Canada", it was "can we afford to be caught harboring this high-profile fugitive in the middle of a humanitarian mission." The debate was largely about whether they thought they could pull it off.

I wondered how they just happened to have a valid id without a matching person on the ship. Do they just keep spare fake IDs lying around? Do they have a printer/laminator on board? Did someone in the NGO mission miss the boat? (I guess that last would also explain the border patrol not noticing a miscount.)
posted by Karmakaze at 9:16 AM on May 20, 2021

>Was the reasoning because she couldn't conceive?

I don't think that is made explicit. As June said in last night's episode, Luke and Annie had been fighting a lot. And there is a scene in which June worries to Luke that she might not be able to make him happy, and she comments that she knows he wants children. He reassures her that he wants HER, and that everything will be okay.

That scene actually kind of parallels the same emotions played out in the most recent ep.

Although--actually Luke's reaction when he saw her on the ship looked to me to be emotional but ambivalent, so who knows how that will play out. I mean he comforted her, but it was more "it's okay, you're okay" and less "I love you and have waited for you and am so glad to have you back, regardless of anything else."
posted by torticat at 9:49 AM on May 20, 2021 [1 favorite]

>The debate was largely about whether they thought they could pull it off.

Good point, although it was after they had already pulled it off that Oona told Moira, "There isn't going to be an office after this." It was a bit confusing, and contrived. I think it was contrived for the dramatic purpose of demonstrating what Moira would sacrifice for June's sake--the mission, her relationship with Oona. Will be interesting to see if they run with that story line (the breakdown of relations between Gilead and Canada), or leave that whole thing behind and just figure out a way to hide June until she (inevitably) makes her way back to Gilead and the point is moot.
posted by torticat at 10:05 AM on May 20, 2021

Good point, although it was after they had already pulled it off that Oona told Moira, "There isn't going to be an office after this." It was a bit confusing, and contrived.

Oona could have meant there isn't going to be an office for you after this Moira.
posted by roolya_boolya at 1:29 PM on May 20, 2021 [4 favorites]

June told Luke that Nichole was "conceived in love" so I assume that he would understand that she didn't think it was Fred, but I don't think she ever named Nick specifically.

Wasn't there a tape recording where she said this? Which could become relevant in Serena's trial if it still exists. And didn't Nick and Luke meet in Toronto at one point?
posted by roolya_boolya at 1:30 PM on May 20, 2021 [1 favorite]

I do agree that border patrol count stuff was ... sloppy? (Also, I know they didn't have a lot of time and she was probably concussed but couldn't they have given June some kind of quick cover story?)

I believe Janine isn't dead. At least, she better not be dead.

I think this episode shows that this show works the best when it's about these particular characters. Yes, they're struggling against a bigger system, but it's about them as people. I do feel like there's been way too much of the past couple of seasons where we forgot who June actually was (especially when the show just made her into who she needed to be for that particular moment). This reminded me this is a woman who had friends and a husband and a daughter. She's fighting for those things. She's fighting for those things for everyone.

I'm still finding this show kind of exhausting, though, but I hope this is a turn to something else. But also, I've watched this show so ... yeah.
posted by edencosmic at 6:51 PM on May 20, 2021

I believe Janine isn't dead. At least, she better not be dead.

I'm really hoping that Janine and Aunt Lydia have a final scene together. Ideally, I'd like for Janine to be the one to kill her or flip her.

Yes, she recorded a tape and had it smuggled out of Gilead.

Next question, does June know that Nick met Luke and passed him the diaries? I can't remember if they ever talked about that.

I am dying for a reunion between June and Serena, especially if June has the power to prevent Serena from mothering the baby she's carrying. I also want June and Rita to reunite too. And Emily!
posted by gladly at 10:35 AM on May 21, 2021 [1 favorite]

My wife thinks the show jumped the shark when June was waterboarded and didn't give up the other handmaidens. I've been having issues with every scene with Nick this season. I can't believe his whole motivation towards June at all -- it sort of weakens the entire society that he's been promoted into. Plus a lot of the last few episodes, the stuff with the council and Aunt Lydia providing blackmail was just sort of quickly sketched out, and that felt unbelievable to me.

I'm looking forward to the rest of it, but it kinda feels like they've cheated a bit to get us to this point.
posted by Catblack at 1:51 PM on May 23, 2021 [2 favorites]

I'm really hoping that Janine and Aunt Lydia have a final scene together. Ideally, I'd like for Janine to be the one to kill her or flip her.

I say this every time the show hints at a redemption arc, but if there's one person, one seemingly-true believer, whose redemption arc would make my eyes roll fully out of my head...
posted by supercres at 1:06 PM on May 24, 2021