The Handmaid's Tale: Baggage

May 2, 2018 3:58 AM - Season 2, Episode 3

Offred reflects on her relationship with her mother as she navigates her way through Gilead. In Little America, Moira tries to cope with the trauma she endured.

Vulture's review: "The Handmaid’s Tale Recap: The Great Escape"

posted by Bibliogeek (15 comments total)

From the Vulture review:

The show’s machinations are sometimes so extreme that you may be shaking your head a little bit right now, as if to say “Really? You’re making the intellectual leap from Pence to the Red Center?” But ask yourself what it would take right now for you to flee the country, to leave behind your home, your life, and your family. A domestic terrorist attack, followed by martial law? The overturning of Roe v. Wade? A law requiring a husband’s signature for birth control? With the luxury of hindsight, we ask why June didn’t get her family out earlier – after the crackdowns, the birth control restrictions, the fall of the government. And in this episode, she is wondering the same thing.

This is a question that has been on my mind for a while, especially as I make steps to move back to the US.


On the other hand, whenever Cherry Jones is onscreen, I get a little warm glow in my chest, so this whole episode was an emotional rollercoaster.

(Also, when running through the woods, I was begging June to keep her econo-wife costume clean. Girl, those are the only clothes you have, if you miss your plane, you need to be able to blend in with crowds on the street and on trains! You can't escape attention if you look like you were dragged backwards through a hedge!)
posted by Bibliogeek at 4:06 AM on May 2, 2018 [4 favorites]

So a white woman demanded that a Black man endanger himself and his family to help her out. Okay then.
posted by elsietheeel at 10:55 AM on May 2, 2018 [4 favorites]

So a white woman demanded that a Black man endanger himself and his family to help her out. Okay then.

Yea; not just that, but after she gets to his home, she manages all of a few seconds of doing what his wife asks of her — stay in the kitchen, don't touch anything — before engaging with their kid, going into the living room, and playing with his toys ... then messing with everything else in their flat after they leave.

And if that couple did end up getting pinched on suspicion of harbouring the fugitive pregnant handmaid, she removed any uncertainty by leaving her discarded clothing behind. If you're already stealing from her wardrobe, nick a bag as well and take the evidence out of the house with you. Enough people have endangered themselves for your benefit, try not to leave an obvious trail of implication behind you.
posted by myotahapea at 3:23 PM on May 2, 2018 [15 favorites]

Desperate people in fear for their lives rarely think rationally.
posted by h00py at 6:12 PM on May 2, 2018 [2 favorites]

I actually chuckled a bit during this episodes because I felt the exposition laden flashbacks to her mom reminded me of the narrative structure of Orange Is The New Black. For a minute or two I though that maybe she'd have gotten free but then they'd find some way for her to be forced to come back. But nope, she should have stayed in the newspaper offices.
posted by Catblack at 6:34 PM on May 2, 2018

I forgive June's bad choices because I get she was desperate, but wow, did she make some bad choices. When she was alone in the apartment, I was just thinking "STOP MESSING WITH EVERYTHING!" And yeah, ditching her clothes was bad, too. I can't blame her for running, but there was nothing about her journey that felt smart. (I don't know what I would've done, though, honestly.)

I do think the end was kind of cheap. Of course she didn't get to escape! There's still some episodes left for this season (and it's been renewed for a third)!

Mostly, the stuff with her mom didn't quite work for me as much as I would've wanted it to. And I wanted to see a bit more of life in Canada.

I don't know if I'm loving this season as much as the last, but I do like now that we're away from the book, I don't know what's going to happen. The suspense is there. But I hope they have a story to tell.
posted by darksong at 8:02 PM on May 2, 2018 [1 favorite]

This episode stopped just short of having a stated moral, that being "Previous waves of feminism might seem bothersome and harsh sometimes but that doesn't mean that they are wrong.'
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:52 PM on May 2, 2018 [6 favorites]

I feel like the right decision would have been to tough it out at the warehouse with the signs until the underground figured out a new plan, but I get why that would be intensely scary and precarious.

I had trouble appreciating the flashbacks because of how tense I was from the main story line.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 9:26 AM on May 3, 2018 [1 favorite]

I feel like the right decision would have been to tough it out at the warehouse with the signs until the underground figured out a new plan

Exactly. The safe house wasn't safe anymore. The driver guy who also got on the plane was probably staying there, which is probably how they got caught at the airport.
posted by zsazsa at 11:53 AM on May 3, 2018

I was really pleased to see a mention of non-Christians, I'd like to see more about that. Which is why I am sad we didn't see June escape so we could get a more expanded view of Gilead that doesn't have to keep circling back to her. (This too is an issue on OITNB.)
posted by jeather at 6:42 PM on May 3, 2018 [3 favorites]

For a split second it seemed to me like she was going to lay the prayer rug out and starts Islamic prayers and 1) I dunno how she could read Arabic and 2) oh helllll no you're not about to play pretend with someone's hidden religious contraband. I was very glad that it turns out maybe she was just laying out the rug to check out the design. But still, I was screaming at her to stop doing shit and maybe go take a nap under the bed!

As the plane started up I had a suspicion that because that was too easy of an escape and it's only the third episode the plane would get gunned down or something and yep. It felt too convenient but I'm sure they'll divulge how the smuggling was discovered in the next episode.

Man, Moira, my heart aches for her. And using your fake name...

Was that the first time the girl Erin spoke since they got to Canada? That's a pretty great first line.
posted by numaner at 10:13 PM on May 3, 2018 [3 favorites]

I'd figured that the neighbor who was knocking on Omar's door had gotten wind that they were in trouble and was trying to warn them not to go to church.
posted by Karmakaze at 9:57 AM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]

When she was alone in the apartment, I was just thinking "STOP MESSING WITH EVERYTHING!"

The bloke and I kept yelling "Stay away from the window!!!" because she seemed so careless with it. Remember, June. if you can see them they can probably see you! We also thought that the family would be inadvertently given away by the little boy talking about the lady who visited that morning, but it somehow makes it worse that we don't actually know at all how that happened.

Moira is still carrying Gilead within her.
posted by andraste at 5:23 AM on May 5, 2018 [3 favorites]

I thought the family was done for as soon as Adam looked back up at the window not once but twice while walking past a guard. For the love of God, June, that thin curtain is not hiding you! Get out of the freaking window!
posted by Flannery Culp at 11:12 AM on May 5, 2018

I could swear I recognized that song when she was running through the woods but I can’t place it...
posted by LizBoBiz at 2:06 PM on May 9, 2018