Handmaid’s Tale Recap: “Smart Power”

Season 2 / Episode 9, “Smart Power” /Hulu **spoilers in the shape of maple leaves and fallen star spangled banners** TW: emotional/verbal/physical/sexual abuse Handmaid’s Tale took me out this episode. Every episode is increasingly harder to endure… as it should be, I guess. But this one, y’all. I know I already gave the spoiler alert, but I don’t want to ruin it with my feels. I’mma just say that that this recap is going to have a few extra emotions sprinkled throughout. Be ready. Up, Up and Away

It is one thing to be held captive. It is another to re-imagine your captivity as something that it is not. That is the simplest form of Stockholm Syndrome. This episode opens with June/Offred re-imagining her position in the Waterford’s home. It is an AirBnB with pleasant yet creepy owners. She offers up various musings. They don’t last for long. She and Rita are summoned by Commander Waterford. Once downstairs, the women find out that he and Serena are leaving for a business trip to Canada. Not only that, he’s taking Nick with him and leaving some 20-year-old Eye in charge of “the baby.” The only person looking forward to this trip is Fred. He meets Serena in her greenhouse to convince her that her presence is important on the trip. Waterford wants his wife to put on a front and show the Canadians how the women of Gilead have a voice. He wants Serena to be the ideal strong Gilead woman and begins to quote Proverbs 31, blah…blah…blah, barf. The grey mold that’s reappeared in…