The Handmaid’s Tale Recap: Baggage

Season 2/Episode 3, Baggage /Hulu **If you haven’t tuned in walk away… ain’t nothing but spoilers here. Blessed be the fruit.** TW: torture, verbal/physical/sexual abuse We wrapped up the second episode of The Handmaid’s Tale learning about many of the rituals in Gilead. We saw flashbacks of Emily (Alexis Bledel) as a professor during crimes committed against LGBGQIA+ folks. Then switched to present-day Emily in a wasteland of unwomen decomposing by the second and ruthlessly merking an ex-Martha. Hulu gave us June (Elizabeth Moss) being shipped from place to place until she inevitably landed at the abandoned Boston Globe. Nick, an Eye/secret officer of Gilead and the man forced to impregnate her, is the reason for June’s escape. He gives her no sign of a plan, no end to the beginning of this journey. June’s Workout Plan Episode 3 opens with June putting in that work around the Globe. The first two minutes in look like a Gilead Refugee Crossfit ad or a Nike Women’s ad. She’s been there for two months, stamina building and constructing an altar to those who fell victim to slaughter for informing the world of Gilead’s coming.

June has also been rifling through the newspapers, taking notes, and building a wall of evidence. She is listening to audio accounts of the former reporters. As she tapes articles to a wall with sticky note headings, we hear her say “You were there all the time, but no one noticed you.” The coming of a new age is never over night, and June seems to final…