Let’s break down the biggest moments.
Later, Fred tries to get June to help him win Serena back.
Fred is more than receptive.
Credit: Elly Dassas/Hulu
“The commander wants to reconcile,” June tells Serena.
“I made a suggestion: more freedom.
As Mrs. Waterford, you have influence, access, power.”
She concludes, “Wear the dress.
Pull the strings.”
As ever, this being a conversation between June and Serena, things end vague and a little unsettling.
But Serena definitely “moves the point,” as June suggests, near the episode’s end.
She tells her the school Hannah likely attendsand that she’ll likely be playing outside there around lunch.
It’s Serena’s most selflessly transgressive moment in the show to date.
Emily is still reeling from her trauma.
“Who cares?”
She then reveals Oliver is on his way home; Emily asks, heartbreakingly, if he remembers her.
(“That’s you fighting to get back home,” Sylvia tells her.)
With a quiet joy, she says, “He’s so big.”
He reads it for her.
Almost possessed by the sight of her, Janine glides toward Naomi and Angela, beaming.
She asks if she can hold her, ignoring June’s attempts to stop her.
June looks on, terrified; Lydia considers intervening before June discovers her.
Then, she says she could deliver a brother or sisterasking, effectively, to return as their handmaid.
Shouting transpires, but Lydia completely breaks down.
(This was after Lydia expressed regret for doing the same for Emily.)
But now, Lydia turns viciousfeeling another sense of betrayal.
She beats Janine with her stick, brutally and repeatedly, knocking her to the ground.
Everyone watches in shock; Angela cries in horror.
Finally, June intervenes, tackling them and leaving the room for Janine to be escorted away.
But the damage is done.
Lydia apologizes profusely, tries to say more but can’t, and walks out slowly.
She breaks down in tears when sitting alone in another room.
The climactic video
“God Bless the Child” ends on a terrifyingly foreboding note.
June appears and they motion for her to come over and watch.
In the clip, Luke is holding Baby Nicholewhom a tearful Serena recognizes intimately.
They ask June if they recognize the man.
They ask if it’s Luke.
And she leaves the room while Serenaturned back to Fred’s side, perhaps watches the clip over again.
