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The Handmaid’s Tale Recap: God’s Own Country


If ever a show could kill its main character in the penultimate episode — and in violation of the source material! — it’s this one.

“He trusts us,” June tells Serena in one of several scenes that moved me to tears this week, “to keep them safe and to raise them in a world that is filled with love.” In her hierarchy, love — not the protection that political power affords — is the meaningful precondition for safety, even in this hellish country. I guffawed when Gabriel tells June that she should have shown more patience for Serena’s reforms, as though her one-woman OSHA could meaningfully improve working conditions for women whose job includes enduring rape and kidnapping. Anyone who’s seen a television show will understand immediately that this is a suicide mission; it’s clear that Joseph isn’t going to survive “Execution” from the exquisite exchange in which he tells Naomi that he and Charlotte are on chapter nine.

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