Spoiler Warning: The Handmaid’s Tale Season 5
The Handmaid’s Taleveered in a maddeningly unforeseen direction in its previousepisode, “Together.”Fans who wanted to see blood were only left with a loud, collective “WHAT?!” We came into season five convinced that either Serena Joy or June wouldn’t see a season six (likely the former). The image of Serena’s last-second decision to spare June’s life and the two of them speeding away down a dirt road was on no one’s radar, though the general plot of episode 7, “No Man’s Land,” is fairly predictable.
The cliffhanger twist made for a pretty solid new episode as Serena Joy is forced to depend on June for her survival and that of her unborn child. The surprise 180, in their relationship, mostly from turned tables, made for some fascinating character studies as “No Man’s Land” is essentially the two of them in a car and then a barn. The bland and unchanging surroundings make it all about these two women and who they are and can become as people in the face of their own personal histories with each other. Here’s abreakdown of “No Man’s Land.”
The episode opens exactly where the previous one left off, with June flying down a backwoods road in a stolen car at gunpoint. June jacks on the brakes when the gun goes off and stomps out of the car, leaving Serena Joy to promptly run the vehicle into a ditch. June snatches the gun away from her and learns that Serena has just gone into labor. The two seek refuge in a nearby abandoned barn, with June quipping, “Maybe it’ll have a manger.”
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We then shift to a flashback scene to Gilead’s horrifying birth ritual, to which June,then Offred, is forced to bear witness with Serena Joy present. The handmaid chorus of “BREATHE BREATHE BREATHE…PUSH PUSH PUSH” and the midwife creepily mimicking the painful cries of Ofclarence gives us a chilling reminder of what June lived for three seasons and escaped in the fourth. The spectacle forces a smirk out of Offred, with Serena Joy commiserating from across the room.
Back in the barn, June is coaching Serena through her own childbirth, recalling the difficulties of her own two times through labor with Hannah and Nichole. June seems to enjoy and relish in the reality and pain that Serena is finally meeting, what it really means to bring a child into the world as opposed to using it for state propaganda. A delusional Serena shoves away June, accusing her of trying to kill her and her child.
June throws up her hands, storms out, and cleverly backs out of the ditch using a floor mat and a large stick. After pushing out a hole through the damaged windshield, June bleeds from her hands, stares at them momentarily, and decides to go back. It’s a loud metaphor but is effective enough to move the story along.
Serena Gives Birth
June returns to the barn and literally talks Serena through it forehead to forehead. When the baby finally comes, June holds him. She gives some terrifying eyes to Serena for a moment before handing him over, showcasing Elisabeth Moss’ talent for conveying a world of emotion through the most subtle expression.
We get another flashback to the childbirth of Ofclarence, where the child’s life is prioritized over the mother’s, leaving the latter dead. As the baby is coddled by the gaggle of Wives,Serena and Junehave another moment of shared humanity through the glass door before June walks off with the rest of the handmaids.
The baby boy is named Noah by Serena, “the savior of humanity,” showing that Serena still retains the arrogance of Gilead despite being in exile from it. “Was it worth it?” asks June of the coup that created the theocratic hellscape. “Right now, I think it was,” replies Serena. Serena asks June why she didn’t kill her back at the information center, to which June replies, “I didn’t want to.”
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June is urging Serena to go to a hospital, which Serena resists, insisting that the Wheelers will find her and kill her. “It’s likeI’mtheir handmaid,” says Serena. Fearing she has no future anywhere, Serena implores June to take and raise her baby with Luke, saying god sent June as an angel. All of June’s small moments of human decency culminate in her saying, “I’m going to save yours (life) because this isn’t Gilead. And I am not you." June gently adds, “Do you understand me?” a call back to the times each woman viciously screamed the line in the other’s face.
Saving Serena
June and Serena arrive at a hospital, where the latter and her baby are immediately whisked away to be treated. June uses the opportunity to call home to check in on her own family, having just saved someone else’s. Later on, June sits with Serena, who takes her hand and thanks her. This jaw-dropping moment is overshadowed by the arrival of Luke and several customs agents who detain Serena. He informs June that the USB drive containing information on Hannah survived along with him.
The episode ends with agents informing Serena that Noah will go into child protection, leaving the new mother in hysterics, begging June for help. “At last, she knows what it feels like,” says Luke. It’s a pretty cold ending, considering the thawed relationship between June and Serena Joy. ButLuke’s final wordsof the episode also ring true. After all, Serena helped create the world that ripped their own child away from them. How can all of that be forgiven so easily?
The Handmaid’s Talehas been on a cliffhanger bender, adding a light one into “No Man’s Land” as we wonder what will happen to Serena and her child. The looming showdown between her and June might have been averted, but not the inevitable clash with Gilead.
