Content Warning: The following article contains spoilers for the Hulu show The Handmaid’s Tale.For the duration of its five seasons so far, the dystopian drama The Handmaid’s Tale has presented a harrowing look at a disturbing dystopia in which women are forced to have children for the ruling class in an attempt to remedy the country’s, now-called Gilead, plummeting birth rate. The series premiered in 2017 and is based on the novel of the same name by Margaret Atwood. Season 6 will be The Handmaid’s Tale‘s last and is expected to air in 2025, three years after Season 5. Its sequel, The Testaments, is also in development for Hulu.
The Handmaid’s Tale has delivered a number of standout episodes detailing the harsh realities of life in Gilead, especially for June in particular. But for every critically acclaimed episode with top scores, there’s another that’s overlooked, despite being just as intense and emotional. Like the show’s best episodes, its most underrated ones provide an insightful look into its characters.
10 “Heroic”
Season 3, Episode 9
In “Heroic,” June’s (Elisabeth Moss) mental state became fragile as she was confined to and forced to kneel on the floor of the hospital room of her walking partner, Natalie (Ashleigh LaThrop), also known as Ofmatthew, who was brain-dead but was being kept alive to carry her pregnancy to term. June’s punishment was intended to last until the baby was born and had already been underway for a month at the start of the episode. After an encounter with Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski), June reconsidered her actions.
So much of what Gilead put people through amounted to psychological torture, such as June’s confinement in “Heroic.” Star Elisabeth Moss has consistently delivered fantastic performances on The Handmaid’s Tale, and this was a great example as June unraveled. It was also a crucial episode for June’s character. But despite its emotional punch, it’s among the lowest-rated episodes of the series on IMDb, possibly in part because of fan backlash to the deaths of two women of color.
9 “The Word”
Season 2, Episode 13
After Eden’s (played by Sydney Sweeney) death, June went through her things in Season 2 finale “The Word” and found a Bible with notes written in the margins, indicating Eden knew how to read and write – despite Gilead’s laws against women doing so. The incident motivated Serena and the other wives to attempt to enact change. Meanwhile, Emily (Alexis Bledel) got to know her new Commander, who turned out not to be as cruel as his peers.
“The Word” was a reminder of what the women of Gilead had lost – all women, not just the handmaids. It was also a compelling episode about a mother’s love and willingness to do anything for her child – when in the midst of an escape, June trusted others with baby Nichole and opted to stay behind to find and free her other daughter, Hannah, while Serena came to terms with what life in Gilead would be like for Nichole and willingly surrendered her.
8 “A Woman’s Place”
Season 1, Episode 6
The ambassador to Mexico visited Gilead in “A Woman’s Place,” and Commander Waterford (Joseph Fiennes) hoped to arrange a trade agreement between the two countries. During the visit, the ambassador questioned the handmaids. Meanwhile, through flashbacks, the episode revealed the role Serena played in the creation of Gilead and showed a very different version of her – she was an outspoken activist and writer, far from the submissive housewife she became in Gilead.
“A Woman’s Place” is an essential episode of The Handmaid’s Tale – it showed how other countries viewed Gilead and the lengths those in power would go to put forth Gilead’s best image, proving they were aware of how cruel they truly were. And for the first time in the series, it focused on a character other than June, with a glimpse of Serena’s previous life. The insight into her character made the episode a must-watch.
7 “Home”
Season 4, Episode 7
In “Home,” June finally made it to Canada, where Luke (O. T. Fagbenle) and Moira (Samira Wiley) were living and raising Nichole, and officially sought asylum for her safety, and she began to adjust to her new life and experienced a number of conflicting feelings about the change. She was reunited with Luke, and after some initial awkwardness, he apologized for failing to get her and Hannah out while June expressed her guilt over Hannah not being with her. Later, June confronted Serena.
After watching June come so close to escaping Gilead so many times, it was great to see her finally succeed – and confront Serena on top of it. “Home” helped illustrate how vastly different life was in Gilead compared to outside of it, as well as the impact it had on June and Luke both individually and as a couple. The emotional moments between the two were among the episode’s best and helped to make it a compelling episode overall.
6 “Faithful”
Season 1, Episode 5
Serena suspected Fred was infertile in “Faithful” and came up with a plan for Nick (Max Minghella) to sleep with June in the hopes of getting June pregnant. Meanwhile, June and Fred spent more and more time together in his office, mostly playing Scrabble, and June was inspired by Emily’s act of rebellion. In addition, flashbacks showed the start of June’s relationship with Luke – he was married to another woman when they first met.
“Faithful” was the start of June’s relationship with Nick, which would ultimately have a huge impact on the series moving forward, and also showed a softer, more humane side to Fred. While the series largely focuses on June, it occasionally offers a look at the lives of other handmaids, among the most interesting of whom was Emily, who had some great moments in this episode, her violent rebellion especially.
5 “Holly”
Season 2, Episode 11
In “Holly,” after a brief meeting with Hannah arranged by Fred, June was left alone in an abandoned house – although she had been accompanied by Nick, he was shot and taken away by guards, leaving June on her own, heavily pregnant, with apparently no one coming to retrieve her. After spending some time searching the house, she eventually went into labor and gave birth to a daughter she named Holly.
“Holly” was a compelling episode that juxtaposed the births of June’s two daughters, Hannah and Holly – named after June’s mother and later renamed Nichole by Serena – showing the vastly different circumstances under which they entered the world. And because childbirth in Gilead included a ceremony for the wives, it was great for June that Serena was robbed of that experience. Moss delivered one of her best performances of the series in the episode.
4 “The Crossing”
Season 4, Episode 3
After being captured by Gilead, in “The Crossing,” June was taken to and interrogated about the whereabouts of escaped handmaids by a furious Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd). Meanwhile, Nick and Lawrence (Bradley Whitford) worked together to do as much as possible to help June. In the episode’s final moments, the handmaids headed towards escape across train tracks, only for some of them to be hit and killed by an oncoming train. The episode was also notable for being Moss’ directorial debut.
Aunt Lydia is one of the most cruel characters on the show, if not the most cruel – but Dowd is fantastic in the role, and “The Crossing” presented Dowd at her best and Lydia at her worst, or close to it, from the execution of other handmaids to the use of Hannah to get June to cooperate. And after all the trauma Janine had endured, it was difficult to watch her in the aftermath of the handmaids’ deaths.
3 “Late”
Season 1, Episode 3
In “Late,” June visited Janine’s (Madeline Brewer) baby. Meanwhile, Emily was arrested and faced the horrific punishment of genital mutilation for having an affair with Martha, who was executed. Elsewhere, June met the new Ofglen, who acted like Emily never existed. June’s flashbacks showed the early days of the revolution which led to the creation of Gilead, which included women being denied service at businesses because of the way they dressed – in Moira and June’s case, workout clothes.
“Late,” Emily’s storyline in particular, is among the most disturbing episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale and can be difficult to watch, but that’s also what makes it so compelling. The episode depicted not just an unthinkable punishment but the bizarre way in which handmaid – especially more compliant ones – were stripped of their identities and downplayed some of Gilead’s most egregious crimes. But some of the episode’s best scenes were the flashbacks, which showed how changes in what became Gilead started out small.
2 “Household”
Season 3, Episode 6
In “Household,” June traveled to D.C. with Serena and Fred to participate in a public prayer ceremony, with the goal of pressuring the Canadian government to return baby Nichole to Gilead. While there, they stayed in the large, beautiful home of the powerful Winslow family, a large family with six children – most presumably kidnapped from their real parents – headed by Commander George (Christopher Meloni), who was implied to be gay, yet another crime in Gilead.
The Handmaid’s Tale was almost exclusively focused on a specific location, but in “Household,” the show offered a look at how other parts of Gilead functioned, specifically D.C. – and somehow, it was even worse than what had been shown previously. It was jarring to see the way the government of Gilead had completely taken over the city, from the transformation of the Washington Monument into a cross to the far more disturbing handmaids with their mouths sewn shut.
1 “Vows”
Season 4, Episode 6
After June emerged from the rubble of a Gilead-sponsored air strike on Chicago, she was almost immediately reunited with Moira in “Vows,” who was serving as an aid worker and presented a chance for June’s freedom. As a result, June made it to Canada and was also reunited with Luke – and she was worried that he would never forgive her for not being able to get Hannah out of Gilead, as well.
“Vows” was a turning point for The Handmaid’s Tale. Moira’s return was a very welcome one – she’s a great character and great to watch, no matter what she’s doing. Her reunion with June was understandably emotional, and the episode presented a touching focus on their friendship, which somehow managed to stand the test of America’s descent into Gilead and the horrors it caused them. But one of its best and most emotional moments was June’s tearful statement to Luke that Hannah wasn’t with her.
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