I don’t know why I expected “Allegiance,” the penultimate episode of season seventy-five of The Handmaid’s Tale, to leave me with any feeling other than overwhelming despair, and yet I did. Perhaps it’s just my nature. Starting a new episode of this show, voting in a New York City mayoral election, signing up for a spin class — all things basically guaranteed to kick my ass in some fashion or other that I nevertheless continue to do with a blissfully unearned sense of hope and optimism. I will give myself a little credit in one respect: I have never, not even once, trusted Nick Blaine. Nick ceased to be interesting the moment he stopped being hot in season two. I cannot be expected to feel moved at every anguished good-bye between him and June, of which there are at least two every season.
All that aside, this is a good episode. I mean, I’m feeling extremely depressed, of course, but if depression were not a feeling I was actively seeking out at this point, there would be no reason to keep watching this show. Practiced viewers of The Handmaid’s Tale likely clocked that Tuello’s Hannah-rescue raid was doomed to fail the moment June shared a touching moment with one of the small-C commanders who tells her he has his own little girl in mind for this mission. He only wants to rescue the girls and get back to his daughter. Of course, he — and all the other soldiers on the raid — are apprehended by Gilead and killed before they reach the school. We’re shown a glimpse of Hannah, who has been renamed Agnes, writing her real name, so naturally this is the moment we learn the whole operation has gone to pot.
There’s no need to guess who in Gilead coordinated the ambush because capital-C Commander Lawrence immediately calls June to confirm that it was him. Lawrence really stepped into his villain suit this episode, in a way that totally recontextualized last week’s events for me. In “Allegiance,” Lawrence’s endgame feels murky as ever, but the way he handles his marriage proposal to Mrs. Putnam clarifies a lot about his day-to-day motivations. When he first suggests the marriage, he can barely get the words out, mumbling an offer for her and her young child to come live in his house with him. With Aunt Lydia beside him as a prop bulwark, Lawrence suggests to Mrs. Putnam (who was hoping for a small condo in Brookline!) that however distasteful they both find the idea, getting married is a solution to both of their problems. Gilead doesn’t like unmarried people — especially not mothers or commanders. Still, he reassures her, he won’t ever force her to do anything she doesn’t want to do. Until he does. When they’re surrounded by other wives and commanders, Lawrence places a proprietary hand on her shoulder, an unmistakable signal to everyone in the room, including Mrs. Putnam.
This is about the moment I realized that Lawrence does the exact same thing with June and Serena. First, he traps them in a bind from which there are only two ways out: They can either live under Gilead’s dominion with their children or live outside of Gilead without them. But this choice is also an illusion because, meanwhile, he’s been busy working behind the scenes to drive them to the exact position he wants them in — all while maintaining an outward attitude of empathetic helplessness. Thank God for small mercies because, for once, June isn’t buying what Lawrence is selling, especially not if he wants her to denounce the raid publicly and help frame Gilead, “an evil country,” as a victim of American aggression. June ends their unproductive phone call with a hearty “Go fuck yourself,” which Lawrence richly deserves.
Serena also manages to free herself from Lawrence’s machinations in this episode, however temporarily. Alanis Wheeler appears to truly relish torturing Serena and is on the verge of strapping her to a breast pump and locking her in the attic forever, so Serena makes a risky gambit. Alanis has forbidden Serena from going to the grand opening of the Gilead cultural center turned fertility center, so Serena goes over her head and asks Mr. Wheeler directly. Maybe if she asks really nicely, he’ll agree. And he does! Come on! Dude, are you serious? Remember like a month ago when she begged you to let her out and then she shot a guy?
Whatever. He says she can go, leading Alanis, the model of feminine grace and gentleness that she is, to slap Serena in the face. I guess her only worry is that Serena is trying to seduce her dumb, teenager-looking-ass hubs, so she declares she’s going to the center opening too. At said center opening, Serena gets only a few moments to bask in the warm glow of fawning admirers before Mrs. Wheeler decides to send her home “to rest.” Sure thing, boss! She’s just gotta feed Noah really quick, except — oops! She forgot to bring a bottle! Oh no, and so did the kindly nanny who then helpfully directs Serena to a quiet space at the other end of the building to nurse privately! Serena just wanted to hold her baby; who could have predicted she would immediately dash out of the emergency exit and make her escape by climbing into the first car that stops? I can only conclude the Wheelers are the dumbest evil couple we’ve yet encountered in this universe. Moving on.
After Tuello’s plan to raid Hannah’s Wife School goes bust, the best plan B he has to offer June is Nick. Nick “Under His Eye” Blaine has already refused to work with Tuello in exchange for freedom in Canada. But maybe, Tuello thinks, he’ll change his mind if June asks. He doesn’t. I want this to be the last we see of Nick, but I highly doubt it will be.
By the end of “Allegiance,” it’s beginning to feel as if all the forces in the universe are coming together to compel June back into Gilead — unless it was actually Lawrence who arranged the mass-shooting event, which I would not put past him. The episode’s final moments find June and other Americans at a vigil for the soldiers who died on the failed rescue raid, surrounded by anti-immigration protesters who learned their tactics from the Westboro Baptist Church. I thought the little girl reciting the Pledge of Allegiance was an oddly patriotic note to end on, until the gunshots started and I remembered what show I was watching.
It’s looking harder and harder for June, Luke, Moira, and Nichole to safely stay in Canada.
Other Gileadditions:
• I miss Janine. Can we get more Janine, please?
• I know this show has broken my brain because I was nearly positive that the woman who picked up Serena would turn out to be a Gilead sympathizer in disguise and drive her straight back to Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler.
• I’m not advocating Wife School or anything, but the little tent dormitory setup looks cool as hell.
• You cannot make me sympathize with Mrs. Putnam, show. I won’t do it. I won’t.
• Desperately curious about the mysterious genetic condition that may or may not affect Nick and Rose’s unborn baby.
