NOTE: This post contains spoilers for The Handmaid’s Tale season 5 episode 8, “Motherland.” Read our previous The Handmaid’s Tale season 5 episode 7 recap.
Getting Hannah (Jordana Black) back has informed June’s (Elisabeth Moss) choices throughout The Handmaid’s Tale, with viewers becoming accustomed to the flashbacks at the beach and aquarium. "Motherland" opens with June cooking and thinking back to a time when she was making pancakes with her daughter. So when Lawrence (Bradley Whitford) dangles an enticing proposition that could reunited her with Hannah, you can hardly blame June for considering it, even if it means a return to Gilead.
As we head toward the conclusion of the fifth and penultimate season, significant moves in this ongoing saga are taken. Some Canadian citizens have become tired of their country welcoming those fleeing the repressive Gilead regime and vocally making their dissatisfaction known. The parallels to the present-day are apparent and Bruce Miller’s adaptation emphasizes that life doesn’t become easy when someone escapes the land of handmaids, wives and commanders.
Lawrence wants to use this growing hostility to launch his New Bethlehem plan, which we see in all its glory. The commander compares the site he has chosen to photos from old books of the US; it certainly has East Coast vacation charm written all over. Well, aside from the fact this is still Gilead, with a grey sky that reflects the mood.
The scheme is to welcome back Gilead citizens who fled the country and to treat this place as part of Gilead but outside its rules (Lawrence uses Hong Kong as an example). There will be no handmaids or hangings, and they will be able to spend time with their family members who are still in Gilead. Yep, Lawrence is giving June a life with Hannah. It's easy to see why she is interested, even if Luke (O-T Fagbenle) cannot get on board. Luke doesn’t trust the "architect of Gilead" to do the right thing and bristles when June calls Lawrence her friend.
Last week pointed to some cracks in this relationship after Luke didn’t take a second to consider whether reporting Serena (Yvonne Strahovski) was the right thing. He doesn’t understand why June is empathetic toward the woman who tortured her; however, June lives in the grey area.
Serena thinks the fact that June saved her life means her former handmaid has forgiven her, but this isn’t the case either. Instead, June is looking at the broader picture and exploring her options, including contemplating Lawrence’s plan.
New Bethlehem hasn’t been conceived out of the goodness of Lawrence’s heart, as political strategizing is his motivation. In this case, he is trying to gain entry into the UN. Doing so will kill the idea of America off for good. When June confronts him about the impact of his choices, Lawrence admits he is also fueled by guilt. He claims he didn’t know the religious zealots would take it as far as they did; he was trying to save the world. If Lawrence had the choice again, "I would take it all back. I would let the whole f***ing human race just die out." It is all rather dramatic. While babies are being born in this world, it shows how this commander believes he can play God (even if he doesn’t believe in one).
Lawrence does the rounds this week and Whitford reminds us of how dynamic this character (and his performance) is, switching from asking Serena if she has an "irony deficiency" to dropping his sarcastic facade when talking to June. Serena is being held in a detention facility but has been told she can return to the Wheelers. She tells Lawrence she is unwilling to live life like a handmaid, to which he offers minimal sympathy.
When June sees Serena, she advises her former tormentor on how to live alongside a controlling couple. June tells her to act subservient while plotting revenge; the tables have turned. Serena is desperate to see Noah, so she sucks it up, apologizing to her "hosts." She even digs her nails into her palms, mirroring June’s handmaid trick. By doing so, she can breastfeed her baby.
It isn’t only June and Serena that Lawrence negotiates with, as he needs to get the other commanders on board. The very public and violent end to Commander Putnam’s life has done the trick, as the one naysayer quickly changes his tune. Meanwhile, Nick (Max Minghella) is still Lawrence’s righthand man, with Lawrence offering him a house in New Bethlehem so he can be with his wife, June, and his children. Nick is still hard to read, there's a whiff of skepticism that this will come to pass.
One person trying to stop Lawrence’s plans is Mark Tuello (Sam Jaeger), as New Bethlehem will effectively kill off the US. June is upfront and says seeing Hannah will determine her choice, but he hints that they have an ongoing operation. When pressed, he tells her they are planning a military strike, but this comes with no guarantees.
Everything changes when June receives a package containing a video of Hannah dressed in purple attending the wife-in-training school. They don’t know who sent it (my money is on Nick), but the metadata reveals the location and the episode ends with Tuello telling June they are going to raid the school.
Upon hearing this news, June runs down the street as The Cure’s "Just Like Heaven" plays, which is the most hopeful this series has been in a long time. But with two more episodes, there is a lot of time for Gilead to wrestle back control and June to have her spirit crushed. The story is moving forward and season 5 continues to take an unexpected route.
The Handmaid's Tale releases new episodes on Wednesdays on Hulu in the US. New episodes are on Sundays on Channel 4 in the UK.
