Aunt Lydia Checks In - The Handmaid's Tale
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Recap

Offred takes the letters out from under the bathtub and burns them all. She has a serene look on her face. Nick finds her doing it. She's full on Offred and Nick doesn't recognized the womann he came to know well while she was on the run. June is gone.

When Aunt Lydia comes to check on Offred, the handmaid doesn't even speak on her own behalf about her bowl movements. Aunt Lydia says she smells a bit musty.

Aunt Lydia seems concerned about Offred. She's not pleased with the environment.

Aunt Lydia speaks sternly to Serena Joy and runs into Mr. Waterford on her way out. The conversation is odd.

In the colonies, coughing women are forced to sing Morning has Broken. Nothing like a little Simon and Garfunkle to calm the nerves before the roll the dead bodies out for the day.

Emily and Janine are together now. Janine tells Emily God holds her in the palm of her hand and Emily wonders why he's not holding her in the palm of his hand in Bora Bora. Janine spots two women kissing.

They're off to the gaseous hills. Just hearing them cough is making me cough.

Offred is on the toilet. She is bleeding. Martha appears, but Offred doesn't say anything about the blood in the toilet. Is June that good of an actress?

Serena Joy and Offred head to the park. Mrs. Scott is there complaining about her baby as usual. Serena Joy tries to make normal conversation with Offred but gets annoyed when there is no conversation. It's nothing but yes Mrs. Waterford, no Mrs. Waterford.

When they get back to the house, Nick asks Mrs. Waterford about Offred's mental state, suggesting Serena Joy take her to see a different kind of doctor.

Serena Joy tries to make conversation at breakfast with the Commander. She has nobody to talk with because she has nobody in her life.

The Commander wants to promote Nick.

Offred sits in the bathtub filled with blood and puts toilet paper into her panties. She drinks her green drink and begins to falter when she stands up. Martha asks if she's OK. She's fine, thank you.

On this walk, they end up at some sort of ceremony with a name nobody can prossibly remember in which they honor their most valuable guardians. Nick is one of them.

Serena Joy looks back and tells Offred he looks handsome. As brides are brought before them, June begins to cry. She's not Offred at all. She's just been acting better than anyone should have been able to act.

Under the veils are what appear to be pre-teen girls.

June finally gets some sort of weird smile on her face as if she's high. The sound stops and she begins clapping with all the others.

She's staring outward again retreating into Offred.

Kit looks positively skeletal as she collapses on the dirt.

Back at the Waterfords, Nick is reading passages from the bible or something in front of the Waterfords with his new wife at his side.

Miss Spencer, Eden, is his wife. She's a part of their home now. Martha and the handmaid are standing there, too. Husbands and wives only, now. Offred is sent to her room.

Martha tries to talk to Offred, but she walks right on by as if nothing has happened.

Offred is starting to feel the pressure of losing the baby. Her underwear is soaked clean through with blood. It's rather symbolic that her life with Nick was destroyed on the same day the remnants of her life with Nick was destroyed.

Offred goes to the window to sit.

Emily cleans up in the colonies.

Her teeth are starting to fall out. It's a nighmare so many of us have suffered so many times, but it's her life.

Emily is angry at Janine for trying to make their miserable life a little bit brighter.

Serena Joy is trying to give the young girl sex tips to make her life better so she can enjoy laying with her husband.

Mr. Waterford tries to tell Nick his life is going to be great now. He's movin' on up in Gilead. Yay Nick.

Before going to his apartment, Nick looks up at Offred's window. It's open. Offred is outside on the ground. He runs to her, lying lifeless in the rain below the window. He screams for help.

The Funeral for Kit is over. Except it's a wedding. Damn. I'm confused.

The cemetery looks like Arlington without headstones.

Offred is waking up in the hospital.

Serena Joy is at the bottom of the bed, waiting for her and thanks God. Amazingly, the child is still alive inside her.

 

Show:
The Handmaid's Tale
Season:
Episode Number:
5
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The Handmaid's Tale Season 2 Episode 5 Quotes

Aunt Lydia: I'm pleased that everything is going so well with the baby.
Serena Joy: As our doctor would happily tell you.
Aunt Lydia: Have I let myself become a bother? There's so much more to a successful preganancy than can be measured in a doctor's office. The ventilation in a handmaid's room. The firmness of the bed. The mood in the household. Her attitude seems much improved.
Serena Joy: It's everything a wife could ask for. She's quite unlike herself.
Aunt Lydia: Mrs. Waterford, no small effort has been made to bring Offred to heel. Your baby needs to know it's a godly, harmonious environment.
Serena Joy: Of course. Praise be his miracle.

Janine: Are you going to help Kit?
Emily: She doesn't want me to waste the medicine.
Janine: Kit's dying?
Emily: We come here, we work, we die.