The Handmaids Tale Season 2 Episode 10 Recap

This story contains spoilers from The Handmaid's Tale Season 2 Episode 10, "The Last Ceremony."

Ever since The Handmaid’s Tale debuted a few months into 2017, the show has featured a number of painfully resonant scenes which—in their depiction of a fictional totalitarian regime founded on misogyny—mirror the new reality of life in Trump’s America. But this week’s episode, "The Last Ceremony," culminates in the show’s most painful parallel to date, as June is briefly reunited with the daughter who was ripped from her arms in the pilot episode. There is no way to watch this agonizing sequence and not think of the shameful revelation that has dominated recent news: thousands of children have been systematically separated from their parents after crossing the United States’ southern border.

This week, more than ever, it feels important to keep in mind Margaret Atwood’s rule—there is nothing in The Handmaid’s Tale that has not already happened somewhere in the world—and this quote from her in 2015:

“Nothing makes me more nervous than people who say, ‘It can’t happen here.’ Anything can happen anywhere, given the right circumstances.”

Here are points to discuss from "The Last Ceremony."

1) June’s early labor turns out to be a false alarm.

The whiplash turn here is dizzying: one minute June is in labor and Serena is ecstatic, sinking to her knees to give thanks for this sacred blessing. June’s birthing ceremony begins, and Serena is surrounded by fellow wives who all blanket her with love and tell her how much she deserves this child. And then, abruptly, both ceremonies are over—the labor was a false start, and the simmering tensions in the Waterford household finally boil over. Furious, Serena insists that June be induced, but the doctor and Aunt Lydia both say it’s too early.

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A few episodes ago, I mentioned my surprise that June still seems able to manipulate Waterford so easily with flattery, even after her escape. She’s always had him wrapped around her little finger, but finally he seems to have wised up, and when June comes to him asking to be reassigned to the same district as Hannah, he does not react well. “If it is at all within your power,” she begs, to which Waterford snaps: “Who are you to tell me what’s within my power?” (It’s interesting to me that he got defensive about this. We know his superiors aren’t thrilled with him, and post-Canada, his power might be more limited than ever.)

Waterford tells June he’s been too lenient with her, at which points she spits that he doesn’t know what it’s like to have a child and never will. This burn doesn’t really land, for me, because it’s never been particularly clear that Fred cares about having a child in the same way Serena does. But June talking back to him still provokes something, and—along with the false labor—leaves the Waterfords both wanting to reassert control over their Handmaid.

2) June is violently raped in a so-called bid to “help the baby come out naturally.”

There is a lot of nonconsensual sex in The Handmaid’s Tale, but because of the stilted, performative nature of the Ceremony, and the way the Handmaids are forced to behave during it, very little plays out in what TV has trained us to think of as a “rape scene.” As June reminds us during her opening voiceover, detaching is a survival mechanism: “You steel yourself. You pretend not to be present, not in the flesh. You leave your body.” But none of that is possible in this viscerally upsetting scene, in which she’s held down and raped by the Waterfords.

And it really is the Waterfords doing this, not just Fred. The most horrifying aspect of this utterly horrifying scene is Serena’s active role, especially after she and June had developed such a genuine relationship this season. It’s Serena on whom June focuses all her attention throughout the scene, repeatedly saying “Serena, no,” “Serena, please,” begging her for help. Serena’s ruthless response—to hold June down even harder—is a betrayal beyond comprehension. It’s evil, and it’s final proof that Serena never saw June as a person, only a vessel.

3) Emily is somewhat of an outcast among Handmaids.

Emily’s unrepressed fury since returning from the Colonies has already made the others wary of her, and that was before word spread that her new commander died directly after the ceremony, a macabre moment that has all the Handmaids gossiping during their grocery shopping. When I watched the scene—the episode's opener—play out, with Emily going through the ceremony right before her commander collapses, I initially had flashbacks to the movie Teeth, in which a teenage girl’s vagina literally fights back against male violence. That would be a pretty dramatic tonal shift for the show, but Emily is very smart, and it seems plausible she might have figured out a way to do it!

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Hearing about this latest trauma, June approaches Emily and tries to give her hope with the news of Moira’s escape. “You’re going to see your son again,” June tells her, but Emily bitterly responds, “I’m not his mother any more.” She doesn’t believe that her son will still feel any bond with her after so long apart, which naturally disturbs June.

4) Nick’s sham marriage may already be over.

Midway through the episode, Eden takes out the trash, and also makes out with some trash—specifically the Waterfords’ new guardian, Isaac, who has been eyeing her creepily for days. Nick witnesses the moment, but when Eden frantically apologizes he’s basically like, “It’s cool, no worries!” This only compounds Eden’s sense that Nick doesn’t care about her and is possibly in love with June; it turns out that Eden’s never even been kissed until tonight. “I would never get involved with a Handmaid. It would be suicide,” Nick says, in a maybe-prophetic line considering what happens later in the episode.

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5) June and Hannah’s reunion is incredibly hard to watch.

Because Waterford isn’t quite done playing mind games with June yet, he “rewards” her after raping her by letting her visit Hannah behind Serena’s back. And so here it is: the show’s most extraordinarily inadvertent ripped-from-the-headlines moment yet, as June reunites with her child for a few painfully brief moments and tries to comfort her, despite not knowing if they will ever see each other again.

Elisabeth Moss is a powerhouse, and watching her face during this whole sequence is just gut-wrenching. June copes admirably well with this brutal situation, putting her own feelings aside to focus completely on Hannah, who is initially scared, and then angry, asking why June didn’t try harder to find her (first tears happened here, for me). Then she’s devastated when the guard abruptly says they have to leave. Jordana Blake’s sad delivery of “Mommy” in this moment is almost too much to take, especially in light of the real audio of real children being torn away from their real parents that emerged over the weekend.

“I need you to do something for me: enjoy your life,” June tells her, smiling and trying so hard to be reassuring. She doesn't want to leave Hannah feeling even more scared than before. But when Hannah asks if they’ll ever see each other again, June can’t give her an answer, and Hannah tries to cling to her before she leaves. June holds it together for Hannah’s sake, but as soon as she’s out of sight she collapses, crying hysterically in Nick’s arms. This whole scene is just. A. Lot.

And there’s more trauma still to come! Nick bundles June back into the house and tells her to hide, right before he's intercepted and whisked away in a black van by guardians. Only Waterford and Nick know where June is, which means she’s pretty much alone at this mysterious house in a strange district, and unlike the last time she escaped, it’s the middle of winter and snow is thick on the ground.

One element that makes June’s situation even more alarming: the doctor mentioned that they may need to induce labor to avoid a C-section, since the baby is about nine pounds and June is petite. This seems unlikely to go well if she’s out in the wilderness alone.

Emma Dibdin is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles who writes about culture, mental health, and true crime. She loves owls, hates cilantro, and can find the queer subtext in literally anything.

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