In the previous episode of Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale, June helped the Marthas try to smuggle a chemistry teacher to the resistance, but failed. In The Handmaid’s Tale Season 3 Episode 3, June found that her new Commander is not as friendly as he seemed.
Not Cora
While walking with Alma and Janine, June stared up at a hanging Martha with her head covered. She wondered if it was Cora. Back at the house, they had a new Martha, Sienna, who was nervous around Commander Lawrence. Beth remarked to June that now they didn’t have anyone to bring them news. June told Beth about the hanging Martha and insisted it wasn’t Cora.
The Meeting
The Commanders arrived for a meeting with Lawrence. He was so important that, since he wouldn’t go to meetings, they came to him. June came face to face with Waterford and Nick. She told him that he had been merciful, since she was still alive, but reminded him that she wasn’t part of his household anymore.
During the meeting, Lawrence told Sienna that he wanted June to pour the wine instead. They were discussing the economic contributions of women and how they differed from men. He had June retrieve a book for him: The Descent of Man by Charles Darwin. Lawrence described the book to her as if she couldn’t read.
Nick visited June before he left. He was now a Commander and would be going to the front lines in Chicago. With little warmth, June told him goodbye.
Pamela
Serena distanced herself from the Commander and stayed at her mother’s house. While the Commander was in town, he worked on a speech for his wife with a woman at Jezebel’s.
At Pamela’s, the women held a prayer circle. Since she lost all her clothes in the fire, Serena wore a discarded dress that Rita altered. Rita also gave her a leather finger she could attach to her pinky. In her place at the center of the circle, the prayers were for her to rejoin the Commander. In private, Pamela also urged Serena to go back to him and minimized the pain she felt over Nichole.
Serena visited June and asked her if she thought about Nichole. June told Serena that they couldn’t rely on the men for help.
Choose
Lawrence had to choose which few women of a large group from Chicago would become Marthas. The rest would likely suffer a worse fate. While reviewing their files, he got into a debate with June. Lawrence took her to where they held the women and told her it was now her job to choose. At the end of the episode, June calmly made her choices.
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