The Handmaid’s Tale review: How does it feel?

The Handmaid’s Tale — “Night” – Episode 301 — June embarks on a bold mission with unexpected consequences. Emily and Nichole make a harrowing journey. The Waterfords reckon with Serena JoyÕs choice to send Nichole away. June (Elisabeth Moss), shown. (Photo by: Elly Dassas/Hulu)

In the first three episodes of season 3, The Handmaid’s Tale asks some familiar questions, answers new ones, and sets up the scope of this conflict.

The name of the game in these first three episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale season 3 is consequences. What happens when you turn away from a chance out? What happens when you return?

“I’m sorry, baby girl. Mom’s got work,” June says to end her opening monologue of season 3 of The Handmaid’s Tale. That work begins as soon as Lawrence meets her in the road, because she needs to convince him to help her rescue her other daughter: Hannah.

Bradley Whitford has a weird role to play in all this, as a strange Commander who seems to be having second thoughts about pretty much everything he’s ever done. There’s not really conflict in him, though, so much as just a sense of weighing options and going with the one that keeps him in contact with a “spunky” woman.

But the first surprise comes when June doesn’t take Hannah as well — only tying a thread around her wrist before allowing herself to be captured. We meet, however, briefly, Mrs. Mackenzie, who doesn’t get a name. She does, however, get to tell June what Hannah is really like.

For that support and camaraderie, though, Mrs. Mackenzie asks June to “please, stop.” June only gets to reply that she’s Hannah’s mother before she’s taken away. The entire conversation sets the stakes for the season as a whole, given how it mentions that June may very well die for this. It’s reinforced with June and Nick later, with June finally getting to say that she’s aware that she’ll probably die here.

Meanwhile, at the Waterfords’ house, there are lingering shots of Serena Joy’s injured hand, now bandaged, as she tells Fred that she “did what was best for my child.” The lighting and the makeup applied all make Serena look much older than she usually does, and much more worn down. Since there’s not much dialogue at the Waterfords’ in this scene, it’s what you end up focusing on.

Only when June arrives do the words start flowing. The lighting gets harsh again, and Serena even collapses in tears in June’s arms. Although June doesn’t say exactly where Nichole is, Serena seems reassured. Both Yvonne Strahovski and Elisabeth Moss have to do a lot of facial and physical acting throughout this entire episode, and as per usual, they’re up to the challenge. These are two women who are closer than they should be when you consider their stations, and even the way their faces crumple and tears fill their eyes seems similar.

There’s a second parallel, though it takes a while and isn’t perfect. Both of them have to drop a significant line with their backs to the major men in their lives. June stands when she says hers to Nick; Serena is sitting at her vanity. But they have both crossed lines now, and the intensity in Serena’s face when she finishes her dressing is enough to make that obvious. Just to underscore it one more time, Serena pours out some antiseptic, and the liquid cuts to June washing her face.

Next comes smoke and fire, though, as Serena burns the four-poster bed (and the house with it) and June comes to find her to lead her out. After all, Fred even says that he’s “protecting this house.” How can he protect it when the women will make it all burn? That’s what The Handmaid’s Tale is asking here.

As for Emily and Nichole’s escape to Canada, there’s a moment when it seems that all is lost, since they need to cross a deep river. Again, it opts for little dialogue, letting the music swell at points and at others letting us hear Emily panting as she tries to accomplish all this — only for her to be asked if she’s seeking asylum.

Everyone turns to look at her arrival to a hospital in Canada, though, her and Nichole’s clothes already changed. There’s applause, and it’s heard even as the scene switches to June in front of the burned-out house.

If the first question is what women can do when they’re together, the second one is what women can do to each other, as it usually is on The Handmaid’s Tale. We see new Aunts take charge of June, putting her on a table. The next time we see her, her feet are red and raw, and she’s scrubbing floors. With all that, though, another Handmaid brings her the news that Emily and Nichole are safe — and not only that, but the audience knows they’re with Luke and Moira up in Canada.

So does it matter that June’s new posting is with none other than Lawrence? Well, yes, for reasons of plot, it certainly does. But it wouldn’t have mattered where she ended up character-wise, because with her baby safe and Hannah at least taken care of, June doesn’t have much to lose.