The Handmaid’s Tale Season 3, Episode 11 recap: And then there were fewer…

The Handmaid's Tale -- "Unfit" - Episode 308 -- June and the rest of the Handmaids shun Ofmatthew, and both are pushed to their limit at the hands of Aunt Lydia. Aunt Lydia reflects on her life and relationships before the rise of Gilead. June (Elisabeth Moss), shown. (Photo by: Jasper Savage/Hulu)

Last night’s episode of The Handmaid’s Tale dropped some bombshell developments on longtime fans of the Hulu Original. Continue reading for our recap of Season 3, Episode 11 “Liars” below.

Going into Season 3, Episode 11 of The Handmaid’s Tale, the focus was on June (Elisabeth Moss) using Commander Lawrence’s truck to free children from the totalitarian state. The previous episode ended with June receiving confirmations from several Marthas who wanted to help with the mission so she has to figure out how a single transport is going to get 52 kids out of the country.

Warning! Spoilers for the latest episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale follow. Read on at your own discretion.

The problem is, while June becomes preoccupied with her plan, she fails to keep track of Commander Lawrence (Bradley Whitford). He winds up absconding with Eleanor in hopes of escaping without June or the children. When June learns of Lawrence’s cowardice, she becomes furious.

Fortunately, Commander Lawrence returns to save the day — well — not really. It turns out Lawrence doesn’t have clearance to cross the borders and his attempt to leave gets him flagged by the government. He then returns home to await the Eyes or whichever secret police are sent to arrest him.

June is furious about Lawrence fleeing but she continues to push, hoping that he’ll cave to the pressure. Having promised her help to others, June has to make good on said promises. Lawrence admits his initial plan isn’t feasible anymore but he has something else in mind.

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To locate another dissenter, Lawrence takes June over to a place the Jezebels congregate in — an underground club where sexual deviancy is allowed. It’s frowned upon by Gilead but even top-ranking officials participate. June actually runs into Commander Winslow (Christopher Meloni) while at the establishment.

When Winslow sees June, he’s surprised by her presence. She lies about Lawrence sending her there but Winslow takes advantage of the situation. He then decides to book a room for them together.

Inside, June begins undressing and prepping to mentally separate herself during the act. Lawrence orders her to lie on her stomach while he mounts her but June has finally had enough.

Instead of allowing yet another despicable person to violate her, June fights back. She begins kicking and scratching her way away from Winslow, almost with the intent to kill him. He smacks June around, throwing her across the room in response to the outburst. It’s when the furious Handmaid gets ahold of a sharp pen that she stabs Winslow in the chest multiple times.

The pen itself is rather small but June stabs Winslow repeatedly with it. She hits so many vital organs that Winslow becomes incapacitated. He’s lying on the floor with blood spewing from his mouth, clinging to life, when June walks up to him with a statue bust.

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At this point, June still has a chance at getting Commander Winslow some medical attention. She’d be severely punished for the crime but the situation is still salvageable up to this point. Nevertheless, June vents some of the frustration she’s been holding in and kills the Commander.

With Commander Winslow out of the picture, June retreats into herself emotionally. She understands the ramifications of her actions and what will happen next: someone will come to check on the Commander and his mistress, find the body, and then June will be dragged to the gallows. Lucky for the vengeful handmaid, she has friends nearby.

Shortly after June kills Commander Winslow, housekeeping arrives to clean up. The attendant who enters is shocked by the bloody scene, noticing June sitting nearby. She looks around and then asks June if she’s alright.

June, being that she’s not a cold-blooded killer, has gone into a state of shock. The attendant can tell from the look on June’s face that she’s been traumatized so she does everything possible to keep June calm and safe.

While all of this is happening, the Waterfords encounter trouble of their own. The couple travel to a remote part of the country in hopes of negotiating a trade with a foreign mediator but it turns out to be a trap. Fred (Joseph Fiennes) and Serena (Yvonne Strahovski) believe their contact will deliver on his promise to bring Nicole home, but instead, he tricks them into crossing the Canadian border.

Once the ruse is exposed, a troop of soldiers surrounds them. Fred is then taken away while a soldier reads him the list of war crimes which he’s accused of. Serena has to watch as she’s transported in a separate vehicle to an unknown location. She’ll likely be charged with similar crimes but not war crimes.

Since Gilead prided itself on the subjugation of women, any court would sympathize with a woman who escaped the oppressive nation, even Serena. She’s also contemplated leaving herself so perhaps full cooperation will give Mrs. Waterford a second chance. Serena doesn’t have a chance at reuniting with her husband but starting over in Canada seems possible.

In the scenario of Serena defecting to Canada, she might also receive the opportunity to see Nicole again. Serena’s said time and time again that she’d do anything to get her daughter back, leaving Gilead and becoming an informant might work for her.

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Nevertheless, with Commander Winslow and Waterford out of the picture, the central leadership of Gilead is getting much smaller. Lawrence is also about to be imprisoned so there’s one less Commander with pull to be concerned with. The only other high-ranking officer with such a title is Commander Warren Putnam.

There are presumably other Commanders working to maintain the country’s stability but Putnam is the only one we know of. More are bound to come out of the woodworks when Waterford, Lawrence, and Winslow’s fates are revealed, but until then, Gilead is in a vulnerable position.

What we should take away from these character deaths is that Gilead’s leadership crumbling may be setting up a huge shakeup in Season 4. Fans have watched the Republic of Gilead oppress a country oddly similar to our own for three seasons, so it may be time for the show’s dynamic to alter the show’s dynamic. It would be pretty satisfying to see June lead a revolt at the beginning of Season 4 — or even better — working on a detailed reconstruction of the government as a new leader.

What are your expectations for the remaining episodes of Season 3? Let us know in the comments section below.

The Handmaid’s Tale streams new episodes on Wednesdays. All recent episodes are currently streaming. Season 4 has been greenlit for a 2020 release date. Stay tuned for more updates on this Hulu Original.

(Source: Entertainment Weekly)

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