Ding dong! The Waterford is lifeless.
The Handmaid’s Tale Season 4 Episode 10 was certainly a game-changer.
Your entire hour was nothing wanting a masterpiece, and understanding the present has already been renewed for a fifth season makes the anticipation all of the extra extraordinary. So let’s dive in.
For 4 seasons, Fred has dedicated horrific act after horrific act, and the considered him going free was unconscionable.
What would it not say concerning the collection in the event that they let somebody like Fred Waterford escape justice after the torment and brutality he put June and others by? Nothing good, I can let you know that a lot.
Fred: You’re a good and crafty girl, a mom.
June: Select.
Fred: I do know you’ll be able to’t shoot me.
June: All proper.
So, it was needed that Fred be punished for his crimes in a roundabout way however having the previous handmaids kill him and others than merely rotting away in a jail cell in Gilead was rather more satisfying.
If ever there was poetic justice, it was how Fred met his finish.
The similarities Fred’s killing fantastically mirrored June being chased by the woods and captured earlier than The Handmaid’s Tale Season 1 Episode 1 and the handmaids’ “particicuting” a commander convicted of rape.
However the cherry on prime was Fred’s physique being hanged on the wall, simply as June had wished.
It is considerably ironic that Fred’s demise was the primary time the collection, which loves pointless violence and demise, killed off a collection common, but when somebody needed to die, we’re glad it was him.
Even till his final breath, he nonetheless did not appear to grasp all of the ache and struggling he prompted.
Sure, he apologized to June for a few of what occurred when she was stationed at their house, however his phrases fell flat.
He was nonetheless below the delusion that what he had with June was consensual, that they’d an affair of types the place actual emotions have been concerned when if truth be told, she was playacting to outlive.
Fred: What we had, it was important, it was a relationship we each wanted very badly to outlive in our personal methods. I would not name it love. It was one thing else, one thing very robust.
June: Yeah, yeah, there was.
Fred: It is humorous to seek out myself lacking her.
June: Who?
Fred: Offred. I noticed that should sound unusual to you.
June: No, I miss her too, some issues a lot. I miss her energy.
Fred: She was very particular, inspiring in a manner.
And if Fred could not perceive that, then there is no manner he may ever perceive the magnitude of the brutality that went on within the Waterford family.
Fred likened these horrific months to a mere discomfort after they have been dwelling hell.
That disconnect is horrifying and essential to remind us of what a monster Fred really is, so when the present determined to off the previous commander, we might really feel nothing however pleasure.
Nevertheless, as gratifying as Fred’s demise was, it is extra fascinating the place the characters go from right here.
Regardless of Luke’s pleas to let it go, June could not transfer on from Fred regardless of how badly she wished she may.
She was on the fence for the primary half of the episode, however Fred’s apology solidified June’s choice to enact revenge.
Listening to his oversimplified apology let June know Fred was able to regret and remorse even when he downplayed the brutality of what occurred.
In a manner, it was worse than if Fred was unfeeling. His half-assed apology confirmed he may distinguish proper from unsuitable, that he had a acutely aware, and that pushed June over the sting.
She could not let Fred begin a brand new life, primarily getting off scotfree for all of the damage and struggling he put everybody by, and being tried by Gilead wasn’t sufficient.
June: I heard that you just have been going to Geneva. So I assumed this could be my final probability.
Fred: Actually? To want me effectively. That does not sound like our June. Out of respect, I maintain no unwell will even after these belongings you stated in court docket.
June: Fred, I feel we each know what occurred.
Fred: Sure, we do. I keep in mind fairly effectively. I do perceive that you just needed to body issues in entrance of the choose and your husband. There have been discomforts in my home, I do know, for each of us. Extra for you, after all. And for that, I do have deep regrets. I don’t know I used to be in a position to really recognize your state of affairs till now. As a father, to have my son taken away from me can be unimaginable. You should have skilled such horrible eager for your daughter. And for that, I’m sorry, really deeply sorry.
June: I didn’t suppose you’d ever say that.
June wanted him to undergo and be afraid like she was for thus lengthy, and Fred assembly his finish the best way he did was simply the icing on the cake for her.
And whereas she obtained her revenge, she could have misplaced Luke and their household within the course of.
Luke does not know the complete story of what occurred, however seeing a bloodied June is sufficient to give him a good suggestion of what went down.
Since June’s arrival in Canada, Luke has been fairly understanding and forgiving of his spouse.
He is been in a position to get previous her love for Nick, her flip-flopping feelings, and her want for vengeance, but it surely appears he could not have the ability to overlook her killing Fred.
Luke understands that Gilead modified June, however he does not fairly get simply how deep these scars run.
There is no possible way for June to elucidate to Luke simply how a lot these seven years in Gilead brutalized her, and it is one thing she could by no means have the ability to put into phrases.
All Luke sees at that second is a June who selected revenge over their household, and it breaks him to his core.
Emily: What would you like?
June: I would like him to be afraid as a result of I used to be afraid for thus lengthy.
Emily: How afraid?
June: Like within the woods after I was caught, after they took Hannah.
Emily: Greater than that.
June: I would like him to be scared to demise.
He is come to appreciate there some issues which are unforgivable, and the devastation is written throughout his face.
June, for her half, additionally realizes that there is no getting back from what she’s executed and prepares to depart her would-be life in Canada behind.
That does not imply June’s going to again up her issues and go away Luke, Nichole, and Moira behind, as I learn her telling Luke that she would go in 5 minutes extra as she would get out of the best way of what he was constructing in Canada.
She would step apart and let him dwell his life whereas she lived hers, which solely revolves round burning Gilead to the bottom.
Her life is now this conflict on Gilead and creating a greater future for her daughters. That’s her function and, after all, rescuing Hannah.
June has come to simply accept the divergence of her and Luke’s paths, and whereas she’s not essentially OK with it, she understands that that is the place the playing cards have fallen.
And whereas it is a disgrace about June and Luke’s marriage, it does open up the chances for June subsequent season in thrilling methods. We’ve got no clue the place she’s headed, but it surely’ll most definitely be epic.
Moreover June and her fellow ex-handmaids, Fred’s demise will most influence Serena, who remains to be at midnight about her husband’s demise when the credit roll.
Serena spent a lot of the episode planning for what life will probably be like when she and Fred are lastly free, however, because it seems, all of these plans have been for naught.
Mark: You intend on dwelling with the commander as husband and spouse?
Serena: As a household, after all.
Mark: Are you able to clarify that to me, Serena?
Serena: I do not consider I’ve to.
Fred’s demise can take Serena in a number of totally different instructions, all of which may very well be equally compelling.
Almost certainly, Fred’s killing will set Serena on her personal path of vengeance, as she seeks retribution from June and co. for the homicide of her husband.
That might ship Serena down a really darkish path from which she could by no means return.
There’s additionally the likelihood that after her preliminary shock and anger put on off, Fred’s demise lastly frees Serena from the shackles of their abusive marriage.
At the beginning of the season, Serena wished to chop ties with Fred and lift their son on her personal.
Effectively, now she’s being on condition that probability, so she may shock us all and switch the opposite cheek even when it is uncertain.
Some stray ideas:
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Why did not June barter with Commander Lawrence to commerce Fred for some resistance girls AND Hannah? Weirdly, June would not attempt to get her daughter again when putting such a deal. It looks like Commander Lawrence would have been extra keen to play ball this time since Fred switched sides.
- Nick actually would do something for June. There’s nothing she may ask from him that he would not do, though serving to her kill Fred is hardly asking an excessive amount of of her ex.
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With Fred lifeless, what occurs to Serena? Will she nonetheless be in custody by the Canadians, or does she get to go free now? Perhaps, I missed one thing, but it surely’s nonetheless a bit of unclear on what occurs to her from right here on out. And if she remains to be in custody, what occurs after her son is born?
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Did anybody else catch that Mark could have emotions for Serena? He appeared overly thinking about her future with Fred, and now that Fred’s out of the image, Mark may stand an opportunity… after ready the suitable period of time, after all.
So what did you suppose, Handmaid’s Story Fanatics?
What did you consider Fred’s demise?
Has June crossed a line from which she will be able to by no means return?
How will Serena react to Fred’s killing?
Remember to hit the feedback beneath to let me know your ideas.
Jessica Lerner is a workers author for TV Fanatic. Observe her on Twitter.