The Handmaid’s Tale took a breather this week from its intense pace and delivered something of a filler episode with what could be a consequential ending. The fifth season of the series hit its top speed in the previous episode, “Dear Offred,” with June Osborn almost taking her shot (literally) at Serena Joy Waterford. She had the gun and the opportunity but failed to pull the trigger. With Serena whisked away to a secluded mansion in the Canadian wilderness, June is left in Toronto, waiting for her second chance to get back at her former tormenter.
Episode five, entitled “Fairytale,” seems to only serve as a set-up for something bigger to come in the remainder of the season. The episode doesn’t give us much but a decent cliffhanger ending preceded by some low-value fluff character interactions and introductions. Here’s a breakdown of The Handmaid’s Tale’s latest episode.
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The episode begins with an ethereal dream sequence of plodding marine life swooping across the screen. We see a younger Hannah marvel at the jellyfish behind the glass as June looks on. June’s sole focus of season five has been a reunion with her daughter, who is now dangerously close to full indoctrination into Gilead’s creepy ways. June is awoken by the buzzing of her phone, learning from Mayday operative Lily that a Gilead Guardian will be passing through along the border. This particular spy has information that June and Luke have a special interest in; locations of wife schools, one of which Hannah will soon be enrolled.
Luke and June head to the Mayday cabin featured in a previous episode to meet Lily and hopefully connect with the Guardian. Lily worries the meeting could imperil the entire operation, as Canada has stepped up its border patrols; they’re growing tired of Mayday’s presence along the boundary line. The Guardian can’t get to them, so they have to go to him, venturing out into the unregulated No Man’s Land.
June and Luke are both ready to take the risk and are given a map and told to look for a flag in the woods marking their destination. Moira, who accompanied them to the cabin, stays back as she and Lily both marvel at the couple’s dedication to their long-lost daughter. “They keep fighting for each other,” Moira observes. As June and Luke follow the trail, a body appears hanged by a high tree branch with a sign slung around the neck reading “Rapist.” They carry on despite this daunting sight.
Serena’s New Setup
Serena is settling into her new digs in the middle of nowhere, hosted by the mysterious Wheeler family. She meets with a group of Gilead wives who gather around in awe of her pregnancy, saying it has given them hope for their own chances at a child. We get a flashback scene of Serena “shopping” for her future handmaid, with Aunt Lydia trumpeting each woman’s qualities.
Serena gets on a call with Commanders Lawrence and Putnam, offering a new idea for the shuttered Gilead Information Center, a fertility center. Serena feels that Gilead is focusing its outreach efforts on the wrong facets of the country, emphasizing their controversial way of life as opposed to the endgame of producing children. Putnam scoffs at the idea while Lawrence shows interest.
Meanwhile, we get some foreshadowing of the inevitable Canada/Gilead conflict with Lawrence’s planned “New Bethlehem” project. This initiative would welcome back those who defected from Gilead; people Putnam dismisses as traitors and terrorists. Lawrence worries that if they continue down the absolutist path, the country will die. As things are getting testy in Canada for Gilead refugees, the convergence of the plan and the growing anti-American sentiment could lead to the big conflict the series has been teasing for several seasons.
Serena finally gets her meeting with Commander Wheeler, who informs her that he and the other high commanders voted to adopt her fertility center idea. She’s forbidden from participating in the initiative, citing the well-being of her baby.
June and Luke Meet Jaeden
Back in the woods, June and Luke finally make contact with their spy; a young Guardian named Jaeden. He leads them through the rubble of rotting buildings to a red brick bowling alley. Jaeden describes the wife’s school as treating the students like princesses and moving them along fast to their arranged marriages. Jaeden implores them to stay until dark, as walking the woods in the daytime is a huge risk. He offers the couple a thumb drive with all the information he has on the institutions before the bowling and beer start.
Jaeden later reveals that he became a spy for Mayday because he believed in people’s simple rights to do whatever they wanted, even something as trivial as the game they were enjoying at that moment. Luke then wanders off to a nearby piano and belts out Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together,” followed by a slow dance with June.
The trio venture out on the return trip to Mayday before Jaeden’s step produces an ominous click; a landmine left buried by rebels. The device detonates, severely wounding Jaeden and getting the attention of other Guardians patrolling nearby. June and Luke take off with the border in sight but are run down and surrounded by Gilead forces. They’re separated with a scream to cap off the episode.
Overall, “Fairytale” is a bit of a slog. It’s mostly 45 minutes of empty calories with only a few shreds of meat thrown in; the fertility center, New Bethlehem, and the capture of June and Luke. The daunting ending will hopefully bring something bigger in episode six.
