The Handmaid's Tale recap: season 3, episode 12 has June gone too far?

A sacrifice was made this week to save the 52 children, but whether it was justified is another matter

Spoiler alert: this recap is for people watching The Handmaid’s Tale, series three, on Channel 4 in the UK. Please do not add spoilers for later episodes in the series.

How many lives does it cost to get 52 children out of Gilead? Two so far, with a whole lot more at risk. Did Commander Lawrence realise how far things would go when he forced June to learn how to choose between lives, weighing some as more valuable than others?

We may have cheered June on when she killed the thoroughly villainous Commander Winslow in self-defence, but standing by and allowing Eleanor Lawrence to die from an overdose was another level of crime altogether. Perhaps June thought she was simply carrying out Eleanor’s wishes – after all, as Eleanor pointed out this week, there is no escape from Gilead for her and Lawrence, even if they make it across the border. But it is far more likely that June allowed her to die because she was simply too much of a risk to their escape plan in her unmedicated state. She was, as the episode’s title suggests, the sacrifice needed to save those children – in June’s mind, at least.

Julie Dretzin has been brilliant as Eleanor, but in recent episodes the character has morphed into a cliched mad truth-teller, as confused or as wise as each scene required her to be. Her suicide, though, was completely consistent with the character, and bleakly inevitable. Bradley Whitford was great, too, as the grieving husband mechanically going through with June’s plan, while perhaps beginning to suspect that it is no coincidence that his wife died while June was under his roof. After all, she is not the only one.

Before the episode’s tragic end, June was allowed some big victories. She initially seemed conflicted over the news of the Waterfords’ arrest, but that was her Gilead training kicking in – don’t show emotion in front of anyone in power. Once left alone, she burst into laughter, giddy with joy and relief. Her triumph was further underlined by her chat with Rita over the carrots. It came across as the sort of gossip old friends have in the real world, filled with “Wait til you hear …” and “Can you believe it?” June and Rita are old war buddies; they survived the Waterford house together; they got baby Nichole to safety. They have earned that clandestine finger-touch of solidarity over the potatoes as they bitch about their old bosses.

Canada

The real meat of the story this week – despite Gilead’s various deaths – happened in Canada, where we learned that, as suspected, Serena has done a deal with Tuello to secure her freedom. She didn’t bring the Americans 52 stolen kids, but she did bring them a senior commander. “She’s only nice when she’s up to something,” June pointed out this week. Serena had been very nice to Fred recently, until she calmly removed her devoted wife mask and pushed Fred’s hand from her throat, finally showing the distain that she has clearly felt for him for some time. But she is still dependent on Fred – surely her deal relies on the Americans getting something useful out of him?

Fred and Serena aren’t in the orange jumpsuits that June was imagining – instead, they are in a prison that most people would happily stay in on holiday. Fred is still in his suit; Serena has switched to trousers and (literally) let her hair down, but she still can’t escape Gilead, with her room’s “wife”-coloured armchairs. Meanwhile, Fred is lounging on his sofa like he is taking meetings, goading Luke into punching him as if to demonstrate his power and control, even in his reduced circumstances.

Best of all, though, was Moira delivering Nichole for Serena’s hour-long supervised visit, in which Serena was chastised by a social worker for calling herself “mama” in front of Nichole. Moira, who has had criminally little to do this season, finally got her chance to confront Serena – and deliver a line so perfect that the writers must have been sitting on it for three years: “I am who I am, and I’ve sinned plenty, but you … you are the gender traitor.” Who else but Moira could have called Serena out for what she really is, under all her piety and business-like neatness? She is the woman who climbed to power over the dead and suffering women of Gilead.

The sound of music

No well-known songs this week, just original compositions from Adam Taylor, who has provided the show’s original music since season one. His work this week, especially on the funeral scene, was top notch. It is worth remembering that it is often his music, in conjunction with Elisabeth Moss’s performances, that makes all of June’s long close-ups so powerful.

Under his eye

• “You’re such a boss now,” Rita tells June, positively glowing with pride. We forget that Rita has been involved in the Martha network for far longer than June has. Can we find out about Rita’s past adventures in season four, please?

• Tuello is wooing Serena over to the American side with pizza and newspapers. To be fair, the promise of being able to read while still holding on to your remaining nine fingers would be enough to turn any woman’s head.

• “I pity the child that has you as its mother,” says Fred this week, a rare moment of truth from one of the most self-deluded characters in fiction.

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