Episode Guide Episodes 001–046 Last episode aired Wednesday June 16, 2021 www.hulu.com © © 2021 www.hulu.com © 2021 www. © 2021 © 2021 www.imdb.com geekgirlauthority.com the-handmaids-tale. wikia.com © 2021 tvline.com The summaries and recaps of all the The Handmaid’s Tale episodes were downloaded from http://www.imdb.com and http://www.hulu.com and http://www.geekgirlauthority.com and http://the-handmaids-tale.wikia.com and http://tvline.com and processed through a perl program to transform them in a LATEX file, for pretty printing. So, do not blame me for errors in the text ! This booklet was LATEXed on June 17, 2021 by footstep11 with create_eps_guide v0.68 Contents Season 1 1 1 Offred ..............................................3 2 Birth Day . .7 3 Late ............................................... 11 4 Nolite Te Bastardes Carborundorum . 15 5 Faithful . 19 6 A Woman’s Place . 23 7 The Other Side . 27 8 Jezebels . 31 9 The Bridge . 35 10 Night . 39 Season 2 43 1 June............................................... 45 2 Unwomen . 47 3 Baggage . 49 4 Other Women . 51 5 Seeds .............................................. 55 6 First Blood . 59 7 After............................................... 61 8 Women’s Work . 63 9 Smart Power . 65 10 The Last Ceremony . 69 11 Holly . 71 12 Postpartum . 75 13 TheWord ............................................ 77 Season 3 79 1 Night............................................... 81 2 Mary and Martha . 85 3 Watch Out . 87 4 God Bless the Child . 91 5 Unknown Caller . 95 6 Household . 99 7 Under His Eye . 103 8 Unfit............................................... 107 9 Heroic.............................................. 111 10 Bear Witness . 115 11 Liars . 119 12 Sacrifice . 123 13 Mayday . 125 The Handmaid’s Tale Episode Guide Season 4 129 1 Pigs ............................................... 131 2 Nightshade . 133 3 The Crossing . 137 4 Milk ............................................... 139 5 Chicago . 143 6 Vows............................................... 145 7 Home .............................................. 147 8 Testimony . 149 9 Progress . 151 10 The Wilderness . 155 Actor Appearances 159 II Season One The Handmaid’s Tale Episode Guide Offred Season 1 Episode Number: 1 Season Episode: 1 Originally aired: Wednesday April 26, 2017 Writer: Bruce Miller Director: Reed Morano Show Stars: Elisabeth Moss (Offred), Yvonne Strahovski (Serena Joy), Joseph Fi- ennes (The Commander), Alexis Bledel (Ofglen), O.T. Fagbenle (Luke), Max Minghella (Nick), Samira Wiley (Moira), Amanda Brugel (Rita), Jordana Blake (Hannah) Recurring Role: Madeline Brewer (Janine), Ann Dowd (Aunt Lydia), Bahia Watson (Oferic), Nina Kiri (Alma), Elena Khan (Martha) Guest Stars: Margaret Atwood (Aunt), Jenessa Grant (Ofsamuel), Shruti Kothari (Woman with Moira), Adam Winlove-Smith (Guardian Prisoner), Ja- son Boyd (I) (Guardian), Grace Munro (Red Centre Handmaid), Simon Northwood (Guardian 2), Anne Yorke (Aunt 3), Sylvia Zuk (Protestor) Summary: Offred, one the few fertile women known as Handmaids in the oppres- sive Republic of Gilead, struggles to survive as a reproductive surro- gate for a powerful Commander and his resentful wife. The episode opens on a woman, a man, and their little girl gunning it down a re- mote road in their car. Sirens are heard in the distance, it’s clear that they’re be- ing chased. Their car gets stuck in a ditch after losing control, so the man tells the woman to take the little girl and to run into the woods about two miles north, where someone will meet them. Before they get very far, there are three gun- shots back at the car. For a moment, the woman stands there, stunned, before she scoops up her daughter and continues to run. Nearby, men’s voices grow louder, so the woman and her daughter hide. The men have guns, and are mere steps away from their hiding place. They start running again and, sure enough, the gunmen catch up, wrench the little girl out of her mother’s arms as she pleads with them not to do so. Ugh, heartbreaking. Mom is knocked unconscious and dragged off screen, then loaded into the back of a van. In the background, we see their crashed car, but no sign of the man anywhere. In voice-over, the woman from the woods takes stock of her sunlit bedroom, dressed now in a red habit and white bonnet. The woman is a Handmaid whose name is Offred. She had another name, "but it’s forbidden now. Offred has a sit-down with, let’s call her Mrs. Green Dress who is clearly in charge of this house. Mrs. Green Dress (MGD) compares the last Handmaid she had to a "dog, only not a very smart one." Charming. MGD runs down the house rules for Offred, the first of which is "don’t call me ma’am. You’re not a Martha." Who are the Marthas and why do they have to call you ma’am? Commander Fred Waterford, MGD’S husband, enters. Offred greets him by saying, "Praise be to you. May God make me truly worthy." I’m from the South, so I’m used to a smattering of non- sequitur God references peppering conversations, but she said, "Praise be to YOU" — meaning the Commander. 3 The Handmaid’s Tale Episode Guide Anyway, MGD stares him down, with that look wives give when they’re warning their hus- bands not to flirt with that woman. He smartly heeds her silent warning, sheepishly startsto retreat out of the room with a "Nice to meet you." Successful first interaction over, right? Think again. Offred screws up by replying, "you too." Everyone immediately reacts as if she farted. Com- mander W leaves, but it’s too late because MGD is super annoyed by this point. Offred is to be seen as little as possible. She goes on to remind Offred that the Commander is HER husband, ’til death do they part. And then she throws in the fancy lady version of "don’t start none, won’t be none," which is, "If I get trouble, believe me, I will give trouble back." Close-up on Offred’s clenched fist after MGD leaves the room. I think Offred might start none, y’all. And asaresult, there might be none. We then meet Rita, who is "a Martha," making bread from scratch. Marthas have to do things that are considered "a return to traditional values," code for keeping yet another group of women deemed worthless trapped in the kitchen all day making a bunch of bleeping bread for MGDs and Commanders. Rita’s annoyed at Offred’s very existence. She sends Offred to the market to shop for groceries, which she’s forced to do with her "friend," fellow Handmaid, Ofglen. Offred mentally derides Ofglen as a "pious little shit with a broomstick up her ass." Can’t wait to meet her, she sounds lovely. As Offred leaves the Waterford property, she encounters Nick, the Commander’s driver, who’s hauling dirt in a wheelbarrow and who looks very fine doing so. They have a brief conversation about what she’s going to buy and it’s subversively flirty, more on his part than hers. Ofglen and Offred head to the store, discussing nothing, yet speaking volumes. They distrust each other and suspect the other is a spy. After shopping, they walk home, passing a wall where three men are hung: a priest, a doctor, and a gay man, further informing us about the kind of America this has become. Offred flashes back to her first day at Handmaid indoctrination class. A stern, militant woman in a potato sack style brown dress, explains God’s revenge on them for being toxic polluters and whores: the plague of infertility. She rails against birth control pills, morning after pills, abortion, and even Tinder. Yikes. As Offred takes a seat, she spots Moira, and flashes back to life before all this insanity. They’re at some sort of outdoor party. We find out, a) they’re old friends and, b) Moira is a lesbian. Potato Sack Lady lectures about how they’re blessed because they’ve been "left intact" by God, meaning they can have children. Their job will be to serve as baby-makers for the leaders of this hell on earth and their barren wives. It’s abundantly clear that Potato Sack Lady really and truly believes they’re lucky to have this gig. Easy for her to say: she’s beyond child-bearing age. Janine, another Handmaid newbie next to Offred, is just not buying any of this garbage. Fed up with her attitude, Potato Sack Lady welcomes Janine to the "Rachel and Leah Centre" (biblical references), by shocking her in the neck with a cattle prod and the symbolism is overt. Two other Potato Sack Ladies drag Janine out of the room. Potato Sack Lady continues to lecture, "Ordinary is just what you’re used to. This may not seem ordinary to you right now. But after a time, it will. This will become ordinary." At bedtime, in a giant cafeteria full of cots, Offred explains to Moira that she tried to escape with her daughter but couldn’t. Moira swears that she will find Offred’s daughter and that all this "crazy sh*t is gonna end." I love Moira for that. Moira goes on to tell Offred that her girlfriend, Odette, was rounded up in a purge, reclassified as an "Unwoman," and sent to the colonies. I thought Handmaids had it bad. Unwomen have it worse. Now we know that if they find out Moira is a lesbian, she’ll be reclassified as anUnwoman. Janine is dragged in and put on a cot, with a bandage around her head, whimpering. Come to find out, they removed her right eye because, "If my right eye offends thee, pluck it out."(Matthew 5:29). Nothing justifies violence like a bible quote.