The Handmaid’s Tale review, season 3 episode 10: In a grim hour of television, June remains defiant and undefeated

Elisabeth Moss's heroine vows to rescue all of the children born to Handmaids, as well as her own

June (Elisabeth Moss), having barely survived her first years in Gilead, is embarking on a one-woman rebellion (Picture credit: Channel 4)

If it wasn’t quite so grim – and this week’s episode is grim with streamers attached – season three of The Handmaid’s Tale (Channel 4) could be accused of whipping itself into a state of playful incoherence. Just under the surface, beneath all that theatrical gloom, it has led us on an increasingly… well “merry dance” probably isn’t the phrase. It has had its fun with us, though.

The latest thunderbolt is that June (Elisabeth Moss), having barely survived her first years in Gilead, is embarking on a one-woman rebellion. Her elder daughter, Hannah, remains separated from her mother by force. And her youngest, Nichole, faces being wrenched from the promised land of Canada by a repatriation request from the ghastly Waterfords. Enough, you might think, to keep the eponymous bonnet bearer occupied.

But no… it seems June still has some spare time that requires filling. She has now vowed to rescue all of the other children born to Handmaids too. How? The Handmaid’s Tale is not entirely clear. But we know she is serious because we are treated to one of those familiar close-ups of June’s face, eyes rimmed in red, mouth a narrow line. Things just got real (they were already very real, of course – so now they are… more real?).

Yet this silliness, which is what it is, really, is devastatingly counterpointed by the show’s portrayal of the dysfunctional Lawrences. Eleanor (Julie Dretzin) is perhaps the sanest person in Gilead in so far as living in a religious theocracy has pushed her towards an emotional breakdown. Her husband, the Commander (Bradley Whitford), was once an intellectual figurehead of the new order. Yet the casual depravity of the regime’s policy of forced impregnation now turns his stomach.

His reticence is duly noted by June’s former commander, Waterford (Joseph Fiennes). A knock on the door heralds the arrival of Mr and Mrs Waterford (Yvonne Strahovski), Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd) and the appalling Commander Winslow (Christopher Meloni), who is eager for Handmaids in Boston to have their mouths bound, as they are in Washington. They’re here to ensure Lawrence performs the “ceremony” on June, so that she may become pregnant and new life flourish.

The Lawrences want to do what they’ve always done – hide in their room with June and pretend they’re fulfilling their obligations. As Eleanor sobs in the corner, June points out that Waterford has brought a doctor to certify consummation. Continue to avoid their solemn duty and the Lawrences are for the Wall.

There follows a sickening fade to black. June has taken control and become midwife to her own degradation. Thus the Commander is forced to face up to the hell on earth he’s helped create. Angered and humiliated, he is all ears as June suggests he take credit for her new Underground Railroad. Helping smuggle kids north would make Lawrence a hero and allow him and his wife claim asylum in Canada.

Everyone is a little broken afterwards – though June has a moment of triumph telling Waterford that it could have been worse. It could have been him again. She is defiant and undefeated. So, too, is The Handmaid’s Tale.

The Handmaid’s Tale airs on Channel 4 at 9pm on Sunday nights