The Handmaid’s Tale season 3, episode 2 recap: Mary and Martha
By Ariba Bhuvad
The Handmaid’s Tale welcomes back Aunt Lydia, and yes, she still sucks.
The Handmaid’s Tale proceeds with full steam ahead as June acquires a new walking partner in Ofmatthew. Unlike June, Ofmatthew is team Gilead and fairly certain that it will continue to take over the world. When she returns home from the market learning that the Marthas aren’t very eager to trust them, she finds Aunt Lydia awaiting her arrival.
The scene that follows is a rather interesting one between June, Commander Lawrence, and Aunt Lydia who may not be 100%, but is still sassy AF. She’s onto Commander Lawrence’s peculiar ways, and still has no intention of trusting June when she tries to help her up the stairs. One day, Aunt Lydia, you are going to get yours, and it won’t be pretty.
Now, the Marthas are up to lots of scheming and plotting in this episode, and June happens to walk in one of the secret meetings. The Commander is pissed when he finds out that there’s a woman in the house he doesn’t recognize but June does her best to defuse the situation. It may not have worked, but she insists that she be let in on the plan.
More from Show Snob
- The Santa Clauses season 2, episode 6 recap “Wanga Banga Langa!”
- Lawmen: Bass Reeves season 1, episode 7 preview: Non-spoiler thoughts for Part VII
- Goosebumps season 1, episode 6 recap: “Night of the Living Dummy”
- Beacon 23 season 1, episode 3 recap: “Why Can’t We Go on as Three?”
- Upload season 3, episode 2 recap: “Strawberry”
Before we know it, June dresses up just like a Martha and joins one of the runs where she learns that not everyone goes to Canada. Some even go west…to make bombs.
The whole ordeal gets messy when later that night a Martha shows up all bloody and wounded after being shot by the guardians. She is given shelter in the Commander’s basement but it’s not long before the guardians show up at the house.
June rushes downstairs to handle the erratic and emotional Martha but it takes the guardians too long to leave and the Martha ends up dying. Ugh, The Handmaid’s Tale with all the brutal feels.
The whole debacle has Commander Lawrence angry beyond belief and he’s hellbent on taking it out on June. He doesn’t care much for her and demands her to take care of the dead Martha’s body.
Next. The Handmaid’s Tale season 3 premiere recap: Night. dark
Meanwhile, back in Canada, Nichole (the baby) is safe at home with Moira, Luke, and Erin, with Emily stopping by every now and then. Luke clearly has some issues to deal with when he implodes on Emily for not trying to reach out to her wife and son. It’s obvious that he’s judging her for not doing so because it’s something he doesn’t have the luxury of doing. I understand Luke, I’m definitely on your side about this.
Taking Luke’s reaction into account, Emily does eventually reach out to her wife, Sylvia who is overcome with emotion when she realizes it’s Emily on the other side. Let’s just say her shock and awe causes a bit of a traffic jam, but that’s okay, she’s allowed to do whatever she wants.