What I’m Watching: The Handmaid’s Tale

The Handmaid’s Tale: Season 1, Episode 8 “Jezebels” (B+)

I’m glad that we’re getting so many origin stories, with precious few details but enough information for the characters to make more sense, as current events play out that add even more depth and clarity. Nick doesn’t have much of a personality, and therefore it tracks that, before everything, he was just a guy looking for a good job who couldn’t hold anything, and working for the head of one of the chapters of the Sons of Jacob was absolutely the right fit. That he met Fred when he chose not to speak up after hearing the crass, casual discussion about handmaids and why wives shouldn’t matter is also logical, though it’s intriguing to find out that his main job as an Eye is to report on his commander, not on everyone else in the household and what they’re doing. Offred’s predecessor having committed suicide and Serena indicating that she knew what the Commander was doing with her calls into question whether she knows what’s going on between her husband and Offred. That underground club was a weird place, and it was bittersweet for Offred to run into Moira, since it means that she didn’t end up dead or back as a handmaid but that she’s found something that’s only mildly better. Serena giving Offred the gift of a girl trapped in a box who only dances when someone else opens the lid was a moving metaphor on which to end the episode, and I’m eager to see how Offred delivers on her promise not to let herself be trapped and not to give up.