The Handmaids Tale: Inside an Explosive Episode That Changes Everything

This post contains spoilers for The Handmaids Tale Season 2, Episode 6, “First Blood.”[hhmc]

About midway through its second season, it appears The Handmaids Tale is ready to really shake things up. Handmaids have engaged in civil disobedience before—but this week, Ofglen upped the ante, charging into a press conference in the newly constructed Rachel and Leah Center and igniting an explosive that blew the symbolic future of Gilead to bits—along with, presumably, at least a few high-powered attendees. Meanwhile, things at the Waterford house remain fraught, as Serena Joy and June/Offred continue to quietly spar, while Nick has finally slept with his new child bride, Eden. As we tensely wait to learn whether Commander Waterford survived and how Gileads leadership will react to this unprecedented act, V.F chatted with showrunner Bruce Miller and actress Yvonne Strahovsky, who plays Serena Joy, for an inside look at how the episode came together—and what might be next.

The explosion was both a symbolic and a literal attack on the new Rachel and Leah Center, a larger version of the facility used to train handmaids like Offred. In the episode, Aunt Lydia wistfully considers how many more girls shell be able to “process” at the new center, now that the government has decided against attempting to find a more humane way to curb low birthrates. “The fact that they're institutionalizing [the handmaid system] kind of takes away that shred of humanity and decency and just human kindness from them,” Miller said. “But it also shows the stakes for the handmaids, because these handmaids now are the only ones who are going to remember a time before Gilead. The next generation, the ones who are going to be trained at this center, are—as far as were concerned—much further away from any kind of rebellion, because they dont remember any other life.”

Its easy to understand, then, why Ofglen does what she does: speaking the only way she can, now that her tongues been cut out. And it seems safe to assume the administration got her message loud and clear.

To Miller, it was important to depict an “asymmetrical movement” in which the opposition is much weaker than the established government—the kind of lopsided fight that inspires attacks like these in real life. “In a terrible way, I wanted to see if people could feel sorry for the suicide bomber,” Miller said. “If you could feel sympathy and be on their side. . . The other thing is, I just wanted to show that having a violent group supporting you, it doesn't help that they're supporting you. You're not safe. Violence is violence.” As Miller points out, Ofglens decision killed not only a lot of commanders, but also a lot of handmaids. “I just like underlining the idea that a violent world hurts everybody,” Miller said. “It doesnt just hurt the people youre aiming it at.”

The Waterford house, too, appears to be nearing its own breaking point—albeit in a much quieter way. After Serena and June discover, much to their relief, that Junes baby is healthy, things tentatively warm up between the two: Serena loosens her control over June, even throwing her a party with some of her handmaid friends. But when June takes the opportunity to ask Serena if she can visit her first child, Hannah, Serena turns cold again. At the same time, viewers get a glimpse into Serenas past that explains where some of her disdain for Offred comes from. Back when she and Fred were still fundamentalist provocateurs trying to get their message heard, Serena did a speaking appearance on a college campus that inspired a violent protest—where she was shot in the abdomen, presumably rendering her sterile. (Strahovski herself, meanwhile, recently announced her own pregnancy—which probably means well see her characters abdomen hidden behind a lot of boxes next season.)

Crafting a scene that had strong echoes to the world we live in now—where students frequently protest visits from right-wing provocateurs on university campuses—requires a delicate touch. To pull it off, Miller said, he tried to let the story dictate what happened, rather than attempting to shoehorn in parallels to actual current events. At the time of her college appearance, Serena was an undeniable force, who could turn being booed off a stage into an opportunity to give a rousing speech. And though Strahovski agrees that Serena herself might be evil, the actress doesnt think her characters intentions are evil. “She wanted to inspire women to really embrace their biology, and focus on babies, and staying at home, and staying healthy, and babies, babies, babies,” she said. As time went on, Strahovski continued, things started to slip out of Serenas control; women lost their right to read and write and speak freely, a reality Serena likely never imagined possible.

Does Serena ever have flashes of awareness, where she might regret what shes done or how things have taken shape around her? Strahovski thinks she might—but only to a point. “She's aware, and I think just can't face it just yet,” the actress said. “If she ever were to crack, it would crack big time. But she's not gonna do that just yet. And I think the reason behind that is because she still has hope to hold onto, which is the baby. . . She's got blinders on, basically, with that. But I think without that hope, things might start to crack.” Given Junes vow not to let the Waterfords raise her baby, that crackup seems imminent.

In the meantime, Serena and June will continue their complicated, adversarial dance. Though legally, June has a much worse hand, she holds plenty of power as the woman whose womb currently houses the future of the human race—and Serenas best shot at the family she desires. As Strahovski put it, her character has “this love/hate relationship. . . with the body of Offred and the person of Offred.”

“It's a weird combination of loving a belly, but hating the rest of it,” Strahovski said. “But also, Serena's loneliness makes her want to kind of want Offred in her favor also, and want a connection. So that's also complicated, because she doesn't really have anyone.” And lets not forget the grudge Serena still carries about Fred sleeping with (or raping, depending on whose perspective you see it through) June outside of their Gilead-approved mating ceremonies, which further complicate Serenas feelings. “It's endless,” Strahovski said. “There's a bottomless pit of clashing feelings.”

Speaking of bottomless pits: halfway through its second season, and with a third chapter already on the way, The Handmaids Tale remains a serious downer—one that may have trouble down the line finding a satisfying way to wrap its story. (A happy ending would seem disingenuous; a brutally depressing ending would make sense, but wouldnt exactly endear the series to its audience.) Thankfully, Miller said he has an eventual conclusion in mind: “I want to be have a sense of the whole storyline. Whats the scale of the story, whats the stretch of the story? And from pretty close to the beginning, Ive had in my head, Well, this could be a good ending.”

Which doesnt necessarily mean we should expect a resolution for all of Gilead. The longer the show runs, the longer that idea seems impossible—unless, as Miller suggested, ”you write the 12-volume history.” As the story widens beyond the scope of Margaret Atwoods original novel, it gets almost ”too interesting” to imagine all the possibilities, Miller said. “Im fascinated to spend a ton of time figuring out the ins and outs of the Colonies. The politics of the Colonies—and what other colonies are there?”

But when it comes to Junes story, viewers can rest assured that Miller is not leading them down a windy path to nowhere: “I think I have a way to end this story,” he said. “But this storys called The Handmaids Tale. Its not called Gilead. Its about the handmaid.”

Get Vanity Fairs HWD NewsletterSign up for essential industry and award news from Hollywood.Full ScreenPhotos:22 Movies and TV Shows That Will Save Us in 2018

Westworld (Season 2)

HBO is once again hoping youll ignore the big Game of Thrones-shaped hole in its schedule and turn your attention back to the sci-fi mind game that is Westworld. The Emmy-nominated series, starring Evan Rachel Wood and Thandie Newton, is ready to confound you once again in its second season. Until its spring 2018 premiere, take a trip back in time and revisit nine burning questions we still have about the finale.Photo: By John P. Johnson/HBO.

Grown-ish

Yara Shahidi takes the lead in this youthful Black-ish spin-off set to air on Freeform starting Jan. 3, 2018. In this series, Zoey is finally off to college, stumbling through cringeworthy rites of passage like embarrassing herself at a frat party and hiding secrets from her parents.Photo: By Eric Liebowitz/Freeform.

Superhero Smorgasbord

Every superhero you love is coming out with a new movie in 2018. In no particular order, get ready for a bounty that includes: Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, Deadpool 2, The New Mutants, X-Men: Dark Phoenix, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Venom, and Aquaman.Photo: By Zade Rosenthal/©Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures/Everett Collection.

The Winter Olympics

Tis the season to watch a bunch of perfect human specimens fight for tiny gold medallions. This years Winter Olympics will kick off on Feb. 9, 2018 in Pyeongchang, South Korea.Photo: By Julian Finney/Getty Images.

The Chi

After breaking out on Master of None and winning a historic Emmy for one of this years best TV episodes, Lena Waithe is ready to claim her spot in the prestige-TV realm. Enter The Chi, her Showtime series about young people coming of age in Chicago, set to premiere on Jan. 7.Photo: By Matt Dinerstein/SHOWTIME.

A Wrinkle in Time

The classic Madeleine LEngle tale is finally coming to the big screen on March 9, 2018, thanks to Disney and director Ava DuVernay. The sci-fi story about a girl tesseracting her way through time to find her missing father will star newcomer Storm Reid alongside stars like Oprah Winfrey, Mindy Kaling, Reese Witherspoon, and Chris Pine.Photo: By Atsushi Nishijima/Courtesy of Walt Disney Studios.

Solo: A Star Wars Story

After some catastrophic ups and downs, Han Solos origin story will finally be revealed to us on May 25, 2018. The Star Wars spin-off stars Alden Ehrenreich as the galactic smuggler and also features Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian and Emilia Clarke playing a mysterious character named Kira.Photo: From Lucasfilm Ltd./Everett Collection.PreviousNext