The Handmaid's Tale (TV series)

The Handmaid's Tale (2017-) is an American drama web television series, airing on Hulu, about a dystopian future where women's rights are obliterated and being anything but straight, or outside of the Christian ideal, is regarded as an abomination. The series was created by Bruce Miller and is based on the 1985 novel of the same name by Margaret Atwood.

Season 1

Offred [1.01]

Offred: A chair. A table. A lamp. There's a window with white curtains, and the glass is shatterproof. But it isn't running away they're afraid of. A Handmaid wouldn't get far. It's those other escapes. The ones you can open in yourself given a cutting edge. Or a twisted sheet and a chandelier. I try not to think about those escapes. It's harder on Ceremony days, but thinking can hurt your chances. My name is Offred. I had another name, but it's forbidden now. So many things are forbidden now.

---

Serena Joy Waterford: He is my husband until death do us part. Don't get any ideas. If I get trouble, believe me, I will give trouble back.

---

Nick Blaine: Going shopping?

Offred: [in voiceover] No, Nick, I'm gonna knock back a few at the Oyster House Bar. You wanna come along?

---

Offred: A bath is required before the Ceremony. I am to make myself clean. Washed and brushed like a prize pig. She comes to me so clearly in the bath. When do I come to her? Does she remember me? Please, God. Let her remember me.

---

Offred: Someone is watching. Here, someone is always watching. Nothing can change. It all has to look the same. Because I intend to survive for her. Her name is Hannah. My husband was Luke. My name is June.

Birth Day [1.02]

Ofglen: I worked at the university. Lecturer in cellular biology.

Offred: Wow. I thought all the college professors were sent to The Colonies or ...

Ofglen: I have two good ovaries. So they were kind enough to overlook my sinful past. Lucky me.

---

Offred: It seems imagined, like secrets in the fifth grade. People with mysterious histories and dark linkages. It doesn't seem as if it should be the true shape of the world. That's a hangover from an extinct reality. Now, the Guardians of the Faithful and American soldiers still fight with tanks in the remains of Chicago. Now, Anchorage is the capital of what's left of the United States and the flag that flies over that city has only two stars. Now, darkness and secrets are everywhere. Now, there has to be an "us." Because now, there is a "them."

---

Offred: It's forbidden for us to be alone with the Commanders. We aren't concubines. We're two-legged wombs. Maybe he knows about Ofglen. Have I been invited to my own ending? No. 'Cause it isn't an invitation. I can't send my regrets.

---

Offred: Beyond the Commander's door is a place where women do not go. Not even Serena Joy. What male totems are kept in there? I guess there may be something he wants from me. To want is to have a weakness. That gives me hope. But I can't stop thinking about the girl in the horror movie who goes down into the basement when the light is out. The girl who thinks her boyfriend with the perfect hair is just playing a sexy prank. "Justin, are you down there?" And then she descends, with a stupid smile, to her bloody end. That girl is a fucking moron.

---

Offred: Has Ofglen been transferred to a new post so soon?

Ofglen #2: I am Ofglen.

Offred: [in voiceover] Fuck.

Late [1.03]

Offred: Now I'm awake to the world. I was asleep before. That's how we let it happen. When they slaughtered Congress, we didn't wake up. When they blamed terrorists and suspended the Constitution, we didn't wake up then either. They said it would be temporary. Nothing changes instantaneously. In a gradually heating bathtub, you'd be boiled to death before you knew it.

---

Aunt Lydia: Remember your scripture. Blessed are the meek.

Offred: And blessed are those who suffer for the cause of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.

Nolite Te Bastardes Carborundorum [1.04]

Doctor: I can help you. It could be the only way for you. If Waterford can't get you pregnant, they won't blame him. It'll be your fault. It'll only take a few minutes, honey.

Offred: I can't.

---

Offred: There was an Offred before me. She helped me find my way out. She is dead. She is alive. She is me. We are Handmaids. Nolite te bastardes carborundorum, bitches.

Faithful [1.05]

Fred Waterford: We only wanted to make the world better.

Offred: Better?

Fred Waterford: Better never means better for everyone. It always means worse for some.

---

Offred: [after watching the Eyes arrest Ofglen] They didn't get everything. There was something inside of her that they couldn't take away. She looked invincible.

A Woman's Place [1.06]

Mrs. Castillo: I heard you speak once, at a rally before the war. You were very passionate.

Serena Joy Waterford: Women were abandoning their families and we needed to make a change. We were running out of time.

Mrs. Castillo: You were arrested for inciting to riot, if I recall?

Serena Joy Waterford: I had a temper in those days.

Mrs. Castillo: Back then, did you ever imagine a society like this?

Serena Joy Waterford: A society that has reduced its carbon emissions by 78% in three years?

Mrs. Castillo: A society in which women can no longer read your book. Or anything else.

Serena Joy Waterford: No. I didn't. God asks for sacrifices, Mrs. Castillo. That has always been His way, but He gives the righteous blessings in return. And I think that it's safe to say Gilead has been blessed in so many ways.

The Other Side [1.07]

Rachel Tapping: Do you know a woman named June Osborne? She's 31, blonde hair, blue eyes, from Boston?

Luke Bankole: Yes, my wife.

Rachel Tapping: That's what we thought. [takes out a manilla envelope and hands it to Luke] This is for you.

[Luke takes the envelope, puts on his glasses, pulls a piece of notepaper out of the envelope, and reads as Rachel sits down]

Luke Bankole: [after a beat] Where did you get this?

Rachel Tapping: One of our contacts in the Mexican government. From one of their trade delegates. Sorry it's not more. I think they only had a few seconds.

Luke Bankole: When?

Rachel Tapping: Three weeks ago.

Luke Bankole: So she's alive?

Rachel Tapping: We believe so. Yes.

Jezebels [1.08]

Offred: Luke is alive. I stretch out my arms to him, but he slips away. Like a ghost at daybreak. And I am left here. I wish this story were different. I wish it showed me in a better light. In a different story, maybe I wouldn't be such a fucking weakling. So I've gone back to Nick. Time after time, on my own. I want to know him, memorize him, so I can live on the image later. I should have done that with Luke because he's fading. Day by day and night by night he recedes. And I become more faithless. I could say these are acts of rebellion, a "fuck you" to the patriarchy, but those are excuses. I'm here because it feels good and because I don't want to be alone.

---

Offred: [after receiving a music box from Serena Joy] A perfect gift. A girl trapped in a box. She only dances when someone opens the lid, when someone else winds her up. If this is a story I'm telling, I must be telling it to someone. There's always someone, even when there's no one. I will not be that girl in the box.

Night [1.10]

Offred: It's their fault. They should have never given us uniforms if they didn't want us to be an army.

---

Offred: Whether this is my end or a new beginning, I have no way of knowing. I have given myself over into the hands of strangers. I have no choice. It can't be helped. And so I step up, into the darkness within ... or else the light.

Season 2

June [2.01]

Offred: Our father who art in Heaven. What the actual fuck?

---

June Osborne: My name is June Osborne. I'm from Brookline, Massachusetts. I am 34 years old. I stand 5'3" in bare feet. I weigh 120 pounds. I have viable ovaries. I'm five weeks pregnant. I am free.

Unwomen [2.02]

June Osborne: Is this what freedom looks like? Even this much is dizzying. Like an elevator with open sides. In the upper reaches of the atmosphere, you'd come apart. You'd vaporize. There'd be no pressure to hold you together. We get so comfortable with walls. It doesn't even take that long. Wear the red dress, wear the wings, shut your mouth, be a good girl. Roll over and spread your legs. Yes, ma'am. May the Lord open. What will happen when I get out? I probably don't have to worry about it, because there probably is no out. "Gilead knows no bounds," Aunt Lydia said. "Gilead is within you. Like the spirit of the Lord." Or the Commander's cock. Or cancer.

Baggage [2.03]

Erin: Blessed be the Fruit Loops.

Moira: [laughing] How long you been holding onto that one?

Erin: A while.

---

Omar: You a good witch or a bad witch?

June Osborne: Depends on who you ask, I guess.

Seeds [2.05]

Aunt Lydia: I'm pleased that everything is going so well with the baby.

Serena Joy Waterford: As our doctor would happily tell you.

Aunt Lydia: Have I let myself become a bother? There's so much more to a successful pregnancy than can be measured in a doctor's office. The ventilation in the Handmaid's room, the firmness of the bed. The mood in the household. Her attitude seems much improved.

Serena Joy Waterford: It's everything a Wife could ask for. She's quite unlike herself.

Aunt Lydia: Mrs. Waterford, no small effort has been made to bring Offred to heel. Your baby needs to know he's in a Godly, harmonious environment.

Serena Joy Waterford: Of course. Praised be His miracle.

Women's Work [2.08]

Offred: We do our work in the evening. She writes, I read. This is the new normal. And an offense to God. In another life, maybe we could've been colleagues. And in this one, we're heretics. I was already on the naughty list. An adulteress, a "fallen woman," as Aunt Lydia used to say. But this is new territory for Serena, I think. How does she feel about falling? She seems pretty fucking happy.

---

Offred: Blessed be the fruit.

Janine: May the Force be with you.

Smart Power [2.09]

Stuart Williston: We won't be conducting this morning's session, Mr. Waterford. You can go directly to the airport. We'll have your luggage brought down.

Fred Waterford: I don't understand.

Minister Kevin McConnell: You and your wife are no longer welcome in Canada.

Fred Waterford: Forgive me, is there an issue?

Stuart Williston: Last night, someone uploaded a series of letters from women in your country, and the public reaction here in Canada has been overwhelming.

Fred Waterford: Are you really going to cancel an entire agenda based on some anonymous slander?

Stuart Williston: We believe the women.

Fred Waterford: Yesterday you believed me.

Stuart Williston: Our former position is no longer sustainable.

Holly [2.11]

Offred: I'm sorry there is so much pain in this story. I'm sorry it's in fragments, like a body caught in crossfire or pulled apart by force. But there's nothing I can do to change it.

---

Fred Waterford: If you'd shown that girl one ounce of kindness, she would never have left!

Serena Joy Waterford: Kindness? You raped her yesterday.

Fred Waterford: That was your idea! I did this to fix your mess!

---

Offred: I keep going with this limping and mutilated story because I want you to hear it. As I will hear yours, too if I ever get the chance, if I meet you or if you escape, in the future or in heaven. By telling you anything at all, I'm believing in you. I believe you into being. Because I'm telling you this story, I will your existence. I tell. Therefore, you are.

The Word [2.13]

June Osborne: This is all she leaves behind. There won't be a marker anywhere. Heretics don't get to rest in peace. Here, they use them as animal feed. Aunt Lydia told us that at The Red Center. Waste not, want not. All we leave behind is the uniform. Wife. Handmaid. Martha. Mother. Daughter. Girlfriend. Queen. Bitch. Criminal. Sinner. Heretic. Prisoner.

Season 3

Night [3.01]

June Osborne: Please, God, watch over her. Protect her. Because this isn't the place with the still waters and green pastures, if you haven't noticed. This is the valley of death. And there's a fuck-ton of evil to fear. Please. Get her the hell out of here. If she gets out, will she remember me? Will she know that I gave her away? I have reasons. There are always reasons. I'm sorry, baby girl. Mom's got work.

---

Serena Joy Waterford: Did you give her to Ofjoseph?

June Osborne: I did what was best for her, Serena.

Serena Joy Waterford: Did you give my baby to Ofjoseph?

June Osborne: You wanted a better life for her, and that is what a mother does for her child.

Serena Joy Waterford: You gave her to a murderer! You killed my baby! You've killed my baby. How could you take her away from me?

June Osborne: Because I have another daughter! You chased us in the woods, and you hunted us down with dogs. And when you pulled her away, she screamed. My baby screamed for her mother! And I hope this feels like that.

Mary and Martha [3.02]

June Osborne: I used to be bad at waiting. "They also serve who stand and wait," Aunt Lydia said. She also said, "Not all of you will make it through. Some of you will fall on dry ground or thorns. Some of you are shallow-rooted. Think of yourselves as seeds. What kind of seed will you be, girls?" I pretend I'm a tree. And I wait.

Useful [3.03]

June Osborne: Heresy. That's what they're hanging for. Not for being part of the Resistance because officially, there is no resistance. Not for helping people escape because officially, there is no such thing as escape. They hang for being heretics, not martyrs. Martyrs inspire. Heretics are just stupid. Was I being stupid?

---

June Osborne: To be a man watched by women, it must be entirely strange. To have them watching him all the time. To have them flinch when he moves. To have them wondering, "What is he going to do next? Does he like me? Will he keep me? Am I safe here?" Cora wasn't.

---

Joseph Lawrence: I think I care more about your daughter than you do. I'm saving the planet for her. I'm replenishing the human race for her. What are you doing?

June Osborne: I am trying to be her mother!

Joseph Lawrence: She has a mother. You met Mrs. Mackenzie. She's a lovely woman. She never stole anybody's husband. Do you know that she organized a thousand food baskets for orphans in Africa back when there were orphans? What did you ever do to help anyone? Except edit esoteric, useless books that no one was ever gonna read instead of picking up your sick daughter from school. Useless.

June Osborne: You wrote esoteric books. You did that. God, it must be scary. Huh? Seeing the numbers on those spreadsheets turn into real people? Real people being executed? Knowing that if no one had read your books, we would all be better off. It must be hell being a man like that. Far worse than useless. You know what? I get it. I get why you would do this. I suppose you would hole yourself up in a house like this, playing games with people's heads, doing a good deed or two every once in a while, so that you can fucking sleep at night.

Joseph Lawrence: [after a long silence] How tempting it is to invent a humanity for anyone at all.

---

June Osborne: Mother, I think, wherever you may be, can you hear me? You wanted a women's culture. Well, now there is one. It isn't what you meant, but it exists. And here's what we do. We watch them. The men. We study them. We feed them. We please them. We can make them feel strong or weak. We know them that well. We know their worst nightmares. And, with a bit of practice, that's what we'll become. Nightmares. One day, when we're ready, we're coming for you. Just wait.

Unknown Caller [3.05]

June Osborne: She's out. She's safe. She's with Luke. May He and His goodness bless us with miracles, for we are weary and weak of faith. Maybe it's not a miracle. A miracle is beyond human powers. I did this. We. It's a dream. The only dream for a Handmaid in Gilead. My baby is free.

---

Serena Joy Waterford: [handing Luke a box] I'd like for Nichole to have this. This was a gift from my father, God rest his soul.

Luke Bankole: I don't know what it is that you tell yourself so that, you know, you can sleep at night, but Nichole is gonna know exactly where she came from, and how brave her mother was for getting her here. That's her story. All right? You're never gonna be anything to her.

Serena Joy Waterford: You wanna know what I tell myself? That she was my miracle, and that I let her go. Because I wanted a better life for her, and so did your wife. Okay? So if you can't honor my wishes, then honor hers. Please give this to Nichole and let her draw her own conclusions.

---

June Osborne: [in a recording smuggled to Luke] This is so weird. And I'm sorry. I'm sorry about that. But there are some things that I need to tell you that I couldn't before. I can't imagine what you thought when you met Nichole. But you were probably thinking a lot less about her journey across the border and more about her journey into the world. It's not easy to tell you this 'cause I am ashamed. I had to build a life here. Of a sort. And you should, too. You deserve a life, a full life, Luke. You deserve love. And you'll always have ... You'll always have mine. But I understand if you maybe need more than that. I need you to know that Nichole ... She was born out of love. Her real name's Holly. And her ... her father's a driver named Nick. You met him. He helped me to survive. I need to believe that you can forgive me. I'm not the woman you remember. She's part of me. But I'm doing what I need to ... to survive. You should, too. No, you ... You have to. You have to for Hannah. It's all for her, Luke. This is all for her. I promise you, I am trying to get to her. I promise. I love you.

Household [3.06]

June Osborne: I see them every day now. They've heard the Waterfords' plea. They're praying for Nichole. "Blessed and eternal God, please return this child of Gilead to her loving home." And this is all I know about my baby. If they're praying, then she's still safe. If they're praying, she is still beyond their reach. Even if just. I have my own prayers. I pray that their prayers go unanswered. And I pray for Serena. May she find her way back, may she see past her broken heart and remember that Nichole is better off where she is. May she convince Fred to let things lie. Or may they both get hit by a fucking truck. I'm honestly down for either.

---

Aunt Lydia: When I get tired, I still try to think of the good I can do in God's world. If I can help just one person, one soul, that's enough.

---

June Osborne: Serena, you built this whole world just so that you can have someone. But it didn't work. You're small. You're cruel. And you're empty. You will always be empty.

Serena Joy Waterford: I should have put a ring in your mouth the day that we met.

June Osborne: I should have let you burn when I had the chance.

Unfit [3.08]

June Osborne: Who can remember pain, once it's over? All that remains of it is a shadow. Not in the mind even, in the flesh. Pain marks you, but too deep to see. Out of sight, out of mind.

---

June Osborne: I hurt her. And I enjoyed it. The Wives and Aunts, too, grieving over Ofandy's dead child. And Lawrence. They all deserve to suffer. It's an acquired taste, seeing others in pain. Like that smoky scotch Luke got as a gift once. I grew to like that.

Heroic [3.09]

June Osborne: They don't give Ofmatthew anything that might hurt the baby. There's no future for her in any case. "There's too much bleeding," they say. "Her brain is gone," they say. Ofmatthew is just a vessel now, and the baby is all that matters. I suppose it's all that ever mattered. The doctors and nurses and orderlies and technicians come and go. I stay. Thirty-two days so far. I will be here until there's a baby. "This is your walking partner," Aunt Lydia said. "Where else would you be?"

Witness [3.10]

June Osborne: Another walking partner dead. They must think I'm cursed. Or a terrorist. I'm not, though. Not yet.

---

June Osborne: It's been five years since we had our children torn away from us. An eternity. They were one. Now they're six. They were seven. Now they're twelve. We've missed everything. The steps. The smiles. The tragedies. Children still die. Even in Gilead. Janine's son, Caleb, four years ago. Prayers can't stop car accidents.

Liars [3.11]

Serena Joy Waterford: What if it had never happened? Do you ever imagine what our lives would have been like?

Fred Waterford: I suppose I'd still be in marketing, you'd be a television pundit. I'd quit my job to manage your career, I'd be the man behind the woman.

Serena Joy Waterford: You would get resentful, and then we would get a divorce. And then you'd find a fertile woman and marry her.

Fred Waterford: I don't think so.

Serena Joy Waterford: Really?

Fred Waterford: More likely you'd leave me for a man more capable of giving you a child.

Serena Joy Waterford: You're just saying that in this place. But this isn't where we live.

Fred Waterford: It could be. Why couldn't we retire to a town like this? Or this very one, I don't know. We could give up our place in line.

Serena Joy Waterford: You would do that?

Fred Waterford: I don't need all the pomp and circumstance.

Serena Joy Waterford: You love D.C. We worked so hard with the Winslows.

Fred Waterford: I don't give a damn about the Winslows. I don't want to miss watching our daughter grow up. Her first steps. She is gonna grow up to be just like you.

---

Fred Waterford: Where are we? This is not just "up ahead." You call this just "up ahead"? Where the hell are we?

Mark Tuello: Commander Waterford, you have now crossed into Canada.

[A line of trucks suddenly appear from up the road and stop near them as soldiers emerge from the trees]

Fred Waterford: What the hell's going on? [to Serena] Get in the car. Get in the car, we're leaving.

Mark Tuello: You are now in Canada. We are arresting you for war crimes and crimes of aggression in violation of international human rights treaties and international law.

Fred Waterford: [as soldiers grab him and Serena] You can't hold us. Get your hands off her!

Serena Joy Waterford: Fred, just do what they say.

Sacrifice [3.12]

Luke Bankole: We grew up the same. You know, good family. First-class education. A man of faith. Yet you destroy lives.

Fred Waterford: I've saved lives, Mr. Bankole. What did you do when our values eroded? When the birth rate was plummeting? Stood by and let it happen.

Luke Bankole: Maybe. But you're gonna rot in this jail, knowing that your wife betrayed you.

Fred Waterford: What about your wife? All those years, wasted. Praying she'll come back to you.

Luke Bankole: She will come back to me.

Fred Waterford: Maybe. But the June Osborne you knew doesn't exist anymore. Gilead's changed her. I've changed her.

Mayday [3.13]

June Osborne: Ruthless, I remember thinking. They are fucking ruthless. Where does it come from, this talent for ruthlessness? It seems so easy for them. For these men. For men like these. That's how they won, I suppose. It isn't about being right or having the people or God on your side. It isn't anything that grandiose. In the end, victory goes to the hardest heart. To the ruthless go the spoils. Fifty-two kids will be brought to the Lawrence House after sunset. We will move in darkness. We can hide in the dark, at least. We have a chance, at least. If there is actually a Martha network. If this all isn't a trap, set by the Eyes. I will get the children to the airport. The plane leaves at midnight. Because I am ruthless.

---

Fred Waterford: I have some uncomfortable information to report. Serious crimes committed by my wife.

Mark Tuello: Commander, Mrs. Waterford has a plea agreement that gives her immunity.

Fred Waterford: Yes, I've been reading about that. Your law library is excellent.

Mark Tuello: Anything Serena did in Gilead was under duress. She had no power, she was subject to the state.

Fred Waterford: I can assure you, what Mrs. Waterford did was far beyond the laws of Gilead and the laws of God.

---

Mark Tuello: Mrs. Waterford, under warrant from the ICC and the government of the United States of America, I am placing you under arrest.

Serena Joy Waterford: On what grounds?

Mark Tuello: Crimes against humanity, sexual slavery, the rape of June Osborne.

Serena Joy Waterford: A religious ... Wait, wait a second ... religious ritual ordered by the state under penalty of execution. I do have immunity, Mr. Tuello. [to the social workers taking Nichole] Please stop one second!

Mark Tuello: This charge doesn't involve what you did with your husband. Take the child.

Serena Joy Waterford: No, please. I'm sorry. Please. Can you please wait? Wait, wait. Please, stop! I don't understand. What's going on?

Mark Tuello: You forced your driver to impregnate Miss Osborne so you could claim their resulting child.

Serena Joy Waterford: Nick and Offred had a relationship.

Mark Tuello: It's still rape, Mrs. Waterford.

Season 4

Pigs [4.01]

June Osborne: I used to think of my body as an instrument for the accomplishment of my will. I could use it to run, pick things up, make things happen. There were limits, of course, but my body was nonetheless one with me. It obeyed my commands, mostly without complaint. Not anymore. Now there's tending to be done. There's homemade penicillin. Mold scraped off, rotten fruit, an old Martha recipe. There's comfrey and marigold oil to make the skin heal faster. Almost bikini season. I almost died when we first got here, they said. Sepsis. Janine says I was talking to Hannah. I don't remember. Pain makes your world very small. My world has been this room. Today I venture forth. My world can't be small, Not now. Because the others need me to protect them. Gilead is out there. Gilead isn't afraid. It does not hurt or sleep. It keeps coming, it keeps searching for us. And they will keep coming forever and ever and ever.

Nightshade [4.02]

June Osborne: Places like this have always been about fantasies. They were built so men could act like country lords. Pretend you're rich for a weekend. Now they're for fantasies of a different kind.

---

Serena Joy Waterford: Look, I don't know what the legal requirements are, but I need to separate my interests from Fred. I am done with him.

Mark Tuello: We can talk about that later.

Serena Joy Waterford: No, we can talk about it right now.

Mark Tuello: You're pregnant, Serena. The results from your blood test came back. Congratulations.

The Crossing [4.03]

Aunt Lydia: That lieutenant is very determined. If you don't cooperate, I fear things might get quite a bit worse for you. Ofrobert, Oferic, Ofhoward and the others, all wanted fugitives in grave danger because of you. Bring them home.

June Osborne: This isn't their home.

Aunt Lydia: Because you corrupted them! They had a life of meaning here, a life of service.

June Osborne: There is no meaning in this place except violence. You ... You told those girls that if they followed the rules, they'd be okay. Then you sent them out to be raped and beaten and humiliated. Over and over and over. You failed them.

---

June Osborne: We slept in what had once been the gymnasium. We learned to whisper in the semi-darkness. We learned to lipread. Sarah. Elie. Brianna. Alma. Janine. Moira. June.

Milk [4.04]

Rita Blue: Did you know in Gilead I was officially considered property of the Waterford family?

Mark Tuello: I did, yes.

Rita Blue: Registered and everything. Like my old Nissan Altima.

Chicago [4.05]

Aunt Lydia: I have sources. Witnesses to your involvement in Commander Winslow's disappearance.

Joseph Lawrence: Is that right?

Aunt Lydia: In addition, I have testaments to your many abuses of power. Black market activity. Not to mention your collaboration with your handmaid Ofjoseph.

Joseph Lawrence: Unless?

Aunt Lydia: Unless you arrange for my immediate reinstatement.

Joseph Lawrence: There it is. For a second, I thought you didn't have it in you.

Aunt Lydia: Is it that you didn't hear me, Commander?

Joseph Lawrence: No. No, I heard you. Loud and clear. So, uh ... What else you got?

Aunt Lydia: I beg your pardon?

Joseph Lawrence: I get it. You can bury me. I can only imagine the goods you have on my illustrious colleagues. Commander Calhoun. What's the dirt on him?

Aunt Lydia: I'm not one to traffic in gossip.

Joseph Lawrence: You just tried to blackmail me.

Aunt Lydia: Hardly gossip.

Joseph Lawrence: You want me to restore your position, I need my seat back at the table. And your information can help me get it. Let's fix this country. Let's make things right again. Together.

Aunt Lydia: I might consider a collaboration if I have your word that Ofjoseph would be put in my care. To be disciplined. Handled my way.

Joseph Lawrence: I can live with that.

Aunt Lydia: Good.

Vows [4.06]

Moira Strand: What happened with Hannah? You said they took her. What happened? I'm not gonna force you to stay. I just wanna know.

June Osborne: They showed her to me. I saw her. But there was nothing I could do. For her. There was nothing I could do to help her. She didn't recognize me. She didn't know who I was. She was scared of me.

Moira Strand: Oh, God.

June Osborne: Everything that has happened to her, it's because of me.

Moira Strand: No. No, that is not true.

June Osborne: How can I go back without her? How can I show up without her?

Moira Strand: June, no one expects you to have her. They're waiting for a person, not a superhero. Even if you did get all those kids out.

June Osborne: But not her. Not my Hannah. I didn't have her. I tried. I really did. I did everything I could, but it wasn't enough. I was supposed to save her. 'Cause I'm her mommy. I'm her mother. It is my job to protect her. And I failed. How can I face him? How can I tell him that everything that has happened to her is because of me?

Moira Strand: No. That's not true. And that's Gilead talking. You know that's not true.

June Osborne: No, he is never gonna forgive me. He's never gonna forgive me.

Moira Strand: All these years, he has waited for you. And he has never given up on you. You need to have a little faith now too.

Home [4.07]

Serena Joy Waterford: I believe that the Lord brought you here so that I could make amends.

June Osborne: I brought myself here so that I could tell you how much I hate you. You don't deserve to make amends to anyone. The only thing that you deserve is a life full of suffering and shame. You have destroyed my life, my family, my friends, my country, and my child. There is no one less worthy of redemption than you.

Serena Joy Waterford: I'm sorry. I am begging for your forgiveness, and I'm begging for the Lord's mercy and for His understanding.

June Osborne: Do you know why God made you pregnant? So that when He kills that baby inside your womb, you will feel a fraction of the pain that you caused us when you tore our children from our arms! Do you understand me? [Serena Joy whimpers] DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!

Testimony [4.08]

June Osborne: My name is June Osborne. Fred Waterford and Serena Joy Waterford imprisoned me, beat me, and raped me. I came to the Waterfords' house in 2017. It was my second posting. A few days after my arrival, I was summoned to the drawing room, where I was asked to kneel in front of the Waterfords, as witnessed by their housekeeper Rita Blue and their driver Nick Blaine. Mr. Waterford read a story from the Bible about Rachel and Bilhah. After that, I was taken upstairs to her bedroom. There, Mr. Waterford raped me while his wife held me down. This happened for three successive nights every month when I was ovulating. These were the legally sanctioned rapes. There were others. Mrs. Waterford was desperate for me to get pregnant and questioned her husband's fertility. She ordered me to have sex with their driver, another violation of Gilead law that I could not refuse. Mr. Blaine and I had intercourse while Mrs. Waterford was in the room, watching us the entire time. I did become pregnant with my daughter Nichole. My daughter. During a visit to a doctor's office, the underground resistance movement in Gilead provided the means for me to escape, and I stayed in hiding for two months. Eventually, I found my way to an ally's small plane leaving for Canada, but just before takeoff, I was captured, and I was brought back to the Waterfords', where the mistreatment and abuse continued. At nine months pregnant, I went into false labor. For this, Mrs. Waterford was very angry with me and felt embarrassed in front of her friends who had gathered to witness the birth. As punishment, Mr. Waterford raped me again while she held me down. I struggled and pleaded for them to stop. They did not. After I gave birth, the Waterfords forbid any contact with my daughter Nichole, although I was still expected to provide breast milk for her. Eventually, I managed to convince them to let me to spend some time with her. Mrs. Waterford did make one attempt to improve conditions for the women and young girls of Gilead. She appeared in front of the Commanders' Council and read out loud from the Bible. For this crime of reading, they cut off her finger. Mr. Waterford, her husband, did not object. When I confronted Mr. Waterford about his brutality, he struck me and threatened to cut out my tongue. I hit him back, even though it could mean execution for me. I suppose I was past caring by then. Later, with the help of Rita Blue and other housekeepers in the neighborhood, I had a second opportunity to escape Gilead, this time with my daughter Nichole. But I couldn't leave my other daughter Hannah behind. So I stayed to try to save her. To bring her back to her father, my husband. I failed. This time, when I was captured, I was sent to a new household, where Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Lawrence did not subject me to any rapes, at great risk to their own lives. But Mr. Waterford later arranged for me to be raped by Mr. Lawrence as a test of loyalty. The Waterfords drank coffee while upstairs I had sex with Mr. Lawrence against both of our wishes in front of his wife. Mrs. Lawrence, Eleanor, was a kind and fragile woman, and this experience devastated her. That was the last time I saw Mr. Waterford until now. I am grateful to be speaking to you today. But mine is just one voice. Countless others will remain unheard, imprisoned by men like Fred Waterford. Women, my friends, who lost their lives and can never be heard. It is for those women that I ask the International Criminal Court to confirm the charges against this man and put him on trial. I ask for the maximum possible sentence. I ask for justice. Thank you.

---

Joseph Lawrence: Boy, it must be killing you that June won. Out of your reach, free as a bird. And singing like one, too.

Aunt Lydia: Well, she will answer to God.

Joseph Lawrence: We'll see. Maybe she'll just wrap that old goat around her little finger too. June won because she knows how to make people like her. People do not like you. They don't. I, I can sympathize. People don't like me either. But these reports will stop.

Aunt Lydia: Are you going to terminate me?

Joseph Lawrence: I don't want to. I don't. I want you back in form. Oh. The work that I’m doing, that we, that we are doing is the future of Gilead. And that means the world to me. Everything to me.

Aunt Lydia: Yes. Yes.

Joseph Lawrence: So, no. No. I'm not terminating you. But, uh, today, we have a situation. [pulls out a file containing information about Jainine] A fugitive Handmaid captured in Chicago. [Aunt Lydia gasps] The trouble that she's caused and the defiance. It's such a poor reflection on your training. On Gilead.

Aunt Lydia: Yes. Ah ... Commander, I, I assure you, this girl was led astray.

Joseph Lawrence: This girl was your responsibility, am I right?

Aunt Lydia: Yes. Yes, she is. Yes.

Joseph Lawrence: It's, uh, fortuitous, I think, to have her in our custody right now. I know you, you enjoy inflicting pain.

Aunt Lydia: Why, that isn't true.

Joseph Lawrence: I'm not judging. Everybody needs a hobby, I guess.

Aunt Lydia: Oh, that's not true. I, I object to this...

Joseph Lawrence: But it is counterproductive for you to inflict that pain on your students at the Red Center, let alone on your colleagues. Do you understand?

Aunt Lydia: I do, yes.

Joseph Lawrence: You need a better outlet. So do with her what you will.

---

Aunt Lydia: I don't know why you're so happy. June left you.

Janine: No, she didn't.

Aunt Lydia: Janine. Don't tell me she couldn't have taken you with her. She's done it before. Maybe this time, you were just too much trouble. It's difficult to know with that one. So unpredictable. Selfish.

Janine: I know what happens here. I know it will keep happening until I die. Just don't make me a Handmaid again, please.

The Wilderness [4.10]

June Osborne: It has to look like love. That's what he needs. Pretend you like it. Pretend you love it. Pretend you want him. He is your Commander. Make him your whole world. Your sun, your moon, and all your stars. Make him believe. Because your motherfucking life depends on it. Don't run. Don't kick. Don't scream. Don't bite it off. Don't. Bite.

Cast

• Elisabeth Moss - June Osborne/ Offred
• Joseph Fiennes - Commander Fred Waterford
• Yvonne Strahovski - Serena Joy Waterford
• Alexis Bledel - Emily / Ofglen / Ofsteven
• Madeline Brewer - Janine / Ofwarren / Ofdaniel
• Ann Dowd - Aunt Lydia
• O. T. Fagbenle - Lucas "Luke" Bankole
• Max Minghella - Nick Blaine
• Samira Wiley - Moira / Ruby
• Amanda Brugel - Rita
• Bradley Whitford - Commander Joseph Lawrence

External links

• The Handmaid's Tale (TV series) quotes at the Internet Movie Database
• The Handmaid's Tale at TV.com
• The Handmaid's Tale – official site at Hulu