Baggage

Baggage
Season 2
Episode 3
Air date	May 2, 2018
Runtime	58:03
Directed by	Kari Skogland
Teleplay by	Dorothy Fortenberry
Episodes
Previous	Unwomen
Next	Other Women

Baggage is the third episode of the second season of The Handmaid's Tale.

Synopsis

Offred reflects on her relationship with her mother as she navigates her way through Gilead. In Little America, Moira tries to cope with the trauma she endured.

Plot

June is seen running through the Boston Globe as she exercises. She stops in front of the mural. We learn that she's been in the facility for two months.

Moira is running through Little America. She goes back to the apartment and makes breakfast for Luke and Erin.

We see June listening to a recording of an interview with an early "Sons of Jacob" member and digging through newspapers cutting out clippings. She pins the clippings to the walls under categories like  'Origins of Gilead', 'Power Structure', 'Milizarization', and 'Curtailment of Civil Rights'. Staring on an article under the latter category, she 'tells' the clippings in a voice-over "You were there all the time but no one noticed you". She adds "not no one" and then thinks about her mom Holly and how she took her to a rally once where people were tossing the names of their rapists into the fire.

Nick arrives and gives her coffee. He tells her that he should probably get going. He tells her that she might be leaving the Boston Globe soon. He promises to come back on Tuesday. June says that she can't leave. Nick says it will be better for everyone. She replies better never means better for everyone. They hug.

Moira helps a new arrival at the center who tells her his story. She tells him that there are trauma counselors on the third floor and that it gets easier.

June opens the garage and learns that she is leaving now. She grabs her coat and climbs into the back of the truck. She looks back at the building as they drive away.

In a flashback, June goes to her mom's house to pick up a mixer. She tells her group of friends what she does for a living. Everyone seems to be impressed, excluding her mother.

June is dropped off at another location and told that someone would be along to get her soon. She looks around and finds lots of signs that have been taken down. Omar suddenly shows up and asks her if she's a good witch or a bad witch. He tells her to come with him that they're going to smuggle her into Canada. She asks who is "they" and he says someone brave or stupid. As they are walking to his car, he gets an alert that the safe house he's to take her to isn't safe. He goes to leave her behind but she begs him to take her with him. He puts her into the back of his van. She thanks him but he tells her to get down.

Omar takes her to his home. His wife, Heather, does not approve of her being there and they send her to their kitchen while they talk. She plays with their son Adam while they talk. Heather comes back out and tells her that she can't believe she'd give her baby away and says she would rather die. The next day, the family leaves to go to church, telling June that they'll be back at 2 and to be quiet while they're gone.

In a flashback, June's mother Holly asks her if she likes the job at the publishing place. She says she does. Her mom tells her that she sacrificed for her and that she's settling. She asks about Luke and says she shouldn't marry and waste her youth on a man.

June is in the apartment of her escape helpers when someone comes knocking at the door. She hides under their bed where she finds a Quran and a prayer mat. She begins to straighten up the apartment and Adam's toys. She is reminded of her own daughter and wonders why they didn't come home on time.

In a flashback, Aunt Lydia shows them a slideshow, reprimanding them for the sins of the past. One of the pictures is of June's mother working in The Colonies. Later, in bed, Moira asks June how she thinks they got her mother. She doesn't know but that she told her that it wasn't safe what she was doing. Moira tells her that she was right but June says so was she. That she knew this would happen.

June dresses in one of Heather's outfits and leaves the apartment in broad daylight. She walks right past the guards to the bridge and to an underground train station. She gets on the train and pulls out the map to check where she's going. She takes the train to the last stop and, when she gets off, goes through the woods. She thinks about Hannah as she runs and how Hannah left her once but now June has to leave her. She gets to a field where old planes are kept.

Moira is at a club drinking when she makes eye-contact with another girl. Moira fingers her in the bathroom but stops her from doing the same to her. Moira seems troubled afterwards and introduces herself as "Ruby", her former alias in "Jezebel's". When she returns home early in the morning, she spots Erin eating cereal in the kitchen. To her surprise, Erin replies "Blessed be the 'froot loops,'" spoofing a Gileadean salutation. They laugh together.

June finally makes it to the plane and gets on board. She thinks about her mother and how they would drive together. Just as they go to take off, the plane is shot and they are forced to stop. The pilot is executed and the two others are recaptured.

Cast

Starring

• Elisabeth Moss as June Osborne
• Ann Dowd as Aunt Lydia
• O-T Fagbenle as Luke Bankole
• Max Minghella as Nick Blaine
• Samira Wiley as Moira

Guest Starring

• Cherry Jones as Holly Maddox
• Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Omar
• Erin Way as Erin

Additional Cast

• Jordana Blake as Hannah Bankole
• Philip Craig as Maintenance Driver
• Vas Saranga as Kyle
• Asia Rempel as Young June
• Katie Messina as Carol
• Catherine McNally as Sarah
• Amanda Barker as Trish
• Michelle Hospedales as Holly's Friend #3
• Jessica Greenberg as Holly's Friend #4
• Isaiah Rockcliffe as Adam
• Joanna Douglas as Heather
• Janelle Heron as Econowife
• Michala Brasseur as Caitlyn
• Trevor Hayes as Pilot
• Alex Harrouch as Young Driver

Music

• "Go!" by Santigold
• "Hollaback Girl" by Gwen Stefani

Notes

• June cuts out a clipping which says "Old-fashioned group raises new hopes". Other headlines on the wall say:

    Martial Law Still in Effect Following Terror Attack
    NATIONAL STATE OF EMERGENCY DECLARED: We will not rest until the bad guys are found
    A nation paused: Military steps in for [?] government
    Still no arrests in attack on gay nightclub
    “WE’RE DOING THIS FOR YOUR PROTECTION”: Remaining privacy sanctions lifted

... as well as:ANOTHER NIGHT OF PROTESTS Protesters take to the streets once again as a reaction against civil rights infringements WORCESTER – A small but determined group of protesters hit the streets once again last night to demonstrate against what they see as increasing, sweeping infringements of human rights […] […] with signs proclaiming “WOMEN’S RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS” and “INJUSTICE ANYWHERE IS A THREAT TO JUSTICE EVERYWHERE,” this nearly female confederacy of [??] has become a constant [??] in Worcester these past few months. “They are growing the mass hysteria to control us and take away our civil liberties” says organizer Lilith Chambers. “We’re getting our rights stripped away and we’re so scared of some elusive external force we don’t even notice. It’s our duty to speak out, no matter how small a group is willing to do it.” And it’s a small group, indeed. At their peak several months ago, these grass-roots marches boasted a roster of barely a hundred people, and the number has declined by the week. “I’ll march alone if I have to,” says Mrs. Chambers. Soon, she just might be.

• Recurring phrases: In a flashback of "Jezebels", Nick comments the 'Handmaid issue' to Commander Fred as "better for everyone". Commander Fred later explains to Offred (June) that "Better never means better for everyone", but is "always worse for some". ("Faithful")
• Omar's family is revealed to be Muslim. In the novel, islamic fanatics were blamed for the D.C. attacks.

ANOTHER NIGHT OF PROTESTS

Protesters take to the streets once again as a reaction against civil rights infringements

WORCESTER – A small but determined group of protesters hit the streets once again last night to demonstrate against what they see as increasing, sweeping infringements of human rights […]

[…] with signs proclaiming “WOMEN’S RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS” and “INJUSTICE ANYWHERE IS A THREAT TO JUSTICE EVERYWHERE,” this nearly female confederacy of [??] has become a constant [??] in Worcester these past few months.

“They are growing the mass hysteria to control us and take away our civil liberties” says organizer Lilith Chambers. “We’re getting our rights stripped away and we’re so scared of some elusive external force we don’t even notice. It’s our duty to speak out, no matter how small a group is willing to do it.”

And it’s a small group, indeed. At their peak several months ago, these grass-roots marches boasted a roster of barely a hundred people, and the number has declined by the week. “I’ll march alone if I have to,” says Mrs. Chambers. Soon, she just might be.