Milk is the 4th episode of the fourth season of The Handmaid's Tale.
Synopsis[]
June takes a harrowing journey with Janine, trying to escape Gilead, as Janine remembers a stressful experience in her past. In Toronto, Serena tries to manipulate Rita, who seeks advice from Moira.
Plot[]
Right after after the train kills Alma and Brianna, Janine is in denial, wondering if any of the handmaids got out alive. June quickly makes it clear that they’re the only survivors, and they’ve got to keep moving west, following the railroad tracks. At a depot, they see Gilead soldiers packing a supply train for the front. They hear one train is going to Chicago and so they climb up onto a tanker car and June hops in through the open hatch. They drop straight into a giant vat of milk. They hide under the surface as a soldier locks down the hatch, and then the milk starts shaking as the train begins moving and they struggle to keep afloat. June manages to find a drain to drain out the milk so they don’t drown.
June tries to keep Janine awake, saying they can't fall asleep in the cold. Janine is in distress, and she presses June about what the actual plan is until June finally admits that she has no idea. Janine, upset about the loss of the others, confronts June and asks if she ratted out their location to the Eyes. June admits that she did but only because they were threatening Hannah - she tells Janine she would’ve done the same, but Janine disagrees.
In a flashback to Janine’s pre-Gilead life, she attempts to get an abortion but finds herself at a crisis pregnancy center where a volunteer tries to talk her out of the procedure. “All women regret doing this, Janine”, the volunteer says. Janine leaves still pregnant. In a later scene, Janine is with her son, Caleb, in her apartment. Later on at a new clinic, Janine still pregnant, finds an actual doctor who hands her some pills for a chemical abortion.
In the present, June and Janine’s ride ends when the train comes under attack. Though Janine is scared, June points out that it’s a good thing - “If they’re attacking a Gilead train, it’s not Gilead.” When they get out, they see a small, armed group of people ransacking the train and taking its supplies. There are dead Gilead soldiers everywhere.
A woman with a machine gun named Theresa eyes the handmaids and calls for the group’s leader, who is named Steven and who doesn’t want to take Janine and June back to the hideout. June convinces them to take them back.
The group, however, is not Mayday and they tell the girls nothing is for free, implying that one of them needs to have sex with Steven, the leader. June volunteers in order to spare Janine, but when she kneels in front of him and he unzips his pants, she’s shaking and crying. He tells her he won’t force her but that if she can’t do it she has to leave. June doesn’t go through with it and announces to Janine that they’re leaving, but Janine decides to go herself to do it so that they can get food and spare clothes. She tells June it wasn’t so bad.
When Moira lets Rita know that Serena has requested a visit, she doesn’t know what to think. She goes to see Serena, and seems genuinely happy as Serena reveals her pregnant belly and shows off her ultrasound. She tells Rita she doesn’t plan on telling Fred. She tells her she wants Rita to help her care for the boy and asks her to pray together. Serena calls her "my lovely Rita", and says she has missed her, giving her the picture of the ultrasound.
Later, Mark Tuello drops off some interview prep materials from Mrs. Waterford’s defense attorney. Serena wants Rita to testify that whatever Serena did to June during June’s pregnancy was under extreme duress. Rita tells Tuello that she was legally the property of the Waterfords.
Rita goes to meet Fred to tell him that she will pray for his son, alerting him to the fact that Serena is pregnant.
At the end of the episode, Rita sits in her apartment and eats a sushi dinner and smiles.
Cast[]
Starring
Guest Starring
- Nona Parker Johnson as Darla
- Omar Maskati as Steven
Additional Cast
- Sophia Walker as Abby
- Allison Edwards-Crewe as Theresa
- Paloma Nuñez as Dr. Thomas
Gallery[]
Music[]
- "Let Me Take You Out" — Class Actress.[1]
- "Three Little Birds" — Madeline Brewer.[1]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Courtesy of What-Song.com.
| Season 1 | Offred | Birth Day | Late | Nolite Te Bastardes Carborundorum | Faithful | A Woman's Place The Other Side | Jezebels | The Bridge | Night | |
| June | Unwomen | Baggage | Other Women | Seeds | First Blood | After | Women's Work Smart Power | The Last Ceremony | Holly | Postpartum | The Word | ||
| Night | Mary and Martha | Useful | God Bless the Child | Unknown Caller Household | Under His Eye | Unfit | Heroic | Witness | Liars | Sacrifice | Mayday | ||
| Pigs | Nightshade | The Crossing | Milk | Chicago | Vows | Home | Testimony Progress | The Wilderness | ||
| Morning | Ballet | Border | Dear Offred | Fairytale | Together | No Man's Land | Motherland | Allegiance | Safe | ||
| Train | Exile | Devotion | Promotion | Janine | Surprise | Shattered | Exodus | Execution | [[]] | ||