“This could go boom.”— Erin in reply to Moira's regret over the package containing letters instead of explosive[1]
The Bridge
Offred (June) reaches out to Alma to become a part of "Mayday" and contribute to the resistance movement. Alma resists at first but ultimately accepts Offred's offer and gives her her first assignment - get a mystery package from a "Rachel at the bar" in the Jezebel's club and hold on to it until further notice. [2]
Offred isn't able to retrieve the package when she's at the club. She asks Moira to get Rachel's Package for her, which she refuses, claiming not to know Rachel. The next day, Offred is in the supermarket where she orders some meat. The butcher slyly gives her the secret package that she was supposed to retrieve at Jezebel's, with a note from Moira attached. [2]
Night
Offred returns home from grocery shopping and hides the package in her bathroom. It contains a pile of letters from various displaced women looking for children and family members, detailing atrocities happening to them in Gilead and begging the world not to forget them. Offred reads them all in horror, and falls asleep surrounded by them[3]. The content read in a voiceover says:
My name is Maria Navarro.
I was captured on December 2nd at a checkpoint outside of Hartford. They took my son Spencer. He was five.
He has a red birthmark on his right arm, just below the elbow. I don't know where he is.
My name is Greer Ladestro. I was a Handmaid at three different houses. I was a third-year medical student at the University of Michigan. I'm in Boston, I think. Help me, for God's sake. Help me.
My name is Alison. I have two daughters. I don't know where they are.
I have a sister, Julia, in London.
Whoever is getting this, please don't forget me.
Please don't forget us all.
We are prisoners.
They rape us.
They treat us like animals.
You have to tell people what's happening here.
Please, God.
My eight-year-old got taken away.
My son.
My name is Riley.
Her name is Caroline.
My name is Aubrey.
My name is Gabriela.
First Blood
At night, Offred starts burning the letters from Rachel's package in the kitchen sink and is interrupted by Nick, who takes the remaining letters to himself[4].
Women's Work
Nick comes home to Eden and finds that she's organized the house. He sees the stack of letters Offred was burning on the nightstand and asks her if she read them. She says no and he forbids her from ever touching his things again[5].
Smart Power
When Nick and the Waterfords arrive at the Canadian hotel, there are protesters at the front door. Luke confronts Commander Fred. He's taken away by the police but not before Serena and Nick realize that he's Offred's husband. Nick goes looking for Luke and finds him in a bar. Nick gives Luke the stack of letters June gave him and tells him to get them out somehow. Luke, Moira and Erin read the letters, but Moira is not convinced that Gilead would "go boom" over it. Erin, however, believes it would be the start of something and the letters are released online, causing extreme public outrage and forcing the Waterfords to leave the country immediately as they are no longer welcome in Canada[1].
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Episode 2.9, Smart Power
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Episode 9, "The Bridge"
- ↑ Episode 1.10, "Night"
- ↑ Episode 2.5, "Seeds"
- ↑ Episode 2.8, "Women's Work"