“Who's they? Someone brave. Or stupid. Or both. There's a lot of both.”
The Underground Femaleroad is a resistance and rescue organization to help targets of the Gileadean regime escape. Its members offer places to harbour fugitives called "safe houses", as well as courier services to smuggle them out[2]. Each safe house station is in contact with only one other one. If one station is discovered, one of the couriers is contacted to set up an alternate route[3].
Historical Reference
The name "Underground Femaleroad" is an allusion to the historical "Underground Railroad", a network of secret routes and safe houses in the United States during the early to mid-19th century, used by enslaved African-Americans to escape to Canada.
Notable Quotes
“They aren't all Quakers, some of them aren't even religious. They are just people who don't like the way things are going” — Moira about the motives of her escape helpers[3].
In the Novel
After escaping from the Red Center, Moira makes her way to the center of town in Aunt Elizabeth’s clothes and goes to the home of a Quaker couple involved in the resistance. The Quakers put her on the Underground Femaleroad, whose members try to smuggle her out of the country, but she is caught just as she is leaving the final safe house to slip across the border in a boat[3].
Serena allows Rita, Cora, Offred, and Nick to watch the news while they wait. The news reports that spies were caught smuggling “national resources” across the border, and that five Quakers have been arrested. [4].
Daisy's adopted parents, Neil and Melanie, were known to Gilead as having a part in the Underground Femaleroad and subsequently killed by Gilead agents, the Pearl Girls, via a car-bombing in Toronto [5].
In the TV Series
Moira's (and June's) second escape attempt
June and Moira escape from the Red Center, hoping to escape to Boston, which they hear has a safehouse for Handmaids. June is stopped by a guard, and only Moira is able to board a train, dressed as an Aunt[6]. She successfully makes it to a safe house owned by a Quaker family. They put her on the Femaleroad, but her courier is stopped and shot outside the city. Moira is later taken to the brothel "Jezebel's"[7].
June's third escape attempt
"June"
After it is discovered that she is pregnant, June is taken to the hospital for an examination. After it is completed, she is left alone and begins to put her shoes on when a key falls out from her boot. The key gets her into the stairwell and she follows red marks that lead her down into a long tunnel beneath the facility. At the end of it, the butcher is waiting for her with a refrigerated truck loaded with hogs to take her away. When the truck stops, he leads her into an empty corporate building at Back Bay (possibly a garage) where Nick welcomes her.
"Unwomen (TV Episode)"
June is laying in the back of a truck as a courier moves her to a safe location, which looks to be a generic abandoned industrial building, but later is revealed to be the home of the Boston Globe newspaper.
"Baggage"
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 car. 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. 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.
June dresses in one of Heather's outfits and leaves the apartment in broad daylight. She 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 fired upon and they are forced to stop. The pilot is executed and the two others are recaptured.
"Other Women"
Commander Fred speaks of the tremendous effort it took to save June from her “kidnapping” at the hands of an "insidious terrorist network."
Aunt Lydia and June go on a walk by the river. She shows her the corpse of Omar at the Wall. Lydia informs June that his wife became a handmaid and the son was given away, never to be seen by his mother again.
References
- ↑ Episode 2.3, Baggage
- ↑ Novel, Historical Notes
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Novel, Section 38
- ↑ Novel, Section 14
- ↑ The Testaments, IV The Clothes Found
- ↑ Episode 1.4, "Nolite Te Bastardes Carborundorum"
- ↑ Episode 1.8, "Jezebels"