The Handmaid’s Tale Review: God Bless the Child (Season 3 Episode 4)
On The Handmaid’s Tale Season 3 Episode 4, “God Bless the Child,” June’s relationship with Commander Waterford and Serena becomes even more complicated.
As the different members of Gilead’s caste system come together to celebrate the babies born over the past year in their district, June recalls the day of Hannah’s baptism. The two ceremonies describe a very different God. The one not twisted and polluted by the patriarchy is loving and forgiving.
In Gilead, God is vengeful: a stern father who punishes those who disobey rules set forth and interpreted by men. It is everyone’s responsibility to teach the children to fear the Lord.. The entire Dedication is just another harsh reminder of how deluded the architects of Gilead and many of its inhabitants are.
The pomp and circumstance does give June the opportunity to try and forge new alliances as well as strengthen the ones she already been nurturing. “God Bless the Child” does begin to foreshadow a troublesome storyline when June begins to question her feelings for Commander Waterford.
June: I ought to feel hatred for this man. I know I ought to feel it, but it isn’t what I do feel. What I feel is more complicated than that. I don’t know what to call it. It isn’t love.
It’s hard to imagine what can be gained by going down this path. June has moderate success when manipulating Fred, so it makes sense she would view him as a mark. He’s too devoted to the cause to be a true ally.
But to suddenly assign Fred some deeper meaning to June feels like an anomaly. There is such an untoward intimacy that exists between June, Fred, and Serena. This is why he reaches out to June for advice because she not only knows them as well as they know each other, in some ways, she knows them better.
June and Serena’s relationship continues to evolve, and there’s a familiarity — at times even a jocularity on June’s part — between them. Their newfound solidarity is forged by their shared love of Nichole and shared hatred of the status quo.
June: Wear the dress. Pull the strings.
Like Serena, Aunt Lydia is beginning to question the role she has to play in Gilead. Once driven by purpose, her actions are now dictated by rage and resentment. It’s hard to believe the tears Aunt Lydia sheds after beating Janine as due to penance or regret.
Is she merely embarrassed by losing her temper in front of the Commanders and their Wives? They look mortified in the aftermath of the altercation, but they all stand around as it occurs, seemingly content to watch Janine beaten mercilessly.
They know the Handmaids suffer disfiguring punishments, but the powers that be appear to prefer not to see how the sausage is made. There’s no sympathy for Janine. There’s just disgust towards Lydia for allowing reality to seep into their mass delusion.
June’s plans to topple the patriarchy inch forward at a snail’s pace, but will the revelation of Nichole’s whereabouts put her on a different path?
What did you think of this episode of The Handmaid’s Tale? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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The Handmaid’s Tale airs on Wednesdays on Hulu.
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Jennifer Lind-Westbrook
Jennifer has been working as a freelance writer for six years, contributing to BuddyTV, Screen Rant, TVRage, Hidden Remote, Gossip On This, and PopMatters. She prefers binge-watching old episodes of The Office (British and American versions) to long walks on the beach. She's still holding out hope that Happy Endings will get a revival.