The Handmaid’s Tale Review: Witness (Season 3 Episode 10)
On The Handmaid’s Tale Season 3 Episode 10, “Witness,” Commander Waterford’s continued obsession with June provides both the Handmaid and Serena with opportunities to execute plans of their own.
After many missteps and false starts, it looks like June is finally making a power move against Gilead. Given her inability to secure Hannah safe passage out of the republic, it’s impossible to conceive she’ll be successful.
June has a gift for being cognizant of everything transpiring around her, even down to the smallest detail. She uses the cracks in the Waterford’s marriage to her advantage, and she knows Eleanor and Commander Lawrence are the key to her plans moving forward.
Of course, she gets some outside help from Waterford who inadvertently pushes forward June’s agenda while his own blows up in his face. It’s established Waterford and Lawrence weren’t fans of one another before June was assigned to the Lawrence household. But the fact that June is out from under Waterford’s control serves to fuel his infatuation with her.
June antagonizes Waterford at every turn, and, in return, he continues to find ways to rape her. The Lawrence household has never participated in a ceremony, and for the first time, we see both parties equally horrified at the prospect. It’s hard to generate empathy for Commander Lawrence who acted on his own free will in bringing Gilead to fruition.
Gilead is Lawrence’s child. It’s the only one he’ll have, and it’s turning out to be a huge disappointment.
Why should Lawrence get to escape the parts of this society he doesn’t like while everyone else suffers the consequences of his actions? Lawrence’s reaction to this home invasion and June’s response to his incredulousness brings to mind the poem by Martin Niemoller. “Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.”
To watch June instruct Lawrence on how to rape her successfully is one of the darkest places The Handmaid’s Tale has ever gone. June has been nudging Lawrence towards the precipice, and this incident finally pushes him over the edge.
June, who is completely ineffectual when it comes to successfully evading Gilead’s reach, is going to need a lot of puzzle pieces to fall perfectly into place in order to gather and smuggle at least a dozen children and one mentally ill woman into Canada. Commander Lawrence hasn’t agreed to anything unless scoffing sarcastically at a suggestion constitutes affirmation.
While June moves forward with her plans to get children out, Serena pushes Fred to take action to get Nichole back in. Her scheming relies on the cooperation of Tuello who, so far, has only promised her treason and coconuts if she decides to flee Gilead and tell her story.
Tuello is an American, and we have no idea how much power the new America yields. Canada is reluctant to risk going to war with Gilead over Nichole, and the Swiss are in the mix, so where could Tuello possibly fit in?
What could Serena convince Fred to give to Tuello that would engineer Nichole’s return? He could turn over on Lawrence and Winslow while remaining untouched himself.
Fred will do anything to get ahead, so if he could kill those two birds with one stone and leave Gilead intact, that might be enough leverage to hand over a refugee.
Fred and Serena could be pulling something over on Tuello, or maybe they’re going full-on Bonnie and Clyde to get the daughter that Fred doesn’t even want back.
I’m going to assume Serena has other plans in mind. She knows Fred is using Nichole to further his career, and the attention he continues to pay to June doesn’t go unnoticed either. There’s a strong possibility Serena is ready to make a deal for herself, screwing Fred over in the process.
It’s difficult to imagine any scenario where Serena ends up with Nichole, especially one where she does it with Fred’s cooperation, and they live happily ever after.
Meanwhile, mouth rings and veils coming to a district near you.
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 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.