The Handmaid’s Tale Review: Sacrifice (Season 3 Episode 12)

On The Handmaid’s Tale Season 3 Episode 12, “Sacrifice,” June becomes increasingly ruthless when it comes to executing her plan. Serena’s and Fred’s futures remain uncertain.

When Commander Waterford tells Luke the June he knows doesn’t exist anymore, Waterford’s not kidding. Even the June we come to know on The Handmaid’s Tale Season 1 and Season 2 is a distant memory. The calm countenance, betraying very little has been replaced.

When we first meet June, we rely much more on her inner monologue because of her need to keep her face as expressionless as possible. There might be a hint of anger, disgust, sadness, fear, or even joy in her eyes, but part of her penance for her sinful past is to lockdown the parts of her that make her human.

Now she’s all twitches and jerks — an angry bird. The meekness swallowed by anger and a sense of purpose. But she’s quickly crossing over from emboldened into something far more sinister. We can overlook her murdering Commander Lawrence, but her complicity in Eleanor’s death is something altogether different.

It’s entirely understandable why June lets Eleanor die. It’s not out of malice or cruelty, or at least we have no reason to believe it is. Eleanor has never been anything but vocal in her hatred of Gilead, and her husband’s role in the government.

This doesn’t mean there isn’t some small part of the new June that doesn’t think a Wife deserves death. But more likely, June acts as she does simply because Eleanor was never going to be more than a liability. June’s decision is a calculated risk. 

Commander Lawrence’s primary motivation for helping June is to get his wife out of Gilead, but now she’s gone. This doesn’t seem to dissuade him from moving forward, but as his suspicions regarding June’s role in his wife’s suicide grow, that could change.

It’s very odd to see a funeral in Gilead. People die all the time in a gruesome public fashion, but there isn’t much grieving, particularly among Handmaids and Marthas (unless sanctioned after a terrorist attack). Commander Lawrence’s mourning serves as a temporary distraction, and it’s chilling to witness the look in his eyes as he sees this new June for the first time.

As the title “Sacrifice” suggests, Eleanor’s death as a small price to pay for the greater good. 

Someone whose motives for screwing people over aren’t quite as altruistic is Serena. If there was any doubt she sold out her husband, there isn’t now. 

When Serena visits Fred, she’s genuinely concerned for his well-being, so the decision to turn him over didn’t come easily. It’s unclear why she chooses to tell him she betrayed him because she doesn’t appear to derive any satisfaction from doing so. 

How quickly Fred goes from loving husband to cruel and abusive. He truly resents when any woman defies him, outsmarts him, or surpasses him on any level. Not that anyone is rooting for Serena.

It’s still unclear what Serena is going to get out of all of this. It can’t possibly be full custody of Nichole. Perhaps, she’s given up on that dream. Maybe it was never part of the bargain, but it’s hard to believe one hour is worth blowing up her entire life. 

With the great escape likely to be the sole focus of The Handmaid’s Tale Season 3 finale, we may not know what awaits Serena and Fred for another year. 

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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