User Reviews

How could June and Luke be so dumb as to risk their own lives and abandoning baby Nicole to go on a hair brained mission to cross into Gilead territory for information they already knew about their daughter Hannah in school there?

It didn't make any logical sense and you knew from the get go it was going to end badly. I think this series has to come to a conclusion this season for fear of becoming another sci-fi dystopian series that has no discernible plot ending, leaving viewers disgruntled and disappointed. June has become consumed with destroying Serena Joy and lost all sense of reason whilst Luke is feeling guilty about not doing more to save both June and Hannah from Gilead.

It doesn't really explain why they would take a very dangerous journey into Gilead for little promised reward.

Quite often in this episode I found myself asking what's going on here, why? It dragged on somewhat and could have held my attention better by cutting out the bowling alley bit which was a superfluous filler to stretch out the episode.

"Fairytale" felt like it was written not to be like an episode of The Walking Dead but to be an episode of The Walking Dead. The awkward comedy in an abandoned building, a character we meet for just one episode and then the long hikes through the woods. Did not feel at all like The Handmaid's Tale and I guess that you can argue that is a good thing, to give viewers a break from the repetitive tone and nature of the program, but it just seemed out of place.

For June to keep up the endless bitter act and not kick back and relax at all remained a problem though as it makes it impossible to root for her.

In the fifth episode of The Handmaid's Tale Season 5, Serena finds herself submerged in a seemingly idyllic sea of adoration among the sterile companions of her hosts. Energized by their solicitous care, she reaches out to Joseph Lawrence with a proposal to transform the Gilead Cultural Center into a Universal Fertility Center, positioning herself as both its representative and deity. While Joseph sees merit in the idea, Warren Putnam abruptly shuts down Serena's aspirations, wary of empowering her too much.

Meanwhile, June, Moira, and Luke entrust Nichole to Rita's care as they embark on a mission to the border. Their resistance allies promise a rendezvous with a Gilead guard rumored to possess crucial information about the new Wife Schools where Hannah is expected to be groomed for domesticity at a shockingly young age. Meeting the guard at an abandoned bowling alley, they receive a USB drive loaded with valuable intel. Passing the time with bowling and music, they forge a bond with the guard, albeit momentarily overshadowed by the peril of their circumstances.

Amidst her gilded captivity, Serena reflects on Gilead's inception, recalling visits to the vivariums where children, torn from their birth mothers and awaiting redistribution to affluent, suitable couples, stirred a lingering hope for her own pregnancy with Fred. She reminisces on her acquiescence and the moment Aunt Lydia coerced her into "selecting" a Handmaid, already preordained by Fred.

In a daring nighttime escape attempt to Canada, June and Luke's plans are thwarted when their companion triggers a landmine, drawing the attention of nearby guards. Despite their proximity to safety, they are apprehended, leaving their fate uncertain.

Ultimately, Serena confronts Mr. Wheeler, her host, who confirms the establishment of the Fertility Center sans Serena's involvement. Instead, she is relegated to a passive role, imprisoned within the confines of her affluent captors' estate, heavily pregnant and stripped of agency. It's a stark reminder of karma's relentless grip, ensnaring Serena in a cruel twist of fate.

In this episode, The Handmaid's Tale masterfully navigates themes of power, manipulation, and consequence, weaving a narrative tapestry that exposes the fragility of perceived liberation within the oppressive confines of Gilead's dystopia.

What a crazy episode. I had a feeling something was going to happen. I wish it didn't though. But maybe those people will help them I don't know. It's hard to say. Next episode is going to be crazy either way. I'm hoping that they will help them,and not take them back to giliad. But over all it was a episode that had action in it. I was hoping that they would get across fine. But I knew when the solider stepped on the min that it was going to end well. I wish they would release all the episodes all at once so I could binge watch. But it's weekly unfortunately now I got to wait another week. Oh well.

This show has a long history of repetition. Five seasons in, the creators are still not done with their old habits and this episode is another perfect example of it.

For about 3 seasons the main plot was June escaping, June getting caught, June escaping again, June getting caught etc. In between, the gaps were filled with torture and misery.

In this episode we get back at square one: June is getting caught again. But hey, there is a new detail: this time Luke is getting caught too. How imaginative.

And when you think about it, them getting caught does not make any sense. The information they were after from their source could have easily been given to the resistance people at the border and then be past on to June and Luke. But no, they are being called in the middle of the night being notified that they might get important information soon. Why?

Then, June and Luke drive all the way over there, to here the contact from Gilead was unable to come, so the information is not there... Yet! With some patience, in a day or two, the information could still arrive, but since Luke and June are now there, they might as well go into Gilead. Again: why?

Then, once in Gilead, they meet the contactperson, but ... he doesn't want to give them the information immediately. Result: they go further into Gilead. Why?

In the mean time they do some dancing, singing and even bowling ... WHY?

Then, the next day, when on their way back .... duh, they get caught.

It's a huge filler episode with a predictable anti-climax that throws the show 3 seasons back, disregarding any story developments. Five seasons in, the audience does not deserve this lazy writing.

Meanwhile, Serena's baby will be taken by the Wheelers. We get it. No surprise there. But the suspense is being built nonetheless.

The only interesting dynamic right now is the one between Lydia and Janine. But that plot detail was completely ignored.

Overall, a pretty dumb episode.

So, June could and did survive alone in Gilead (a men's world) for years but Luke is so useless that June has to take his hand in order to go back into Gilead to get some uncertain information.

Can't she get that info from Joseph or Nick?

They find a ressistamce member in the middle of the woods (without any gps, just with a piece of paper as a map) that not only hasn't the pendrive with the information with him but he takes them into an abandonned bowling just to find out that he doesn't even know their daughter Hannah.

What he did tell them is that if Hannah is dressed in purple that means she is being prepared to become a wife (something Nick already told June BY PHONE) anytime now.

And here is the real climax of the story, when writers get the audience to actually empathize with June and Luke :

They, who have left a baby alone in Canada to find out her other 12 years old daughter is almost ready to be given as a sexual slave to a commander and after 24 hours of walking through the woods into enemy's territory are so exhausted, desperate, irritated, desolated, powerless, worried, and horrorized about this situation that they decide to express it by turning on all the lights of the bowling (in which they are supposed to be hiding), playing some bowling, yelling of joy, playing some piano, singing and dancing for the whole day...seriously?

Oh, and we can't forget the important information we get from Serenna scenes!

First we see her having tea with her new friend, then we see her having a premom's party with a bunch of women, then we see her deciding to become not a Gilead embassador but an expert of fertility. In this world pregnancy makes you inmediatly an expert, ... the same way being sick makes you a doctor?

Oh, and Joseph talks about a new project called New Belen in order "Gilead doesn't die". This project is based on openning doors to the people who have escaped from the horrors of Giead... that is the ultimate hope for Gilead?

Seriously, how many people in the history of mankind have returned to the dictatorial countries they escaped from?

Finally the ressistance member walks into a mine and he says "the rebels put mines there"... isn't he a rebel? And more important, if that woods are the escape way for the refugees, why the rebels would put mines? In order the refugees after surviving the Gilead guards and all the border controls can blow away in pieces?

The last reflexion: the ressistance cabin in Canada where Moira is having a drinking party has power to turn on the lights the whole night, the bowling refuge has power to turn on all the lights... who pays for that power bills?

I can't believe we're back to square one, but now bringing Luke into the equation.

Talking to my sister about this show, I said, "If they go back to Gilead, I'm quitting".

Well, unfortunately that has happened. I'm getting the hell out of the car in this episode. It just seems to me to be a level of clumsiness of the highest order. It is absolutely implausible that both parents, having a daughter in Canada and with the security they have, would BOTH decide to go back to Gilead.

I don't even care about the cinematography. The plot of the series ceases to make sense. On top of that, they are having to resort to showing flashbacks of things past, instead of moving forward in the plot. Really pitiful.