The Handmaid’s Tale Season 5 Ep 7 is the seventh instalment of the fifth season of a dystopian alternate reality drama TV series based on Margaret Atwood’s novel of the same name. In this alternate history, the USA has been taken over by hardcore fundamental religious fanatics and renamed as Gilead. In Gilead, women have become the property of men once more as the nation is ruled by theocratic patriarchy.
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Entitled “No Man’s Land”, The Handmaid’s Tale Season 5 Ep 7 subverts our expectations in the best possible way and doubles down on the series-changing event late in the previous episode. If you recall, Serena Joy saved Jun from execution and the last we saw of them was getting away by car if Serena Joy holding Jun at gun point. “What the fuck are you doing, Serena?” Jun’s confusion mirror by the viewer, no doubt.
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But in this crucial episode, the challenges of both protagonist and antagonist take a turn for the worse, forcing them to have a shared goal. Serena Joy goes into labour and Jun has to help her deliver the baby. It is indeed surreal especially for longtime viewers seeing these two mortal enemies bonding over a cause. Jun once cursed the baby in Serena Joy’s womb but now was doing everything in her power to bring that same baby safely into the world.
Now, for the sake of the uninitiated, the episode relies on flashbacks to bring home the significance of what is happening between the two women and the history that divides and unites them. Thankfully, the episodes does this gently without unduly banging us over the head with what had gone on in the past. It is indeed a beautiful emotional moment when Serena Joy and Jun finally bring this miracle of life to pass. Who would have thought this scenario possible?
The Handmaid’s Tale Season 5 Ep 7 ends on a tense note as Serena Joy is deemed an illegal immigrant by the Canadian authorities and her baby has been confiscated. While Luke celebrates the turn of events, Jun might very well have to now do what she can for Serena Joy and her baby – what a wonderfully complex storyline we have now till the end of the season. Highly recommended!
Watch The Handmaid’s Tale Season 5 Ep 7 on Hulu.
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