The Handmaid’s Tale “Women’s Work”

So, apparently, there are some things that can bring all the women of Gilead together, no matter how awful some of them are.

That would be a sick baby.  It seems after months of working together to keep Commander Waterford “in charge,” he finally comes home and Serena Joy and Offred are dismissed without a word from doing more of that writing and editing stuff women aren’t supposed to do in this most awful place possible.

And yeah, it hasn’t happened yet, but at some point, you know Serena Joy is going to turn on Offred again.

But then we learn the Puttnams’ baby is sick.  That would be Crazypants Janine’s biological baby.

So, what happens?  Well, Offred gets Serena Joy to allow Janine to see the child, and while Aunt Lydia isn’t too happy about it, she does want the baby to get better, so, yeah, we have Offred, Serena Joy, Janine, and Aunt Lydia all more or less on the same page.  How does that happen?

Heck, Serena even forges some paperwork to bring a Martha back to the hospital because this particular Martha was once a top-of-her-field specialist in those sorts of things, and once again, Gilead is one of the most awful places possible.  As it is, no one can figure out why the baby is sick, and Offred manages to get Janine in to hold the poor child.

For her humanitarian work, Fred beats Serena with his belt and makes Offred watch.

These people are terrible.

And then, the next day, the baby has recovered by being in physical contact with her birthmother.  Janine seems happy, but…is that a bit heavy-handed for this show?  I mean, I know that love is vital to keep babies alive and all that, but it had to be her birthmother’s love?  Is that some commentary on the cruelty of this society?  OK, it is, but still, it seemed a bit much for a show that oftentimes isn’t very subtle to begin with.