Last week’s episode of The Handmaid’s Tale left us on quite the cliffhanger. Serena found a benefactor to take care of her, but the woman has a decidedly creepy air about her. And meanwhile, June and Luke have bonded over their mutual desire to see Serena dead. And Aunt Lydia is struggling with Gilead perhaps more than she ever has before. With so much at stake, fans are eager to see what’s next on The Handmaid’s Tale Season 5 Episode 5.
The next episode premieres late Tuesday night or Wednesday, depending on your time zone. The official Hulu trailer, another trailer from Israel, and more details have emerged, so we have some spoilers and ideas on what to expect in the story below. The full trailers are included later in this story.
The New Episode Is Called ‘Fairytale’
The new episode is called “Fairytale,” which is kind of ironic because I’m sure we all know this is going to be anything but a fairytale.
Hulu’s official synopsis reads: “June and Luke embark on a dangerous quest. Serena gets to know her new hosts.”
Interestingly, this is perhaps the shortest synopsis we’ve had this season yet.
I’m hoping that June and Luke’s dangerous quest involves Serena, perhaps trying to take her down somehow. I really hope the quest doesn’t involve returning to Gilead. I’m not sure I could handle seeing them back behind those borders.
The synopsis also indicates that we’re going to learn more about the mysterious Mrs. Wheeler who greeted Serena last week.
It’s worth noting that Lawrence and Aunt Lydia aren’t mentioned in the synopsis.
Trailers for Season 5 Episode 5 Include the Israeli Trailer
The Israeli trailer that fans love to watch is here, and it includes some scenes not in the Hulu trailer. Here it is:
The trailer begins with members of Mayday talking about a friend who lives in “No Man’s Land” (where Fred was killed, if I’m remembering correctly), but the friend can’t cross the border.
Then we hear Luke telling June, “everything we want to know about Hannah is just there.” He’s probably talking about Gilead, but surely he’s not talking about crossing the border. The trailer has to be misleading somehow, right?
Then June tells him that she’s going with him. I’m going to guess this is into No Man’s Land, not Gilead… (I’m still holding out hope.)
Next we hear Commander Lawrence talking about “New Bethlehem,” a new plan he has for Gilead that the other Commanders might never go along with. I’m perhaps most intrigued about this part of the story!
Meanwhile, it really does look like Serena is being turned into some kind of Handmaid by the Wheelers. Mr. Wheeler won’t let her return to the Center and work, saying they have plenty of good people working there already. Hmmm, this could get interesting.
So how does the Hulu trailer measure up? Here it is.
This trailer starts with a similar focus. Luke tells June that he plans to “go across” and she declares that she’s going with him.
Then we see Mrs. Wheeler telling Serena that she can see why God’s put his divine light in her. But it’s still kind of creepy.
But then the Hulu trailer surprised me, and gave us something really intriguing that wasn’t in the Israeli trailer. And that’s pretty unusual.
We see Serena and Mrs. Putnam watching a room full of children, and someone asking, “What’s the deal with those two?” while we see June and Luke dancing happily. Moira responds: “They don’t quit.”
We see a protest, with a police barricade and a truck that has a sign on it: “End all Immigration.” Looks like a group opposed to the refugees from Gilead.
Commander Lawrence’s assistant tells him: “We don’t want them poking around in our affairs.”
And we see that June and Luke are being targeted by someone in a gun while they’re walking through the woods.
But it’s the next scene that’s extra intense. Luke and June and running through the woods at night, cars chasing them, as June yells that they can “make it.” Across the border maybe?
This looks like a really good episode, but a really intense one too. I hope we don’t see June and Luke in Gilead after this week.
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