After giving birth alone in the last episode, June is returned to the Red Center to pump milk for her baby while awaiting her next posting. Her milk begins to dry up, so she is sent back to the Waterford house in the hope that proximity to Holly will increase the supply. Having realised that Nick does not care about her, Eden runs away with Isaac for a chance at real love. They are soon found out and are executed via drowning in a swimming pool.
Tropes
- Alas, Poor Villain: Despite Isaac previously treating June with contempt and hitting Janine three episodes ago, June seems to have a lot of pity for him during his execution.
- Ambiguous Situation: Commander Lawrence seems very well-read on Emily's background, suggesting at first at least some concern for her as a person and then turning creepy. Which way it will go is left unsaid.
- An Arm and a Leg / Fingore: When asked by Commander Lawrence, Emily states that the punishment for a woman who engages in reading is losing a finger. He then adds that, previously, the punishment was the mutilation of the entire hand.
- Call-Back: It's revealed that Commander Lawrence was the one who came up with the idea for the Colonies.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: On par with the rest of Gilead's perverse execution methods, Eden and Isaac are chained to giant weights and thrown into a swimming pool.
- Defiant to the End: When told to repent before their execution, Eden recites 1 Corinthians 13, while Isaac remains wordless.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Eden and Isaac are sentenced to death for Eden's infidelity. While Nick notes Isaac's desertion, in the Real Life American armed forces, desertion is usually punishable by jail term, not execution.
- Not necessarily - Gilead are cribbing from Leviticus, where adulterous couples were to both be stoned. So Gilead use death by drowning - also cueing into the "better they were thrown in the sea with a millstone around their neck..." bit in the Gospels. Still disproportionate - as they were in "pour encourager les autres" mode.
- Considering that Emily and Janine committed worse crimes and were spared by being sent to the colonies, it's possible that Eden herself committed a series of crimes during her flight to the point that execution would have been warranted.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Serena is absolutely devastated and traumatized during Eden and Isaac's execution.
- Eye Scream: Like Janine, the Martha in the Lawrence household, Cora, had one eye mutilated. This leads to a moment where said Martha is bumping around stuff in the household.
- Face Death with Dignity: Eden and Isaac, but especially Eden.
- Hypocrite: Commander Lawrence says he values privacy in his household. Despite violating Emily's own privacy by extensively looking up her details, including the fact that Emily was forced to have a clitordectomy.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: Emily. Especially when Commander Lawrence reveals how much he knows about her.
- Madwoman in the Attic: Commander Lawrence’s wife, Eleanor.
- My God, What Have I Done?:
- Serena seems to be shifting to this from her previous Be Careful What You Wish For realization when she witnesses Eden and Isaac weighted down and thrown into a swimming pool to drown.
- Nick has this too, having driven Eden away from him, and inadvertently towards Isaac, leading to their deaths.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Eden's mother not only outlives her oldest daughter, but has to watch her be shoved to her death.
- Pet the Dog:
- Once again, Serena is seen in more of a sympathetic light as she is not only devastated by Eden and Isaac's deaths, but also allowing June to care for Holly at the end of the episode.
- Aunt Lydia praises June for her bravery in delivering Holly, and offers her a muffin. She also seems to have a bit of genuine regret when June reminds her of her promise to look after Holly.
- Pragmatic Evil: Aunt Lydia believes that Offred should be allowed back at the Waterford household to help nurse the baby.
- Public Execution: Of Eden and Isaac. Serena even brings the baby!
- Sleeping With The Fishes: The execution method used on Isaac and Eden.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- Just because Serena's gotten her baby doesn't mean she's magically going to start producing milk, and being separated from her daughter is causing June's supply to dry up; as a result Holly is going hungry.
- Messy house + Martha with one eye = Martha bumping into stuff around the Lawrence household.
- Stalker with a Crush: Commander Lawrence appears to have extensively researched Emily's backstory, leading to a rather uncomfortable moment for Emily, in which she essentially comes face to face with a stalker she never knew she had.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: Eden and Isaac.
- Together in Death: Eden believes she and Isaac will be, and so accepts her fate.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: During their final conversation, June tells Eden that in Gilead she needs to take whatever chance at love she can find. Eden takes this advice to heart and ends up running off with Isaac the next day, which leads to both Eden and Isaac being caught and executed.
- Wham Shot: The other weights shown lying in the pool imply that many others have met similar fates as Eden and Isaac.
- You Monster!: Eleanor towards Lawrence.
